why i love my mom

this whole "college/live life on your own/experience total (almost) freedom/fend for yourself/live 400 miles away from home/go live with some random person you dont know/try to live in an environment in which the average climate is 20 degrees lower than you're used to" thing is really great, dont get me wrong. buuuut, lately, i've been getting a little bit homesick. especially since a bunch of random crap has been happening to me lately... for example

1. i totally bombed my first test after DAYS of studying

2. uhh.. i had a little accident involving me, dr pepper, and my laptop. not fun.

3. i miss my friends. one called me this week in tears telling me to come home.

4. i miss my home!! i took so much for granted. like sunday dinners.. mm i would kill for my moms sunday roast right now, complete with potatoes and homemade gravy. or the stupid cheesy games we played. or our high-speed internet that lets me go on whatever site i want. i wish i didnt have to haul my personal stuff down the hall to take a freaking shower. i miss our house and the pictures and the couch and eating in my spot at the dinner table... GAH. i could go on, but i wont for the sake of time, space, and my finger muscles.

5. i miss tanner. i miss his jokes, his gay little laugh, our fights. at least he talks to me on the phone unlike some people.

anyway, i'm assuming this gets the point across that i've been homesick this week.

SO... today a little heaven-sent bundle came to me.

complete with an assortment of my favorite candies, a family picture, a note from my mom, some fuzzy socks, hot chocolate, mmmm. exactly what i needed. oh and dont forget my new face wash. how am i supposed to meet my eternal companion if my face is covered in acne? haha just kidding. give it a couple years.

basically, for all of those who dont know, my mom is a freaking saint. i miss her so much. i feel bad for her being the only female in the home.. yuck. i miss going to the gym with her, and getting yogurt after :) bahaha. we're dumb. luckily, we have these things called cell phones. free verizon-to-verizon calls save my life right now.

besides my random breakdowns, i really do love it here. its so much fun! and i cant even explain how much i lucked out with my roommate. its like we were made to be each others roommate! hahaha cheesy. whatever. she's my favorite. we just have a little problem with getting ourselves out of bed in the morning.. but we're working on it.

hope this didnt sound too emo. you cant blame me for being homesick when i have to go from such a great home to a freaking 10 by 10 cinderblock room with absolutely no closet space! haha. i love college.

-ashley

hello president

Today is a day i will undoubtedly never forget. For devotional, President Thomas S. Monson came and spoke! we were in the same room. it was such a neat experience. i got there with a friend at 9:30 to get a good seat (it didnt start till 11) and it was already packed. needless to say, every seat in the marriot center was full by the time he started. before he came in, everyone was talking and it was really loud but the second he stepped foot on the court it took about 2 seconds for the whole stadium to become dead silent. it was incredible. he is hilarious. we busted up laughing so many times. he went through all of the prophets in his lifetime and shared stories, favorite memories, quotes, etc. about all of the different prophets. it was really interesting! its interesting how close of a relationship he has had with all of them. i think he said David O. Mckay was his stake president when he was in young mens! and of course he and President Hinkley have been life-long friends. did you know President Hinkley's favorite dessert is pie and ice cream? mmmmm. It was so cool to be able to look at President Monson in real life, not through a tv screen or the computer. He is so cool, and i love him!

well on a more secular note... cougars are 2 for 2! woo! we play florida this week at home, hopefully i can fit it into my busy personal life schedule. here's a picture of me, audrey, and katherine at the second game that was broadcasted in the smith field house. i didnt watch the first game because i was studying, but i was aware of our victory the SECOND it happened. i was sitting in my silent dorm and all of a sudden everyone within a mile radius of me started screaming. in the dorms, in the halls, outside my window, down the road... everyone. it was crazy.

i still love it here. i miss home a lot... and i miss my mother and her food and hugs. only 10 weeks till thanksgiving :) now im about to go out with my bff leah to buy some dye for my hair. i am so glad she lives here... its sooooooooo nice to get off campus for a while and hang out with her like the old times haha. love you leah. and thats pretty much it in my life right now. no boys still. but im making lots of good girl friends! we have movie nights. its awesome.

tomorrow will mark katherine and my 3rd week anniversary. haha. we're gonna go get ice cream or something! woo.

peace and love.

my full circle moment.

oprah always talks about her "full circle moments," and since my goal in life is to emulate her as closely as possible i figure i will share mine with the blogging world.

In third grade i made a time capsule.

We put a bunch of random stuff in it; receipts, pokemon cards, a doll i made out of yarn, etc. One thing inside was a survey. The survey had your general questions from "how old are you?" to "whats your favorite color?" One of the questions was "describe your perfect day" and my answer was as follows.

My perfect day would be my first day at BYU.

I wrote that in THIRD GRADE! this has been my dream for so long, and it amazes me that i am fulfilling that dream this very second. My first day of school was perfect. of course i miss my parents and brothers, but i love everything about this place. the weather, the dorms, the food, the spirit. president hinkley once said that "byu is truly a sacred ground", and i couldnt agree with him more. Its so cool that we all have the same standards, and that we open my history class with a prayer, and that if you share a scripture as a spiritual thought in the opening of my biology class you get extra credit.

I love this!

im so blessed that i got accepted. Everyone here is a valedictorian, or a national merit scholar, got a 35 on their ACT or plays every sport and instrument imaginable. It's a little intimidating. I wouldnt want to be anywhere else, though.

One week down, Fifteen to go.

RISE AND SHOUT!

oh. my. gosh.

i am writing this from my dorm at brigham young university.

can i just say that these past 50 hours have been the best/worst/craziest/most depressing/exciting hours of my LIFE?!

i wish i could compile all of the thoughts in my head onto this little web page... but i cant. there are too many. I am living in Helaman Halls, which means i share a bathroom with maybe 40 girls. and showers. its super fun haha.

this is my beautiful roommate, katherine. we are getting along juuuuust fine. everyone keeps asking if we knew each other before this and when we answer "no" they are in shock. apparently we appear to be life long friends. haha. we agree on almost everything... we say the same things at the same times.. its great. the only thing i dont approve of is her fascination with cats. but whatever. i can look past that.

the only negative things are

1. i had to say bye to my mom and my dad

2. not as many cute boys as we expected

3. i really miss my queen bed.. uhg...

4. i cant get organized in this stupid room

aaaand yeah.. thats pretty much it.

I LOVE COLLEGE!

-ashley

here it is.

i know for a fact the world is coming to an end. so much crap is going on right now, whether it be family drama, economic problems.. etc. and now look at this. I, ashley noel barnes, made a quilt. WOO! like a for real legit-keep-me-warm-quilt. not a dinky little rag quilt.

this is me wrapped up in it. i made it big enough for two for those cold provo nights.. if you know what i mean. basically this thing is my pride and joy right now. after months (literally) of being pestered and harassed by my young women leaders, and LOADS of help from them, and blood and sweat and tears... i am done. its here. praise the lord.

-ashley

summer madness

Well hello fellow bloggers. i am extremely slow at this.. haha i feel like my life is too uneventful to post things on my blog. BUT, to contradict what i just said, here is what i have been up to.

westra family reunion was a hit! this picture is of me and my mom (who threatened me with my life if i didnt crop her out of this picture) swinging my cousin charity in the air. she is ADORABLE. i love her so much. i am kind of obsessed with her.

We had fun walking around temple square and watching the joseph smith video and seeing the christ statue..

to the left is me and baby afton.. the love of my life right now. she is so stinking cute. everyone kept stealing her from me at the reunion because i "live in vegas and get to see her all the time" which is definitely not the case. maybe once a month. i dont know. my aunt jenn brought her to my work the other day so i could watch her while she went to the vet (lol random..) and afton was the star of the cleaners. everyone was fighting over holding her and talking about how cute she is. i know im biased because she is my blood.. but she is adorable.

Above is me and my favorite cousin of all time, angela. we have been close for as long as i can remember. i was a little disappointed that we didnt take a traditional coldstone trip this time.. but i guess i dont need it lol. gotta watch out for that freshman 15.
I'd have to say that this very picture of my cute family is my favorite of all time. a couple of reasons...

1. look at mitchell's v-neck. oh yeah.

2. me and my mom look like twins.. numerous people have already said that about this picture. it makes me smile :)

3. i love how green the background is. you forget that there is grass and trees in other parts of the world after living in vegas for so long!

yeah. its a favorite picture of all time.

we had over TWO THOUSAND pictures all combined from the whole reunion trip. we put them all in a file and took what we wanted. it was so insanely hard to choose.. i put them all in my iphoto and then spent a good hour or two sorting and deleting them. talk about boring.

i wish i could put every picture from the trip on my blog haha. it would take up like 50 pages. but they are all SO cute! i have the cutest family. one of the ladies at my work who facebook stalks me commented on how not a single person in the family was ugly! hahaha. i could crack a mean joke right now, but i wont.

speaking of ugly haha, this is what i like to call "avon de gorgeous"

i was helping my friend alex westmorelands friend out at a salon down in mandalay bay... he is trying to be promoted from an assistant to a hair stylist and needed to prove himself by doing things on people, like up-do's, cuts and whatnot. so i went on down and received this lovely up-do haha. everyone else loved it but to me it just looks like a big mess of hair. i guess i dont have the hair stylist eye? i dont know.

well. 17 days till the big move.. yikes. it is creeping up on me! i started packing two days ago so now it feels so real. BYU, here i come!

-ash

the way i live

i dont know what it is about brianhead that i love the most. the greenery? the animals? the company? the cool weather that doesnt make you sweat your face off the minute you walk outside? being with all of my favorite people?

whichever answer it was, i am in love.

brian head is amazing.

we came up to dix's cabin friday and have just be exploring or vegging out or playing an intense game of hearts. my moms whole side (almost) of the family is here.. so we're pretty packed. but atleast we all like eachother haha. its been a blast. i am leaving sunday night with my dad so we can go to work.. but im bummed i'll be missing out on more fun! we've already made 5 batches of cookies... i freaking sewed a quilt... we watched old home videos. what else could anyone ask for?

could mac computers be any more fun? i think not.

charity, me, and dallin with stretched faces

me and cute miss emily. she is so much fun

baby afton, angela, ashley, and charity

i am blessed to have such a cute family that i love!