the time has come

well... i guess i need to get a new ID card.

i got an email today saying "you have a package! take your id card to the cannon center to retrieve it"

so i take my id and walk my happy self over there.

i hand the lady my id and she's like

"uhhh is this your id?"

"yes....?"

"what's your name?"

"ashley barnes...."

she keeps looking back and forth from the card to me

"i cant give you the package... this isn't you."

"what?! its me, i swear!"

"whats your birthday?"

i tell her.

"student number?"

i tell her.

"address?"

i tell her.

"okay, but this looks nothing like you..."

"i know. i lost 35 lbs and dyed my hair"

"hmm...."

she gets some manager or something to come over and look at me and they finally decide to give me my package hahahha. it was the funniest thing ever. this is the picture on my ID card... and this is how i looked when i picked up my package.

quite the difference, huh?

i feel so good! and i'm SO glad i dont look that nasty anymore hahaha.

and im happy i convinced them to give me my stupid package.

fact:

i love rain.

i always have, and i always will.

i feel like a lot of people claim to love rain... but its not as deep of a love as mine.

sure, everyone wants to make out in a rainstorm, and some people might love lightning.

but there's so much more!

rain makes me so happy.

the mere word makes me smile.

i love the dark grey clouds... i love the smell... i love the drops hitting my face... i love the pattering on my window... i love the way the streets and sidewalks shine like silver afterward (see photo)... i love the cool breeze... i love wearing a hoodie and walking the rain- but at the same time i love my hair getting damp... i love sitting outside to observe thunder and lightning... i love the wet dots rain makes on my clothes... i love the relaxing feeling i get watching rain fall... i love dancing in it... i love walking in it... i love running in it... i love watching rain collect in the gutter like a stream...

rain is the best.

indecisive

i hate making choices.

i don't have a strong opinion on very many things.

i am easy going. i can adapt. i am indecisive!

so i got my hair done last week and i don't know how i feel. haha sometimes i love it, but sometimes i miss my blonde.

scotty loves it. my mom hates it. grandpa says blondes have more fun. a resident told me i should be a witch for halloween. what do YOU think?

we. are. fa. mi. ly.

i LOVE family.

although i may not have always shown it in high school, i love being with family. i love big families, small families, funny families, dramatic families. just all kinds of families.

but mostly MY families.

i feel like living in provo allows me to see my extended family members way more than being in vegas does. lately i've just been on a weird family high.

i got to see my grandma barnes a couple weeks ago... i love her. she is awesome. see? she recently moved from idaho to arizona, so i got to see her in passing. even though our visit didn't last more than 15 minutes, i loved it.

next up was dinner with my cousins merideth, kathryn, and sam (and her husband jake). merideth and kathryn's mom annette was in town for the weekend so we all got together and ate at brick oven! mmmm :) i never see annette because she lives in chicago

it was nice to catch up with everyone.

so that was the family fun on my dad's side... but i also get to play with my mom's side too!

this past sunday, i went to my aunt cindy's house for dinner. we celebrated angela's 24th birthday! ang and i have always been way close... for as long as i can remember! we both have brothers so we always considered ourselves sisters. cindy made delicious salmon and and even more delicious ice cream cake :)

it was fun to see cindy, steve, ang, shawn, spencer, kevin, bryce, grandma and grandpa. oh and maggie. we ate and played hearts. (naturally, i won. as usual.)

don't get me wrong, i love hanging out with my extended family... but at the same time it makes me so sad. i miss my real family! you know... john, mom, mitchell, tanner.

look how attractive they all are. i miss john. i miss seeing my mom's face every day. i miss tanner's stupid jokes and random stories! and sometimes... i even miss mitchell.

could thanksgiving come any slower?

conference weekend

this weekend was fantastic!

i loved every single part of it.

FRIDAY: when i got out of school, my cousin angela came down to provo and we hung out all afternoon. we went to chilis to get chips and salsa (and ranch... its tradition) then we went to the mall. i was so good and didn't buy a single thing :) very proud of myself. we were in nordstrom for about 10 minutes and then decided to leave so we wouldn't spend any money. it was kind of a big deal- talk about self control! so that was fun. naturally, we had to get ice cream after the mall, and then she went home. i spent the next few hours either looking at my clock, talking on the phone, or googling random distances from provo until finally... my boyfriend pulled into the parking lot! it was so great having him here. i love this guy!

this picture is from our all-nighter hahaha... yes. friday night we slept a total of roughly 45 minutes. maybe an hour. we were just so excited to be with each other again... had so much to talk about and catch up on. we went to walmart at like 4 a.m., then had breakfast at the cannon center right when it opened, watched ironman 2, went sight seeing at squaw peak, and just talked forever. then conference started! usually my college all-nighters are a little hellish. but this one was so nice. we definitely paid for it later though haha

SATURDAY: i was kind of like a zombie. but we went to scotty's friend's house for morning session of general conference, then drove to salt lake city to see the real deal for the afternoon session! it was a way cool experience. there is something special about being in the same room as the prophet. i love it. i love being able to look across a room and see him! not through a tv or computer. so fun. we had dinner at some mexican trailer on the side of the road haha then went our separate ways for priesthood session and girls night out. angela, cindy and i went to a movie! then scotty and shawn met up with me and ang at their house. we hung out, ate pie, and watched "what happens in vegas." fun night. i wish ang and shawn lived in provo so i could see them more often! and scotty too :) hahaha.

SUNDAY: scotty and i went to my uncle todd's house all day. it was SO fun. i love heber and i love todd and sharolyn and their kids! although they were extremely distracting during conference. it's hard to listen to serious speeches when there are five adorable, hyper, psycho children next to you! as you can see... scotty REALLY enjoyed watching conference. i was trying so hard not to laugh while taking this picture haha

justin is so big now. he walks and almost talks... its crazy! and all the rest are as cute as ever :) i colored pictures with the girls, threw a football around with the boys, and took full advantage of sharolyn's blackberry, raspberry, and strawberry bushes! oh gosh, they were heavenly.

after dinner, scotty and i drove back to provo to hang out during visiting hours (a.k.a. the 4 hours a week that men are allowed in my room)

and then it was time for him to go :( i feel bad he had to drive all night but i really hate it when he leaves so i try to push it off for as long as possible haha. my bad.

it was a fun weekend. but now my little dream world is over and i have FOUR midterms this week... i have work and homework and study groups and all sorts of stuff i should be doing.

so why am i blogging right now? good question.