2.22.2011

thanks george & abe

i love presidents day weekend.
it always comes at the best time!
it's like a halfway check point from winter break to spring break
(not that those apply to me right now haha)
anyway, our weekend was super fun!

scotty and i went with my family to brianhead, utah. our good friend dix has a cabin there that he lets us use from time to time. it's beautiful! we drove up friday night and spent all weekend in the mountains.

we spent all of saturday on the slopes. scotty taught me how to snowboard! i have been skiing, but i'd never even touched a snowboard until that day haha. i was horrible! luckily scotty is a good teacher and he was so patient with me. i think it took us an hour to make it down the bunny hill for the first time haha... not even exaggerating. but i made lots of improvement! the last run i only fell like twice.
this picture shows how i spent most of my day haha. on the ground.

i think i counted 14 bruises the next day.

friday night, sunday, and monday were dedicated to GAMES. we became completely addicted to scrabble. every single one of us (except me because my electronic devices suck) downloaded "words with friends" at the end of the weekend. some other favorites were phase 10, skipbo, ping pong, and of course mario party.


sunday we thought of spiritual things as we made sled routes. we (scotty and john) dug a path on the side of the house and had so much fun sledding down and making jumps!
but the real fun came after 4:30, when the ski lift stopped.
this meant we had total private access to the slopes!
since the cabin is literally on the side of the run, we walked out the backdoor and hopped on a sled down the ski slope. it was amazing!

we were flying down the hill so fast! it was so steep and soooooo FUN.

and now we're back to reality...
work and life and laundry.
i miss cabin life already!

valentines day: part II

so our valentines day was nice. we spent lots of time together and had fun. a nice dinner at chilis with mitchell, michelle, tanner, and bonquiqui (tanner's imaginary girlfriend. he felt leftout.)
BUT, the day after valentines day was perfect.

scotty surprised me with tickets to phantom of the opera. i was sooooooooo excited! i've always had a love for phantom of the opera. a lot of my childhood memories include me, mitch, and john rocking out to the cd. it's the perfect roadtrip soundtrack. i adore the play. and i even wrote a paper last semester arguing that the phantom of the opera movie is one of the most pleasurable aesthetic experiences ever had.

so we ventured off to the venetian and took our seats center stage. it was incredible!

afterward, he surprised me again and took me to maggianos. mmmmmm
it was freaking delicious!
we got parmesan chicken and chicken alfredo and split them.
so yummy.
we made friends with the waiter so at the end he brought us free dessert!
scotty being good looking and fun paid off :) bahaha.

it was such a fun night!
i sure love that boy :)

2.15.2011

lovey dovey

oh, valentines day.
what a joke.
am i right or am i right?
hahaha. who needs a date on the calendar to remember how special a sweetheart is?

however, the usual bitterness i have toward this special "holiday" magically disappeared today as i woke up and remembered i'm engaged to the most handsome man i know. i love this guy!

whether it's a cute text message, romantic singing/dancing in the kitchen, or a sparkle in those beautiful blue eyes, i am reminded on a daily basis how lucky i am to have him.
in honor of this day, i would like to share with the entire blogging community a few of my favorite things about my valentine.

1. his humor. scotty is so funny... he can make me laugh even when i am in the worst mood!

2. the guy can sing. he wont admit it all the time, but he has a voice that melts my heart. sometimes i dont sing the hymns in church just so i can listen to him instead.

3. his smile. it kills me! i can't look at him without smiling. i think he is just the cutest dang thing i've ever seen hahaha.

4. his mad skills. scotty beats me at just about everything and every game haha. i love that we can play anything together and have so much fun! we love wii games, board games, card games, stupid middle school games, droid games. some of our favorites right now are wii resort basketball and archery, guesstimation, and the dot game in church.

5. he is so good to me. he treats me like a princess and does the sweetest things. he'll massage my feet or scratch my back without me even asking. and he'll buy me tickets to phantom of the opera for valentines day!!! :) i am sooooooooo excited!

the list could go on and on, but i resume my position at the cleaners in 7 hours.
i need sleep.
basically all i request that you take away from this post is that i, ashley barnes, am so in love with my valentine.
here's to many more valentines days to come :)

2.03.2011

inductive reasoning

after reading this rather entertaining article,
a small light flickered in my brain.
i realized that a lot of admirable blogging women have nicknames for their husbands.

exhibit a:
stephanie nielson (a.k.a. nienie). can be stalked here.
she only refers to her husband as "mr. nielson"

exhibit b:
natalie (a.k.a. the fat rat). see her blog here.
her lover is "the holbs"

exhibit c:
if i recall correctly, jan hodson calls derrick "D"
other ladies are using "the husband," "my man," or other generic terms.
and there are more, i'm just having a brain fart.

therefore, if i would like to work my way up in the blogging world i need to follow these ladies moves. since i am soon to be married and will indeed have a husband, i've decided i need something to call him besides scotty in order to fulfill my dreams of becoming a famous mormon-mommy-blogger. haha im mostly kidding. but in all seriousness, i really am trying to think of something fun to call him.

any suggestions?


at the same time, i am thinking of what i will rename my blog after the big day. it can't be "a little bit of this, a little bit of ash... plus scotty" stupid. i don't know what to do.

this is my train of thoughts as i fall asleep at night.
buenos noches & sweet dreams