girls weekend 2012

just incase some of you haven't been keeping up with my pictures, statuses, and check-ins on social media, i wanted to fill you in on my incredibly fun trip to seattle. our trip was so fun, in fact, that i don't have enough self-restraint to narrow the pictures down to anything less than 24. accept my apology in advance. 

my mom and i arrived in seattle thursday morning. uncle dave picked us up and took us out to a delicious teriyaki lunch! i have a new-found theory: the closer i get to japan, the better the food is. dave went back to work while my mom and i made our attack on downtown seattle. 

the famous "gum wall" and i shared a special moment.

we watched the guys at pike place throw fish, and we sat on the pig. 

tourist activities: check. check.

we shopped, ate frangos, gossiped, visited the original nordstrom, and simply enjoyed each other's company! living in utah makes me miss my mom way too much.

it was a wonderful day. and friday was also wonderful.
we shopped allllllllll morning long. you should be happy to know that i happened upon some serious deals and made a good dent in my christmas shopping list.

fun fact: bellevue square has the nation's largest in-mall apple store.
i'll admit it was pretty freaking large.
after lunch, we headed to the temple to support my dear cousin kelsie.

the temple is beautiful, and the session was so special.
i am so proud of kels for making this big step in her life.

following the temple session was a rehersal dinner. the dinner was full of family, delicious food, tears, laughs, stories, memories, and cheesecake. 

what did we do after the rehearsal dinner? more shopping. 

we had 5 mall trips in 2 days. 

saturday was the big day! 

kelsie and cameron were sealed in the morning, and we spent the rest of the afternoon driving around town taking pictures, eating, and taking more pictures. (my two favorite pastimes!) 

she looked beautiful! i am so happy for these two love birds. 

the reception was held in a lovely room at the puyallup fairgrounds.

i am so happy my mom and i could be there! we had a great time.

meanwhile, the whole entire trip, i couldn't stop noticing how beautiful seattle is! granted i hadn't been there for almost 10 years, but i completely forgot how incredibly GREEN everything is! i love it! 

green + overcast = happy ashley

i voiced this opinion multiple times throughout the weekend, and everyone told me i "would get so sick of not seeing the sun."
... i don't think i would.

sunday, we ventured off to dave and rebekah's house in north bend. 

their house did nothing but fuel my desire to live in northwestern washington. 

i mean, LOOK AT THE VIEW FROM THEIR LIVING ROOM! 

are you kidding me? it's a freaking forest back there!
we snuggled up by the fireplace and spent the afternoon catching up, laughing, taking pictures, sipping hot cocoa, and crocheting. life could not get any better.

thanks mom for the fun weekend! 

the only downside was leaving. 

i am already itching to go back with scotty. 

ashley's how to:

here is my easy step-by-step guide to making a fool of yourself in an airport.
1. download hulu plus on your iPhone
2. insert headphones
3. start modern family episode "diamond in the rough"
4. fail to hold in your uncontrollable laughter

i couldn't stop myself.

i freaking love modern family! 

if you haven't watched this week's episode, 

go do yourself a favor.

you won't be sorry. 

... unless, that is, you're sitting in a silent airport with 80 people watching you. 

vegas highlights

last weekend we went to vegas!
and when i say "went to vegas" what i really mean is...
spent friday at the lake with family, sandwiches, and surprisingly wonderful weather,

had a delicious BBQ with marx fam (the burgers and company did not disappoint!),
surprised my mom friday night and listened to her laugh out of complete shock and happiness,

took my parents for a joyride in our new car,
(they approved)

purchased four boxes of red velvet cafe chocolate chip cookies,
(mouth is watering as i type that)

tried to alleviate our lake burns with an aloe vera plant my mom has growing in her kitchen,

and watched my 45-year old mother open her 45 presents.

 this was one of them:

 and 6 others were tickets to phantom of the opera.

 scotty was obviously so excited to go!

sunday i woke up and drove over to leah's house. we needed some quality catching up time! we didn't take a picture because we were half sleeping which meant no makeup/unbrushed hair. plus, there was no time to take a picture. too much to talk about. so here is a classic one of us :)

on the drive back we made a pit stop in st george to eat dinner with our favorite cruise friends! we enjoyed a delicious roast, a quick loud pouring rainstorm, card games, and lots of laughs. once again, i failed to take a picture. but here is my attractive husband sitting outside of their apartment

 and the grand finale, on the last stretch, just under 20 miles away from reaching our home,

 we were pulled over by a bored police man and his trainee.

 "you had a hard time staying between the lines back there!"
"do you not realize we've been driving for 6 hours and we just want to go home and sleep in our own bed and take a shower and prepare ourselves to wake up at 6:00 AM tomorrow to endure a whole week of work after a fun-filled family weekend in las vegas?!"
... okay maybe that was just a thought going through my head.

but we got off with a warning, which meant that the entire trip, start to finish, was a complete success!

here's why.

can you believe i haven't blogged in exactly 20 days? 

i know. 

i am so disappointed in myself. 

this morning, i reflected on the past 20 days in hopes to find a reason or excuse for this unintentional blogging boycott of mine. i've had perfect wifi connection. nothing is wrong with my computer nor my fingers. and i certainly haven't been slacking on picture taking!  in fact, i probably took over 100 pictures in the friday, saturday, and sunday that we were in vegas. 

then it hit me! our small "vacation" to vegas put us both in a soft-core state of depression. it's taken two weeks to mentally recoup. we had so much fun. about as much fun as you can have in the 53 hours that we were away. it was a big eye opener to us- we have always been open to moving anywhere after graduation. endless possibilities! but now we realize that we both long for that city of lights. 

i spent the whole week preparing for our 3-day adventure: packing for myself and my husband, buying & wrapping presents, stocking up on treats & dr pepper, buying new shoes for the wedding, etc. 

the drive was a bore. it always is.  

but the second we popped over that last hill and the whole valley was laid out in front of us, we couldn't stop smiling. 

 seriously. it was a little bit ridiculous.

friday/saturday morning were filled with some of our most favorite people. we had a fun temple/outback steakhouse session with the marx clan (can't believe we didn't take a picture!), and swimming/bbq party at the barnes'. 

the new graduate! 

saturday afternoon was WEDDING TIME! 

i am so happy for my sweet friend jen and her new husband! 

everything about their wedding was perfect. the flowers, the colors, the sealing, the weather, the reception, everything was beautiful! i'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. 

congrats jen and tony! 

as we were rolling into town, i started making a list of all the things i love about vegas. the list grew and grew and grew in a matter of minutes. i couldn't stop writing! so here it is. careful, it may bring a tear or two to the eye. 

we love our families, our wards, our friends, no construction, lanes clearly marked, nelly and 50 cent on the radio, we knew exactly what to pack because we knew exactly what the weather would be like, the radio simply bleeps out a swear word instead of rearranging the whole song, 

there are original/unique names for streets, we saw blacks and mexicans for the first time in 7 months, graffiti art, palm trees,

even the nevada license plate is better. i love seeing the limos and taxis, i love the bustling sound of the strip at any given hour of the day, i love how i drove for 20 minutes and i was still in the same city, 

 the shopping, the style, the people,

 this was the low of the weekend, 

i love swimming, laying out, and seeing the pure blue sky with not a single cloud in sight. 

so, yeah. we were a little bummed. a little depressed. a little anti-social.  but now we're alive and trying to find the positives about utah. while we do that, you should be preparing yourself for more consistent blog posts!