Aloha! (From Provo, Utah?)

I have been missing Hawaii lately! I mean, how could you NOT miss Hawaii, really now?! I miss being tan, wearing flip flops year round, never worrying about what my hair looked like, walking or riding my bike everywhere, going to the beach for an hour in the afternoon, eating chocolate-haupia pie at Ted's bakery! Mmmmm doesn't it all sound sooo nice?!

I remember when I lived in Hawaii and Bryson was on his mission, I would be driving on the North Shore, watching the sun set behind the ocean, the whole sky vibrant red, orange and pink (there is nothing as beautiful as a Hawaii sunset!) and I would think, "Bryson would LOVE this!" I would be watching the surf competitions at Pipeline, jumping off cliffs into the ocean on the big island, or laying on the beach at night freaking out about the little crabs scurrying across our towels...thinking "Bryson would LOVE living in Hawaii." We weren't "together" at the time, but even then I would think, "What ifs." What if we got married and we came to live in Hawaii together? What if?

I feel SO lucky that we were able to go to Hawaii on our honeymoon. I feel especially lucky because the only way we were able to go was through some VERY, VERY generous and loving gifts from family. What a wonderful, amazing, fun way to start our marriage!!

I always considered myself a lover of snow and winter and all things "Colorado." I still love, LOVE Colorado, but after living in Hawaii, I have determined that I love warm weather and I wouldn't mind doing without a 10 month winter!! As Bryson looks into internships and jobs for the future, Colorado is of course my first choice so we can be close to family...but if a California or Arizona jobs sneaks its way in...I don't think I would mind a bit. :)

How many more days until summer again!??! Never mind...it's too far away to even think about yet.

Fearless

This weekend was fun! On Friday night, we went up to Park City to the Sundance Film Festival. I had HIGH hopes of seeing a "famous person." And actually, I had more than just "high hopes." I honestly thought the streets would be swarming with celebrities. So, I had my camera ready for lots and lots of paparazzi-esque picture taking. Well.........no such luck! BUT, I DO believe I was at least CLOSE to a famous person, somewhere, somehow....I know it. haha.

Saturday, Bryson and I slept in (my very favorite thing to do on the weekend). He went to work, I relaxed haha. I've been thinking a lot lately and getting really excited about "next year." WHO knows where I'll be or what I'll be doing next year, but I really want to teach 2nd grade again and thinking about it gets me excited. I have been thinking of all the things I would do differently and it gets me excited! :) OH to be even a LITTLE bit experienced going into a brand new school year - can you imagine? It would be amazing! :) Well, anyway...that night we went to see Avatar. This was my second time seeing it and I didn't really even enjoy it the first time, BUT because I am just the most wonderful wife ever, I agreed to see it again so that Bryson could see it in 3D. :) I splurged and got popcorn AND a cookie (that NEVER happens!).

AND here we are, the END of the weekend already. Back to another week! ;) BUT can you believe it is ALREADY February?! Where has the time gone? Here's to hoping the rest of the winter goes by juts as fast - I am looking forward to some WARM weather! :)

LIFE IS WONDERFUL! -AW

Ashley & Bryson at the Denver Temple from Davey Orgill on Vimeo.

I need you...now and forever.

I love weekends. And I love my husband! And even more, I love weekends where I get to spend lots and lots of time with my husband!! :)

and on a side note....it feels GREAT to finally be feeling a little bit better!!!!

I also spent about an hour (but...ONLY an hour, amazing!!) on the phone with Dell about fixing my computer. It just shuts down within 5 minutes EVERY single time I turn it on. I was afraid that they would try to reformat the hard drive or something that wouldn't work and would just waste my time. BUT, they ran one test and determined that there really IS something very wrong with the parts in my computer. YAY for figuring that out! BUT they don't know what parts. SO, they are having me send it to the warehouse to be fixed. I will be "borrowing" the hubby's computer for about 2 more weeks (SORRY B!!! Thanks for being SO patient and helpful). BUT, here's to HOPING my computer will arrive back home, safe and sound and BETTER than new!!! OR else, I have another hot phone date with some Dell man from half-way around the world.

This is gonna be a good life!

I woke up this morning, looked out my window and found a winter wonderland! It snowed last night! I woke up Bryson at 10:00 in my typical annoying way - by gasping, "OH NO! It's 10:59!" He was supposed to be at work at 11. You can tell we've been married for almost 9 months because he rolls over without even glancing at the clock and groans, "No, it's not." He knows me all too well. :) So, I switched modes and excitedly said, "Hey, let's go get some french toast from Kneaders!" With that, he obliged. 15 minutes later, we were on our way, ready for the most delicious french toast you will ever eat. :)

And that's how I started my weekend! Wonderful! :)

The Things We Did in 2009

Got engaged on top of the Conference Center in Salt Lake

Got married in the Denver Temple

Took our first plane ride together

Went to Hawaii together

Took a 3-day road-trip together across the country

Worked at Busch Gardens and survived to tell the many hilarious stories

Went to D.C., Virginia Beach, Saint Louis, Omaha, and many, many places in between

Went to our first Camel Back family reunion as a married couple (my first time ever going!!)

Moved into our very own apartment together in Provo!

Made our first big purchases as a married couple: a kitchen table and coffee table.

Bryson got accepted into the Business Program at BYU.

Survived the first months of teaching 2^nd grade (it was definitely a team effort! Haha)

Our first Christmas was spent apart. :_( But we were able to spend time with BOTH families, which was SO fun!!

Fell more and more in LOVE everyday!!

2009 was a GREAT and very eventful year for both of us! It's a year that changed many things for our family and it was the start of many new things to come!! It sure is a year we will remember forever!!!

We are SO excited for 2010! This year will bring even MORE exciting things!! Bring it on!!!

Called for the doctor, and the doctor said...

Thank goodness for "almost" 4-day weekends! :-) Of course, my long weekend was spend with a couple very good "friends."

: Klenex Second one: DayQuil and NyQuil (couldn't have made it through without these two!)

Happy New Year!

We had the best time at the Websters for New Years Eve! We played Wii Fit and laughed like crazy. We ate a lot of great food and had a ton left over. We had a root beer taste-testing competition, played games and cheered like a a pack of wild animals when the clock struck midnight. I am so lucky to be in a a hilarious, fun family! :) I was so glad that Jayson, Kaitlyn and my dad were there with us too! All the people I love! :)

Married for almost 7 months!

On Wednesday, we will be married for 7 months! Wow, how time flies when you are with your love!!! :-)

Snowball FIGHT!

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It's been a while...

We have been SO busy lately! Bryson has been frequenting the library until midnight studying for tests and working on group projects. I have been working nonstop as usual. Needless to say, a break for Thanksgiving and then for Christmas is well needed and will be well appreciated!! :-)

At school, things are busy...but fun. Today, we were making a class graph of their favorite pies for our pie feast on Tuesday (for Thanksgiving). I listed 3 types of pies on the board (I think chocolate cream, apple and pumpkin) and then they got to choose 2 more kinds to vote on (I think they chose banana cream and cherry). They each got 2 pieces of paper with pies drawn on them and they wrote the 2 flavors they liked the best and then added their pie paper to the graph to make a "pictograph." Anyway, one little girl raised her hand with the most concerned look on her face. I asked, "Yes, B?" She responds slowly, "Well....see....I'm not a pie fan." I looked at her "oh-so-serious" expression, but honestly couldn't hold in my laughter. I laughed and just said, "Oh B, you are so cute." Obviously someone had taught her the phrase "I'm not a pie fan" because that is SO not 2nd grade vocabulary.

Also, if you decide you need a reassuring job, become a 2nd grade teacher. Kids in 2nd grade LOVE, and I mean LOVE to tell you how awesome and great you are as their teacher. Today, I was teaching them "words that compare" which is just adding -er and -est to words (big, bigger, biggest). When it was their turn to come up with and illustrate their own word to add -ed and -est, most kids did words like small, smaller, smallest; tall, taller, tallest; or cool, cooler, coolest. One kid raised his hand and said, "I'm going to do Best, Bester, Bestest and draw a picture of Mrs. Webster for bestest because she's the bestest teacher I've ever had." Now honestly, how can you possibly correct such a sweet mistake? haha. I said, "What about, pretty, prettier, prettiest instead?" haha, and I'm kidding, OF COURSE!! :-)

And most importantly of all..........I am so in love with my husband! Maybe someday, we will see each other more than one hour a day, but for now I will love him from afar! :-) And if you are listening, come home from the library, honey bunch!