New Update

So it has been a while since I have been on and updated my blog. Things are going good. We spend Thanksgiving with Ian's family and had a good time. We didn't have many people there, but it was nice. We didn't do a whole lot of anything, I ended up with a nasty cold so I was just fine to hang out and not do much.
Things have been busy at work, and I keep getting more and more things added to my plate at work. We have some new plans and new services we are now offering so I get to field a lot of questions from confused customers. It is always interesting.
I am getting so excited to head to Arizona for Christmas. We are headed down on the 23rd and then we come back on the 30th. I'm sad to be leaving Ian behind for a week, but he couldn't get off of work for that long. I am excited to see both sets of grandparents again. I have really missed my Grandma Shirley. I am also excited to get to use my brand new passport! I took the plunge and got one when we decided to go to Arizona so then I can take a day and go to Mexico to pick up some things for Ian's family.
Any way. I will keep everyone posted on how the vacation goes.

A Quick Update!

So things are going really well right now. I am finally feeling like I kind of know wht is going on at work and how to answer questions. It makes my life easier not having to hunt down my manager to ask about different things. The only bad thing is that we are in construction in our office and my desk feels like it is in a hole with no light, so I brought a desk lamp from home to make it a little easier to see.
Ian and I are doing great. It is so much fun to have a boyfriend who treats me well. This last weekend was his grandmother's 80th birthday bash and they had a huge reunion to celebrate. We went up to a lodge in St. Anthony that was built when Dylan and I were in high school. So I got to meet one side of the family. It was awkward at moments, like when they put me in the family pictures, but it was a pretty fun weekend.
Sunday we went to church with mom and dad and just had fun hanging out at the house. It was kind of nice being in a quiet place with not so many people around. His family is nice, there was just a lot of them and we just needed some alone time.
I got a new calling in my singles ward. I am now on the compassionate service committee in the Relief Society and I have no idea what I am supposed to be doing. it would help if I ever went to my ward, but we always seem to be out of town on the weekends when i don't have to work on Saturdays. Oh well, just another new adventure.
Other than that life is just the same old same old...

So Much Fun!!!

So for those who have not heard, Ian and I are officially dating. It kind of took me off guard how much we got along right off the bat. It only took us two dates to decided we wanted to try out the relationship thing and see where it goes. We have talked or seen each other every day since we met. Mom is getting worried saying that we are moving too fast, but for right now this is working for us.
For fun this weekend we went to the Bar J for the last night. Ian had seen them do shows in other towns, but had never been up to the Chuckwagon. It was prank night that night and we had a hoot. Then we stayed in Jackson Saturday night and went to the employee dinner on Sunday. It was a lot of fun. We got to walk around Jackson and we took a drive on a road that I used to go down all of the time to just get away.
On Saturday before we left we went to a classic car show in Pocatello, Ian is a car guy and loves to go and look at all of the classic cars and I enjoy them a lot too. Then we met up with his mom and sister and had lunch. I was so nervous to meet his family, but they are really neat people. After that we went to my parents to pick up a sign I needed to deliver in Jackson so we decided just to introduce every one.
Over all it was probably one of the most fun weekends I have had in a long time. I am excited to see where this new adventure takes me and I promise that I will try and do better at keeping my blog updated with news!

Finally! An update!

Okay! I know it has been a while since I did an update. And my cousin Liz told me I had to do a new one so that she could keep up with what I am doing. Here we go....

So a month and a half ago I moved to Pocatello, ID to start my new job with Syringa Wireless. I work in their customer care center. So yes it is back to a phone job for me. I don't mind and I get to actually have my own desk and my own area. I deal mostly with texting issues and voice mail issues. Some days I feel like I live at work, but over all I enjoy it quite a bit. They let me do my own thing and just do what I do.

For about two weeks I was living with Emily's family. For those who don't know about Emily, we met last year working for the Bar J and cleaning rooms in Jackson. We have kept in contact and are as close as you can get without being related. Her dad and step mom were gracious enough to let me stay with them while we waited for our move in date for our apartment. While there I relized how much I really don't like the really tall ugly poodles. There are two of them that inhabit their home and they rule the roost. It was nice having dogs, but they were too high strung. I am used to labs that are well behaved and very lovable.

On August 19 we got to move into our new apartment! I was so excited to have my own kitchen and my own space again. I now live at Bengal Creek apartments and I love them. I have my own private room. There are six rooms and we have a huge kitchen, pantry, and living room. There are two bathrooms and then two very large vanities that are awesome. You can fit my last two apartments comfortably inside of this one. I enjoy living there and it is nice to be able to go home and have my own space.

Three weeks ago I woke Emily up in the middle of the night because I had another kidney stone. Luckly our neighbors are LDS and one of them was able to give me a blessing and he had a pain pill I was able to take and it helped me out a ton. The next day I had to go into the doctor because I ended up with a UTI. Not fun! I went into a urologist yesterday so that we can see why I have been having so many kidney stones. (We did the math and in the last 3 1/2 years I have had 5 kidney stones!) I have some tests that I am doing over the weekend and then the doctor will look at the results and hopefully we can figure out what I need to change in my diet so that I don't get them as often. I had my Grandma and Grandpa Hill come with me, because I can never think of questions to ask the doctor and Grandma is a pro at that! It was good to spend some time with them. I am going to miss them so much when they go to Arizona for the winter, but hopefully I will get some time off at Christmas so I can go and visit!

Two weeks ago my Great Grandma Hill passed away. We had her funeral and I got to see a lot of my family that I hadn't seen in quite a while. One of the things that I inherited is her piano. I was excited to find out that my apartment was big enough and my roommates were all fine with having a piano in our apartment. So I have it and I play it quite regularly.

Last week was State Fair week for our family. So when I wasn't at work at my job I was in Blackfoot working for my dad. It was fun to work with him and get to see all that there was at the fair. He did fairly well this year, better than we thought he would so all is going great and he has lots of orders to keep him busy for a while.

I am excited today. I am going on my first date with some one besides my ex boyfriend Brandon since March! I guess we are going out to dinner and then going bowling. His name is Ian and I will try and keep every one posted on how that goes.

Other than that not much is going on. I feel like all I do is work! Suprize suprize! I inherited that gene as well!

Moving again!

So after spending the last couple of months in Jackson Hole having fun and working like crazy I am moving again. I had been feeling like I needed to be moving on. So I put in my resume at several locations in Pocatello. I started doing that on Wednesday and by Thursday one of the companies called me and set up an interview for this Tuesday. So Tuesday I made a trip to Pocatello on Tuesday and interviewed for Syringa Wireless. I was offered a job there yesterday, so right now I'm just looking at apartments in Pocatello. I am excited about this job, they offered me more than I expected and I get health benefits as well. I think this will be a good change for me and i am excited to start this new chapter in my life.

Back at the Bar J!

So I am now at the Bar J again for the summer. I love it in Wyoming! It beats Utah any day. I am living in my ghetto fabulous 1978 Rancho El Rey trailer and am loving every minute of it. I moved over there on Thursday and that night I went to go and check my schedule so I would know what I was working on Friday and I ended up scrubbing the ovens because they hadn't been cleaned out after a caterer came in. I love being back at work! Being laid off sucks! I enjoy knowing that there is some where I have to be and that I have responsibilites to a company again.
That is not the only good news. My little brother, who is actually quite a bit taller than I am, got back from his mission on May 15. It has been weird having him home since he has been in Korea for two years. He talks a little funny and does weird things like refuse to wear shoes on the carpet. He started back to work today, so life is going good for him as well.
I am so glad to be back in the campground. We have quite the little community out there. We have two older couples and then a couple of guys who are cousins, and me in our campground and Maggie and Ky are in the other campground. It is so much fun and we do a lot of stuff together when we are not at work. I can't wait to be able to get back to the branch and see who is back this year. I had to work this Sunday so I was not able to go to church. I hate working on Sunday's but I am supposed to have them off from now on.
Any ways, I won't be on much because I have to borrow internet from people and I don't want to feel like a mooch off of any one. I will try and keep every one updated as much as possible as well as putting up pictures if I can ever find my camera.

Sack Lunches

Okay, so I posted this story last year, but decided to do it again. I can't tell you how much it means to me to see what great people still are there in the world. I also want to do this to honor those serving in the military, they sacrifice so much for our freedom and we all should be doing just a little bit more to thank them for what they do for all of us.

The Sack Lunches
>
>
> I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down
> in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight.
> 'I'm glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I
> will get a short nap,' I thought.
>
>
> Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the
> aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding
> me. I decided to start a conversation. 'Where are you
> headed?' I asked the soldier seated nearest to me.
>
>
> 'Chicago - to Great Lakes Base. We'll be there for
> two weeks for special training, and then we're being
> deployed to Iraq '
>
> After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made
> that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would
> be several hours before we reached Chicago, and I quickly
> decided a lunch would help pass the time.
>
> As I reached for my wallet, I overheard soldier ask his
> buddy if he planned to buy lunch. 'No, that seems like
> a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn't
> be worth five bucks. I'll wait till we get to Chicago
> '
>
> His friend agreed.
>
> I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying
> lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the
> flight attendant a fifty dollar bill. 'Take a lunch to
> all those soldiers.' She grabbed my arms and squeezed
> tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. 'My
> son was a soldier in Iraq; it's almost like you are
> doing it for him.'
>
> Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the
> soldiers were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked,
> 'Which do you like best - beef or chicken?'
>
> 'Chicken,' I replied, wondering why she asked. She
> turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute
> later with a dinner plate from first class. 'This is
> your thanks.'
>
> After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the
> plane, heading for the rest room. A man stopped me. 'I
> saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take
> this.' He handed me twenty-five dollars.
>
> Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain
> coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he
> walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but noticed he
> was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane.
> When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand,
> an said, 'I want to shake your hand.'
>
> Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood and took the
> Captain's hand. With a booming voice he said, 'I
> was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone
> bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never
> forgot.' I was embarrassed when applause was heard from
> all of the passengers.
>
> Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch
> my legs. A man who was seated about six rows in front of me
> reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left
> another twenty-five dollars in my palm.
>
> When we landed in Chicago I gathered my belongings and
> started to deplane. Waiting just inside the airplane door
> was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket,
> turned, and walked away without saying a word. Another
> twenty-five dollars!
>
> Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering
> for their trip to the base. I walked over to them and
> handed them seventy-five dollars. 'It will take you
> some time to reach the base. It will be about time for a
> sandwich. God Bless You.'
>
> Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect
> of their fellow travelers. As I walked briskly to my car, I
> whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers
> were giving their all for our country. I could only give
> them a couple of meals.
>
> It seemed so little...
>
>
>
>
>
> A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life wrote a
> blank check Made payable to 'The United States of
> America ' for an amount of 'up to and including my
> life.' That is Honor, and there are way too many people
> in This country who no longer understand it.'

Update

I have been busy getting everything ready to go for the summer. I have finally gotten my trailer all cleaned out and ready to load up with my stuff. It is amazing what kinds of junk your cousins leave when they don't really care about the trailer. Then again, that was the weekend that Cody got busted so I think other things were on his mind then. I will be living in my trailer for at least three months. It is so ghetto fabulous. It was new in 1972 when my great grandparents purchased it. For being that old it is actually in great condition. I don't know if I am going to have a roommate yet. My boss hasn't called to confirm it yet. If I do have a roommate I hope they don't mind the rules that I will have. No drinking, no smoking, no one over past 11 pm. I am going to attempt to have more fun this summer. Last summer was a lot of fun, but I want to be able to go out more and spend more time on the river this summer.
While gearing up to leave home again I am also gearing up to welcome my brother home. He will be returning from the Korea Seoul West mission on May 15. He will report his mission on May 17 at 9:30 am in the Parker church building in Parker, ID. We are getting so excited at our house for this home coming. It has been weird not seeing him. Having your only sibling gone for over two years. The time has flown by, but it will be nice to have him home. I also think that will take some of the attention off of my moving away again. Grandma has a hard time every time I leave to go on a new adventure. It will be nice to have her a little distracted.
I got to meet my new little cousin on Sunday. My cousin Brandi and her husband Tyler had a baby girl named Chloe and I got to see her for the first time at a little get together at Granny and Papa's house. For those who don't know, Grandma and Grandpa are my mom's parents and Granny and Papa are my dad's parents. Growing up I had tons of grandparents because all but two of my great grandparents were alive till I was 12. So that is why we have to call them different names, we just had a ton of grandparents.
We have been taking my Great-grandma Vae to church with us. She cracks me up. She likes to be about fifteen minutes early to church and then as soon as Sacrament meeting is over she wants to go home. So I get to skip at least part of Sunday School to take her home and have a chat every Sunday that I am in town. She cracks me up. She gets around pretty good for someone who is 91. I spent most of my summers with her and Grandpa Irvin. Dylan and I really enjoyed spending every day with them and helping make brownies and cookies and helping Grandpa with the gardening.
As to my love life things have been turning up. I have been going on dates with a nice guy for once. He is a newly returned missionary who is still kind of afraid of girls, which makes him absolutely confusing! So we will just have to see how things go, but don't expect any announcements any time soon. I am still not quite ready to give up my independance to settle down quite yet.
Well, I've got to go and start dinner. Hope every one is having a wonderful day!
Ashley

5 Things Tag

5 things I was doing 5 years ago:

1. Finishing my first year at college
2. Getting ready to move to Lake Tahoe, NV
3. Finding an apartment for my first year at BYU-I
4. Saying goodbye to all of my friends in Montana
5. Figuring out what to major in

5 things on my to-do list for today:
1. Laundry
2. Making a Wal-Mart run
3. Finish my personal statement for grad school application
4. Call to get some letters of recommendation
5. Figure out what I need to do to my trailer for the summer

5 things I would do with a million dollars:
1. Pay tithing
2. Pay off student loan and other debts
3. Buy a new car
4. Get a few new clothes
5. Put the rest in savings

5 places I have lived:
1. St. Anthony, ID
2. West Jordan, UT
3. Incline Village, NV
4. Jackson Hole, WY
5. Helena, MT

5 jobs I've held:
1. Telemarketer
2. Market Researcher
3. Ranch Hand at the Ponderosa Ranch where Bonanza was filmed
4. Melaleuca Associate
5. Bar J Chuckwagon person, I do a little bit of everything for them

5 things I want to be doing in 5 years:
1. Done with grad school and in an actual career!
2. Possibly finally be married (we'll see on that one)
3. Dancing
4. Own my own home
5. Finally be settled down

5 people I tag:
1. Sherry
2. SarahLynn
3. Kathryn
4. Megan
5. Lindsay

Headed to Idaho

So a lot of stuff has been happening this week. At work on Tuesday we had employee evaluations and I had a good chat with one of the therapists, then after that my supervisor let me know that my position was being eliminated and that my last day would be Friday. It came as a huge shock, mostly because they had not said any thing about closing down the home I worked in. So after processing for a couple of minutes I had to go back and work with the kids and not let them know anything. The kids didn't even find out until yesterday what was going on. I had a hard time at first, I have only been laid off once before in my entire life, so this was hard for me.
After talking to my parents, and praying a lot, I decided that my best bet would be to move home and see where life takes me from there. So on next Friday, March 13, I will be moving back to Idaho. I am actually really excited to move back home, mostly because I really am not that fond of Utah. The things that I will miss the most are the new friends that I have made and my institute class. I was a class representative and so it is really hard to just have to walk away from it, but hopefully I will be able to get enrolled in a class back home.
So now for the good news. I have a job, for the summer at least. I called up my old boss out at the Bar J and they said that I had a job waiting for me starting Memorial Day weekend. I am super excited for this, I loved working out at the Bar J, and the person who caused most of the drama last year will not be coming back this year. In fact, I will be living in her spot at the camp site. Dad and I get to fix up my grandparent's old trailer from the 70s and that will be my home from May till October. I don't mind living in such a small space, I handled it fairly well last year and I am excited to see how the summer goes.

This is me and my favorite person at the Bar J,
Donny!

Plus, I get to be home when Dylan gets home from his mission. His release date is May 15, so we will have about a week together and then I take off. Luckily Jackson is only about an hour and a half from home, so I will get to go home quite a bit and visit everyone.
I am also applying for grad school at Idaho State University. They have the exact same program as the one I was looking at at Boise State and it is about $2000 cheaper than if I went to Boise. So cross your fingers and pray that I get accepted.
All in all I am actually really happy to be going home. I didn't even cry at my last night working with the girls last night. I will really miss some of them, but for the most part, I will be glad going back to working with adults and not having to baby sit people with extreme issues. So wish me luck on my last week in Utah, and I will be seeing all of my Idaho friends again in about a week!

This is one of my favorite pictures I took last summer from the top of Snow King.

Another Day

So my girls lost their game to go to state, so our season is done. It is kind of bitter sweet. I got to spend a lot of time with them and got to know so many of them better than I ever knew I would. Then again, there was a ton of drama that happened during the season that I will be glad not to have to deal with any more. But unfortunately the drama does follow me to the rest of my job.
It is hard to watch these kids make these mistakes and think that they don't have to deal with the consequences for their actions. It is my new perspective to help them realize that what they do now really will effect them forever and that they need to think before they act. It is a hard lesson to teach, and an even harder one to learn. This makes me even more greatful for the way my parents raised me and my brother. We aren't perfect, but we are a family who loves each other and we are able to talk to each other and respect one another. We love each other for who each person is and we are all okay with that. This job reminds me of how much my family means to me and how much I am glad to have the family that I have.

More Basket Ball

So we are headed to Green River, UT this week to play in the cross over game to see if we make it to the state tournament. This trip will be about three hours away and we get to take a bus full of girls excited to get the day off of school to get there. The game I am excited about, the bus trip, not so much. This will be a lot of fun for the girls but kinda stressful for the coaches. If we win on Tuesday then we will play in the state tournament on Wednesday in Richfield, which is three hours in the opposite direction. The state tournament is a double elimination tournament and we have the possibility of staying all the way through Saturday. Pretty crazy if you ask me. All I know is that I am headed home next weekend for a few days out of Utah. I have really decided that I don't want to live in this state on any kind of permanent basis. I just don't like it here.
So I am apply for grad school at Boise State and University of Utah and hope that I can at least get in and get working on my masters so I can have a little bit better job in the long run. Wish me luck!

Almost Over

So this is the last week for our regular schedule for our basket ball team. While it will be sad not to see all of my girls as much, it is time for our season to be over. Four months is a long time to have practices and games. Plus now I will be able to get a second job, which will definitely help with the paying back of student loans issue.
I am really excited, this week I get to go to the Draper Temple Open House with my friend John. I am way excited, the last open house I went to was the Rexburg one over a year ago. It is always an exciting thing to be able to go with others to see the temple and know that in just a short time they will be used to help those who cannot help themselves.
I am also taking an institute class on the teachings of the living prophets. I love getting to learn more about our apostles and prophet and learn more of their teachings for us. I took the same class back at BYU-Idaho, but we have some new apostles since then, and it is always fun to read their talks to us after each conference. My conference issue of the Ensign is always marked up and all written on because that is the best way I have found to record my feelings and the inspiration that I get when I read the talks.
Another fun thing coming up is that I get to go home in two weeks! I am so excited! I would have to say that I really don't like living in Utah very much, the water and air stink and the drivers are crazy! So I enjoy getting to go home and see my family and hopefully some of my friendsthat are still there. I am very excited to get to go home, if you couldn't tell. I enjoy getting to spend some time back in Idaho, land of the potatoes. So soon I will be back there.
Another tid bit of info, I am applying to graduate school for political science. I am applying at the University of Utah and Boise State. I hope I get in to at least one of them and at this point I would enjoy going home to Idaho and going to school in Boise. That way I can at least I can see my mom more often when she comes over for meetings. I am excited to get back into politics. I have missed them a lot and I am looking forward to working with the state level of government. I don't think I would like living back east very much and local government is a little too mundane for my likings. So wish me luck on this new adventure!

Loving Coaching

So the last few months have been occupied with coaching a 1A girls basket ball team that is associated with Westridge Academy where I work. At first they didn't win any games, but had a great attitude about everything. They learn the plays and have finally started to execute them to the point where we can adjust our defence to meet the strengths of the teams we play against. Finally two weeks ago our hard work paid off. They are on a winning streak! If they win their game tonight we are almost guaranteed second in our region, which means we go to the state tournament. This is very exciting because this is the first year this group of girls has played together.
Because of the nature of our program, the kids generally are only here 10 months, with a few exceptions. Because of this they are generally not here more than one season for any sport. We were lucky to get a group of girls who are able to learn the plays and listen to the coaches and then go and execute what we ask them to on the floor. It is so much fun to see them finally learning the plays and finally making their shots.
Another great thing about this program is they have a huge resource in our athletic director. He is none other than Shawn Bradley who used to play for the Utah Jazz and the Dallas Mavericks. For any who remember, I had a huge crush on him in high school and college. It has been so much fun working with him and getting to learn some of his great knowledge of the game of basket ball. I promise pictures will come shortly, mostly because my brother Dylan wants to see how short I look next to all 7'6" of Shawn. As if I'm not short enough already!
So wish us luck tonight and in our next five games and hopefully I will be coaching a team that is going to the Utah State Championships!