baby blue



Benjamin Blue Ashby, you made my heart grow today.

All six pounds, eleven ounces and nineteen and a half inches of you.

 

twenty | five

**small confession: i wrote this post a few days ago during a slow afternoon at work, and am just now getting around to posting. busy, busy!**

my dear little sister tagged me to post 25 things you maybe didn't already know about me. and you, dear little sister, must not know my blog very well, because i've got a whole tab with these things already! AND even thought I just did this in that instagram plague, and even though i've shared them in said tab, i will comply, firstly, because i am having a dull afternoon at work, secondly, because maybe i enjoy reading little known things about other people, and i like thinking about these things about myself and i'm also a little vain sometimes and enjoy writing about myself, and lastly, because it's my blog and i can cry join weird blog tag games if i want to. i won't "tag" anybody though. but if you want to join in you can say i tagged you. because i'll want to read it if you do. okay anyway... here we go:

1. i sincerely love my job. i've been here for 6 months and time has gone by so fast. i worked as a legal assistant for about this long, and if felt like i had been imprisoned for years and every single day dragged. at this job, time moves so fast. i feel so productive, i work with amazing people and i love every bit of it. i'll be here forever. i just with my title was something more important-sounding than "receptionist" because i do a whoooole lot. or maybe i just always had the wrong idea about what receptionist really meant. i'm a busy-bee.

2. my favorite movie is "The Town", which is strange because it's a crime/drama/thriller and my first choice for movies is always romantic comedy. always. but i love it. Ben Affleck is the trifecta of genius for this film.

3. i'm pretty sure i've had at least one cavity on every single tooth. i've been told i have "weak enamel". i also hate flossing. i'll be 30 years old with dentures, i swear. 

4. i'm 21 and a half and have yet to dye my hair, but plan to some time this year.

5. i stopped going to school the semester before devin and i got engaged. i'm working full time, so is he, and he is going to school full time as well. sometimes i feel guilty or judged for not getting a degree or furthering my education, but my ultimate goal is to be supermom. i feel a little old fashioned, but there is nothing in the world that interests me more than raising a family. 

6. i danced for 12 years, which seems like a lot and sounds impressive, but it was from ages 3-15, so i wasn't very talented. i think about dancing again sometimes though.

7. i like typing. my typing speed averages 94 words per minute.

8. my partner and i were the #1 JV doubles team in tennis my senior year of high school, but we never won a match. we weren't good, but it was a lot of fun to play.

9. i discovered earlier this week that i have classically conditioned myself to fall asleep to an episode of the office (or how i met your mother) and i can't fall asleep without it. (we were updating our apple tv and it was taking forever so we just decided to go to sleep without watching anything and were both tossing and turning past midnight. we turned the tv back on and noticed the update was finished, turned on an episode, and it worked like a charm. i was so tired the next day though.)

10. i wish i could sing like sara bareilles. i think she has the prettiest voice.

11. i am a diet coke convert, but it probably only took me 64oz to become completely addicted.

12. because of the work i did as a legal assistant, i know how to read and interpret medical records and shorthand

13. i didn't know what asprin was for until i married my husband. now i prefer it over advil.

14. my favorite kind of ice cream is soft-serve.

15. i have an obsessive need to keep my car volume and temperature on even numbers. never, ever odd.

16. i'm also pretty OCD about locking my car. if i don't hear it honk (it honks when it locks) twice, i'm sure it's not locked enough...

17. the greatest thing i ever did was marry my sweet husband. the second greatest thing i ever did was move out of utah valley with him.

18. i secretly wish i was an outfit post - worthy blogger. and dresser. because i seriously suck at dressing myself. i wear virtually the same thing ever day. i wouldn't say i'm not stylish, i'm just not broad enough. i'm not risky enough. i don't really go out of my comfort zone with clothes. i wear what's comfortable and looks good. i could probably find a gold mine in my closet if i tried harder though... maybe 2013 will include outfit posts if i get brave? and if i suck up enough courage to convince my photographer husband to have an awkward little photoshoot with me. 

19. #18 was sparked by the fact that i've spent my entire afternoon at work going through daybook blog archives... sydney's the cutest ever.

20. i cut my bangs just after thanksgiving (2 months ago) and i'm already growing them back out. it was fun for awhile, but i'm done. ha!

21. i drink a cup of hot chocolate every single morning.

22. i prefer camping over staying in hotels most of the time.

23. i want to write a book. i have no idea what i want to write about, but i love writing. i want to publish it!

24. i've got a massive weakness for forever 21 jewelry and nail polish. it's never-ending. so cheap. and so cute. and so easily broken.

25. i would rather have diet coke on tap than in the can or bottle. it's fresher. and better. 

this morning

when i woke up this morning, my kitchen was filled with the most beautiful natural light. and birds were chirping. birds were chirping. i don't remember the last time i heard that sound. the sun was out! it was gorgeous and springy and made me smile.

but i still had to take a scalding hot shower to get warm.

so i knew it was too good to be true.

but at least i know spring is on it's way.

a good morning song here.

10 weekend facts

1] olive garden's chicken parmigiana makes an excellent breakfast the morning after date night.

2] to change your life:

     step 1: go to costco. buy a $16 fuzzy blanket (you'll know it when you feel it)

     step 2: put it in the dryer by itself for at least 5 minutes.

     step 3: pull it out of the dryer quickly and run to bed as fast as you can so it doesn't lose any heat

     step 4: wrap yourself up in your warm fuzzy, in your cozy bed and get comfy

     step 5: die of relaxation (because it's seriously that amazing)

3] i don't know why it's taken me the whole 4 years that i've had this blog to start telling old stories, too, and not just what's going on right now (stay tuned for hilarious and awesome stories of my past)

4] even when he's not feeling good, a little loopy, and post-op - my pup is still a sweet one. he's been so snugly (i just barely learned, just now, that this is how you spell snugly) and cute all weekend long. he's all puppy eyes all the time. 

5] my baby nephew didn't come, even though i hoped and hoped and crossed all my fingers that he might! 

6] i need to be more patient (see above fact.)

7] as of today, for the first time in his life, cooper has had a stuffed toy last longer than 5 days (today is day 7, but this one will probably be in the garbage tomorrow...)

8] pinterest is fun again

9] my new vine account will probably consist solely of videos of my dog. followers beware.

10] i think i may try lipstick...

fog

Utah seems to be having an identity crisis lately. It started with several weeks straight of below freezing temperatures... without any snowfall. Next came a morning of freezing rain. Which I have never seen in Utah in my entire lifetime. It was a rare sight! I had to pull over mid-commute and scrape my windows! And now, the weather has settled with this dense, thick fog that draped the wasatch front last night and has only gotten worse. Devin was fortunate enough to spend this afternoon at the OR show, and I was getting a little sick of laying around the house so I took Cooper on a walk to give him a little exercise.

^ there's a neighborhood back there...

The fog was intense. I got lost twice! After about an hour of walking around, we finally happened upon our own backyard and came back inside. I was still a little stir-crazy and decided our next adventure would be a drive. Living in an unfamiliar city has the perk of fun and aimless drives. I love looking at houses and thought today would be the perfect day to finally find my way to the Up House, which I had been wanting to do since I found out it was in Herriman, and could see it from the [one and only] main road in town. Once I got from our street down into town, I laughed at myself. I could barely see the car in front of me, let alone find a house I had only seen from a distance as I passed by! I made a prompt left turn, right into Mcdonald's for a diet coke and went straight back home. Now cooper and I are back in bed, chugging diet coke for me, sleeping for him (that surgery must have really wiped him out! he's sleeping as much as he did when he was a baby!), and endless episodes of my newest guilty pleasure, Gossip Girl (I know, I'm awful!). Hopefully Devin will be home soon, but in the meantime, Coop and I will just keep our stink faces on.

[adorable hat knitted (is that a word?) for me by my long lost best friend, Kylee's mother. she's got a talent!]

manhoodlessness

because that's nicer than saying we cut off his [ahem's], right?

devin took cooper to the vet Friday morning at about 7:30a.m. and just before 10:00, we got a call saying the surgery was over and everything went well. we could come pick him up any time after 2:00, so he could spend some time in recovery.

i was at work twiddling my thumbs all morning, and devin woke up sick so he decided to take the day off from route setting. i couldn't get off work until 2:30, but when I did, I drove straight home to pick up devin and we headed to the vet's office. they went over his recovery care with us and explained his medication and then we waited for them to bring him out. it seemed like it took forever! we probably only waited for about 3 minutes. when he came out, the first thing i noticed was that he was walking a little funny (go figure) and that he looked really confused. he recognized us and came up to us right away, but it seemed like he didn't really know who we were, just that it was something he was familiar with. during the drive home, it got more and more obvious how out of it he was.

he had drool dried all over one side of his face, an unknown spot of dried up green something on one paw, and a giraffe bandage on one arm from where the IV was. he seemed like he was feeling fine, just still a little groggy from the anesthesia, which i expected. he did lots and lots of staring. he kept staring at his giraffe bandage like "what is that?!" it was so funny! once we got home, he started to try to lick at his stitches, so we put the cone on. he immediately stiffened up and wouldn't move. he just stood there, perfectly still for a good 10 minutes.

we finally coaxed him onto the couch with us and he tried so hard to stay awake. he kept nodding his head and rocking a little bit and finally went to sleep, so i took the cone off. when devin left to grab some dinner, i decided to put the cone back on so i wouldn't have to battle him and watch his every move and he did the same thing: just held perfectly still. he acts like he's stuck and can't move. he absolutely hates it! he looks so angry and annoyed. i think it's partly because of the anesthesia still though. he is still pretty out of it, but the second i pulled out his elephant toy, he cheered right up! i think we'll have our cooper back sooner than we think, but i also think he'll have to be in the cone until his stitches are totally healed because they are clearly driving him crazy and i can't really blame him!

we took off the giraffe bandage on his arm where the IV was and noticed they shaved a pretty big patch on his arm and as soon as we took off the bandage he started licking it like crazy. it seems like it's bothering him more than the stitches right now. they also shaved a spot just above his paw on the back of his wrist on the other arm, probably for a heart monitor? my poor puppy haha he is so confused and annoyed and sleepy. i'm glad we were able to get the surgery done on the weekend so we can be with him for these first few days while he's dealing with it all. i'm already anxious to have my puppy back to normal!

while we were at the vet's office, cooper's dr, Dr Hammond came out and saw us and said "was that your little critter we had back there today? he's gotten big!" little critter. ha. love it! the vet tech also put a note on the bottom of the recovery sheet instructions that says "cooper is a very nice puppy!" that made my glad because devin said that on monday when he took him in for the blood work, they had to muzzle him because he's been nippy to the vet techs before. we also got him microchipped today!

here's hoping to a quick recovery for my little trooper!

Ski Day

Devin's wonderful boss and dear friend Jeff gifted us some day passes to Deer Valley a few weeks ago. As soon as Devin told me about them, we both knew exactly what it meant: a ski day with Brandon! Brandon, Devin's brother, works as a chef for a restaurant at Deer Valley called The Stagg, and as an employee, skis at Deer Valley for free, and very often. We will probably never get another chance to ski at Deer Valley because a) it's pretty much a country club, so b) it's unrealistically expensive. Neither of us had ever skied there before. 

And it wasn't until the night before that it occurred to me that we had scheduled our ski day for the same weekend as the Sundance Film Festival. Which means, that even if we didn't see anybody (everyone is clad in layers and goggles or glasses), chances are we were skiing among celebrities all day long - which is also pretty cool. I did see a man who looked an awful lot like Ben Affleck, so I'm counting it. 

Anyway... the weather in the valley and even up on the bench where we live in Herriman has been so awful. The air quality is the worst in the world right now and the inversion is probably a huge cause for how sick we've all been lately. Not to mention the average temperature hovering around 10 degrees every day for the last... month. That being said, my first concern was being warm and staying that way for an entire day outside on the slopes, especially since I am just now getting better from being so sick last weekend.

Friday night, when Devin got home from work, he came bearing gifts! He had gone to REI and scored on their clearance section and got me some much needed ski pants and an awesome hard shell / rain jacket I had been eyeing on backcountry.com for some time. He prides himself in the fact that he can shop for me by himself and know exactly what I'd like. And it's true, he's a pro. 

We woke up bright and early Saturday morning and dressed in layers upon layers! I had on an undershirt, a long sleeve shirt, a fleece jacket, an 800 fill (really warm and puffy) down jacket, and my hardshell. Plus, leggings, ski pants, really thick wool socks, and a fleece lined wool hat! Needless to say, I never once got cold all day! Devin's layers were basically the same, and we all stayed really warm, thankfully! 

We drove up to Kamas to Brandon's house and dropped Cooper off there to stay with Koda and Riley and we took off for the resort. Brandon's roommate Tom came along, too. 

When we got the resort, the skies were blue, the air was clear, and it was about 30 degrees! It was like a heat wave compared to the valley! We were so happy and it felt good to spend some time outside without the inversion. Deer Valley is massive compared to most of the resorts I've been to (which isn't too many). We skied from one end of the resort to the other and spent over 5 hours on the mountain! We did tons of runs and I ate it pretty bad twice (snow down your shirt mid-somersault, anyone? brrr!) - I guess that's what happens when you wait until the middle of January to get back on skis when you haven't been since March! But we did a pretty steep and long black diamond run and both Devin and I conquered that thing. I was happy with myself and so impressed with Devin's talent. He's such a natural! We rode in the fancy gondola just before our last run, and headed back to Kamas for some dinner before our legs fell off.

Dinner was a whole other event. Rewind: before we left, I asked Devin about 10 times if he thought I needed to bring my wallet for any reason. Or if I just needed my ID and he said no to both. That I probably wouldn't need it. So I didn't bring it. Which is ironic because we decided to have dinner in a bar that is known for their burgers. We went to The Notch in Kamas, and Brandon had told us this place is just like Cheers for him because everyone knows his name - he was right - he's a regular, ha! When we walked in, the woman asked to scan my ID. I told her I didn't have it, but I was, in fact, 21, and I didn't plan on ordering any drinks anyway. She said she couldn't have me in there. Devin said "she's married to me" and Brandon said "she's my sister, I promise she's 21" and Tom said "you can scan my ID twice if you want". She decided that she trusted Brandon enough to not lie to her, so she let me stay and I ordered my Diet Coke and she called me "sweetie" all night - which I hate. This is the first time I had ever been anywhere that requires you to be 21 or older since I turned 21, so I already felt weird anyway. I felt like she was watching me like a hawk the whole time! Shoulda just brought my ID! Gah! Oh well. The burger was good and the nachos were better, and the Diet Coke was flat, but we had a good time! 

On our drive back home, we stopped at Dairy Keen for a shake. I got the s'mores shake. It tasted just like a s'more. Like, exactly like one. I downed it! Devin got raspberry. Then we drove through Provo Canyon instead of Parley's so we could say hi to Devin's family on our way home since Amanda was down with the kids again. 

It was a pretty spectacular day. I love skiing and I'm glad Devin does, too. And even though my legs feel like jello today, it was totally worth it. Totally.