the one we'd all been waiting for

Kristina and Jeremy finally tied the knot January 29. It was a really nice day. As far as I know everything turned out great. They both looked so happy and excited that it rubbed off on everyone else. It was also really fun to be back in the sealing room where Jared and I were married. It brought back such fond memories.

Of course the weekend was full of family fun and I even got to be right in the middle of a Layton vs Keegan throwdown. No one was hurt but I think everyone had tears of laughter streaming down their faces. Its times like these that I realize just how much I miss my family.

another wellness expo

This semester's wellness expo was huge. Over 600 people participated. That's a lot of checking fat levels and blood pressure. I stood there for 6 hours saying the same thing over and over until my boss sent me over to power the music by riding a bike for a little while. I'd rather repeat myself all day. It was fun and not too bad because I got some free samples and I was being paid to do it. But I was very glad to go home and get off my feet. Until next semester...


After attending USU for 5 years I finally got my picture taken with Big Blue. I'd have to say we're best friends now.

rosette kissing balls

I was in need of a new table centerpiece to match the season so I roped my friend MacKenzie into helping me. She gave me the idea and some company while I put this one together. The rosette balls are made from crepe paper and it took forever to make all of those little roses. It did give me something more productive to do. I just turned on an episode of something and starting crafting. Eight hours later I was finished. (I did break it up on several different days) I think it turned out better than I expected.

the holidays

Our very first Christmas as a married couple was great. We went to Durango, Colorado to spend it with the Ash family. Kim and Michael were there with their two girls Averi and Sienna. Having kids around always makes Christmas better. Jared wasn't able to get work off until Christmas eve, meaning we drove for 8 hours that day to get there in time. Christmas morning we woke up early to open all the presents. We got a lot of really great stuff (thanks Randy and Tammie). After presents it was time for breakfast and I was very pleasantly surprised to find that Tammie had made gooey rolls just to make me feel more at home. All that was missing was the orange julius, but it was still amazing without it. The rest of the week in Colorado was full of movies and relaxing. It was perfect. We even took Grandpa Dustin out to lunch for his birthday and so now I have been in New Mexico. One more state to cross off. And Colorado lived up to its snow hype. After the first few days with very little snow, it dumped. We woke up one morning and it was time to get out the shovels.
For New Year's we drove back to SLC to spend the evening playing at the salt palace. But with the extremely cold temperatures and tired little girls we avoided the outside and did as much as we could inside. There was a room full of balls to throw around, a room of blow-up activities, and then the planetarium down at the Gateway. We got some hot chocolate and cider and eventually ended up in the hotel waiting for it to be midnight. It was a lot of fun to hang out and make fun of celebrities that were on the tv. At midnight we all gathered in Randy and Tammie's room for fireworks only to find out we were on the wrong side of the building. Oh well, we watched them on tv.
It was an amazing week with the family and now we have to get back to real life.

*We actually made a nice Christmas video with a lot more pictures but it would not load to blogger in any format we tried so if you're curious you can go to Jared's MobileMe account to see it. http://gallery.me.com/jaredash#gallery

early Christmas

Jared and I decided that we couldn't take all of our gifts to Durango with us so we had an early celebration. On Sunday we watched the Bingham Christmas movies and opened most of our presents. (I convinced Jared to save a couple for Christmas morning). We got some great gifts from my parents including most of the Lego Harry Potter sets. We've already built the Hogwarts train and will be moving on to the castle soon. It was a lot of fun opening gifts from each other and trying to guess what was inside. Hopefully Jared hasn't figured out his remaining presents. I have a few surprises up my sleeve. We leave for Colorado tomorrow to start all the Ash Christmas festivities.

the lights

Jared and I really wanted to see the lights at Temple Square this year but he has had to work late every night but Sundays lately. So when my family said they were coming through on a Tuesday to see them I just couldn't pass it up even if Jared couldn't go. We stayed at the Radisson near Temple Square. After walking out to eat at PF Changs we made our way back and checked out the lights. The lights were beautiful as always. Keegan was much more interested in the "train" or the water but Layton liked it for a little while. To keep them all in good spirits we had to promise swimming when we returned to the hotel. Those little fish loved going to the pool and as usual Layton didn't get out until he was shivering. Looks like we'll be swimming a lot in Mexico.


Layton seemed happy to see me, whenever I could steal him away from Dad.


I taught him how to say "expelliarmus" like a true wizard.

no more school

The semester is over and we could not be happier. It is such a relief to have one more chunk of school under our belts. It wasn't exactly a fun semester for us but we both passed all our classes and will be moving on to bigger things. Now our free time can be spent playing the uke and watching YouTube. We may need to find a more intellectually stimulating outlet for the next three weeks. Or we'll just conquer Angry Birds.