Mother's Day

This year was my very first Mother's Day! Kenny and Wyatt really made me feel special that day and I am counting my blessings. I spent the morning snuggling my boys, then enjoyed some great talks at church, and spent the afternoon at a family BBQ. It was a simple day, but a great day! I only got one picture of our little family of three yesterday.  This sums up our life right now - doing our best to take a selfie and our 2 month old baby won't look at the camera (because honestly when DOES he cooperate to our crazy demands? :] ). We have bags under our eyes from being tired, but we are happy to be together!

I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a mother. I am looking forward to many more Mother's Days and seeing our family grow. I am sure that my role as a Mother will become even more sweet and special as the years go on, but I have to say, the first two months have been pretty dang awesome!

Our Furry Friend

Do you remember that one time that I said I would NEVER, ever, get a cat as a pet? Yeah, well I am eating my words. We got a cat a little over a week ago and we have fallen in love. We are two non-cat people that wanted something to take care of something.....so logically we bought a cat. Hah!

Meet Fitzsimmons. (Named after a musical artist Kenny and I both Love - William Fitzsimmons) We call this little guy Mr. Fitz. He is loving, playful, and the best little friend to have once you get home from work.

Life Lately...

Lately our life has been a lot of... 

Kenny talking politics & voting / Teaching those little rascals in primary / Taking walks in the cold / Waking up to snow / Warm food and drinks to keep me toasty / SNOW! 

I am just trying to take things one day at a time right now. I am not going to lie & say everything is rainbows and lollipops because to be really honest things have been pretty rough lately....BUT I am working on looking on the bright side. So today's bright side is a great husband, great in-laws, & fun winter weather. 

Can school just be over with already?! :] 

Random Provotian {Adventures}

Do you want to know a funny thing about Kenny? When we had been living in Provo for about a week he decided that it was necessary to come up with a term for all these Provo people around us. The term he so proudly coined was "Provotian." Well, we say it all the time now. One would use this word to describe something that the people of Provo do... "That is so Provotian." or it could be used to describe these crazy driving, walk across the street when I am driving near you, college kid kind of people..."There are so many Provotains on the street." You feel me?

Anyways...since we DO live in Provo, I guess you could even call us Provotian..although at times I am not so sure it is a compliment. :] Long story short, we have been up to some good ol' Provotian fun lately. Here is what we have been up to....

We have gone ethnic with our food intake. You don't realize how big of a deal this is!! Kenny dislikes Chinese food, and slowly but surely I have been changing his mind. (Muahahaha) A couple weekends ago we went on a date to a Chinese restaurant in town, and it was SO GOOD! I am glad that Kenny is changing his mind about some of my favorite foods.

We tortured ourselves by going to the humane society and looking at dogs. I say "torture" because we want a dog so bad, but we can not have one because of the apartment complex we live in. I am almost tempted to send emails of bribery to the landlord just so we can have a cute little 3rd member of the family in our house....however I am not so sure how that is gonna work.  Needless to say, despite the fact that we know we can not have a dog, we enjoy looking at and playing with them anyways.

We stopped to take pictures of the crazy rainbows in the land of Provotia. :] There was even a double rainbow!!! These rainbows occurred while I was waiting for Kenny to pick me up from campus one day; he said that everyone was pulling over and driving ridiculous because of it too. Not surprised. But I guess you could count me in the mix too because I took about 10 photos in the street just to capture this beauty!

We have been indulging in FREE ice cream. It is free because of a gift card my sister gave to us, and we were not complaining when she handed that bad boy over. Have you ever had rocky road ice cream from Coldstone?! It is my favorite! No really...it is my favorite. Although, I am always reminded of my lactose intolerance after I splurge on that dairy....but who cares?! It is dang good ice cream!! 

Moral of the story? We are having fun here in Provotia. :] And I do have to say that it is even more fun having my sister here! She must take after me, because she is a crack up.

Relaxation {Adventures}

Once we got back from Vegas we had two glorious weeks to enjoy before school starts again. (I say "we" because I would like to think that Kenny enjoys my time off as well :] ) In the two weeks I got a lot done, and boy did it feel great! I am actually pretty excited to start school on Monday! 

Here is what we were up to for the last 2 weeks...

Kenny brought back an amp from our Vegas trip. That means that more guitar time for Kenny.

Having the extra time, I was able to make some pretty legit dinners. I made Cuban food...legit right?! 

We had fun being silly. 

Kenny played guitar. A lot.

We went for drives and were "inspired" by YOLO graffiti. (YOLO means "You only live once" its a popular phrase these days) 

I cut myself making dinner. That's what I get for being so domestic! 

We hung out with siblings. ...and Kenny played more guitar.

Other things we did (that were not photographed) include: organizing our closet and all of our important papers (You should give me TWO high fives for this one, I have wanted to get this done for a while now), cleaning the house, celebrating Kenny's birthday with trips to guitar center and fabulous Mexican food, visits with family, attending fabulous fondu parties (thanks roommates for inviting us!), and of course there was some school preparation.

We have had a great two weeks. ...Now bring on the school!!!

Las Vegas {Adventures}

 

This weekend we took a road trip to Las Vegas to meet up with Kenny's parents. Vegas is the half way point between Provo and San Diego, so it was the perfect location for a weekend getaway for everyone. Summer semester ended on Thursday, and so we were itching to get away! We had a great time being with family and even some friends who happened to be in town!  One of our favorite things we did over the weekend, besides spending time with family, was going to a concert. A band that Kenny has been wanting to see perform just happened to be playing in Las Vegas the weekend we were there...AND the venue was just a few blocks from our hotel. It was meant to be!! We sure do love going to concerts! :]

We had a great weekend. Now, back to reality!! I have a two week break before Fall semester starts, and so I want make the most out of those two weeks. Here is to hoping that I am bouku productive!!

("Bouku" is a slang term that Kenny uses, I am trying it on for size lately :] )

Thoughts on Marriage

We have all heard it, "marriage is work." ....But it is true!! Marriage really is about work. Kenny and I work to make our marriage work.

• We work on our communication, because despite what I think sometimes, Kenny still can not read my mind. 
• We work to keep dating. I know that once we have kids, this habit will pay off. 
• We work on finding opportunities to serve each other and to say "thank you."
• We work on forgiving each other and being the first to say "I am sorry." 
• We work to try new things together and encouraging each other to reach new goals.
• We work on overcoming our weaknesses together. 

I know that this work pays off.  Now...if only I could get Kenny to read my mind. :]

Utah Lake {Adventures}

Kenny's parents were in town this last weekend and it was GREAT. One of the things that we love about having them in town is exploring and "playing tourist"- we always seem to wander around with no plans and see where it takes us. It only seemed right to swing by Utah Lake and see what it had to offer us (we had been talking about going since we moved here). We had a blast strolling along the sandy "beach" (that's what the signs called it, but I find no comparison to the beaches I love in San Diego ;] ) and enjoying the beautiful scenery of nature all around us. If there one thing you want to know about me it is that I love nature! Love love love it! Perfect weather, combined with beautiful nature, combined with people that I love, equals one really content Ashley. We had a great day, and it made me even more excited to get out and explore more nature this summer. I foresee a few hikes and picnics in the mountains in these upcoming months.

Going to the TEMPLE!

(Thank you Keri girl for the pictures!)

March 27, 2012 - One year exactly from the day Kenny got confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we went to the temple to receive our Endowments. Oh happy day! We have been talking about this day for what feels like forever. It was special for Kenny and I to share this moment together. After leaving the temple, Kenny and I discussed how grateful we are for temples, the sacred truths taught within their walls, and for a loving Heavenly Father who knows exactly what we need to return back to Him. We also felt blessed to be surrounded by such great family and friends supporting us & our decision to be there. Needless to say, it was a GREAT day!

The next big date in our future is April 19th - the day we make our marriage and our family FOREVER.  And that is going to be another BIG, GREAT, & WONDERFUL day for us!

Visitors!

Last weekend we had a great time with Kenny's parents. They had been planning this trip before we even moved to Utah land, and so we have been counting down the days till their arrival for quite some time now.  We had a great time with them! (Of Course!) We showed them around "our" town, we traveled to Salt Lake City and Park City and played tourist - checking out all of the sights. By far, my favorite thing we did was venture to Park City.

On the way up the canyon we stopped at the Olympic Park, something I never would have thought to stop at and explore. This is one of the sites for the winter olympic games in 2002. It was kind of fun to walk around and see all of the same things we saw on tv. They even had some luge races going on while we were up there. How many times in your life do you get to watch a luge race on an olympic track?! It was one of those "once and a lifetime" type of experiences. I am so glad we decided to go out of our way to see what Olympic Park had to explore.

Everything in Park City is so quaint and beautiful. We walked up and down main street, looking at all of the little shops and exploring all they had to offer us (which of course included eating chocolates at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and looking for little Utah license plates with the name "Phil" for my mother in-law). We stopped for lunch at a cute little cafe and they sat us right next to the window, we got a great view of the mountains and we even got to people watch. (That's my kind of lunch :] ) I can't believe the perfect weather that we had that day too! It was a little warm (for Utah standards) which was great weather for walking around, but once we went inside to get lunch it started to lightly snow. It was perfect! By the time we were done with lunch, it was done snowing and we were able to travel safely on the roads down the canyon.

We had a great time with our visitors and we can't wait until they come back! Although, I have a confession....I have been home sick ever since they left. I better find a way to get back to San Diego soon!

FHE - Museum of Art

Last night Kenny and I had a great FHE! We started out by reading "Living the Abundant Life" by President Thomas S. Monson. We decided that we were going to make that our mission statement for the year 2012 - to live life more abundantly. We will do that by "cultivating a positive attitude, believing that we can achieve our goals and resolutions, and having the courage to face whatever challenges may come our way. Then the abundant life will be ours." 


After we read the article we headed over to campus and went to the Museum of Art. Admission is FREE every day and so we thought we would take advantage of the opportunity to enjoy some art for the evening. We had a blast! I love being married to someone who enjoys the arts just as much as I do! Then after our artistic rendezvous we headed to "The Creamery on 9th" for some yummy yummy ice cream. You can't go wrong ending a great night with ice cream! 


FHE last night was a success! 

Unemployed

As of yesterday, at 3pm, I am officially unemployed. (For the time being)

I have spent the last year and a half working for the most amazing people, and so it was a very bitter sweet experience saying goodbye. This job has been a huge blessing in more ways than one. I will always feel that my time spent there was a part of divine intervention. I can see looking back on the experience that it was one of those situations where Heavenly Father picks you up and places you where you need to be. While at that job I was surrounded by people who truly understood how I felt and understood the many life changing experiences that I had during my time working there. My boss was my biggest supporter, she was with me every step of the way as I met, fell in love, and got married to Mr. Norton. She saw it from the very beginning!! I will always have a very special place in my heart for the time that I spent at Perfection Glass and I will always think of those people I worked with as family.

Today I feel blessed for the opportunities that Heavenly Father has given me - including the opportunity to work at such a wonderful place as Perfection Glass.

December {Adventures}

Life has been crazy busy in the Norton household!! In fact, it has been slightly overwhelming to try to juggle all that is on our plate this holiday season. This month we have been...

• Working our butts off!  ...no really...this month has been mainly dedicated to our intense work schedules, just this week Kenny got at least 10 hours of overtime! 
• Attending holiday parties! 
• Showing our apartment off to potential renters
• Sending petitions off to BYU 
• Christmas shopping
• Sending out our Christmas cards
• Planning for our move
• Visiting with family
• Teaching the sunbeams
• Watching Christmas movies
• Watching our Christmas tree slowly die (which I am very unhappy about, I suppose I jumped the gun on getting a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Lesson learned - do not buy a real Christmas tree until 2 weeks before Christmas OR go with a fake tree.) 

Life is good right now, but life is very busy. We knew this was going to be a very busy time for us, but I don't think I understood just how stressful and busy it was actually going to be. This week is our last week of work; I am hoping that after work is over, we will be able to relax just enough to enjoy the holidays and gear up for our big move to Utah. 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone - but for documentation sake, I am going to write about it. This blog is about documenting our married lives after all, isn't it?!

This year for Thanksgiving we spent it with Kenny's family. It was a small family gathering, but it felt so great to spend time with family. (I L-O-V-E my in-laws!) Last year we spent most of the time with my family, so it was only right to spend all of Thanksgiving day with the Norton family this year. Thanksgiving was simple, it consisted of yummy food, family, & football. Personally, I think thats all you need on this lovely holiday. I really wish I would have gotten some pictures of famliy together - but , alas, I did not. I am working on doing better of caputring memories through photographs - however I am still a work in progress.

ALSO - we were not totally deprived of a Vidal family Thanksgiving this year either. On the Monday after Thanksgiving we got together with my mother, my sibblings, and my wonderful grandparents and had a Thanksgiving dinner. Another day of yummy food, family, and football - believe it or not. It's kinda fun to have had the Thanksgiving celebration two days this year instead of just one.

As Kenny and I reminiced on Thanksgiving memories we realized that this is our last Thanksgiving holiday as residents of California. Utah will be our home starting in January - and with that possibly brings Utah Thanksgivings (my guess is that it will be too expensive to come back to CA for Thanksgiving AND Christmas). ...Let's hold off on telling our parent's that though.

Overall it was a great Thanksgiving holiday spent in sunny California. I am so grateful for two wonderful families to spend this holiday with. However, it is exciting to think about what adventures lie in store for my little family (Kenny & I). What traditions are we going to start/pass on when we have our little babies? I hope that I can teach our future children that Thanksgiving is a day of gratitude - not just yummy food & football. I love this quote from our prophet Thomas S. Monson about gratitude, it sums up what I hope to teach our future children - "to express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven."

Gratitude - My Darling Sister

My drive to work is very long. (90 miles - 1.5 hours kind of long) The long drive allows me a lot of time to think. This morning my mind was all over the place thinking about all of the many things I am grateful for. If I just had to pick ONE thing I am grateful for today, I would say I am grateful for my little sister.

My little sister is a the best. We are 5 years apart and have always been close (I consider myself very lucky). I remember tucking this girl into bed at night when she was 2 years old & singing "take me out to the ball game" in order to get her to go to bed. Come to think of it, I shared a room with my little sister for about 15 years. (That's a long time!) In those years we have had a lot of laughs. One time I swear I thought I saw a ghost and I jumped into bed with her. She still laughs at me - to this day - about that.

(UM, how cute is she?! A-dor-a-ble!!!)

I love my sister. Her testimony of the gospel is strong & she is the perfect example to me of someone who lives what they believe. She knows who she is, she knows what she wants, she knows where she is going, and she won't sacrifice that for anything (although I am sure that gets tough when the world sends so many enticing options her way). My sister isn't afraid to talk about what she believes with her friends. She isn't afraid to be who she is & that is a lesson that took me a very long time to learn. I am just now, at 22, getting to a point where I am OK with who I am, my little sister is 17. She is strong, she is faithful, she is beautiful (inside and definitely outside), and she is the best sister and best friend a girl can ask for.

I love you sis!

Music {Adventure} - City & Colour

Have you ever been to a concert where you feel like the music spoke to your soul?! Tonight we (Kenny & the little sis) went and saw City and Colour at the House of Blues in San Diego. A-may-zing! One of the best shows I have ever been to.

Dallas Green has an absolutely superb voice. Its smooth - like buttah! Everything about that concert was chills-down-the-spine & almost-a-tear-in-the-eye kinda good! I admire the creativity that musicians have and their ability to inspire people and to be able to evoke emotions through their music. It is truly a gift, and I am grateful to be able to partake of it tonight. (And I am SO glad little sis was there, it was fun to share this experience with her!)

Here is to a great night & great music! Way to go Dallas Green, you put on one heck of a show! I can now cross off "seeing City & Colour in concert" off of my bucket list. :]