Cowboy in my blood.

I feel like Ansel Adams would approve of this photo. What can i say, i'm a little proud of it.

Spending a couple of days in Heber Valley was the perfect mini-vacation. The weather was mind-blowingly beautiful and made me super jealous of a large majority of you all that actually get to spend time OUTSIDE in the summer!

We ate and visited. I filled my Poppy void by spending a majority of my time either playing catch with my sister's very eager dog, Copper, or forcing their new kitten to snuggle with me. Is there anything in the world cuter than a kitten? I thought my heart would pop as i watched Murphy discover her tail (see photos).

I also got to meet up with my best friend Jenny and meet her new baby boy! She lives in Texas but was visiting family in Utah. He was such a charmer and my heart still hurts that we aren't next door neighbors. Someday we'll make it happen, won't we Jenny?!

The whole thing made me yearn to live a country life. I loved the wide open space, the music in the park nights. It made my soul happy as we walked through the grocery store isles and my sister waved and said hi to everyone she passed.

I find this to be a reoccurring desire in my life. I wonder if it has anything to do with my heritage. My dad was a real Wyoming cowboy who grew up in a little town called Star Valley. Maybe it's in my blood.

I hope someday I get to test it out.

A La Grande Time, With La Grande Friends, At La Grande Orange

This week Jack and Jenny came for a quick visit on their way to Texas. It was fun to get to introduce them to our new puppy and take them to a few of our favorite eateries.

Obviously La Grande Orange Pizzeria was on the bill. We always get the avocado pizza with added corn. Y'all, just don't knock it til you've tried it, and please, please try it.

Jack is clearly having a moral complex in this picture--to eat the last piece of divine pizza even though one's full, or not to eat the blessed pizza. 

Always eat it. Always.

Nobody knows where jack other shoe went in this picture--he's always full of surprises.

And nobody knows why I look 7 feet tall in this picture...

They're cute and I miss them already. Good luck in Texas guys!

+PB&J giveaway announced here.

how to sell arizona//part3

Downtown Phoenix can really be the deal sealer. It has some beautiful architecture, a rather wonderful art museum, vintage shops, historical neighborhoods, the light-rail, an art district, quite possibly the best pizza place in the land, and one killer design studio that would be a pretty ideal place for a certain jenny to obtain an internship...if your buyer happens to be named jenny and happens to need an internship, that is.
Downtown Phoenix:

how to sell arizona//part2

one can hope that your buyer is not interested in actually buying in the scottsdale area, as the prices are higher and the company snootier, but scottsdale is a great place to visit, shop, and nosh, so a day spent there, is a day well spent.
Scottsdale:

how to sell arizona//part1

make sure prospective buyer arrives at ideal weather time. in the valley that would be springtime--no contest. months: feburary-late april. trees are normally in bloom, grass is green, weather is warm enough for outdoor activities, such as bike rides, but cools off in the evenings so dinner outside is more than comfortable, but rather, quite divine.

Tempe:

the unimaginable.

it happened. 

the weirdest of all feelings.

the feeling i said, I SWORE, i'd never feel.

a feeling so unimaginable by my prior self, that i promised people it couldn't happen to me.

it's the feeling of missing rexburg and actually, dare i say it, wanting to go back.

there. i said it.

and i blame it, whole-heartedly, on these two:

most especially the one with the double x-chromosome.

though i do love jack--it's jenny who i think of almost daily.

she's my best friend. the girl i could spend hours and days with--painting, sewing, laughing, cooking, eating, dreaming, or just doing absolutely nothing at all--it's that kind of friendship. 

it's the kind you don't have to see for months and within a few minutes its right back to complete comfort.

it's the kind that makes you want to be a better and more interesting person, because it's fun.

it's the kind you wish for your whole life, and you might not even know you're wishing, until you find it. and that's when your Soul says, "Ah, that's right." And your Heart smiles, and your Brain knows you've found yourself your best girlfriend.

And that, my friends, is Jenny Thomas.

The girl who makes Rexburg sound inviting.

weekend according to the iPhone.

Dear Weekend, 

You were so good to me, and I feel a need to thank you properly. I had such the loveliest of times with my friends and family as we jetted across Roosevelt Lake's glassy dew.

We ate,

we basked,

we wake-boarded,

we sang, 

and we tanned. 

Leisel even grew an extra set of eyes...

and we enjoyed the old gems that small towns provide.

Immediately from the lake, we were off to New Mexico to meet up with Jack and Jenny, but not without a few adventures along the way.

I can never tell you, sweet Weekend, the joy and magic that filled my heart when not one, not two, and not even three, but FOUR FULL RAINBOWS beamed across the sky--oh a YouTube hit it would have been had someone filmed my reaction as around the mountain, those colorful bows made their magnificent debut--the luck we were filled with after that was immeasurable, that much is sure.

And then to meet with our favorite friends in a land so green and full of daisies my heart could not keep from singing? It was really too much of you. I do not know how you had it in you, but it really was the best.

The garden was bursting with weekend treasures and goodies to counter my poor roadtrip diet. 

And to top it all off with nighttime story telling from both Jack and Marcus--Grimm's fairytales, no less!

I thought I died and went to heaven.

So, darling Weekend, what I'm trying to say is thank you, from the bottom of my heart, I will cherish the moments and memories you allowed me to fill your days with. 

 See you Friday, 

Ashley