day244.

After music theory and my piano performance class today, I practiced the piano for about an hour and a half. I came home and did some stuff, and later I went to the church with Tasha and practiced piano for another half hour or so. Other than that.... today = uneventful.

Shirt #12.

 And I just found these picture quotes today that I really liked.

day243.

This morning my eyes were so red and sensitive, I could barely open them to put in my contacts and then I had to turn off the light to put my mascara on. It's because I ran out of a certain kind of contact solution, so I was using the normal multi-purpose kind for a couple days, and that has preservatives in it, which really irritates my eyes. Man. I had to wear sunglasses while driving or else I couldn't keep my eyes open.

I AM SO MAD I WAS ABOUT TO FINISH THIS POST WHEN I CLICKED THE BACK BUTTON AND THEN IT ERASED EVERYTHING EXCEPT THAT PARAGRAPH AND I'M MAD.
IT'S LIKE WHY DIDN'T IT AUTOMATICALLY SAVE EVERYTHING.

I typed about things in great detail and I'm not so sure I want to again.. Like seriously it was 3 or 4 more big paragraphs.
But all you get now is that I went to school, met with my parents and Kirsten and Desi and Parker at Pasta Factory for lunch, did a homework assignment, went to work, then practiced the piano at a church building.
And now I'm in bed texting Sam.

Parker and I at Pasta Factory :)

Look at this beast that parked next to me. Sam and I are going to have one of these. It'll be the family car. 

Shirt #11. 

day242.

Okay I just finished uploading the photos to yesterday's post.
You all know how uninteresting my days are when Sam isn't here... I went to my piano lesson at 9 til 10, and I had a free hour so I went to the lobby in the Eccles and laid on one of those red (uncomfy) couches. I was kind of trying to sleep, but the girl across from me giggled at something every minute or so. Then a guy with the most annoying voice and loud breathing sat in the chair right next to me. Then, I started hearing a guy say, "Is that Justine? Who is that? Are you sure that's not Justine? Justine. Justine! I'm just so tripped out, I think it's her. Are you sure? That is Justine." I kept my eyes closed cause NO I'm not Justine! Shut up! So obviously, no sleep for me. And this Justine better be pretty.
Between my other classes I got one of my piano books spiral bound and bought another one. It's exciting to start collecting more repertoire that I can keep forever. After choir, I came home and took a half hour nap and ate some fajitas before work.
Work was pretty good today. Although I was on this one conversation for 48 minutes and they were talking about the weirdest things ever and.. yeah.
My knee is bruised.

Practicing piano! Shirt #10!

I was amused by the destruction of this building. 

day241.

Man, school and a new job is making it so hard to do my blogs on time. I don't like staying up a few minutes later to do them. And I'm at work right now, with only a minute or less (ish) between calls so this is kind of hard to keep my train of thought going.
Anyway, yesterday (Tuesday) was a super good day. I went to school and stuff and practiced the piano. After practicing, I went to Sam's house to hang out for a bit. He found out that he would be leaving for New Mexico today, so he had to leave to go get a few things done to be ready. So I went home for 2 or 3 hours just hanging out and waiting. I cleaned my room (I clean it so so much you should be so proud) and played some guitar.
Sam finally picked me up right before 8 in his jeep, and I asked him where we were going to eat. Instead of having to decide where to go, he just said we were going to "that Japanese place where you watch them cook your food." Yes! Samurai 21, my favorite! It was super slow there, and we had our own Hibachi cook just for the two of us. When it came time for the cook to fling the shrimp at us to catch in our mouths, Sam caught all 3 thrown at him and I caught the 2 thrown at me :) Woohoo!
Did I mention that Sam lifts me up into his jeep every time now? It's so freaking cute and I love it so much!!
So we were getting ready to leave the parking lot when I saw a ladder on the building of Paradise Bakery. We had planned to climb at least a couple roofs that night so it was perfect. It came down so low we didn't have to jump or have him boost me up. However, the ladder is right by where a bunch of cars are driving through, so I had to be sneaky and climb super fast. As I was doing that, I hit my left knee, right above my knee cap, on one of the metal rungs. It hurt soo bad but I kept scrambling up the ladder with Sam right behind me. We made it! Another roof! We were squatting down up there when we got close to the edges so people couldn't see us, and when I stood back up my knee hurt soo bad. And now it's bruised. Anyway.
We were going to find a new roof when we drove past the fountain on Bluff St. and Boulevard. I jokingly/seriously said we should go swimming in it, and we were both in a way adventurous mood so Sam said we really should. We went back to his house to get different clothes on, then we went and parked over by Kneaders. We snuck behind the pine trees in the dirt, up behind the fountain/waterfall. I felt like everyone could see us and we were so exposed, but in reality probably no one was looking in our direction. We were only in there for about 10 seconds, laughing so hard, when we jumped out and ran away. We're such goobers.
On our way back to Sam's, we were looking for a ladder somewhere in the back of K-mart, and then I saw a ladder on the building sort of behind it, that Food and Ankle Institute place. We drove over to that parking lot and climbed onto that roof too!
After that we were ready to relax, so we went back to his house and just chilled. We accidentally fell asleep, and I woke up at 3:30 am. Poor Sam had to drive me home. He walked me to my door and we had to say bye again, for the next 5 ish days... :(
So yeah I'll upload pictures later, when I'm not at work!

Sam and I at Samurai 21 :) I think this might be my favorite picture of us so far.. even though it's way bad quality. He just looks so good. And shirt #9.

 Yummiest food!

The best pictures I could get of our view from the Paradise Bakery roof.. you know... gotta have some proof for SOMEthing.

 On the roof :)

day240.

I love Mondays!
As soon as I was done with school at 2, I met Sam at Cafe Rio for lunch. Then I went with him to take his dog Boomer to the vet before I had to go to work. Then... I worked. Man my job can be hard, but usually it's pretty easy. I love it though and it goes by fast.
I can't text at work, but when I got off I read one from Sam saying he was eating dinner at my house. I guess my mom invited him over even though I wasn't there! So he was at my house when I got there, which was just super nice. I love not having to wait any longer to see him :) I wish he'd be at my house every time I got home!
We went to Smith's with Kirsten, Ben, Desi, and my mom so we could get gas all at the same time. 5 cars getting $2.00 off a gallon. I filled up my car for less than 20 bucks! We probably saved a total of like... well over $100. Crazy huh?
Then Sam and I went to his house to watch a movie, and started watching this dumb one off of Netflix. But we only watched it for like 15 minutes then decided not to waste our time on it. So we just talked and stuff.

Shirt #8.

 We're goobers. The sun is way too bright to take any decent pictures outside.

day239.

Good day after good day after good day.

I just got a calling in my ward as music chair, and so I went to the ward council meeting at 11 a.m. For a minute I was upset that I had to go to church "so early", because my actual church doesn't start til 1 p.m... then I realized I was being ridiculous. So anyway.

I played the piano for the choir during church and then... I gave a talk! I hadn't spoken in church since I moved into this ward and I'm really glad I got to. I thought about it all week long and felt like I really had some things to say. Afterward, I got lots of compliments from people saying I did a really good job, that I'm a good speaker, that it was what they needed to hear, etc. And I felt like it was all very sincere, so that made me feel good. And Sam came to listen, of course, and stayed all three hours.

After, he was going to go home to change and stuff, and I was going to go home too. But when I got home he was there! He just wanted to see me again before going home. Even though he was going to come over in just an hour or so to pick me up and take me to his parents' house.

So I ate dinner then went to Sam's parents' house, along with his brothers and their wives. His family really is great. When we left, we stopped at one of his brother's houses to look at all the remodeling and stuff they did, which was pretty cool.

We came to my house together and just spent some time together before ending the night.

And I realize this picture is... not attractive in the least. But it's the only one I took... so. Shirt #7? It's a cardigan actually but oh well.

 We found the RV from Breaking Bad.

 We're cute. Sam drew the jeep and the long board and the guitar. Isn't he so talented?! Haha.

day238.

I love Saturdays.

I got ready for the day and drove to my work so I could pick up the LOTR movies from a coworker who said I could borrow them. Then I headed to Sam's to start our marathon! We watched the first movie and then decided to have a break before the second one.

We took the jeep to the mall to get Sam some new shoes, and he also bought a couple new shirts. Man he looked good yesterday. 

We then went to my house so I could get started on cooking dinner for him and my family like I'd planned. I made chicken rolls for everyone, and we hung out for a while. It was funny because my mom joked around about counting Sam's "points" he was earning for me. For example, he got points for helping clear the table and stuff like that. 

Sam saw Tasha's longboard she'd made and wanted to go try it out. Our street is a hill, but it's not steep at all. The whole family came out to watch as Sam and I did our trick we did back when we started dating in March. He picked me up in his arms like you would a baby, stepped onto the longboard, and off we went. It's so fun! Connor wanted to longboard too, so Sam held onto him while they went back and forth. It was so cute and fun.

So Sam always opens my door even when I'm driving my car. But his jeep doesn't have doors so he never has to. But since my mom was counting points for him, he walked over to the passenger side with me and did the cutest thing. He picked me up and set me down in the seat. I love.

We started the second LOTR a bit late. When it was over, we took a few minutes to put some brownies in the oven. After eating some brownies we fell asleep for a bit. I woke up to the movie being so loud (because it's full of battles and stuff) and then thought it was time to go home because... well I was tired.

But it was a wonderful day. Great weekend. Because Sam was here :)

Shirt #6! Lazy day.

 Yeah my boyfriend looks good.

 Sometimes he doesn't know what to do about all the pictures I take.

 We had to improvise and use muffin tins cause all they had there was a tiny pan.

I couldn't help myself. I was cracking up.

day237.

Okay so the thing I couldn't post last night was that I made a surprise for Sam. I couldn't post it on here just in case he read it before he found his surprise. So, he'd been gone a week in Ohio, and I'd noticed before that he didn't really have any good bedding, and so I bought him a nice, complete bed set and put it on his bed for him. I also included a Mt Dew of course, a picture of us, and a note.
This morning, he came over at 7:30 a.m. to see me for the first time in 8 days. Man it was so good to see him and jump into his arms! I'm so glad he came over early. We had waffles together and he stayed while I got ready for class.
School.
Work was way good today. I practiced a bunch because I knew my next and only step was to take my EOL (end of level). You have to pass a bunch of tests to graduate from training, and they told us it usually takes about two weeks, or 40-50 hours. Well guess what? I graduated today and I even took live calls the last half hour of my shift!
Oh man as I drove home I just felt so good about myself for some reason. I really loved myself today :) Everyone should love themselves.
So I went home for a sec, then to Sam's house. We spent the night talking and enjoying each other's presence.
Now I'm super hungry but it's really late and I'm tired so... okay I'm totally going to run to the kitchen after this.

Took this last night after setting up Sam's room. (That Green Bay Packers blanket was already there just FYI).

Sam cuddling with my nephew Parker. Cutest ever.

  Reunited at last :) And you can't see it much but.. shirt #5! Same shirt I wore in my last photo shoot.

 Oh and I got my official badge today too :)

day236.

School and work and stuff.
Okay well, between two of my classes I went to TJ Maxx to get some pants. I was looking around at stuff when two ladies walked up right next to me, but on the other side of the clothing rack. I looked up and their faces told me there were in their forties - at least. I notice they're wearing clothes that someone in their twenties should wear, they have too much makeup on, and then I realize they're talking like they've never grown up. "Oh my gosh those pants are delicious." Etc. And it made me laugh inside because all I could think was that those were two women who are trying way too hard to be  younger than they really are. It was almost too perfect of a situation to be real. Anyway.
Another funny moment today happened in choir. We were going around taking turns telling our names, where we're from, and what we want to be "when we grow up." This bigger black lady stands up and starts saying how she's from Hawaii and suddenly she's like, "Oh HAAAY giiirl! Oh I'ma talk to you after class!!" Or something like that, as she looks out into the audience chairs at this other black girl sitting there by herself watching us. And they both did that "hay girl" hand motion to each other. I don't know if I did a very good job explaining that but it was funny to me so I'm writing it down.. so I can remember it later or something. I don't know.
My new job is fun and I like it a lot. Especially because we have a super nice break room. And there are thousands of employees, so getting days off should be pretty easy.
Tasha, Des, and I went to TJ Maxx (yeah again okay) tonight and bought some cute boots.
And I have more to tell about tonight, but I can't right now.

Shirt #4.

day235.

Did I mention I signed up for a gym membership yesterday? Well, I did. Check.
Ummm today I had my first piano lesson since before the summer. It was at 9 in the morning. I drove through some nice rain to get there, but I was a little frustrated that everyone thinks you have to drive sooo slow.
Anyway, my lesson didn't go too badly, assuming I didn't practice all summer... But I am super excited to be learning new pieces of music to play. I have grown quite tired of the only two pieces I have completely memorizes, and I'm sure everyone I know has too.
The rest of classes went well and stuff. And work was fine, but I was super tired. It was around 7:00 pm when I realized I hadn't heard from Sam since 5:00 am, and I was a little concerned considering that is 14 hours, and the only thing I know that he'd be doing is hanging on a tower 400 feet above the ground. I got a phone call and voicemail from an unknown number, and my paranoid self began to think it might be someone calling me to tell me that something happened to Sam. My heart started racing and I ran out into the hall so I could listen to the voice message. To my relief, it was just my bishopric counselor asking if I was coming to the meeting right then.
I am too paranoid.
Sam finally texted me just a few minutes later and everything was fine!
After work I drove out past the mall to buy a couple clocks from a lady who was selling them on the Facebook online yard sale page. So now I have two more!
Just so you know I am really sad, because I started drawing a picture to give to Sam, and today I realized I have no idea where it is. Story of my life.
Tomorrow: last day without Sam.

More cool clouds.

Shirt #3. 

day234.

I had class at ten today and I almost didn't wake up on time.. kinda.
After school and stuff I went home then to work again... and it was fine. I think I'm doing pretty well with the training. Today we had to train the computer software (ASR or something) to know all of the swear words you could ever think of. So I'm sitting in my cubicle, swearing to myself, and I can hear people all around me cussing. It was pretty funny.
Sam comes home in two days. Sort of. He'll get home really late Thursday night, and my mom didn't like the idea of me waiting in his room for him when he gets home, so I won't see him til Friday morning before class. Sigh.
I went to Walmart and bought the cutest notebooks for only 47 cents each, and some other stuff. Now I'm home. I'm going to get everything ready for my piano lesson in the morning (eek!) and then probably play my guitar a little.

Shirt #2.

 Coolest clouds today.

Cutest notebooks, right?

day233.

More like, day 5 without Sam. It's okay, his trip is more than halfway over.
My first class wasn't til 11:00 which was super nice. And, I only had two today. I went to my first day of training at my new job for five hours, and that wasn't so bad.
I came home and my family was putting together 72-hour kits, you know, for emergencies and stuff. So I feel all sorts of safe and prepared now.
Spent the rest of the evening talking with my family and eating cookies and stuff. Then Sam called me and we talked for about an hour. He told me that today while he was on the tower - 400 feet in the air - it started getting stormy with lightning and stuff. That scared me because what if he was on that huge tower and it got struck by lightning! They climbed down til it stopped though, and obviously he's okay.
So now I'm in bed and stuff.
The other day Sam was commenting on how I have sooo many clothes, especially shirts. So he told me I should wear a different shirt every day until I've worn all my shirts and see how long I can go. So, today is day one. I am going to try from now on to take a good pic of the shirt I wore so I can remember which ones I've worn, but I only took one picture today.

Shirt 1.

day232.

School starts tomorrow.

My new job starts tomorrow.

I am not ready at all. I still need to buy books of course, and get all of my financial aid stuff taken care of, and I need to buy a notebook or something. OH and find my piano books.. heh... I'm taking all music courses this semester. I'm actually really looking forward to that. I think I pretty much have all my generals out of the way except a few Spanish credits I need. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

So yeah today I went to choir practice before church. Then church started, but I left right after they were done passing the sacrament. No, I'm not a slacker, I would've stayed the whole three hours. But my grandma hasn't been doing very well and she was really weak today so my family picked me up from church and we all drove to Cedar City to see her. My poor grandma. She can't hear very well at all and she gets so frustrated SEEING conversations go on but not being able to know what anyone is saying. Man I can't even imagine how annoying that would be.

Well we got home, then I went with my parents and Des to listen to Tasha give a short talk at a fireside for the trek she went on.

I left early so I could go to a meeting for this YSA Conference coming up. I volunteered. Yay. 

Oh and I just remembered, I got asked to speak in church next week. So Mom, this is my way of telling you. I'm actually super excited!

After that I came home and video chatted with Sam for a while. What a cutie. He had left a couple notes for me in my room but I didn't notice them by myself because they were on the backs of things that were already there.

Love his smile and his dimples.

I'm actually slightly excited that all my classes are in the same building, and I won't have to worry about seeing any people I don't like. Hooray. And since I'm studying music, I can focus all my life on music. Except work. And boyfriend. But he loves it when I play guitar and sing for him.

Blurry Sunday dress pictures are just great.

 Favorite cousin finally back after spending the whole summer in the midwest!

 Dat smile.

 Mic being funny again. It's mostly funny to me because Mic is so quiet around me, and so when he types to me in caps lock I'm just like.. woah.

day231.

I love waking up to texts like this: "Good morning Ashlee :) have a wonderful day today!"

He says the best things.

I woke up early and went to Desi's hair school so she could color and style my hair. I dye my hair dark all the time, and usually add a little red in it to add warmth. This time I dyed it one shade above black with no red or anything in it. It's sad though, my hair fades fast. We'll see how long it holds this time. She curled it and got a friend to braid it too. I wanted to have it cute for pictures :)

During the day I did random stuff like finishing going through my clothes, trimming bushes in my front yard, holding Parker for a minute, and I went to the DI with Laney to buy shirts for the party.

I asked Kirsten earlier this week if she'd take my pictures today so I could have some with my new guitar. So we had a fun little photo shoot and got some pretty good ones I think. I love my new guitar. And my new hair. She's the best older sister ever!

By the way I hate going to the grocery store for my family. Not because I don't love doing things for my family, but because I always mess something up. Today at Smith's I got chunky salsa instead of restaurant style.. :(

So the dance party was back-to-school themed, and we were told to either dress as nerds or jocks or something. That's why Laney, Kori, and I got matching jerseys from the DI. Yay. We got there around 10:45 and not much later some cops showed up. I think it's just because it was loud. So we turned down the music and the party kept going. We didn't stay too long though because it was really hot.

We went back to Laney's and Kori's place to chill for a sec before I went home. I'm going to be moving in with them this week. I'll post pictures of it when I move in, cause it's a way nice place!

My hair before!

 During. With Des. And some of my hair sticking straight up.

 Laney, Kori and I at the party.

 Ezra and I. He's the guy who invites everyone to everything. This is a bad, red picture. Oh well.

Here's two of the photos from tonight that Kirsten uploaded to Facebook. I'll post more tomorrow or something.

 Love this willow tree!

 Oh and I just want you to know that sometimes my friends (Mic) say things that I think are really funny, and so I take a screen shot. But obviously I hardly ever remember to post them. So here are some from yesterday.