MEMORY MONDAY--wide open spaces

Lake Powell near Glen Canyon Dam. That's my 7th grade band shirt, so I'm guessing this is Junior High-ish era.

Isn't that incredible scenery? My family made this trip between Arizona and Utah probably a hundred times. Idaho has a beauty all of its own that is just as stunning in its own way. But sometimes I forget how much I miss the desert. No matter how long I've been away, this landscape still feels apart of my soul. Just stick some Saguaro cacti in there to make it complete.


What is it that would make me long for the desert now? Could it be the three feet of snow out my living room window? Hmm. 

CAR RIDE

It was our third trip down to Utah last month, and all the hours on the road were beginning to drive us crazy. (Word.) How 'bout I let you in on a couple minutes of our insanity...

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After half an hour of silence through barren flat lands, Andrew, without taking his eyes off the road, asked:

"Do you wanna have a tickle fight?"

His tone was way too serious for comfort.

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"Don't you dare touch me."

His hand inched in my direction, resting stiffly on the center consul. We sat there for a minute before the suspense became too much for me. I punched him in the arm as hard as I could.

This only caused him to laugh delightedly, so I glared at him.

"Andrew, if you cross this line, I will punch your frickin' lights out." (We have a very honest, open relationship.)

After more hysterical laughter, he inched his hand towards me again, resting it ever so gently between us.

"You're walking a thin line, Mr."

"I'm not going to tickle you. I'm just going to show you affection. Don't you love me?"

"Yes, I love you. But my love for you lessens every time you tickle me."

"I thought you said your love was unconditional ."

"It is...until you tickle me."

"Then it's not unconditional!"

"Okay, fine. My love ISN'T unconditional. So you had better stop!"

These events cycled for some time, but I won't bore you with the particulars. Let's just say there was screaming, punching, karate chopping, and evil hysterical laughter involved. And let me add that it's a miracle we didn't crash and burn on that lonely Idaho highway.

When it comes to being tickled, I don't mess around. Just consider this a warning for all those anxious to take multiple road trips in one month...or drive with us in a car for hours at a time...or TRY and tickle Rachel Ashmore. And that's my story, the end. 

Hi-YA,

Rachel

GRADUATION ALBUM

Hello, Andrew. That is certainly a weird hat you've got on there.

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After years of hard work an sacrifice...

Andrew is the first college graduate in his family!

I cried through the entire thing. This was the result of several factors:

1.) I was proud beyond words.

2.)I was miserably feverish.

3.)I had insomnia from 1-4 that morning and was horribly sleep deprived.

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All of these contributed to one very emotional me.

This was the first graduating class to hold commencement in the newly built BYU-Idaho Center. In case this picture doesn't illustrate it, the place is HUGE.

Its size is comparable to the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, which seats 21,000 people. The BYU-Idaho Center is the same design on a slightly smaller scale. It only seats 15,000.

The other half of Andrew's waving, screaming fan club.

After commencement, the College of Physical Science and Mathematics moved to the Taylor Chapel for convocation.

Beforehand, Andrew chats with his good friend, Dave.

"...Andrew Dee Ashmore...Bachelor's in Construction Management..."

Hooray!

This professor ("Mort") came to shake Andrew's hand afterward, and they both bawled like babies. As such, I figured this would be an important picture to take. Andrew always seems to make best buds with the old guys.

The graduate.

And the proud wife.

...I apologize. This couldn't be helped.

Congrats, Andrew! Now, on to the future, our business, and home building for new professors moving in to teach at the growing University.

That's right. We are both graduated and yet, we are sticking around our small-town Rexburg, Idaho. Who'da thunk we'd settle here? But we are excited for what the future will bring!

OUR LITTLE SPRUCE SPROUT

Andrew and Rachel. Beginning of December. Red pickup truck. 

The Mission?   

Drive for hours in a southerly direction in search of the perfect Christmas spruce to adopt and take home. 

It snowed the entire time. 

When we finally arrived at the mountaintop...

We began our tramp into the forest. A heavily blanketed forest.

It was all great fun wandering through the magically falling snow until...

...our need for snow shoes became emphatically apparent. Here, we had only sunk to our thighs. Not many moments later, I fell in past my belly button, and had to rely on Andrew to rescue me from certain death. 

If I had been alone, my legs would have remained rooted in their glaciated tomb until I starved or froze, whichever came first. And then I probably would have been eaten by wolves.

Have I ever mentioned how I love my Andrew?

As pressure mounted to find our tree before darkness completely fell, there were times we were literally swimming through the forest. This picture was taken just after Andrew advised me to "think light like a ballerina."

Apparently, this tactic doesn't work.

Finally, after excavating a tree from the snow that looked promising, we cut it, dragged it out of the forest, and loaded it into the truck.

And by 1:30 am back at our warm, dry home, the tree was set up and adorned for the holidays marking our mission a success! We are very happy with the addition to our family. But now, I must go and tend to the little sprout. He is in need of some water and many more hours of admiring. 

DECEMBER

This is the busiest of months. So much goin' on!

• Dad's birthday
• Obtaining a Christmas tree
• Family Christmas party
• The elementary school's Holiday Program
• Andrew graduating from college!!!!
• Family coming to town
• Christmas!
• Our 4th wedding anniversary
• A Sun Valley Ski resort vacation
• Becca's birthday
• Cousin's mission farewell

Usually, I spend a few weekend hours typing up and scheduling posts to appear automatically during the insanity that is Monday-Friday. I can get as far as two weeks ahead in a Saturday afternoon! That was until December came along. Recently, my weekends have been taken up with other obligations. So, sorry about the neglect.

But I am anxiously awaiting Christmas vacation, and the time it will provide for not only blogging...but sleeping, putting gas in my car, vacuuming pine needles from my living room, shaving my legs, and feeding my husband something other than frozen corn dogs and Little Caesar's pizza. It is definitely a time to look forward to.

Until then, here's a snapshot of just about the happiest part of life right now. Isn't it lovely?

That's another thing I'm excited for over Christmas break: staring dreamily at this tree for unreasonable lengths of time. I haven't had nearly enough of that yet. 

LITTLE TURKEYS

Our second Thanksgiving  celebration began with a family turkey bowl game at the high school stadium. This was Aurora's first year as a participant, and she sacked our quarterback! Not bad, eh?

We enjoyed our feast back at Grandma's house, before Utah's incredibly warm weather beckoned me outside. 

Colorful Becca and I herded the little ones outside for a snowball fight...with what little snow was left.

Utah still looked appropriately autumn-ish, while the Idaho we left behind looked like it was ready for Christmas. 

 My baby sisters. 
Aurora, look at me. 
Aria, scoot over so your face is in the sunlight. 
Belle, smile pretty, please. 
Aurora, hold still. 
Aria, stop talking for just a second. please. 
Say cheese!
Aurora, look at the camera!
Belle, will you please open your eyes?
Okay, ready?1...2...3!!!


That's basically how it went down. 

We all played with our beautiful, little cousins until the last of the snow had been scraped for Grandma's back lawn. 

I mean really. Aren't they the sweetest?

Little turkey...

SNAPSHOT SATURDAY--Nieces

I took some pictures of my nieces at Brad and Erin's wedding that I am particularly proud of.

But I have to say that it helps when your nieces look like models to begin with.

Lovely blue-eyed Nicole

Whitney with her flawless, graceful features.

That picture had such a classic, vintage look to it that I played around on the computer to give it burnt edges and an old photo quality. Just for fun.

I'm just IN LOVE with this shot.

Rachel, take our picture!

Here's another niece. She's the sweetest thing since...who knows what. When I expressed to Andrew my desire to EAT her, Andrew just told me I was weird.

Her back was to me when I wanted a picture. When I called out:

Adelle! Look at me!

This is what I got--that precious gal calmly holding her pose for a good 5-10 seconds. Andrew and I almost died at her cuteness.

AND SO IT BEGINS...

Walking to church on Sunday morning, I was wondering why I even brought my sweater. It was so warm and sunny.

 By the next day, my yard looked like this
{via my cell phone}.

Coming home from work yesterday, the wintery sunset cast such a pretty pink glow on these snow covered trees, it made me wish I had a real camera on hand.



It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
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