Photo Shoot and Wedding Business

Our photo shoot didn't happen again. Ben had to work longer than usual. We've rescheduled, but I'll just wait 'til it's actually happened before I publicly post a date. We're still really excited to do it!

Wedding plans are still in progress. The latest? My Utah bridal shower is Thursday, September 15 in the evening at my future in-laws' home. Invitations will be sent soon. My sisters' bridesmaids dresses came in the other day--they look great! I'm scheduled to meet with reception, cake, and florist people in Reno in late September. And I'm sure there's more, but that's a taste of what's going on in the wedding department.

Couple Pictures and Wedding Dress

Remember that couple photo shoot that got postponed? Well, it happens today! Ben and I are looking forward to our shoot with Karla this evening. I'll post pictures from the shoot as soon as they're available.

And you remember how I mentioned that I've chosen a wedding dress? Well, maybe not quite yet. I'm going back to the store on Saturday, just to be sure there isn't something I like even better.

Great Day!

Two reasons why today is great:

1. I've chosen a wedding dress!

2. My car is fixed from the accident so I get to pick it up after work!

Happy Monday!

Yesterday's Activities



I went bridal dress shopping yesterday with my sister, Courtney, and my best friend, Sophia. I tried on probably around a dozen dresses or so. I've narrowed it down to about four, and I'm having a pretty hard time choosing. I need to have my choice made by Thursday, so it can be shipped here on time before the wedding.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun trying these dresses on. Wish I could do it more often. Well, I take that back. I only want to be married once. Haha.

Ben and I helped out at our ward's party yesterday evening handing out cobs of corn. The party was carnival-style, and was really well-done.

Also enjoyed a yummy dinner with Ben, Courtney, Sophia, and her husband last night. We then played some games and watched some tube.



A Few Things

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Things on my mind:

+Pride's hurting a little after last night. I went on a run with Ben. He was a few steps ahead of me. I tripped on the sidewalk, and fell. Embarrassed, I hope no one saw. We continue running, and we get to a lady standing on her lawn. She asked if I was okay. There goes my hope.
+Free pizza lunch at work right now. It smells so good. That's right--I'm not tasting it. Why? The diet that Ben and I are on is working so well, that I dont' want to do anything to break it. I'm going strong, and I want to keep it that way. I can tell that I'm losing weight cuz my clothes are fitting better. Yes!
+Ben and I are going to the temple tonight! It's about high time.
+My younger sister, Courtney, is driving into Utah with some friends tonight. She'll be here over the weekend.
+I'm so excited to go wedding dress shopping with Courtney and my BFF, Sophia tomorrow.

Happy Friday!

More Low-key

Today should be a little more low-key. I hope.

Ben may or may not work is little side job this evening.

But my only obligations are laundry, wedding stuff, and working out. Our photo shoot with Karla, which we were gonna do today, got postponed.

Looking forward to Saturday when I go dress shopping! Woo!

Solo Evenings

Ben has picked up a little side job the last couple days after work, and so I've been lonesome. But that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. Oh, no--I've kept myself busy.

Busyness entails:

• Wedding planning!
• Visiting teaching!
• Eyebrow waxing!
• Clothes shopping!
• Other stuff!

And it's just gonna get busier. But life's really fun right now.

Rental Car and Bridal Shower

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Glad to get my car into the body shop this morning. They set me up with a rental--a white Chevy Aveo, California plates. Cool!

Because of my appointment at the body shop, Ben and I got to work later, which means we'll get off work later, which means we'll be leaving around 5 pm, which means we'll hit rush-hour traffic, which means it'll take even longer than normal to get home, which means we'll be eating dinner later, which means I'll be starving. Ben and I have been dieting. Less food = more hunger. But it's so worth it. We've been doing it for a couple weeks now, and I can tell a difference. I want to look as great as I can for our wedding!

Speaking of wedding, our friend Nate is designing my Reno bridal shower invitations. They're gonna look really good--I'm excited to see the end product. The shower will be at my home on Saturday, September 24. I set up a Facebook event for it, but if I missed you by accident and would like an invitation, just let me know.

Busy!

Just look at this line-up:

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Tonight: I go visiting teaching at 5:30 and 6:00. My visiting teachers come at 7:00.

Tomorrow: Drop my car off to the body shop (yay!) and pick up rental car (which is supposed to be conveniently parked there at body shop) to drive Ben and me to work.

Wax eyebrows and go shopping for cute top or something for next-day photo shoot.

Thursday: That evening, photo shoot with my friend, Karla Smith, who wants to build her photography portfolio. She will take couple shots of Ben and me in Salt Lake City.

Friday: Go to the temple with Ben in the evening.

And as usual, work and wedding planning fills in the gaps. Woah, busyness!

Wedding Photography

Wedding planning can be stressful, but glad to have another thing out of the way: photography! I'm so excited to work with KayLynne Kroshus, who will do our engagement and wedding photos. My family and KayLynne's family go way back, so it'll be a great experience to work with a familiar person. I love her work. Check out some of it:



All photos courtesy of Kaylynne Kroshus Photography.

Weekend

Yummy enchiladas!



Ben and I are enjoying our weekend!

Last night, we attended our stake's production of The Music Man. It was SO well done. The woman I live with directed all the singing in the musical, and I commend her; the music was awesome. And so was the acting.

Today, we played a video game with a couple of Ben's brothers, did some wedding planning, bought some ingredients for a cheese enchilada dish we had for dinner, and went to get some yummy froyo. Great weekend so far!

Tomorrow, I teach this lesson on having faith in Jesus Christ.

Updates

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Happy Friday!

Car update: insurance company is still waiting to get a statement from the driver of the car that hit me. The accident happened a week ago today. Hope to get this resolved asap!

Wedding update: in the middle of looking for a reasonably-priced, talented photographer for engagement photos. Please let me know of any recommendations that fit those parameters.

Friday update: Ben and I are attending our stake's performance of The Music Man. I just watched the movie version so that I would have a good idea of what's going on when we go tonight.

Wedding Colors

This inspiration board incorporates the wedding colors I'm going with.

Obviously, my blog will be a place where I share with you my wedding plans. Don't have much so far. In fact, I have hardly anything. I do have my colors, though. They will be...drumroll, please....plum, gold, and white!

What do you think? Please share any fun decorating/floral/clothing tips you may have with those colors.

Wedding Planning and Car Insurance

My beautiful engagement ring! I love it so much!

Wasn't the proposal (post below) just the sweetest thing you've ever heard?! I'm so grateful to Ben (and dear family members who helped) for that once-in-a-lifetime experience. So memorable!!

Well, the wedding planning has begun. I need to kick it into full force, though, because it's less than three months away. Yikes! If you are married, I'm open to any advice for planning a wedding; please share!

Remember the car accident I had last Friday? Now I'm in the middle of talking with the other car owner's insurance company with whom I've filed a claim. The insurance company is trying to contact the other car owner, and hopefully they will get the ball rolling soon so I can get my car into a body shop.

Prom-posal Story!



There's no way I can do the proposal story justice through my mediocre words, but I still want to have it written, and for you to know! It was unbelievable. Maybe I'll bullet it. Yes, I'll bullet it.

• got home from work yesterday (ben had the day off, but usually we come home from work together).
• ben said that he wanted to treat me to dinner at robintino's, an italian restaurant in bountiful.
• we stuck around the house for a little while, then off we went.
• but first he used an excuse to get me to go to my place.
• we get to my bedroom, and there on my bed is a dress that he rented from a fancy formalwear place (i had gone to this place to get the correct fitting, so i knew a special proposal was approaching, but i didn't know when/what we were doing).
• he said, "you're gonna want to be wearing that. i'll be back in a half-hour to pick you up."
• i scrambled to get a girl over to help me put on my dress, but wasn't having any luck. i began to get ready myself.
• he also had some of his mom's beeeautiful jewelry and silver purse there for me to accesorize my dress with.
• i finally got his sister-in-law to come over and hook/zip me up.
• a few minutes later, he arrived!
• we walked outside to a streeeetch white hummer limo. oh em gee.
• the limo driver took us to robintino's where we enjoyed a yummy italian meal.
• then we went to our church building where ben with his family's help had set up a prom scene (neither ben nor i went to our own high school proms).
• we took pictures, danced, ate, the whole nine yards.
• after that fun, he went onto the stage and in the microphone announced the prom king and queen. i wonder who they were?
• with sashes and crowns/tiaras, we released the balloon/rose petal/confetti drop.
• ben brought out a cake that said "i love you, ashley." he asked me to remove one of the (icing) roses from the cake.
• the one he asked me to remove wasn't actually icing. it was a RING BOX!!!!!!!
• he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.
• i said, "yes...hahahahah...of course...hahahah."
• i opened the box, and took out the most gorgeous ring.
• we embraced. a lot.
• we danced to our song, "the rose," as performed by westlife.
• we then picked up our friends, sophia and troy who were waiting on stand-by, and some of ben's family members in the limo, and brought them back to the gym to enjoy the remainder of prom with us.
• sophia and troy then came home with us. we opened a bottle of martinelli's.
• i called my family and gave them this bulleted list.
• ta-da!
• i'm engaged!
• the wedding date is 11-11-11 in the reno lds temple.

I'M ENGAGED!!!

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Ben proposed to me last night atop a stage in a church gym.

Details to come soon......

Just Another Saturday

+cleaned my bedroom and bathroom.
+ate at my company's picnic.
+ran some errands.
+fogged my room for bugs. Again.
+finished the last two episodes of season one of 24. All I can say is "OMG!"
+got part-way through the musical, The Music Man. I have never seen it, and Ben wants me to know what's going on when our stake performs it this weekend.
+had a sore upper back and neck all day. Not sure if it's from the car accident yesterday or if i slept funny on it last night or if it's a combination of the two. It feels a little better right now, and just hope it continues to feel better.

Family Vacation, Bug Bites, and Car Accident

My family came to town Tuesday, and left this morning. It was great to see them! We got to go to Lagoon yesterday (Ben and I took the day off), and had a lot of fun. Glad they were able to make this summer vacation.

I'm estimating that I have about 15 bug bites right now. It's really getting frustrating. I'm almost always itching/applying calamine lotion. I have a pink polka dots all over my body from the lotion. Hope the bugs stop biting me soon. Like now.

My poor car!

Ben and I were in a minor car accident this evening after work. We were on I-15 going north just a couple of minutes from our exit. An 18-year-old boy's front tire went flat, so he lost control and hit my left rear. No one was hurt. Took about a day for a cop to show up after I made a couple of phone calls, but it all worked out. My car does have some body damage and will need to be repaired. Just grateful that everyone's okay. Would have liked to start the weekend out a little differently, but hey, can't have it my way all the time. Hope your weekend began a lot better than mine!

Yaweh, Mormons!

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Bite Me (Not!)

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Over the past week or so, my body has accumulated 11 bug bites. And while some of them don't really bother me, there are some that itch like crazy. Ben thinks they're spider bites. My coworker thinks they're mosquito bites. Either way, they itch. Now, Ben fogged my bedroom/bathroom last Saturday for insects, so we're hoping the biting will stop, and I can focus on just getting rid of the ones I have now. Ben bought some After Bite: The Itch Eraser at the store yesterday. It works a little bit, but the itching dominates. The bugs have always loved my blood. Make them stop!

Strawberry Spinach Salad & Dressing Recipes

Ben and I made this yummy salad and dressing last Saturday for dinner. I loved it. Both recipes come from Worldwide Ward Cookbook.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Salad:
10 oz. baby spinach
10 strawberries, sliced lengthwise
2 chicken breasts, boiled and shredded
3/4 C. sliced almonds
1/2 C. dried cranberries
1 C. mandarin oranges
1/2 C. pistachios (we didn't include these)

Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing:
3/4 C. mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. vinegar
1/2 C. sugar
1/3 C. whole milk
3 Tbsp. poppy seeds

Salad: Combine all ingredients and serve with Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing.

Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing: Combine all ingredients in a jar. Cover and shake until well blended. Refrigerate immediately. Makes 8 servings.

This is one of the weirdest videos I've ever seen:

Busy Times

Ben and I had a pretty busy day yesterday:

+laundry
+grocery shopping
+dinner-making (it was a salad/salad dressing recipe to die for; I'll have to post the recipe on here some time)
+Lagoon/Lagoon-a-Beach
+other errands that I can't publicly post quite yet

Today I'm teaching my Primary kids the lesson about The Age of Accountability. Looking forward to it!

And we have a busy week ahead of us, too. But that's what life is--busy! And we're having so much fun living it all!

Cheating

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You know that diet I mentioned in the last post? Yeah, well it's kinda flying out the window today. But they say you won't stick with a diet unless you cheat once in awhile.

They do say that, right?

...

Anyway, my company provided free sandwiches today. And they're HUGE! And super yummy.

And tonight, Ben and I are eating out at a pizza place to celebrate my best friend, Sophia's birthday (last Monday), with Sophia and her husband, Troy.

So, yeah, not counting calories today!

Weight Loss



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Ben and I are trying this couple's method for losing weight, aka calorie-counting. Today is day two. I'll keep you posted.

McCombs, Just the Way You Are, and Expressions of Love

That picture I mentioned in the last post of Bishop McCombs and me at the airport:



Ben and I are just getting back into the routine of things around here after our vacation. Here are a couple of videos that you can enjoy!

Tender Mercies at the Airport

Ben and me in the airport yesterday.

Well, Ben and I are back in SLC, and back to the usual grind. I'm here at work playing catch-up, and working on some other projects.

Again, Ben and I had such a great time on our vacation. It was so nice to not have any responsibilities, and to relax and have fun with my family.

We experienced some tender mercies at the airport yesterday. First, I got to chat for a few minutes with one of my favorite people--a former singles ward bishop, Max McCombs. He was actually on the same flight to SLC with us. It was great to catch up with him. Ben even took a picture of us! I'll have to post that some time soon. The other tender mercy: when Ben and I booked our flights in June for this trip, there were no more adjacent seats left, so we knew going into it that we wouldn't sit next to each other. But once we got onto the plane, a nice older gentleman (who coincidentally happened to be on our flight from SLC to home last Thursday), asked Ben if he wanted to switch seats with him so that we could sit next to each other. Awww! It was such a little thing, but still a testimony that God is aware of us and our desires.

Hope you're having a great start to your week!