Living the life

It's been a while. My bad. Guess I have had "bloggers block".  Life is going great! 

So i know that all of you are dying to know if i have chosen my new bedroom stuff. Well indeed i have.  Thank you for your opinions they were very insightful. Well after a month of going back and forth i have selected option number......2.  I ordered this on Wednesday. Now if i could just find a bedroom sent that i like and is not going to break my pocket book.

I got another hair cut. HAHA shocker i know. Me hair cut?...NEVER. This one is my favorite one yet. Chopped alot off, got a few more layers and actually kept the same colors from before. 

I had a job interview at work for a new position. The position is HR assistant. I honestly hope i get it. Im sick of being in the same dept at work that i have been in since i started. Wish me luck. I should know in  a few weeks. 

Dallin is doing really well. He had his first baptism on Tuesday the Tuesday the 23rd. I guess they had kind of a rough day with her on Monday and Tuesday morning, but all worked out and she was baptized.  So proud of Dallin. He is doing a great job serving our Heavenly Father.

The craft bug has gotten ahold of me this week. I made more scrapbooked letters. I made the letters BOO! for Halloween. I am in love with the paper that is on sale right now. I am going to finish the word FALL tomorrow.  My aunt grabbed me on Sunday and asked me if i would make her 25 cards of any kind and she'll pay me for them. Ya! and excuse to actually make cards. I think this month is card club so actually i just realized i have to make 50 cards by next weekend. Yikes. No pressure.  I'm thinking about custom making the scrapbooked letters. If your interested let me know and we can arrange things. I'll post pictures of the ones i've made.

I started walking again. I forgot how much i love it. It's relaxing and well good for me. I usually do between 2.8 and 3 miles. I pop in the ipod and go. The other day my neighbor Dave saw me out walking and he said "you know its not good for mental patients to walk by themselves." Haha thanks Dave.

My dad turned 50 on Tuesday. Happy Birthday old fart. I think he had a fun day. The fam went fourwheeling all day then came home showered and then we went to Chili's. My dad is a funny fella.  Here are a few things i love about the pops.  He laughs so hard he farts sometimes.  He has infectious laugh. He is a LOUD talker. He is caring and compassionate. He is a jack of all trades. Have a problem with a car? Need a birthday cake? Come on over Poppa Martin will help ya out.  Love ya dad, Happy Birthday

We had a young single adult activity for our region, our stake was in charge of it. I got "nominated" to be the rep from our ward, so i got to help with that. It was super fun. We didn't think we would have alot of people, but we had about 100 people. I got to know girls from the stake better i also got to play football with cute guys- one of them being Op Tom. Ya for that. More on Op Tom in a later post. :)

Here are some random pics from the month of Sept. Have a great weekend everyone!!

Boys that gather money...

Heather came home for a visit.  Ash*Heather*Linds
          Yeah we play twister for YW

Don't ask...

Dave is a Diva while doing service

New bedroom-opinion needed!

So i need your opinion. I have had this itch to redo my bedroom for a while now. Well i got permission from the proper authorities, okay just my mom after all it is her house in which i live. 

Right now my room has been the same since i moved in here when i was 12, and its a little to floral for my liking. Don't get me wrong, i loved it when i was 12 but not so much now. My room is foe painted a dark/medium green then a wallpaper border at the top with probably 12 inches of a lighter green above that. I want to change everything!! I have picked out some bed stuff that i kind of like. Help me narrow it down, which one do you like? 

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I also get to buy myself a new big girl bed. Haha!! Yeah i'm 22 and still sleep on a twin. Depending on which one of these bed covers i get will depend on A. the colors of my room and B. the color of my new bed. I guess that means i'll also be getting a new dresser and night stand and new window coverings. Good-bye lacy frilly crap.

Im so excited!! I also have a bathroom attached to my room. I think i will keep it green and just get a new shower curtain, rugs, towels and toilet seat cover. Oh and some new pictures and wall hangings for both rooms. 

It's about LOVE

So i pretty much love this cute family. The cute mom is Jen. She was mine and my brothers sixth grade teacher. She still works with my mom. Oh how i love her!! I was the first class that she taught after she graduated. She has only gotten better since then. 

Since then she married cute Braden and they tried and tried and tried to have a baby with no luck. They tried everything and paid oodles and oodles of money, and yet she was still childless. They decided to put in there adoption papers in last year about this time. They played the waiting game, but much to everyone's delight they didn't have to wait long.

On Christmas day they received a letter from the mom who had been looking at their profile and they were chosen!! This sweet sweet mom made such a great choice. This mom was married and had 2 little daughters, she found out she had MS, was pregnant and at the same time going through a divorce. She decided to place the sweet baby for adoption.

Little Tyler joined this amazing family in April. One more month and he gets to become "officially" theirs. This picture doesn't do him justice. He is just the cutest, calmest, happiest smiley baby ever.  Ya for adoption! This baby is so lucky to join Jen and Braden, they are some amazing people. It amazes me how the lord blesses people. A sad situation became happy and made an amazing couple parents!! Love ya!

Elder Dallin Martin

Well the day came and past. Dallin is now gone. He entered the MTC on Wednesday August 13th. It was super hard to say goodbye to him that afternoon. Keep in mind i was the one who was excited for him to go. I knew i would miss him but, i thought it would be easy to say goodbye. Holy cow was i super wrong. 

The tears started coming the Sunday of his farewell and have not really stopped yet. His farewell was great. He did such a good job. The day was crazy busy, my aunt came to our house at 9 and started making the "missionary ham sandwiches". We got dressed and went to church at 11. People came over to the house right after sacrament meeting and thats when the fun began. It was lots of fun to spend the hole day with the family and lots of friends. The day ended around 10. What a great day!!

The next part of the special time was Tuesday. We had a family dinner with the grandparents and our little family. It was Dallin's favorite meal, Roast beef, mashed potatoes, yorkshire pudding, gravy, rolls, and some veggies. Yum. Then we went over to the stake center and Dallin was set apart as a missionary. This was an amazing expirence. The spirit was so strong. The night was again spent with lots of family. Lots of tears shed that night. 

Wednesday. My mom got up and made our family breakfast. The morning was full of weird feelings. Dallin was busy packing and the rest of us kind of walked around in a daze. My mom gave me a job to decorate the car with window markers, i was excited. The time came that we needed to head down to the MTC for the drop off. I think this was the day that it kind of hit all of us that Dallin was leaving. Emotions were high. My dad gave Dallin a blessing before we left, then my grandpa prayed for us to be safe and comforted and varies other things. We got in the car and were off. My mom brought the Called to Serve CD and popped it in the player. The first song was called to serve, Dallin started to cry and ask her to turn it off. She did.

We got to the MTC and a nice worker said this is where we take the missionary, his baggage and the passengers and the driver will park the car and meet up with the family at the entrance in a minute. We left his bags at spot 36 then walked to the front to meet dad. We entered through the friends and family door and D went through the missionary door. Dallin got his badge and "dork dot". We then went down some halls that led to the "room of doom". They sat us down and we watched some commercials. Of all things to watch it was commercials you see on TV, the isn't it about time....FAMILY commercials. Yeah great thing to watch as you are getting ready to leave your missionary for 2 years. NOT!!!

The meeting started. We were to sing Called to serve as the opening hymn. Stupid song to sing. I think i got two words out of my mouth between all the sobbing. We had some speakers and then a closing prayer. They said it is now time to say good-bye, we suggest you use the "band aide" method, the faster the better. Wow-harsh. We got up, Dad got the first hug then mom then Bry, Cam and then me. According to my brothers i got the longest hug of the siblings. I didn't want to let him go. He told me it would be ok, he was doing the right thing. I said i love you and let him go. Mom gave him a few more hugs and that was that. He walked out his door and didn't look back. 

We left the MTC, all crying. We decided to go to Cabelas so we didn't have to go home right away. I have pictures of that i'll post in a bit.

I miss the kid like crazy. I was driving home from work and singing to the radio when i saw missionaries and i started bawling my eyes out. He is doing the right thing, i know that. It is still hard. He made me angry at times but oh man most the time it was lots of laughs with that boy. We have received 2 letters from him. All is well, he seems so grown up now. 

My family went to the Buzz game the Monday before he left, i didn't go. My job was to hang up the clothes in the dryer. No fair! They didn't tell me it was ALL of his white missionary shirts. Think i cried on a few of them. 

Operation Tom

Last week was my Stake's Youth Conference. I was not very excited to go, because i thought it was going to be kind of weird. It was quit the opposite. The theme of youth conference was Moroni's Quest. We reinacted some parts of the Book of Mormon. The spirit was so strong and my testimony has been stregenthed so much. 

Now on to the title of this post, Operation Tom. As you may know i have a small rush/thing for a guy in my stake. This has been going on for the past oh year or okay two. If you know me very well, you know that i am shy and don't like to leave my comfort zone. The mere fact that i dated "The Boy" for so long shocks me! 

So the cute boy is also a youth leader in his ward, so do you know what this means? He was at Youth Conference!! 3 hole days to stare at the cute boy and wishing oh so desperately wishing i could talk to him. A few of my close ward friends and of course my family know that i think he is pretty much the coolest thing since toilet paper. 

So on Friday, we had some ward time for about 2 hours. I had planned on taking a nap but somehow we ended up talking about my crush. There was a circle of camp chairs with a mixture of youth and adults. The youth were the "cool" ones the other kids were playing some crazy game. In our circle we talked how the other leaders had met there spouse. Such cute stories! Then we talked about some ideas to break the ice and how i could talk to him. 

My cute brother came up with the code name of OPERATION TOM. The cute boys last name has the word Tom in it. Hence the code name operation tom. Thank you Cameron. So i think the funniest/craziest idea that we came up with was the following cheesy scenario. Me standing with one of the youth by him and then the youth splashing water on him and saying "Ashlee thinks your hot! Wow!! Crazy kids.

That night at dinner i had the perfect chance to talk to him. I didn't have anywhere to sit and eat my dinner so i was standing up with my good pal Lindsey. Well the cute boy happened to be sitting right by our ward. The people that were sitting across from him got up and left, he however was still eating. Lindsey's funny husband Joseph yelled down to us, "hey there is a seat right here come sit down". Well as luck would have it i was not feeling at all well, like i wanted to puck. So i refused to sit down, hence once again i didn't talk to him. Sad! Broke my heart and i'm still disappointed in myself.

Well Saturday came and went. The time to go home had come and i had not said one word to the oh so cute boy. We were talking about it once again, and this time something happened. Not by me of course. HAHA. Joseph went and told the cute boys mom that a leader in our ward thought that her son was so cute and cool and blah blah blah, he told her that she couldn't say anything to him until after youth conference. AH!!!!! So now someone in his family knows, YIKES!! Don't know if he knows or if she has said anything. I kind of hope she does, makes me nervous to think about it though.  

Why am i so afraid to talk to him? Fear of rejection, nerves, i have no guts? Well i think that it is all of those things!! I am not the prettiest flower in the garden and he is pretty much handsome. How can i get over these fears? Ah please give me some suggestions, any and all are welcome!!

Catch up

Lets start of with the beginning of July. I turned 22 on the 3rd. Holy crap monkeys i am old. I had a great birthday. I didn't have to work, so i slept in. I then got dressed and went to work to get my bonus check...YAY for bonuses on birthdays. Then i came home and went to Olive Garden with my mom, gma Chinn, Madi and Peyton. MMM love Olive Garden. Then i took myself and Madi birthday shopping to Target. I Bought tons of necklaces and bracelets...yes tons! I now have almost ever color known to man so if you need jewelry for a special occasion give me a holler. Then we went home and played some Wii bowling, i kicked my brothers butts. Then when Elder Martin got home we went and saw Wall-E....um weird show. Then we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. I got to ride the bull and be sung to, yep my face was red. Then we came home and i opened my present...i got what i have been dying for. A miche bag!! Oh i am in love. Have you heard of them? They are oh so cute. Ill post a pic later. Great birthday, thanks family.

July 4th would be next. We didn't do really anything this year. We stayed home and worked in the yard and i in the house. We then went over to my uncles house for food and chit chat. It was good food and fun chit chat. We all then went down to Thanksgiving Pointe for possibly the lamest firework show ever!! Fireworks sucked but it was fun being with the fam. My aunt was here from Cali for her granddaughters baptism so it was fun to see her. I think the best part of the fireworks was the drive home. It took us a good 20 minutes to even leave the parking lot. My cousin Blake rode with us and let me just tell you, that kid is hilarious. Good times were had in the Martin Family BMW(Big Mormon Wagon aka suburban). Here are some photos from that day.

Cam and Braden-TENDER

    Thought these 2 were going to shank me

     This is the love circle Dallin.Cam.Blake

      My mom the peaceful woman


           Blake's mouth full of Oreos

The next event was my birthday dinner the Sunday after my birthday. We had hamburgers and hot dogs and homemade onion rings. I know what you are thinking, lame dinner especially when my mom is a great cooker. But let me tell you this meal was good. Here a pic of the good food. Thanks parentals for the yummy dinner.

                       Yummy
Good fixings!

   got to love popsicles

The next thing is family pictures. The amazingly talented KIM O. took our photos. We went to Murray Park and tried to smile pretty. We got them back on Monday night and let me tell you i am in love. I usually hate pics of myself but Kim is a miracle worker. I will post them as soon as they are purchased!! Thanks again Kim, you are awesome. Love you more than words can describe.

Dallin went through the temple to have his endowments taken out. We had family over after for food and conversation, that was fun. Proud of Dallin and also a bit jealous that he has gone through the temple. Can't wait til i can do that. 

The most recent event was the Chinn family reunion. Thats mostly why i havent been blogging. My mom was in charge this year and wow. She is nuts. We had a lot to do. We had so much fun. That is going to be a blog post itself. So many fun stories and pictures to share. Ill have to do another time because i need to clean my sick nasty room and bathroom.

Hope everyone had a fun 24th, enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Wow July, really?

Wow! Where is the time going? So i just realized that i have not posted for almost a month. Life has been so flipping busy. But i have loved every minute of it, well almost every minute.

June flew right by. Did some fun stuff in June. Hung out with my bestfriend before she left me for 2 years. My cute friend Monica is serving a mission in the New York, New York North mission spanish speaking. Oh how i love her!! She has been with me through thick and thin. She is going to make a great missionary. Love her so much.

                                                  

This month was also spent preparing for Girls Camp. Glad its done. I never realized just how much work it takes to put something like that together. This was my 12th year going. Yeah i said 12th. I have gone every year since i turned 12. I went 2 one year because i was in Cali visiting fam and then i came home and went again with home ward. After i turned 18 I went with the Stake as a cook until i was called into my ward YW's. 

Camp this year was great. The spirit was so strong. The theme was More precious than Rubies. I thought it was lame at first but once we got up there, i loved it! On Christ Day they had a special program that they have never done before, and the spirit was so strong. They had the preisthood sing "Walk Tall Your a Daughter". WOW. So amazing. I will remember that feeling for a long time. 

One downside to camp was that my dear sweet beehives, got ahold of my phone and tried to enter my password or something to many times so it blew the sim card. So i lost all my numbers on my phone. So if you would be so kind to send them to me again, that would be appreciated.

We also celebrated Fathers Day this moth as well. I love my dad very much. I don't tell him that enough. We have defintley not been the best of friends, but i love him. He is a great man and a wonderful father. He provides for us and loves us. My dad is so HARD to shop for. He always just tells us to give him peace and love and he will be happy. I hate that answer, hate it!! 

We went big and got him an amazing gift for Fathers Day, his birthday and Christmas for the next year or two haha. We got him a new 46" HD flat screen TV. Wow! The thing is huge and the picture is oh so amazing. Playing the Wii and Guitar Hero on the sucker is amazing. He was totally surprised and we loved every minute of it.

Sorry this is so long. I just want to mention one more thing. There is a family that could use some extra prayers and happy thoughts right now. I went to school with a kid named Josh Hinckley. He and his wife Cali were going to welcome a new baby into the world, however our Heavenly Father had some different plans. There baby passed away before he was born.  From the sounds of things they are doing as well as could be expected at a time like this. I know you probably don't know them, heck i don't know them super well but if you could include them in your prayers for a while that would be so wonderful.

Hope all is well with everyone!