Preview of One Special Day

So here is just a sneak peek of only a few of the wedding pictures, but HERE IS A SNEAK PEEK OF THE WEDDING PICTURES!!! This is when we were all freezing outside the temple, bracing ourselves.

It was SUCH a crazy, windy day there in San Diego so we only really took like 2 pictures. I'm talking sideways rain, wind practically bullying the trees, I felt so sad for Rachel and Blair. But they didn't seem to mind. Who else loves love?!And then, it was time to PARTY!!! I love my friends and family. There were so many good vibes going on.

I really love my sisters. They are just the greatest friends I have ever been blessed to get for eternity. So special.*

That last one made me tear up when I saw it. But you better believe I was bawling like a baby in real life. Kenzie came and comforted me. I love my adopted sisters too. :)

Okay so it's just a sneak peek, but enjoy!! The pictures were taken by the VERY talented and adorable Vicky Zerkle. Facebook stalk her. She's so great.

Side note: I loved having my big sissy on the trip with us. She is just so much fun and I love every minute I get to spend with her. I decided she has to come on ALL family road trips forever. So from now on, Dad drives (and eats sunflower seeds of course) Mom sleeps in the passenger seat (and enjoys her jumpy leg) and Qiq, Erin, and I will all snack, crack up, watch movies, and catch up in the back seat.

Birthday Boy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!!!

Yep, it's my little cutie's birthday today!! We're officially only a year apart now. Haha

I sent him this jacket

But I got the WRONG. SIZE. Ruined everything. I have a couple other tricks up my sleeve but since the shipping has gotten all messed up, he didn't get the other things yet so I can't post about those. ANYway.

I hope he knows how special I think he is. He treats me like a queen and is always so reassuring. He is SUCH a great cook and knows just what I need to hear. He is the best snuggler and always lets me put my icicle feet under him. He makes me laugh and has even made me cry by how honest and sweet he really can be. He is not afraid to talk to me about the future or about how he feels about certain things. He's so very honest and I love when he laughs and giggles. He is the best person I have ever known and is my best friend in the whole wide world. I love him more and more everyday and I hope his birthday was just as great as he is. I love you sweetie! I wish I was there to spoil you with little surprises! We'll make up for it later. ;)

The night he officially stole my heart and roped me into a relationship.

One Day Older And Wiser Too!

Anyone that knows me knows that I LOVE birthdays.

Not so much my own, but I love to go a little overboard when it comes to celebrating others. So I wasn't really expecting anything super great for my birthday since a) everyone I would usually celebrate with is up in Idaho and b) the others are all getting ready for the BIG DAY for Rae. So I really was planning to just work (which is fine because I LOVE everyone I work with and it's fun to spend the time with them anyway) and then go home, hang out with my fam, do a little skyping, and get some sleep.

Well.

Erin had other plans in mind and came into work and brought me a cookie and a bracelet and a few hugs and kisses from my most favorite little boys in the whole world. It was so great and thoughtful and made my entire day! I had soooort of forgotten that it was my birthday by then. Then! Tipping my manager off, just like she planned, Taylor and Danielle (sweetest girls ever) set birthday plans up for after work and I got SUPER excited.

You see, the last few birthdays I've had have been kind of a bust. Sickness, TOM came to visit, games, other plans conflicting...it just hasn't really worked out to be SUPER amazing birthdays. Good! But not the greatest ever. Haha So I was so touched that they wanted to hang out with me on my birthday instead of just going home and relaxing! They took me out to BJ's for a birthday dinner and it was so great just getting to know them better! We even shared a bunch of pizookies (can you believe Danielle had NEVER tried one of BJ's pizookies until then!? I know. So tragic) and I had so much fun laughing and talking with them. They honest made my birthday so great. So thank you to my WONDERFUL older sister for her mischievous plan. I just love her.

And when I got home from work, I had all these cute little presents waiting for me, including my little baby Rachel! So I hit quite the jack pot this year.

Thank you so so so much to everyone who made it so special. My family, friends, and facebookers. I could not be more blessed and I honestly have the GREATEST people in my life. I can't even believe how lucky I am.

Sweet Things Sunday

It's time for another episode of What I'm Wishing For RIGHT Now!!! Here's your host, Ashley "Desperate" Martiiiiiiiin!! (crowd goes wild...obviously)

You can't tell me this isn't a beautiful piece of work. Oh man, I finally understand the Leather Jacket Craving (by the VERY fashionable Rachel Martin) of 2009. Oh my dear sister. I don't know how you coped with it until Christmas Day. And it doesn't even matter the color! Beige will be just great too!! (See number 8 in these essentials)

And the other is this

so that I could do this

I literally think in Instagram and I don't even have anything to use it on. So what if I see the world in Valencia or Nashville colorings, right? ...No you're right. Just kill me. I have to get my daily dose of this drug on Qiarra's itouch instead. And by daily, I mean Qiarra's let me use it twice. So who knows. Maybe someday I will be able to finally take pictures and post them like crazy on this blog. Instead of googling pictures and copying and pasting.

Please don't judge me for this post. It's late and I haven't had a good night's sleep in forever.

Ps....WEDDING CRUNCH WEEK COMMENCES TODAY!!! Very exciteeeed for these little precious peaches.

Staff Meeting

Today at work was actually REALLY REALLY fun!! We had a big giant team meeting today (with bagels, waters, and spreads to fill our little tummies so early in the morning) and at first, Peter just talked to us about how amazing we are doing (2nd in the country compared to the other stores' scores!! That's AMAZING!) and what we could improve on and all the new things coming up. But THEN, we had a trivia game where we had to answer multiple choice questions about procedures (I did TERRIBLE because I would get lost in my thoughts, and since they were only allowed to read the answers once, I wouldn't hear them and fell behind) and then the best part was after that. We had this SUPER fun competition activity where we were split into teams and then completed different tasks against the clock. The "front of the house" part included getting out and stretching the dough, filling anything that needed filling (during), making 4 salads and labeling them and putting them in the case, making like 20 pizzas CORRECTLY (this is big because most of the time, we don't actually measure the ingredients out, we just plop them on and we're usually pretty close!), wrapping them, and stacking them correctly. And cleaning everything up, including doing the dishes. The "back of the house" included making a whole batch of dough, dough-balling it all, oiling it, labeling it, and putting them in the walk-in. Also included was making 4 cheesy breads and 4 smores, AND cleaning it all up. Thank goodness we didn't have to make cookie dough. That would've taken us FOREVER. It was so fun. We were all competing at the same time, being timed, so we were all running around like little ants when their hill gets knocked over, bumping into each other, apologizing, but mostly just getting in the zone! It was really fun. I love being in the heat of the moment! It was also weird because we all had to come in before the store opened, pretty early, and then half of us left and came back for our later shifts. Haha

My team had Taylor leading, then Danielle, Justin, Drake, Lindsey, and Genessa. We rocked it, I won't lie. During the back of the house part of it, the phone rang and, although we were yelling at him not to because it would waste time, Drake answered the phone, telling us "What if that's part of the competition?!" and we all laughed at how ridiculous that would be! Turns out, it was and it's what ended up making us WIN!!! So we all got gift cards to the movies. It was so awesome. I'm tellin you, I really have the BEST job.

Taylor wrote on her facebook about it. I felt so cool. Haha