Notice

In case any of you are still watching this website, I don't really use it anymore. I created another blog to include Trevor in the blogging world. Albeit, I don't use it much, but I will not be adding anymore blogs here anymore. Check out the new site.

trevorandashlee.blogspot.com

updated!

I know, I know, you have all been dying to hear from me. I'm sorry to neglect you all for so long, but I've had other things going on. Anyway I'm married, I'm Ashlee Thomas! Yeah!!

I wanted Trevor to feel included in the blogging world, so I created a new blog. trevorandashlee.blogspot.com It has all the wedding details. Ok, not all, but a few. please visit there. I don't know how much I'll keep this blog up-to-date, or if I will at all, but if you have both my addresses, then you'll know for sure what's going on with me!!

Thanks to everyone who was there to help, or give gifts and support. Laura even chimed in all the way from Alabama!! I appreciate all the love and support.

Sorry for the lack

I've been incredibly lazy at blogging. I'm sure you're all just dying to hear about wedding plans...snore. I've just been busy and occupied. I've moved into a new place and it doesn't have Internet. But I'll be sure to post lots of pictures after the wedding...in 16 days.

The Valley

Normally that is a term that could refer to a great number of places in the country, The Magic Valley, where I'm from for example, The Happy Valley, where I currently live for another. But let me tell you about THE Valley.

My lovely Man is from The Valley. Its about as far south as you can go in Colorado before you enter NM, and it was way high in the mountains, it was beautiful. I didn't get a sweeping picture of the farm land, but I do have a few highlights.

First and foremost, The world famos boxer, Jack Dempsey was from Manassa (the specific town in the valley Trevor is from) so of course there are signs, statues and even a museum dedicated to him. *just and and interesting side note, one of my co-workers named her daughter after the Manassa Mauler, Dempsey. Interesting.
The 24th of July is a bigger celebration in The Valley than it is in Salt Lake. In fact it is a two day event that is referred to as The Celebration, with a Carnival, and two, yes I said two parades, in each morning. The Celebration draws in the crowds, the small town of less than 1000 probably triples these two days. Which brings out all kinds of Carnies and red necks, but I'll spare you the pictures of the guy with pony tail holders in his beard, or the 40-50 year old band of wanna be rockers, and the toothless ride operators.

The Parades were pretty cool, since its such a big deal, the floats are really impressive. It goes down main street, turns around and comes right back up it again. Trevor's aunt won first prize for hers it was cool, and my my favorite was the Phoenix float.We spent a lot of time in the sun, playing at the sand dunes in the river, watching the freestyle MotoX guys biff it on their bikes, but I have to show you the funniest thing of the whole weekend.

As mentioned before I am from the Magic Valley. There is is not uncommon to see a tractor crossing sign, or even deer crossing. But one common sign I saw in The Valley was this:
Amish crossing! PS They make really good doughnuts.

Now I'm going to change the subject and talk about my family reunion earlier in July, ok well I really just want to show you this picture of my nephews Josh and Grant doing what ever two year olds deem important. Look at them working away. I think it is adorable!Spencer and Emily have moved away from me to Ohio. They seem to be settling in alright, and I'm excited for their new adventure, but I know I am really going to miss them, especially Grant and Henry. I love you guys! I'm excited to see you for my wedding.

Please help me

This post is particularly for my old high school buddies.

I started going to your individual posts and asking for your address and I decided that this would be faster. Please please email me your addresses ashpatty@gmail.com, if you don't I will stalk you and get it from you, but seeing as I have like 600 addresses to find, I'd rather not. Come on you all remember what it was like... please help a sista out!

Looky Looky

So a little while back I met a boy named Trevor...









I thought he was pretty cool. So I kept him around and started calling him boyfriend.
Just a little about him, he served a mission in Spain and speaks Spanish, grew up on a farm in Manassa Colorado loves working land and with animals, and it just so happens that he owns some of these... (seven at the moment, but the mama's might pop soon!)








Everyone I know is kind of jealous because cows are cool, and who doesn't want to have the ultimate form of self reliance?

Anyway time went by and Trevor decided to give me this...










I thought it was pretty so I said "YES!!"

It was so wonderful I felt like this inside...









Now Trevor and I are getting married on September 6, 2008 in the Twin Falls, Idaho temple. So if you want an announcement, you better email me your address. ashpatty@gmail.com

Oh Slap!

On Sunday I had a fun trip down memory lane.










Does anyone else remember the craze that was slap bracelets? I got one from a friend at church the other day, I'm seriously considering working it into my wardrobe for work this week. It will go nicely with my orange crocs! (thanks for those by the way mom!!)

Having another slap bracelet in my possession took me back to 2nd grade at my old alma mater, Sawtooth Elementary,when Misses Reed was my teacher (I write it that way, because my siblings relentlessly tease me about my inability to pronounce Mrs. correctly) and
Anna and Lisa were the only important people in the world, well them and my crush of the year Kyle Bradshaw, but now that I think of it he might have been 3rd grade...

Well, Anyway Rock On! Or something cool slap bracelets would make me say.

Camp Williams

My work had its annual staff retreat today. Usually we've spent the day lounging at a cabin or something, but this year, we kicked it at an Army base, Camp Williams.

We had amazing tee-shirts, fortunately mine was less
obnoxious than others...as you can see. I just hope the soldiers weren't laughing too hard.

We started the day off completing an obstacle course, mostly getting ammo cans from here to there without touching the red paint. It was actually a lot of fun. Really really cold, but fun. Fortunately I didn't fall the water like some of my comrades. (that really was Caleb's fault for trying to splash me) I didn't have my camera for that, so no pictures, sorry.

Later that afternoon we hit the repelling tower. It was a towering 540 inches! (which is only 45 feet tall, but sounds more impressive in inches) I was the first down the free fall side. It was a little nerve racking, but the army men at the top were nice and talked my nerves down and sent me over the side. As most of you know, the first step is the worst. Once you're sitting in the harness suspended in the air being held by a mere rope. . .
Piece of Cake.









Waiting for permission to go up.








I know, I know so sexy.









But this was the scariest part.

ME belaying!!!

More Family

A couple of weeks ago I went up to Idaho to celebrate 3 things.

1. Grants second birthday.#2 Henry's blessing

#3 The best big brother's graduation from grad schoolI learned a few things while I was up there, as much as I love Happy Valley, I miss my Idaho. I hope to get back up there sometime soon! (if only I didn't have such an amazing job keeping me here, but I suppose I shouldn't complain about that.) I LOVE spending time with my family. Since I've moved to Utah I don't get to see them as much as I used too. Thank goodness Becki is close, or else I wouldn't have lasted very long.

My family is great.

I'm going to post some pictures of us bowling. In case you think I'm a good bowler because of my previously mentioned 170, here is proof that was a complete fluke. I only bowled a 77!

Out with the Old...

For those of you who don't know or haven't seen, I have recently made a HUGE change in my life!


This is my 2004 Nissan Sentra, secretly in my head, I called him Frank. I'm not sure where that name came from, and some people think it is weird that it was HE instead of a SHE, but in fact, his name was Frank. When I got my Sentra, I thought it was a good car, but I was always a tad sad, and somewhat disappointed with that car. I REALLY wanted a blue car. I knew it would be silly to not get a great car just because it wasn't the right color, so I purchased Frank. He was a good car, but the time came for a change.

So I would like to introduce . . . STELLA!!

The blue car of my dreams!! She is a 2008 Toyota Prius-hybrid. with tinted windows I can honestly admit I have never loved an inanimate object so much! So I've driven about 200 miles and used only 1/5 of my gas tank. I am seriously enjoying this, and I don't think I will ever stop.

Ode to my Nephews

This past month I had two new nephews born. Henry Kenneth Patterson

to Spencer and Emily

And

Emmett Jesse Butler

to Kendra and Chad

Both Henry and Emmett have brothers that are just under two years old. Grant is only 6 weeks older than Josh and Henry is only about 3 weeks older than Emmett. Both are adjusting pretty well to having a new baby around. Here are some pictures of Grant welcoming Henry home (on the left) and Josh bonding with Emmett (0n the right).

So I extend a warm welcome nephews #10 and #11 bringing the grand total of grand kids to 15. I love being an aunt and I'm sure it won't be too long before these two realize, I am the coolest person they know.

Henry might already know this because he spent two hours sleeping on me at the zoo, while his brother and cousin Ethan ran around looking at all the animals.

Later that night Grant and I hit the pool while his mommy dutifully took care of the baby. Grant loved "Ashy jump" which means he jumped off the side and off the steps and I caught him, over and over and over again. Now I feel a tad sorry for all the times I made my sisters or my parents catch me. Sorry guys! But It was really fun, and funny when his diaper got too heavy and fell off as he walked over to say hi to mommy.

Ethan also had a birthday which we all celebrated that weekend, with dinner at TGIFridays and a party at a bounce house in Sandy (which I don't have any pictures for.) I won't bore you with details of my other 6 nephews right now, but I'm sure you'll hear about them sometime.

I just wish I got to spend more time with them all.

Good morning shower!

I have a really great back-up alarm. Its my shower. For those of you who don't have the pleasure of knowing the arrangement of an Old Mill apartment let me show you.
I am standing in my room, and as you can see, Melissa's room is clearly visible if the shower doors are open. Thus Melissa waking me up when she gets into the shower is not an uncommon occurrence.

I usually have to be to work be for she has to be to school, so I've usually bright eyed and bushy tailed myself out of bed before she, but on the occasions that she beats me, I always feel justified to lie in bed for extra-long, which as you can imagine is bad. It makes me slow moving, late, and tired all day! Curse you incredibly weird shower.

Actually I love my shower. Its really convenient when I need to tell something to Melissa, its almost like a secret passage way, and it is a spa tub with jets and everything. You should see it when we put bubbles in and turn the jets on. Really, we can fill the whole thing with bubbles. So I feel sorry for all you people out there, that don't have the awkward, yet fascinating Old Mill Shower-thing.

Turkey!!

This is a momentous occasion. I got my first turkey ever and a new high score in a game of bowling last night. There were only a few frames where I didn't clean house! (For some reason I feel like this won't be completely momentous until I hear a word of praise from my freakishly athletic sister) Some of you might be laugh and say "psh, that is so not a big deal, I get turkeys all the time!" But I am not afraid to admit, I am proud of my turkey which lead me to a 170, 13 points higher than ever before. Just in case you think I'm lying, I have pictures to prove it!

Candice and I decided we wanted to go bowling, so we grabbed a couple of guys and hit the alley. Which makes the victory even more sweet, I beat two gentleman twice! It was a lot of fun, for me. Plus I always enjoy a good opportunity to trash talk. Although he pretended not to care, I chose to believe that secretly it is eating him up inside that he was beat by a girl! Twice!

If you think I am being elusive about the identity of the gentleman I chose to take, I'm not trying to be. I am simply following his request not to be named specifically. So although I think it is a tad silly, I won't tell you who it was. In fact he didn't even want me to post a picture of him, which of course I did, but which one is he?

I did so well in this game, that I am now seriously considering joining a bowling league. Ok, not really, but it is kind of a funny idea.

The wonderful world of roommates

This weekend my dear cousin slash roommate left the world we live in for the world of marriage. As excited as I am for her and all her new adventures, I am sad for myself. Melissa, Candice and I are definitely going through some Natalie withdrawals, some abandonment issues and I am experiencing some attachment problems.




It was a really fun thing to watch Natalie and Tyler come closer and make the choices that led them to the temple. Natalie has been one of my best friends for my entire life, and I am so excited to see her with someone like Tyler who loves her so much.


This is all of us at Natalie's wedding breakfast. She is the one in the blue jacket, Melissa the blond and Candice the brunette with the flower in her hair.

The reception sure was a lot of fun. Natalie had it decorated so beautifully with her skittles themed colors (not joking) but it really turned out well. There were five bridesmaids, each wearing one of 5 different colors, orange, yellow, pink, green and of course purple! Which was my dress. Unfortunately I was busy being the maid of honor so I didn't get to take many pictures. But here is one of Klemm (aka Melissa) and myself holding a piece of the bouquet in our hair. Natalie gracefully tossed her bouquet into the basketball hoop, completely accidentally. ( I was very grateful she did that rather than throw it at me, since the pressure was really on for me to catch it. ) In stead every one had a good laugh and we, the eligible women, divided it amongst our selves for safe keeping and equal ridicule.

As many struggles as I have to deal with every time a friend takes that faithful leap, I am more than elated for my friends and their happiness. Congratulations to all you married people!

I have joined...

I am a self-declared blog stalker. I've spent loads of time on the computer tracking down lost friends, and even some family members. I find other peoples lives so entertaining that I just can't stop myself from peeking in on their goings on. I suppose that it technically isn't peeking because its all openly and publicly written, but still I always felt like I was being sneaky. After weeks of endless torment (which of course means after thinking about it for a few days) I decided to open the doors to my life and make myself a non-outsider and join the blogging world. I've always enjoyed writing and sometimes luck out, getting things written down in a slightly entertaining manner that makes sense to more people than just myself. No matter how it ends up sounding, I always end up feeling better.

It may take me a few tries to get everything settled and looking just the way I want it, but I'm looking forward to talking about myself, because who doesn't like to do that . . .