{hot dogs and punk rockers}

Happy Halloween!! 

We got a fun surprise in the mail yesterday from Grandma and Grandpa Hoth, these delicious popcorn hands! Thank you!! They were such a fun treat!

This is our cute front porch ready for the trick-or-treaters tonight!

I think this is my favorite decoration of the year. Isn't it so cute? It's called a Fairytale pumpkin and when I saw it I about died. Thanks to my mom for buying it for us when she was here at the beginning of the month!

And the main event of the year for us was getting costumes for the dog, again, thanks to my mom for buying them for us. Bruce as a hot dog and Phoebe as a punk rock chick! 

Taylor has to work tonight, so I will be home watching Ghost Adventures (seriously, my favorite show, I'm obsessed) and handing out candy! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and stays safe! 

{marching bands}

This weekend we were able to go down to St. George to see Davis' band compete at the Bands of America competition. It was the first time we had seen the show in person and it was awesome!! The band ended up placing 3rd overall and winning a caption which is a huge accomplishment for this particular competition, there were bands from 6 states there! 

The beginning of their show, "Boo!"

The band waiting for awards!

The staff!

It was so good to see Taylor's family and to be able to see the band perform! They did an amazing job and makes me proud to be a Davis alum! 

{pumpkins}

I LOVE traditions! Anyone who knows me knows that if I have a tradition to do something a certain way, it better be done that way or you have a grumpy Ashli on your hands. This Halloween has been a bit hard for me because I haven't been able to do all of my fun Halloween traditions, mainly going to see Odyssey's Thriller. Remember when I was in it?! (One of the best experiences of my life). 

ANYWAY, Another one of my favorite traditions is carving pumpkins. I love it! As long as I can remember my family has carved pumpkins and it has always been a highlight of the Halloween season. Tonight Taylor and I carved pumpkins. It made me excited to start our little family's own traditions. We started off the night by ordering some chinese food, first chinese food we've had in Vegas. It was pretty tasty! 

Then we finished decorating our front porch.

Then we started in our pumpkins! Here is Taylor hard at work.

The finished product.. Can you guess whose is whose? 

It was such a fun night and I can't wait to do it year after year! Chinese food and pumpkins.. sounds like a tradition in the making! ;) 

And just for a special treat.. here's a throw-back to last year when we carved pumpkins at my Mom's house! 

{diamonds}

This post is just for me to vent a little! Remember right before we moved to Vegas how the main diamond in my ring was loose? Well... after lots of drama with our jewelers, it finally got back to me here in Vegas.  As I was driving to St. George this weekend I noticed that my diamond was sitting crooked in it's setting. My ring has a tension setting in it so both sides of the diamond should be sitting below the highest part of the metal. Well, somehow it came loose and one side was sitting above the metal. I ended up pushing it back down into the rivets (which I'm not sure if that was such a great idea.. but I did it anyway). Well, now the diamond very easily moves within the setting, so much so that there is NO way I'm going to wear it and risk losing the diamond. At the end of the day, I have to take it to a new jeweler to have it tightened (and pay money, even though we have "insurance" with the original jeweler and it should be free) because there is no way I am taking it back to the place we bought it. (Not to mention, the only location they have is in the Newgate Mall in Ogden). So again, after only 4 months it needs to be tightened again, which causes me to wonder if they really ever tightened it in the first place.  Anyway, like I said this post was mostly for me to vent. GAH! 

stock photo of my ring! Beautiful right?

{mommy/daughter weekend}

This past weekend I went down to St. George to spend some time with mom at our time share. We have been going there for about 10 years and we have made tons of fun traditions! 

We always go to Pizza Factory to get salads and breadsticks. Our favorite waiter, Roger, has worked there since the very beginning 10 years ago. Sadly, he moved away so it was weird this time to not see him there but it was still as delicious as always.

The best breadsticks in the world! and of course a Diet Coke!

We also love to eat at Chilis! Always a favorite!

We went to Target after Chili's and had some fun looking at all of the Halloween decorations. Mom also bought the dogs some costumes (keep an eye out for those in a later post). 

Bear Paw Coffee House is the best little breakfast place in all of St. George. We go there all the time and I order MASS amounts of food. (Yes.. I understand all of our traditions involve food.. we're girls, give us a break!)

My food - Strawberry/Banana Crepe, Bacon and Home Fries. Mom's Food - Granola and Bacon!

My B-e-a-utiful mother! Thanks for a wonderful weekend!!

{football}

Our latest night time activity is playing Paper Football games. *Random fact about Ashli - I get kids meals when we eat at Wendy's.* Last time we went we happened to get a toy goal post/plastic football. After Bruce ruined the football we decided to salvage the goal post and put it to good use. 

Tonight's game went a little something like this...

1st quarter: 31 (The Taylors)-12 (The Ashlis)

2nd quarter: 55 (The Taylors) - 18 (The Ashlis)

3rd quarter: 62 (The Taylors) - 48 (The Ashlis)

Final: 86 (The Taylors) - 66 (The Ashlis) 

Pretty good comeback right? Taylor has beaten me 2 out of 2 times.. but I'll get him next time! 

{muffins}

So last night I decided to make some cinnamon streusel muffins for dessert. I got out all the needed ingredients and tools and this is what I found. 

1 - We got all of this as gifts from our wedding

2 - We hadn't used any of it yet.... (Shows how much I bake) 

***Side Note***

The other day I was cleaning out our guest bedroom and found a whole bunch of unsent Thank You cards from our wedding, written and addressed but never sent. For this I sincerely apologize, I'm the worst at going to the post office. Our wedding was wonderful and if you had ANYTHING to do with it, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts and apologize for not showing you how grateful we were. 

***End Side Note***

Back to the muffins... 

This was the end result.

To be completely honest with you, I wasn't the biggest fan, but Taylor ate half of them, so they must have been good right? 

Anyway, we have a ton of fun stuff going on in the next few weeks. This weekend my mom will be down in St. George at our time share and I can't wait to go and spend the weekend with her. The next weekend Taylor's family will be in St. George for some band competitions. We can't wait to see them and to watch the Davis High Band (if you didn't know, Taylor's dad is the director) work it out on that field. Their show is AWESOME this year and I can't wait to see it in person. 

{updates}

So... a lot has happened in the last few months! Where to start..? 

I guess the biggest news is that Taylor started a new job! He quit Diamond and got a job with Sprint corporate. The pay, hours and benefits are a million times better than what he was getting at Diamond. It is so nice to have him actually enjoy his job again. Things were a lot different with Diamond here in Las Vegas than they were back in Utah. 

Here he is on his first day @ Sprint. SO excited. :)

I also got a job!! I got a job at a studio called Preston's Class Act. I am teaching a ton of different classes and I'm so excited to get back in the studio! I got the job a few weeks ago but just started today. It was fantastic. It's a lot different than Groove, that's for sure, but I'm excited to be able to get out of the house and do what I love a few hours a day. 

We have been able to take a few trips to Utah in the last few months. It was so nice to be able to go home and see friends and family again. 

I went to Utah alone for my Mom's birthday! We went to Cheesecake Factory. Yum!

I got the chance to choreograph a combined Hip Hop routine for Groove. I miss my girls SO much!!

The puppies always find funny ways to sleep in the car. Love it!

Bruce would NOT lay down the last half of our drive home, it was driving me nuts!

One night right before we went to bed, Bruce decided he wanted to pee on our comforter which soaked down to our sheets. I was NOT happy! But we ended up having a "slumber party" in the living room. Sometimes it's fun to do random things like that. :) 

This is a box of gummy bears that I bought for Taylor for our "engage-iversary" ... No, it wasn't in my car long enough to get melted. Don't ask me how they became one big glob.. Yuck!

My computer cord broke, so my computer was dead for awhile but we finally got a new one, so I should be better at keeping up with things on this blog. It has been an exciting few months, been some rough times but we are sticking it out and loving life. 

{alive}

Yes.. we are alive and well! Have been without a computer/internet for a little while. I will update on LOTS of news later tonight or tomorrow!