funny how life works out...

Chamberlain and I have been a little under the weather lately, and because of that, I have had a lot of time to spend in doors. I decided to tackle my moms stacks of pictures (before the digital era), and I came across the above picture, well not this exact one, the real one I will post when I can figure out how to scan, for now this will do. This picture has a story a very funny story at that. The summer that college/basketball ended, my parents/family had the opportunity to pick up a school bus in Canada for our county, with another family the Johnsons. At this time in our life Josh and I were "Just Friends." We were working camps together, when my mom called and said I bought you a ticket you are coming with us, get yourself to Vegas! So I asked Josh if he could give me a ride on his way home to Irvine, he obliged. We left in the evening and before we knew it we were in Vegas. The 5 hour car ride seemed like minutes. By the time we got to the airport if he didn't have Boba (our boxer) in the back seat, I would have asked him to come with. Off, I went on a 17 day, 17 state bus ride across the country. Did I mention it was a SHORT bus people! There were 12 of us. Its a trip I will NEVER forget. We stopped at every tourist spot from here to New York. And all the while Josh was with me (through text). There were so many experiences and stories, my two brothers, Danny and I decided to go to Thornys game at Madison Square Garden, while I was in line at will- call. Tanner and Danny decided they were going to follow this guy into an alley wanting to sell them watches and fake ids. Hello-what were they thinking? Or the time when Truett was acting like a grump to everyone. He made a mean comment, I sprung from my seat and beat him, literally beat him with a stick I had found earlier that morning in the sacred grove. This whole time I had been texting josh pretty much everyday, multiple times a day. By the end of the trip everyone on that bus knew who Josh was. Most were convinced ( unbeknownst to me) that we eventually would get married. Funny how things work out, isn't it. Now back to the sign. We were coming into our last state of Wyoming at the tail end of everything. By this time we were sick and tired of stopping to take pictures with road signs. Here we are latitude 44.77N. Longitude -107.519W, on top of a beautiful mountain range and this sign pops up out of nowhere. My dad, who was driving pulls the bus over, and says Ashleigh go stand by the sign and I'll take your picture. Of course, I was not going to get out of that bus. Especially, with a sing that had my "friends" last name on it. My dad wouldn't take no for an answer and settled for him stepping out of the bus and taking the picture. Deep down a little part of me wishes that I would have gotten out of that bus.

Now we have this picture, that isn’t just a picture, but a memory, and a perfect description of life at Burgess Junction.

Is it really too late to post Christmas...

So yes Christmas, I know that it was a while ago and some people do not like Christmas still up in January but I have to remember it some how. So here we go. Lets see if I can remember that far back. Okay, everyone was home for Christmas except of course for Uncle Tanner. He is still serving the lord in Brasil and I believe he is loving it. At least thats what I got from the 2 hour phone call on Christmas and then the hour phone call the day before Christmas and then the 30 minute phone call the previous day, just to make sure that his call was going to work on Christmas.

It was a RARE one, we woke up to a ton of snow. Growing up here it has never, I mean NEVER, snowed on Christmas let alone stayed the day. It was a "White Chirstmas" just like the song except my parents don't have a fireplace so therefore there was no Chestnut roasting. Things we did, sleding in the backyard (please note Uncle Tim's vintage BYU hat from my grandparents era), we had our traditional Christmas eve dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Laycook and guessed it we opened pj's, and basically just enjoyed being with family. Oh and my favortie thing I refinished an art desk for Chamberlain for Christmas. Its Turquoise of course! As for New Years, Josh and I didnt even make it to 10 PM. Merry Christmas