Finally Done

I finally read all 7 of the Harry Potter books. The past week, it's all I have been able to think about. And now I'm done. 7th was kinda hard to push through - super depressing and confusing and I was super impatient but oh was it worth it. I've been reading at work - we've been so slow and I had to stop myself a few times from cheering out loud at a few parts. And had to stop myself from crying at a few parts. Like a lot of parts. Seriously, I love Harry Potter haha. Still sad that Sirius Black had to die - he was my favorite. But oh I love these books!!! Now that I've finally read them all, I think I need to have a marathon and watch all 8 movies! I've seen the first 4 but it's been a while. Good thing I have a long weekend coming up... I know exactly what I'll be doing... Ok not really. Taking time off work to see Clint. But I'm hoping to squeeze a few movies in there too!!

Now, to find another book to entertain me... Nothing is going to live up to these books though. Man, I love that I love to read. I love that I can get lost in a book and forget things about my own life because I get so drawn in to these new worlds I find. Oh my gosh I sound like a nerd. Hope Jake doesn't read this haha. Any suggestions anyone has for my next book are greatly appreciated...

Long live Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived {I just had to!!}

25th Birthday Family Party!!

After we got home from church, we had just enough time to change out of our church clothes before heading over to my parent's house for my birthday party with them! We had gourmet turkey burgers, with regular beef burgers for the guys, with salad, shrimp, chips, veggies & hummus. The "burger bar" included turkey bacon, avocado and several different kinds of mustard {I LOVE mustard!!}

I got to use the red plate :)

Another view of the food

Jake getting his grub on

Everyone getting their food

It was really yummy!! Afterwards, everybody played Just Dance 4 on the Wii for a while. They tried to get me to do it, unsuccesfully. I want to play it, someday. Yesterday wasn't the day haha. Then it was time for presents! Brynne & Blake had to leave pretty early {she had a meeting for Young Women's} so we got right into gifts. No complaints from me!

The Devil Wears Prada on DVD. One of my favorite movies EVER!!

The Beginning of Better Days: Divine Instruction to Women from the Prophet Joseph Smith!

I was SUPER excited about this box... I knew it felt like a Nike box....

And it was!!! Bright pink with teal Nike Flex shoes!! LOVE them!!!!!

New garments!!!

New temple dress!!! Since losing weight, my other one is a bit big ;) I got another one from a girl I work with too {we traded} so now I have 2!!

Gift from Lizzy, Richard & Sarah - a $10 bill folded into an origami ring wrapped in streamers!!

First gift from Bryne & Blake - "Happy like Jesus". I just absolutely LOVE the picture on the front. Can't wait to read the inside! She is also making me a CD of songs that remind her of me. Also, cannot WAIT to get that! :)

Then it was time to sing to me :) My mom got me Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches instead of a cake, so I got to pretend to blow out a candle :)

Everyone singinge to me :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter & Cookies & Cream Ice Cream Sandwiches. Joy in a box right there haha

Making my wish

My ice cream sandwich!!

Then we took a few pictures and then it was time to leave so that Jake could get some sleep!

Me & Brynne

Another shot of me & Brynne

Mom, me & Brynne

Jeannene, mom, me, Brynne & Popper. Love my sisters and mom!!!!

Me & my hubby

Sarah, me, Richard & Lizzy - love my step siblings!! We were just missing Matt, Emily, Keaton & Chris

I don't know how we got onto making this awesome pose but I love it haha. Lizzy was pretending she wanted nothing to do with us ;)

It was an awesome birthday bash!! I have an awesome family - seriously! And I love my gifts!!! Yay for turning 25!!

The 2nd best gift from Jake

Sunday morning, I got the 2nd best gift Jake could get me for my birthday - he received the Melchezidek Priesthood!!! I made us breakfast and got out our red plate that we got for Christmas for him to use, since it's a special day for him! He didn't end up eating off of it though - he kept saying over and over that it was just a normal day.

Love the red plate tradition!

We finished breakfast and got ready for church and at 11:40 mom & dad McClellan came over. They followed us over to the church, and we waited outside the Bishop's office for a few minutes while we waited for him to come out. Our appointment was at 12, an hour before church :)

Then Bishop came and got us and we went in and Jake's dad ordained Jake. I took notes - thanks to Brynne for constantly setting the example to take notes during blessings! I didn't cry - I was pretty surprised actually haha. Afterwards, Jake hugged everyone {except Bishop - he just got a hand shake haha} and then we took some pictures.

Bishop James & Jake

Bishop, Jake & Dad

Mom, Jake & Dad

The 4 of us :)

Me & Jake

Afterwards, we went back home and ate lunch and then headed back to church for our meetings. It was Ward Conference, so in 3rd hour all the Elders stood so that they could sustain the Elders Quorum & Jake got to stand. My hubby is an Elder. I called him Elder McClellan a few times throughout the rest of the day - he didn't think it was all that funny haha. I am SOO proud of him!!! Few months from now, he'll be able to go receive his endowment! But one thing at a time - right now, I am super proud of him accomplishing this HUGE milestone!!

**Side note** Last Sunday, the day that Jake had his interview with the Stake President, I was getting ready for church and listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir channel on Pandora {awesome channel by the way - LOVE it!} and the VERY first song that came on was "Love at home". It's an awesome primary song, I have always liked it. No big deal though. Until they get to the 2nd verse. And the words to the start of the verse say "Mine is a home where every hour Is blessed by the strength of Priesthood power" and I just started bawling. Because that applies to my house now. Every hour is blessed by the strength of Priesthood power. Jake, it means the world to me. Thank you so much for making the sacrifices necessary to get the Priesthood. I appreciate it SO much and I love you SOOOO much.

The best birthday gift Jake could get me

This weekend, I got the BEST birthday present ever imaginable from Jake. We went to the temple together. Inside. I got to go INSIDE the temple with my husband. He got a baptism recommend when we went to the Brigham City Temple dedication in September and have been meaning to go to the temple together since then, but this weekend we FINALLY did it!!

Jake outside Timp temple. It was rainy that day - nice & slippery haha

Inside the waiting room waiting to go downstairs

Our awesome couple we doubled with - I can't wait to double with them more often!!!

It was seriously amazing. I loved getting to sit next to him and hold his hand while we were waiting. He was pretty nervous - he hadn't been to do baptisms in quite a while but he went and he did great!! Nothing to be worried about at all :)

The temple as we were leaving. I love how it looks at night :)

Us in the car after we were all done

Jake & I were both starving & I told Jake he could have WHATEVER he wanted since this was so important to me. He opted for steak, and suggested we go to Porter's Place in Lehi on Main Street. I had never been there before and I cannot WAIT to go back - it was SO much fun! And the food was pretty good too :)

After our first trip to the salad bar, with out fun drink we got to share!

It was called "The Gold Fever" - Peach & Orange Rapture. Pretty good but WAY sour haha

Jake got a 10 oz steak with potatoes & I got an elk burger with fries. Oh my gosh. SO yummy. And yes, it was my cheat meal for the week so that's why I got fries. And elk is actually super healthy for you, so I felt proud of me for getting something healthy in my cheat meal. And I got a HUGE salad from the salad bar first :)

Can't wait to go back

View from the street

After we were done at Porter's Place, we went home and curled up on the couch to watch X Games.

It was an AMAZING Saturday night. Seriously, best weekend I think I have EVER had. And the best birthday gift Jake could have given to me :)

Struggling...

I am having a hard time dealing with "everyday" life since I started reading Harry Potter. All I want to do is read. Every minute of every day. Thank heavens it has been slow at the bank and I can read a ton. I have been averaging about 200 pages a day - finished book 6 today. I've read it before but I still was seriously holding back tears when Dumbledore dies. {HOPE I DIDN'T SPOIL ANYTHING FOR ANYONE!!} I'm a baby when it comes to books - I cry much easier reading a book than I do while watching a movie. Yeah I feel like I am "temporarily" living my life and as soon as a customer leaves, I can go back to Hogwarts and the life I have taken up over there this past week.

Lindsey brought book 7 in for me, so I have already started it. But I just feel deflated knowing Dumbledore is gone. That's part of why I never read 7 to begin with - I hated that Sirius Black died, and I hate that Dumbledore died. I know not everyone can live but that makes me so sad!! And mad - I love Sirius! He was my favorite!! Poor Harry has everyone he loves die. It's depressing!! But you'd better believe I am planning to fly through Book 7 haha. Maybe I should try to go slow and enjoy it... but there are enough books out there to read that once I am done, I will find another awesome book to start on.

Found this on Pinterest and it was too perfect to not share haha.

Alright back to Harry Potter. And yes I am a nerd, but trust me - it's one of those blustery weather, rainy kinda days where you want to curl up with a book next to a fireplace with hot chocolate & thick socks on. And I am at work. Without any hot chocolate. And nylons aren't the same as fuzzy socks. But oh well right? I can imagine :)

Lacking a clever title...

So I am pretty caught up on my blogging from the holidays - with the exception of blogging about Christmas with the Jones'/Burton families but I need to get a few pictures from Brynne before I can post about that so here is a plain ol' "update" post on what's going on with us right now.

Jake applied for a position on day shift as a shipping clerk and had his interview today! He felt like it went really well, so we are crossing our fingers. We don't think we'll know for about 10 days since they are interviewing 32 people but we are hoping that he got it! Yes, 32 people. Apparently Jake isn't the only one wanting a change of pace at work haha. The good news is that he likes the area he is in now, and he likes the team he is with so if he doesn't get it, it'll be ok. We just both REALLY want him to go to day shift and he is ready for something new so pray that we get positive news back!

I am flying through Harry Potter. I set a goal to read about 100 pages a day and am averaging around 200 a day and it's been REALLY slow at the bank so I am hoping to be done by Saturday at the latest! I forgot how much I love the Harry Potter books. I love books in general, but Harry Potter just is something else - it's a whole new world and after having not read them for so long I keep having to mentally remind myself what certain things are, or ask Lindsey about someone or something from the 5th book that I apparently have forgotten. I maintain that the 3rd book is my favorite, but the more that it comes up, the more I realize how much I liked 4 as well. I just love Harry Potter.

Still love my hair!! I have had a few extensions "fall" out but Kariann put them back in and I realized {thanks to Kariann and Google} that I was doing quite a few things wrong and that was what was causing them to slide out. Those things have been remedied and they are working awesome. I have curled it every single day since I got them and I am wanting to venture out and try half ups or something else with them but I am nervous about them showing haha. I am getting pretty good at curling my hair though! I was a HUGE hairspray queen and would pretty much cement my hair in place to make it look perfect all day. Don't do that anymore - I'm relaxing on how it looks since I want it to move like normal hair haha. I've also been wearing headbands more - well twice since I got them, which is two more times than I've worn headbands in the last 6 months! I absolutely love my hair. Don't regret getting them AT ALL!

I start using my DoTerra oils day before yesterday and so far I really like them. I do a drop or two of lemon in my water each morning after breakfast and then take the supplements at night with dinner. I have been taking "OnGuard" every day because there is both strep and the flu going around and I don't want to catch either on them! So far {knock on wood} so good! I felt it coming a little bit, just a scratchy throat but since starting my oil regimen I feel great. I also got the supplements "PB Assist" and "GX Asssit" so that I can do the DoTerra cleanse. You take GX Assist everyday for 10 days, then take PB Assist every day for 5 days, then do nothing for 15 days, then repeat. It is for cleansing the gastro intestinal tract. Today is day 3 {I take them at night} and I have lost 1.2 pounds so far - that's nothing to sneeze at! I had been wanting to do a "cleanse" through Beachbody called "The Ultimate Reset" but changed my mind because it is pretty expensive {$220 for the kit}, you eat REALLY restrictive foods for 3 weeks {so I'd be cooking 2 dinners each day and the food is EXPENSIVE} and there's no working out allowed for the 3 weeks, plus the week after. Yeah no not for me. True, I do take some days off from working out but going 4 weeks without it? That'd kill me!! So this is DoTerra cleanse is a good alternative for me because I can still workout, I can still eat the same dinners I am cooking for Jake and eat the same foods I normally eat but it will clean out my system and help clean out any toxins or gunk chillin' in my body. This is also a cleanse that is recommended if you are trying to get pregnant {fingers crossed}.

Speaking of Beachbody, I am no longer a coach. Pretty sure I talked about that already - somewhere on here haha but it just isn't for me. I think it's an awesome opportunity for people and I love the company - just don't think coaching is for me.

I am getting pretty dang trendy with my clothes & such. Way into coral, mint green & teal right now, along with skinny belts at the waist. And shoes. It's me - I love shoes. I wear heels a LOT now though. Like every single day. If I'm not in Nikes, I'm in heels. Which I'd rather be in Nikes haha. Getting smaller has definitely made me a shopping fanatic. I always used to secretly think my husband was so lucky that he wasn't married to one of "those" girls - the ones that have more shoes, purses & clothes than they know what to do with. Well, I've become one of those girls. Poor Jake... He is being pretty good about how much I spend on clothes though. We have a budget for it, and I had a few gift cards left over from Christmas so my spending has been minimal :)

I wore red. And stripes. With a "statement" necklace. And a skinny belt. I am going all sortsa outta my comfort zone!

Just finished Phase 1 of ChaLean Extreme {Burn Circuit} with my weights. Ok seriously, I can't tell you how much of a difference I have noticed in my body since I started ChaLean Extreme, let alone since I started it with weights. It is AMAZING how fast your body builds muscle. I am sore pretty much everyday - especially my legs - but I take that as a good sign. There was a day last week I wasn't sore after my workout and I was kinda mad at myself - means I didn't push myself to failure. I can't WAIT to see where I'm at when I'm all done with all 3 phases :)

After my workout earlier this week - did little bit of everything and burned 719 calories!! WOOT!!

I had been wanting to enter my results in the Beachbody Challenge at the end of this month for a chance to win $1000 but I'm starting to think maybe I want to wait until I've lost the last little bit I want to lose. Or at least toned a little more. Building muscle has me realizing I should ignore the scale, most of the time, but I do want to lose another 15 ish pounds. And I really want to tone a little more. So maybe, between the cleanse and how clean I've been eating, I will feel ready to enter my results at the end of February. The winner for December started at the same place I did {around 295 pounds} and is down to 133. Yeah no I am NOT that small yet. So I kinda want to wait until my loss is a little more dramatic. I guess we'll see - maybe I'll enter it this month and if I don't win, then I will enter again at the end of February, March, April... until they send me a check for $1000 :)

Ok I think that's all the updates I've got for ya :) I'll keep you posted on the cleanse, workouts, Jake's job, and my re-ignited Harry Potter obsession!

Birthday/Christmas Party for Ashley's Dad

Jake's dad & my dad have the same birthday - December 29th. This year, because of Brynne & Blake being in Vegas before Christmas, and then Jake & I being with the McClellan side on Christmas day, we decided to do a combined birthday/Christmas night with my dad on his birthday. Blake & Brynne picked him up and we all went to Sweet Tomatoes. Brynne & I loved it since it's a gourmet soup & salad bar with tons of healthy options. Jake wasn't a huge fan - they had very little "meat" and he is a huge carnivore haha. Not sure how the rest of the family felt about it but I have a feeling Jake & I won't ever be going there again haha.

After dinner we went back to my dad's house to open gifts. He just recently has his apartment remodeled and it looks great! He is still missing a stove/oven & microwave though, so hopefully he gets one soon so that he can actually cook food in his house!! My dad loves presents, so as soon as we got to his house he was ready to open them :)

His practical gift - now that he has carpet, he needs a vacuum! Brynne & Blake found it at Beebaw's house :)

Gift from Brynne & Blake - framed picture of a BYU football. I am a fanatical BYU fan because of my parents, so he was REALLY excited about this!!

Hercules on DVD. I remember listening to the soundtrack with him thousands of times when I was little

Holes on DVD! We read this book tons of times too growing up!

Book filled with football trivia & quotes from players & coaches. My dad is SUPER into stats, so this was also something he loved :)

"Millenium" from Backstreet Boys on CD. Seriously, this is one of my favorite memories from when my parents were still together. My mom, dad, Brynne & me went to the Backstreet Boys concert in 1998 {?} while we were here from California. I lost my voice SO dang bad haha - it was SO much fun though!! We all LOVE Backstreet Boys!

Opening the last gift...

A BYU coat!

Modeling it for us :)

After gifts, we talked for a little bit and then my dad suggested everyone watch "I know what you did last summer". Jake had worked the night before, so he was SUPER tired so we just went home rather than staying to watch the movie. It was an awesome night - happy birthday dad!!