Intermission

November is almost over. Whaaaa?? I know. Crazy, right? This year has flown by.  Last year, for each day of November, I wrote what I was thankful for on my blog. Since the month is nearly over, I missed my chance to do that again, this year.  Bummer. However, just like last year, I have a plethora of things for which I am grateful, and I'd still like to list them on here.  Also, because it's been a while since I've spewed my randomness at you, I'm going to mix it up by adding a bit of other various thoughts. Because that's what I do.

(I am well aware that I still need to finish the account of my east coast trip. Consider this an intermission.)

-  I am thankful for Kennedy.  Holy heavens, that girl is a sweetheart! She brightens my life like nothing else in this world.

-  I'm thankful for my health.

-  I'm thankful for cute kid's movies.

-  I'm thankful for music.

- To go along with Kennedy being a sweetheart, I'll share with you some of her latest artwork. I brought her into work with me last week, and she made a picture for me to put on my wall.

I smile every time I see it.

She also made this for me a few weeks ago:

It's my head. With some of my earrings. The resemblance is uncanny, isn't it?

- Pizza is still my favorite food. But Thai has been coming in as a close second, lately. YUM.

- So I'm thankful for pizza. And Thai food. Especially Massaman curry. *drool

- I'm thankful for Casey. I am thankful for how he treats me. And for how he treats Kennedy. I'm VERY thankful for how patient he is with me- and how understanding he is of where I am in life. He is pretty amazing.

- I am thankful for my friends. The ones I see all of the time, the ones I just connect with through the cyber world, the ones I only talk to occasionally, and the ones I haven't talked to in ages. I love you all.

-  I took Kennedy tailgating at the U game a few weeks ago with some of our friends. It was COLD and RAINY, but that doesn't stop us from having fun.

-  I'm thankful for Casey's family. We went and had Thanksgiving dinner up in Pocatello with them. They are so welcoming, loving, friendly, accepting and fun.  I always have a great time with them.

-  While in Pocatello, we took the color personality test.  I found out I'm a yellow/white personality, with a little bit of blue, and almost no red.  Sounds about right.  Casey is mostly red, then a good mix of yellow/blue, and only a little bit of white.  I guess opposites attract :)

-  Last night we went to the Jazz game. Kennedy LOVED it. The people behind us gave her their jazz towel that they had caught because they said she was the "most enthusiastic Jazz fan" they'd ever seen (she must have some yellow personality in there).

-  I've been cleaning out my inboxes, recently. It's always interesting to reminisce.  Funny how reading old emails can bring up so many different types of emotions.

-  I'm thankful for my family. Mom, brother, dad, nieces, sister in-law, other extended family, etc. Holidays are the best because that's when we actually get to see each other.

-  I am thankful for my job.

-  I am thankful for Ashlee. And for her little girls. Man, I love them. I also love how much Kennedy loves them. And that even though she thinks princesses are "for babies," she will still play dress up with them.

-  I am thankful for the choices I've made in my life and that they've brought me to where I am, today.

-  I've spent this entire year with the goal of "finding myself." I think I've done a pretty good job. Although, really- we are constantly changing, so once we "find" ourselves, we probably have to continue to rediscover who we are, right?  But for now, I've discovered that I'm yellow/white, a little blue and a hint of red. And I really like pizza and Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

Happy end of November, everyone!

The day after the first day.

After getting mauled by wild animals the safari adventure earlier that day, we continued on through Shenandoah Valley. And let me just say...Virginia is beautiful. Many of you who have lived/visited back East are probably all "Well yeah. Duh, Ashley. Of course." But wow. I had no idea. I've visited a lot of beautiful places, and this is now near the top of my list. 

This picture was taken right from the freeway (hence the blurriness).

So was this.

And there was even more beauty through the canyon.

But wait- there's more!

And more.

Okay. Enough scenery for now.

Anyway, we ended up finding our way to a cute little bed and breakfast in Hot Springs, Virginia, to rest our pretty little heads for the night.

We had dinner at a nice restaurant in town and then stayed here for the night. It was very charming. Woke up to fresh breakfast in the morning and went on a little walk to see the grounds (which included old slave quarters, beautiful scenery and all sorts of barn animals. Pretty cool.).

Casey felt like he hadn't gotten up close and personal with enough random animals, yet- so he made friends with a goat.

There were some nice little chairs by the river. They were wetter than I had expected.

After leaving Shenandoah Valley, we appeased Casey and Dean by going to a UVA football game!

Finally, the last activity of the evening was going to Monticello - Thomas Jefferson's plantation.
Purdy, huh?

I love this tree.

Casey stood in Thomas Jefferson's thinking spot, hoping for an epiphany.

Epiphany: You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose. But you can't pick your friend's nose. Unless that friend happens to be a bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson.

On the drive back up to Norfolk, we had to stop for more scenic pictures, of course.

So freaking gorgeous. (So is the scenery. Haha- man, I'm funny.)

Lastly, since I'm sure you have missed seeing pictures of Kennedy, here she is.

We went out on a mommy-daughter date, this evening, and got pedicures!

The lady doing her pedicure loved her so much that she gave her extra special flowers on her toes.

Happy feet!

Virginia? or Africa?

One thing I love about digital cameras is that you can take as many pictures as you want without running out of film.

One thing I don't love about digital cameras is that you can take as many pictures as you want and so you end up taking 5,000,000 more than you need. And then when you get home to look at them, after about the first 200 pictures all of them start to look the same, your eyes start to burn, and then you get overwhelmed, shut your computer down, pull out a tub of Ben and Jerry's from the freezer, plop down on the couch and watch the latest episode of Modern Family to make you feel better and forget about your digital camera woes.  (Modern Family makes everything better.)

Moving on.  Day one.

(Background info: We went to Virginia because Casey's mom and step-dad (Julie and Dean) are currently living in Norfolk, and they invited us to stay with them for a while so that they could show us around. I had never been anywhere near the North East coast, so of course we HAD to go.)

The first thing we decided to do was drive down to the Virginia Safari Park (near Lexington, VA). It's a drive-through zoo/safari, where the animals will actually come up to your window and you can feed them.  At the front, we paid our admission and bought a bucket of feed for each of us. We were so excited to be up close and personal with all of these cool animals.

We had assumed it would be a liesurely drive, trying to coax the animals to come eat from our buckets.... HA! We were so naive. I will never look at animals the same way.  As we first drove through, my head was turned while I was talking to Casey, and I suddenly felt warm air on my neck and the side of my face. I didn't expect that when I turned around there would be a freaking LLAMA waiting to eat my face [top right picture].  Man, I was so scared. Those llamas were intense.

Once you tried to yank the bucket away from them and start driving, they would trot right next to your window, waiting for you to stop and roll it down.

And then there were the camels. There was a sign that actually said they would take your bucket out of your hands and eat it...but to feed them, anyway. Sure enough. They took Julie's bucket right out of her hands. (notice the bucket in the camel's mouth below)

Luckily not all of them were too bad. For example, I'd like you to meet a Watusi. I'd never heard of one, before. Now I have heard of one, seen one, touched one and fed one. My life is complete.

Although they seemed to have a bit of a struggle getting their poor heads in the window with those ridiculously massive horns.

Okay, there we go.

 
Next up were my favorites. The zebras.

Look, ma! I'm petting a zebra!!

 Although after a few minutes, even THEY got a bit annoying and wouldn't let us drive away.

Luckily we were able to escape and saw MANY more cool animals.

Including some very regal-looking camels... who we did not feed for fear of losing another bucket.

After the drive-through part of the park, you could get out and walk through a more zoo-like area.

...where there were ever MORE animals to see. 

The best part about this day, however, was that Julie and Dean were celebrating their 6-year anniversary. 

Happy Anniversary, you two lovebirds! 

So if you ever find yourself near Lexington, VA, I highly recommend stopping though this place.  Although a few words of caution- make sure you can roll your windows up quickly, and be prepared to have LOTS of feed spilling all over the inside of your car...and lap...and shoes...and hair...

And beware of llamas.

First, a wedding.

Ok, I know I said I was going to write about my Virginia trip. However, as I was looking through photos, I realized I had too many cute ones from the wedding that I simply HAD to share them.

Casey was a "co-best man" to the groom, so we attended all of the festivities, and it was a full weekend affair. It was up in a beautiful place near Swan Valley, Idaho, called South Fork Lodge (at the south fork of the Snake River). When we arrived on Friday night, there was a lovely rehearsal dinner. Shorty afterwards, Kennedy and I  went to sleep, while the rest of the hooligans stayed up until the wee hours of the night.

The next morning, Casey and Kennedy got up and went out for a little walk to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Kennedy took this gorgeous picture of the river. It's totes frameable. ("Totes" is the new, hip way to say "totally." Since I'm almost 30, I need to use this hip lingo as much as possible in order to help me feel cool and young.)

Then I came out to join them. In all of my puffy-eyed natural beauty.

Good morning!

A while later, we went out on our friend's boat to do some sight-seeing. 

And some (unsuccessful) fishing.

I love that Kennedy is SO good at making friends.

We stopped at an "island" to stretch our legs.

And take pictures of super colorful rocks. They were totes awesome.

Then it was time for the wedding.

The groom was rowed in by his best men on a drift boat. Pretty sweet entrance.

It was perfect.

After the ceremony it was time for food and festivities. And like I said in my last post, the photo booth was totes the hit of the party. 

Here we are with the happy newlyweds!

Congrats, Ian and Hailey!! You two make an incredibly beautiful couple!

(Ok, now I'll try to sort through pictures from my trip. Peace out.)