Day of the UTES!

As many may know, today was the big rivalry game of the University of Utah vs. BYU. We started our Ute day with some of our Ute pals and went to the Jade for breakfast.

Tarina, Melanie & Me- all wearing the right color as you can see.

Then we did some errands, Jar took some family friends photos and then it was home to prepare some treats for the game.

Our good friends, Jason & Amy were kind enough to host the party (THANKS!). A bunch of us headed up there and watched a great game and the best team won! The UTES!!! We had a great time and we are all still friends, even though we cheered for different teams.


Jason & Amy & Emi- feeling lonely in their support of BYU after Cole's two sisters left. They made up the BYU cheering section.


Maura & Cole, Brian & Michelle, and Jarad & I dawned our red and made up the mighty Utes section!

Food Drive

This past Wednesday, for our combined youth activity, I planned a food drive. I had the youth pass out paper bags last Sunday to everyone at church and then we gathered it on Wednesday night. At first, not alot of bags were being brought back or so it looked like and really in the end, I thought we would've gotten more, even though we still had a substantial amount. The youth loaded into my car before going home.


The back seat of my car was full.

And so was the whole back/trunk area.


Thursday after work, I drove down to the Utah Food Bank to drop off what we had collected. I pulled up and a guy helped me unload all the bags into a huge box. Then they used a lift to puck up the box and put it on a scale. 430 pounds!!!!! I couldn't believe the number and instantly I had a smile on my face! It felt so good to know that our ward could donate to help those in our community who need it.

SLC Tribune- Part 2

Recently, as posted by himself, Jar did an assignment for the biggest paper in Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune and had two photos ran in the Sunday paper. Since he is only freelancing for them right now, his assignments have been few and far between. But this was a bigger one and I am very proud of him and glad that he still gets to do what he loves! Way to go babe!


Here's Jar admiring his work!


One of the photos ran in color and the other black and white. Great job!

My shoot with the Tribune

So, this isn't a typical post that Ash would do, but I just wanted to post some shots that I got doing my assignment with the Tribune. It was just like the normal days when I would shoot for the Chrony, but this time, the photos were running in a bigger/better paper. YEAH!!! The first two photos are the two that the Tribune ran in the Sunday Sports Section. I am way excited and hope that I can get another shoot, well, many more shoots, with the Tribune!

Um.............what?

Where I come from, we spell "welcome" W-E-L-C-O-M-E.
Apparently some people spell it differently

It's Jarad posting again. Ash and I were browsing at JOANN'S for some holiday stuff because their Christmas stuff is 50% off right now and there are some steals. We found the perfect door hanger, this is the one that we are going to buy for our front door!! Isn't it awesome!!!

and P.S. I am SUPER stoked because i am shooting for the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE tomorrow!!!! A dream come true!!!

Pumpkin Pie Perfection

After my school's Halloween party, we had a few pie pumpkins leftover from pumpkin bowling. So I thought since they are PIE pumpkins that is what they should be used for. I'd never made pumpkin pie from scratch before but I really love pumpkin pie and have this new goal to be more domestic and learn how to cook things that don't come from the freezer, box or can! I googled some recipes for pumpkin pie and found quite a few but printed two out. I decided one was much simpler and went with that one. I got the ingredients and set to work.

First step...cooking and coring the pumpkin. You just cut it in half, spray with PAM cooking spray and cook it for about an hour until it is mushy. Then scoop it out, mash and puree it.

Here are the pumpkins post cooking.

After the pumpkin is ready, then you just add everything else from the recipe and pour it in the pie. This time I was extra domestic and even homemade the crust!


Here are my ingredients and pumpkin mush. Looks just like it came out of the can!

You bake the pie and voila!! PUMPKIN PIE!!!


However, when taking it to share with the neighbors, I found out that my lovely pumpkin pie...which smelled good and looked amazing, was actually not very tasty! The recipe I found did not call for any sugar, which I thought strange, but what did I know! I'd never made pumpkin pie from scratch! So, the two pies the first try made, ended up in the trash! Sad days! I guess that's what happens when you are just learning how to cook!

But the next weekend, I redeemed myself by making another pumpkin pie from scratch with a different recipe that called for not only sugar, but alot of corn syrup. It was MUCH better tasting! Still not like Costco's pumpkin pie good, but good enough that the whole thing was gone before I could snap a photo of it! It was a fun experiment but I think I will stick to the canned pumpkin or just go to Costco!!!

Bloggin-BLAH!

Sorry, in advance, because this post has no pictures. I always have my camera with me but lately have realized that I return home from things and say to myself, "Darn it! I forgot to take a picture!" And then I don't blog because I really dislike blogs without pictures. So, here is a first for me!

Anyway, nothing new or exciting has been going on around here for me- just work, young womens and trying to be fit. Jarad, however, has a few exciting updates. And since he never blogs on "our" blog, I will fill everyone in!

He got a JOB!!! Which he started Monday and has just been doing training thus far, but so far he is liking it. It has been a fun week adjusting to both of us getting up and getting ready in the mornings. It is also funny to watch Jar and his OCD habits of picking out, ironing and setting out his clothes the night before! He makes me laugh!

Jarad also joined a co-ed volleyball team recently with one of our friends, Amy. They play once a week and play four games, matches, rounds...whatever you call them in volleyball, a night. He loves it and has alot of fun. I got to watch him tonight and that was entertaining as well!

Well, that's the updates from us!

Ok, I just can't post without a picture! And since this post was mostly about Jar- here is a cute photo of him!