Dear Tara & Kenny (and Piper too)

Have you guys played Epic Mickey?
(click the link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYomeDi72-k

Are you ready for Epic Mickey 2?
(click the link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMmwOhdLdfk&feature=g-all-u

Here is what the game is about
(click the link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXbcarAIapI

When I come home, lets play :)
I have the first Epic Mickey..the 2nd does come out till November

Now we have another game to add to our Disney Game Nights
Oh and Kenny, you can play too I guess ;)

Love you & Miss you!!

March Madness!

Hi Everyone! Sorry we haven't updated this month. I honestly kind of forgot about this blog... Oops.. Well, let me update you on a few things!

Ashley's Birthday
Yes, I realize today is Erik's birthday (Happy Birthday baby brother!!) but you know me, I always plan my disney day months in advance! ;) Any how, as of right now, we do have plans set aside to come home for a few days. We will be in Thousand Oaks on Friday and Saturday, August 3d and 4th. I talked to my mom and she said we could try to plan on doing something with our family on Saturday...

Our Car
We love it! Absolutly love it! Since we only have one car, we are still trying to balance out our schedules so we can help each other get to where we need to go. Right now its pretty simple because Jayson and I work on the same street! Jayson works at 3300 S. and 3025 E. and I work at 3300 S. and 1650 E. If you didnt't understand that at all, let me explain 'The Grid System' the way Jayson explained it to me: (Mom, Piper, and Tara, you'll appreciate this)

Think of Disneyland.
Now think of the lay out....
Sleeping Beauty Castle represents the middle of Downtown Salt Lake City- where Temple Square is (Temple Square is a place where several of our Church buildings are, including one of the Temples)
Main Street USA is Main Street.
Adventureland= West
Frontierland= NorthWest
Fantasyland= North
Tomorrowland=East

Basically, the streets all count down until you get to Main Street, and then once you cross over Main Street, you just count up. (Did any of that make any sense?) Jayson does a lot better job at explaining it than me... But anyway, since you just count the streets, it makes it a lot less difficult to get lost as opposed to trying to find your way around back home if you had never lived in Thousand Oaks before..

Anyway, here is our car!

Moving and Jobs
Long story short, it looks like we are going to be staying in our current apartment until our lease ends in September. We aren't too happy about it. We've decided that paying $2,000 just to our complex for terminating our lease just isn't worth it, especially when that doesn't include any other expenses to move to a new place.

Right now, we live one freeway exit from the street that we both work on anyway, so it seems kind of silly to move Downtown anyway. Especially since they officially told Jayson that he will not be working at the airport. We're kind of happy about it. Now we don't have to wake up at 4:00am to drive Jayson to the airport, drop him off, get myself to work at 9:00am, and leave Jayson stranded at the airport till 6:00pm since that will be about the time it takes me to get off work and get over to him to pick him up. They still haven't given Jayson and plans on what store they're gonna transfer him too, but we hope that a promotion is coming up soon.

As for me, there is a rumor that I may be a toddler teacher this summer in our 'Guppy' class! I am so excited! That's our 18month-2year old class and these kids are my absolute favorite! They wake up from nap time and run up to me and hug me and kiss me and tell me they love me and it is the best feeling ever! I really love my job :) On top of that, I'm getting paid to go back to school! I start again in May and my two classes cost $30 total! Basically when I get my Child Development Associates Degree, what ever amount I paid to complete all my courses, my company will pay me back when I show them my certificate of completion. I think it will take about 6-8 months to get. The bonus about the whole this is that each class I take is worth about 10 in-state credits to any college that has a Child Development program if I decide to go back to a university.

Whats happening this weekend...
Every April and October, the Mormon Church has a meeting called General Conference- where we hear talks given by our Prophet and various other church leaders. I really encourage you all to listen, if you have the time, or just check out the website if your interested in learning more about what I believe in. Visit www.LDS.org.

If you want to listen to General Conference, click the link below:


It starts at 9:00am tomorrow, and again at 1:00pm.

If you want to watch the broadcast we had this morning, click here:
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2012/4?lang=eng

Do you know who David Archuleta is?
If you don't, he was a contestant on American Idol a a few years back. He is LDS and has decided to serve a Two Year Mission and was called to serve somewhere in South America. He is a pretty famous musician and the thing I love the most about him is that even though he is famous and is currently in the middle of filming a TV series and recording new music, he decided to put all of that aside so that he can be a servant of the Lord and serve the people in South America and share the gospel.

Every General Conference, there is a choir that sings. This afternoon, the missionaries that are in the Missionary Training Center (where missionaries go to learn how to share the gospel with others before they leave to the area they have been called to) were asked to sing in the choir. The below picture is Elder Archuleta singing in the choir. I was very excited to see him singing and wearing a missionary name tag :)

I dyed my hair!
I am more blond now :) Next time I dye it, I'm gonna dye it even lighter! Les wasn't too thrilled about the idea once I announced it on Facebook.. but he'll get over it :P

Haha, like our faces? We were at the mall the other day and decided to stop in the Apple Store to take pictures on their computers and use the different camera settings. Aren't we a gorgeous couple? :p

For Ashley's side of the family..

I saw this online and thought you would enjoy it ;)

Bus? What bus?

No more riding the bus!
(and hopefully we will never have to again...)

Well, Jayson and I officially purchased our *first* car! I say 'our first' car because my Lincoln was a gift that was completely paid for by Uncle Rick... so I didn't feel like it was 'ours.' This car, Jayson and I paid for on our own! :)

So, I'm kind of a big dreamer..and always want expensive things. Nice, expensive things... And I've always wanted a Camaro. Either a yellow one with black racing stripes (like Bumble Bee from Transformers) or an all black one. And I fell in love with one. A black one. With blue lining on the black rims. OH BABY was that thing beautiful! It was sitting right outside of the Finance office at the Chevy dealership. And let me tell you, this thing was taunting me.... absolutely taunting me. So about an hour later, I asked someone if I could sit in it....AND I DID! I melted.. completely. That was the only time I actually thought about Grand Theft Auto and didn't feel bad about it. I'm a 5th degree black belt, and I'd be driving a super fast car...no one can touch me!

But I was good and got out of the car :)

Now before you start jumping to conclusions, we did not buy the Camaro. We walked out with a Black 2008 Chevy Malibu with a little over 50,000 miles. It was the car that Jayson drove while he was on his mission in Denver, so we knew it was a reliable car if the Church was purchasing those cars for the missionaries to use.

Okay, so since I was spacing out and starting at that Camaro, planning my GTA, I completely missed the details about the car.. (Example: Price, monthly payments, insurance options, etc.) So Jayson will be posting soon, adding more detail and pictures of our car..

CHECK BACK FOR THE DETAILS AND PICTURES!!

The guy who works at Johnny Rockets

This story isn't new

I was reading my friend's blog today. She wrote about how she met her husband back in Germany and told stories about their first date, how they almost didn't get married because he came here with visa problems and she waited hours at the airport for him not knowing if he would even show up, and concluded the story with explaining how her wedding day was the greatest day of her life.

Well, this inspired me.

I've realize that my family doesn't know the full, detailed story about how I met Jayson.. So I'll tell you!

July.. something.. 2008... just a few days before my birthday:
My friend Brittany and I decided to go to the mall after summer school. It seemed like a good idea because Farmor (my grandmother) still wanted me to make a birthday wish list for my party that I was having the following weekend. After shopping for a few hours, I suggested that we go to Johnny Rockets, because they have the best shakes and fries (in my opinion). I wasn't really paying any attention to who was around me. I was too busy laughing at some story Brittany was telling me and just kind of, well, being a girl. I glanced up from where I was sitting to notice some tall guy with dark brown hair over at the register. I thought he may have glanced at me a few moments earlier but I could have been wrong... but dang was he cute!

August...something.. 2008.. a few days after my birthday:

WAHOO! Sweet 16, and tons of gift cards and cash! I'm calling some girl friends and heading to the mall, and I'm going back to Johnny Rockets for shakes...my treat! (...and hoping that one guy still works there...)

Walk in
-we make eye contact, both of us smile super big, he stops dead in his tracks and turns bright red-

I very quietly started telling my friends how that tall guy was working the last time I was there and thought he was ridiculously cute. My friends, being 16, told me they weren't surprised, because I thought every guy was cute. (Okay, in my defense..this guy was A MILLION times cuter than the rest...and he had muscles ;)

The girls and I just started being our normal obnoxious selves. Then came over Mr. Tall Guy. Some how, he managed to remember exactly what we ordered without writing it down and constantly came over to check on us to make sure we were all doing alright.

August 18th, 2008:
I just finished Junior Orientation at school. Hannah suggested we go to the Oaks Mall for a little bit and hang out before we go to the Janns Mall down the street to watch The Dark Night. I told her that we needed to go to Johnny Rockets before we left. She asked why and I said "You'll see..."

We walked in, sat down, and there he was. I whispered to Hannah as quietly as I could "that's why."

I told her I thought he was cute and she dared me to leave him my number, and I was being chicken about it and said it probably wasn't worth it...he probably wouldn't call me.

Hannah and I kept talking about orientation, and the friends and people we saw earlier that day. Her and I were spending basically the last three weeks of the summer every single day together, and were planning out the rest of the week. And then, you guessed it, along comes Mr. Tall Guy. He takes our order, and I could tell that even though he was just asking me basic questions about how I wanted my food prepared, he was flirting with me...so I did it back. The moment he walked away, Hannah told me I was pathetic because I was turning bright red. I glanced out of the corner of my eye, and could see him staring at me. I was really embarrassed because he was walking back to our table with our drink orders. I tried to change the subject really fast and noticed a picture hanging on the back wall of a couple sitting in front of a fire drinking soda out of the glass bottle. I quickly said to Hannah, "I wonder what type of soda they're drinking?" Hannah looked at the picture, turned around, and said "Gee Ashley, why do you think there is a GIANT Coca-Cola symbol on the bottom?!" (She was right...there was a HUGE red Coca-Cola circle... I felt so stupid...) Just then, Mr. Tall Guy set our drinks on the table and started creating some cover story about how they were really drinking IBC Rootbeers, but Coca-Cola wanted the rights to the photo so they stuck their logo on it. He could tell I was embarrassed, so he winked at me and walked away. Hannah and I just looked at each other completely dumb-struck and couldn't believe he came up with that fake cover story on the spot. Secretly, I was thankful that my 'dumb blond moment' didn't phase him at all.

Shortly after that, he came back to our table with our food, and I happened to catch a quick glimpse of his name tag. I looked at it and spelled his name out loud (why? I don't know...)

"J-A-Y-S-O-N. I like the way you spell your name. It's different."
He smiled and said thank you and turned a bit red....

A few more minutes passed and he came back with our check, proceeding to tell us, "Not that you aren't my favorite customers (he looked at me and winked after he said that) but I have to go on break so my co-worker will help you with anything you need. Please come back soon."

Right as he walked away, Hannah shouted. "SHE THINKS YOUR CUTE!!!"
.... I never thought it was possible to sink so low in a booth before...
I was completely embarrassed. I couldn't believe she did that! Well, what are friends for right? And it's not like she lied or anything, cause I really did think he was cute. She convinced me to leave him my number, just to see if anything would happen.

So I grabbed a napkin and a pen and wrote "I like the way you spell your name, maybe you should get to know mine?"

About two hours had passed and I hadn't paid any attention to my phone. Hannah asked me if he had texted me and honestly, I had forgotten that I left my number for him. I pulled out my phone and the worst thing in the world (at that moment) had happened. MY PHONE WAS DEAD! At this point, Hannah and I were walking to the other mall so we could see The Dark Knight. We walking over to Toys R Us and sat in baby section (why? I don't know) and I tried turning on my phone, hoping that I had enough batterie life to at least see if he has texted me, and get his number down so I could use Hannah's phone to text me back.

It worked!
I had two texts from him. I don't remember the first one, but the second one he sent about twenty minutes later, explaining that this wasn't the first time he had gotten a fake number from a cute girl and that who ever this was, he was sorry that he had bothered them.

I felt like the biggest jerk in the world.
I took Hannah's phone and quickly responded with the biggest apology and hoped that he wasn't offended and still wanted to talk to me. The next text message he sent me is one I wouldn't forget: "I'm glad to know this is really you. So do I get the privilege of knowing this mysterious name of the beautiful girl that was just here?" And it continued from there. He asked me what I was doing and if I was still with my friend, I asked him how work was going, and we texted through out the entire movie, just making small talk. He told me he needed to get back to work because he was getting ready to leave. He asked if he could see me again later that night. I told him yes, but it would only be for about a half hour at most because my mom was picking us up after the movie. We agreed to meet and he told me he would be out side the theater as fast as he could. He told me he would be wearing a light blue shirt.

After the movie, I sat with Hannah at a table, completely freaking out. Would I even recognize him outside of his uniform? What if we didn't get along in person? Guess there is only one way to find out.

About ten minutes later, I saw him walking toward me. I don't remember if I even smiled. I just remember feeling like my heart had forgotten that it needed to pump blood through my body, and the next thing I know, I'm hugging him! Holy...cow... talk about a literal loss for words.

We walked back to the table where Hannah and one of her friends were sitting and I introduced every one. Then Jayson did something I wasn't expecting at all- he pulled my chair out for me! No guy had ever done that for me before, so I kind of looked at him like he was crazy...
We sat down and he immediately placed his hand on top of mine. Normally I would have thought that was a bit much for having just met, but surprisingly, I was okay with it.

We talked for quite a while, and I had completely forgotten that my mom wanted to pick us up soon after the movie had ended. Our conversation was interrupted by a call from my mom on Hannah's phone. My mom told me she was outside the mall, waiting for us. I really wish she didn't show up, but it was getting pretty late so it was probably a good thing she did come. Jayson and I said goodnight and I told him I would text him when I got home.

Right before I went to bed, Jayson texted me asking when he could see me again. I told him I wanted to see him soon, so he asked if I would be interested in going on a date with him the next day. I told him I was more than interested and asked him where I should meet him. He responded by asking me to be ready by 6:00pm and he would pick me up at my house. What? Pick me up? I've always had to meet the guy..and it was never for a dinner, or a movie, or bowling...it was always either a local park or the Teen Center. I was quite shocked. When he mentioned he would like to take me to Chuck E. Cheese and then get ice cream after, I asked him if he was serious or if he was kidding. I think he thought I thought that was childish, and was quick to suggest another plan. I asked him if he was being serious because that sounded like the funnest date in the world! I was so excited and quickly told him that I really wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese with him and was looking forward to it!

August 19th, 2008:

We went to Chuck E. Cheese, had our first kiss, picked up ice cream on our way home, went back to my house and watched Aladdin, and then...... no, he did not ask me to be his girlfriend. He asked me if I would go to a church meeting on Saturday (a.k.a. A missionary lesson) I said sure, and then asked him what church it was at. He told me it was at that big building on Erbes Road. I told him I knew exactly where that was because I used to live on that street. I asked him if it was anything like this other church activity I went to with another friend and he said no. He said I would be learning about his church. I was kind of confused, because I know who Christ and God were..what else was there to know? So I asked him which church it was. And then, he told me he was Mormon...

What in the world did I get myself into...

Is he really one of those "crazy Mormon people?"

Yep.

And I never thought that in less than two years, I would be "one of those" too.

Saturday, August 22nd, 2008:
Jayson picked me up, and took me to my first Mormon Missionary Lesson. Man on man... what did I get myself into. We got out of the car, He introduced me to Elder Lockwood and Elder Wragley as 'This is my girlfriend, Ashley"

What a dope! He hadn't even asked me yet! Well... it's not like it mattered, cause I would have said yes anyway. And besides, hearing him refer to me as 'his girlfriend' made me feel something I had never felt before, little did I know that 3 years later, I would be married to him.


(Oh, and Elder Lockwood? He's married to Jayson's sister, Taylor. So that would make him my Brother In-Law. Crazy how the world works, huh?)

Moving, Again!

Yep, we're planning on moving again.

The main reason why we are moving is because Jayson finally found out which store he will be managing. It looks like the Salt Lake Airport is opening up a Cafe Rio inside their food court, which will be the store that Jayson runs. Congrats babe!

So why are we moving? Yes, we do live about 10-15 minutes away from the airport, which isn't that big of a deal, but since we will only have one car for the both of us, it would just be easier for Jayson to take a shuttle to work so I can drive to work myself. We're planning on moving to Downtown SLC. We found a few complexes we like and are looking forward to moving into one location. It just depends on how fast our apartment has sold and how soon after that we can move into a new complex.

On top of Jayson's new location being a main reason for us wanting to move, we have just had several problems with our complex that have made living here not nearly as amazing as we had in visioned. Once we moved here, we came to realize very quickly that our complex is one of the top complexes known for throwing the wildest college parties, because our management doesn't enforce all of the rules they list in their lease. One example is that it states that quiet hours are between 10:00pm and 6:00am, and apparently that doesn't apply to every one... On top of that we have just had difficulty with our rent being the amount being the original charge that management told us it would be. They keep adding 'last minute' charges on things. It's just getting to be very ridiculous.

Another issue that I personally had has been with receiving a package that was mailed to me from Victoria's Secret (don't freak out mom, they were just some bra's and make up remover pads). I came home from work, after having read a confirmation email earlier that morning saying that my package had been sent out for delivery, so I went to the leasing office to pick up my package and they said it had not arrived yet. So I went back to my apartment to double check the email and track it, only to find out that the same person I just spoke with in the leasing office had signed for my package less than thirty minutes prior to that. So I went back and told her I had a conformation email saying that they had received it. She went back to go look for it and said that she hadn't seen it. By this point I was a little more than upset and kind of yelled at her and told her that she should know exactly what it was because she had signed for it personally. I said this while looking over her shoulder, and she still said she had not seen it. I got really frustrated when I glanced into the closet that had all the boxes stored in it and in BIG, BOLD writing it said 'D306' (our apartment number) on it, and I had to tell her that it was literally right in front of her face, and then she pretended like she didn't see it. That was very frustrating... I just wanted to rip her head off (mostly because I was PMSing).

Anyway, we are just very excited to move out of here and actually have nice neighbors and decent management. Like I said, we are not sure when exactly we are moving, but it will be within the next month most likely. I personally do not want to move again, but moving 15 minutes away will be a lot easier than moving 14 hours away.

ATTENTION

Since we're selling our contract, we will be taking pictures of our CLEAN apartment again, so I will post those pictures on here because I never got to show you our bedroom, closet, or bathroom. So keep checking this post to look for those pictures!!

It's Christmas, It's Christmas!

Well, its not Christmas anymore.. but we are keeping our Christmas tree up since we don't have anything to put in its spot just yet. So.. its still Christmas at the Anderson home for us :)

Jayson and I both had to work on Christmas Eve, so we were a little disappointed that we couldn't go back home to California.. but we still had a great holiday none the less! We played some of our video games that Jayson's brother, Cody, had sent up to us. The next day we went up to Jayson's sister Brittny's house and finished off Christmas with them. Their youngest son, Daniel-7 months old, was fast asleep when we got there so we couldn't play very much :/ Their oldest son, Sam-2 years old, was being his normal, wild and crazy toddler self. He's a bundle of fun and loved the gift we got him! It was a Buzz Lightyear handheld keyboard learning game.

Christmas this year was a little weird for me though.. I woke up on Christmas Eve thinking about what outfit to wear to my gandmother's (I call her Farmor: it means Father's Mother) Danish food-dinner, only to realize that I currently live 800 miles away and wasn't going to be attending that dinner. On Christmas morning, I was folding laundry and remembered how last year I wore my Zebra pajama pants to my aunt Tara's for breakfast and presents. Like I said, even though my first Christmas with the greatest gift Heavenly Father has given me was more than amazing, I still wish we were able to make it home for Christmas!

Sad Story Time: Well, not super sad..but still...
A few weeks ago I broke the band on my ring :/ I have no idea how I did it or when it happened, but it happened. So Jayson and I started looking online for a new ring for me. I found this BEAUTIFUL, braided band ring that I fell in love with, so we ordered it online. When it arrived I was so excited to put it on....until I saw the fake 5 carat rock sitting on my finger and Jayson and I were speachless... We knew it was a fake (well, chemically generated) diamond, but we weren't expecting it to be that big and look the way it did. Anyway, we sent it back. So I had no ring for a few days :(

On Christmas morning, I opened my package from the Disney store that Jayson had gotten me and inside I found a silver, twisted ring with the letter 'A' on one end and mickey mouse ears on the other. It was just supposed to be a ring to wear till we found one I really liked, but I love this one way more than any other ring I've found. Its cute, simple, has our monogram on it, and of course, DISNEY! I think I'm gonna stick to this thing till we get Sealed.

So that's our Christmas! Sorry for not having pictures.. I'll have to get better and taking some...

But here is one other present I got from Jayson: Mickey Mouse reusable ice cubes, and a 'Wedding Day' snow globe that's also a jewelry box!