So Far This Summer

So far this summer has been a very busy one full of fun adventures and vacations and I don't really know where to begin. Let's start with June. 

BEGINNING OF JUNE

We celebrated our 2 year anniversary in the Las Vegas sun. It was so much fun and we were both so sad to have to come home. First we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and spent the days swimming, shopping, and doing a little gambling (don't worry, our idea of gambling is spending 20 dollars and calling it a day) and we both ended up winning more money than we spent! 

We got to see the Phantom of the Opera while we were there and it was incredible! I love the music so much and I loved it even more while hearing it in a beautiful opera theater! Afterwards we went to a little french pastry stand at the Venetian and bought mini-cupcakes as our anniversary dessert. It was a perfect night :).

We spent the second half of our anniversary vacation at the beautiful Bellagio Hotel. It was much more luxurious than the Hard Rock and didn't have the "party scene" going on constantly.

Our room was gorgeous and so was the view from our window! 

We spent a lot of time walking around and exploring the strip. The weather was hot (go figure huh?) so we took advantage of the shade whenever we could find it and spent a lot of time exploring the shops and things inside the casinos. The Bellagio garden was beautiful and so creative! Everything was made out of flowers!

We walked to the Coke Factory and sampled all the different Cokes from around the world. It was really fun. We couldn't believe how disgusting some of them were (ahem, Italy) and decided that we were glad to live in America.



MIDDLE OF JUNE
Josh and I saw the Poison/Def Leppard "Rock of Ages Tour" Concert and it was literally a blast from the past! They just don't make music like that anymore. And although the music was great, the people watching was even better! Gotta love the '80's crazies.

 

END OF JUNE
My little sister Briana came to stay with us for a few weeks! I was so excited to pick her up and so sad to have to drop her off :(. I took a little over a week off from work and spent the days with her. It was so fun having someone to exercise with (until she decided that I was too serious about it and didn't want to go with me anymore) and enjoy "girl talk" with.

We went to a SLC Bee's baseball game the first day she was here. 

We also went glow in the dark mini-golfing, bowling, and played the arcade games at Fat Cat's. 

We got a deal that included free bread twists and a pitcher of soda from the Pizza Factory with our bowling! It was time well spent and although Josh beat us at everything, we all did pretty good ;).

Briana turned 15 while she was visiting us! We spent the day shopping and doing "girl stuff" and then later that night had a BBQ, and cake. Happy Birthday Bri!

 

 

We went to a lazer show at the Clark Planetarium. It was so cool! They played music from U2 that went along with the lazers. Walking around the Planetarium was just as much fun and we got to try space ice cream for the first time....it was not bad at all. 

I think my favorite part of her stay with us was when she and I had a picnic at Memory Park and walked through the rose gardens and played in the stream. 

Then we went up to the State Capitol building and explored. 

It was so gorgeous inside! Briana decided that's where she wants to do her Bridals when she grows up ;)

JULY

For the 4th of July we went to Park City and watched the parade. Then we had a BBQ on the balcony and later went to the movie theater and saw Rock of Ages. It was a great day!

As you can see, I'm the only one in the family with enough patriotic spirit to wear red, white, and blue ;)

I could write a whole novel about all the details of everything we've done so far this summer but this will just have to suffice. I feel so lucky to have such amazing sisters and an even more amazing husband who doesn't mind being the only guy when he hangs out with us!

Seriously???

So, at work we have to keep up on our "education" and each month is a different topic. Well, this month's topic is "What to do if there is a bomb threat." I proceed go through the long list of boring slides until I reach the part where you take a quiz to make sure you understand what you have just "learned."

The question read: You answer the phone while working and the caller tells you they have planted a bomb in your clinic. What do you do?

Seriously? I would do what any other non-retarded person would do..... Tell the person, "Thanks Jerk for ruining my day" and then proceed to get all 50 of my patients the heck out of there!

Well, I failed. That's right, failed with a big, fat, F. And why did I fail you ask? Because I forgot to ask the caller the following questions:

1) What is your name? (Or should I just call you psycho bomb threat guy?)

2) Where do you live? (Just in case the police might want to find you and arrest you)

3) Why are you doing this? (I'm sure you never knew your father, but just in case there is another reason behind your idiocracy)

4) And last but not least, Where did you place the bomb? (REALLY???)

And of course the caller is going to answer all of my questions and give me all of his personal information. Heck, maybe I'll even get a chance to try out some psychology classes I've never actually used.

Again I ask, SERIOUSLY???

Ahhh...Florida

I've been meaning to write about our latest adventure but work has been really busy and when I get home all I want to do is cuddle with Josh. Since today I've got an extra half hour before the man of the hour arrives, I decided to use my time wisely! I feel like the luckiest (most spoiled) girl ever to even be able to say this, my work paid for me to go to paradise! That's right, Orlando, Florida baby! And what made me even more lucky was that they let Josh come along with me! Everything was completely paid for, including our AMAZING hotel room in the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort! We enjoyed our much needed vacation lying in hammocks on the man-made beach, exploring Epcot and all of it's awesome attractions, and eating....and eating....and eating...(it's so hard when everything is free!)

Josh in front of the resort. We took a lot of walks around the beautiful grounds and couldn't get enough of the gorgeous Florida sun!

Oh the hammocks....I think about this moment a lot as I am running around like a mad-woman at work.....

Epcot was a blast! For those who haven't been there, it's a massive park that is divided into countries. So you can travel all over the world in a day! We ate sushi in the Japanese gardens, watched the acrobatics in China, ate a bratwurst in Germany, and were entertained by a belly dancer in Morocco! There was so much more than that but I will spare you the book I'd have to write to describe it all.

I thought this was so cool in Italy! 

We also spent a lot of time in Downtown Disney since it was just a boat-taxi away from our hotel! We had fun eating at the House of Blues and then later went to a Cirque Du Soleil show called "La Nouba!"

Taking the water-taxi to Downtown Disney. The beautiful town in the background is called the Boardwalk. We had a lot of fun walking around there at night and watching the sun set over the water. Josh's favorite part was definitely the ESPN restaurant where we got to be in live footage on ESPN while we ate our meal and tried to answer sports trivia!

And again, did I mention the food??? We made a deal to eat one unique thing from every country. It was a great idea to start with, until we made it half way and started feeling like our stomach's were about to explode. Don't worry though, we did it!

We also ate at Planet Hollywood while we were in Downtown Disney on one of the nights. I had never been there before, and man was I missing out! They had the coolest stuff from all sorts of old movies there!

Me and my handsome hubby hanging out at the Boardwalk on our last night in Florida. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect vacation :). Oh, and I enjoyed the American Nephrology Nurses conference as well.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Clark County Fair & Rodeo

Josh and I went to Logandale, NV for the fair and rodeo last weekend and we had a blast! It was so nice spending time with my family. It feels like I haven't seen them in years (even though it's only been 4 months).

My little sister is getting so big! She is turning into such a stunningly beautiful young woman and I had so much fun talking and doing "sister things" with her while we were there.

Josh wanted to show off his basketball skills and win a stuffed animal for me but it didn't turn out the way he had envisioned. Oh well, it was worth the 5 dollars just watching him try so hard hahaha.

We watched the hypnotist show with my other sister, Sadie. I was so happy she made it out there for the weekend too! She's always working so I hardly ever get to see her when we visit.

The best part of the whole trip was the rodeo! It was my first rodeo and I loved it! It was insane how brave those guys were to wrestle a steer, or ride a bull that would like nothing more than to buck them off and trample on them! And then there was the "half-time break" to get kettle corn and pickles which made it that much more enjoyable :).

This is how beautiful the night was at the rodeo.

And of course, there was the fair food! We ate everything from Texas twisters and BBQ chicken, to fried scones, a fried pickle (my Mom's idea), and candied almonds. MMMmmmmmm......

LaFeber Happenings

Ok, granted, I'm really bad at posting. I always tell myself I'm going to do it when it's my day off and then when that day comes, I just don't feel the drive to do it. I will try to be better but I can't promise anything. Plus I don't even know if anyone reads this anyways!

But in case you do, here's what we've been up to. . . .

My days off during the week are now fondly known as "Ashly days." And oh how glorious those days are! I sleep, watch my Gilmore Girls episodes that I can't get enough of, attempt to sew with my new sewing machine, eat, exercise, eat some more, and today I went and got a massage! Now can you understand why I just don't have time to update my blog? hahaha

The weather has been gorgeous lately, and as it always does at this time of year, running outdoors has been calling my name. What's really exciting about this year is we live in a beautiful neighborhood up in the mountains where I'm not scared to get kidnapped while I'm running, Yay for moving up in the world! However, for some reason my left knee has been hurting me really bad when I run and now it is just hurting constantly :(. So I am debating on what to do about that one.

Josh and I became debt free at the beginning of March and oh how wonderful it feels! No more giving away our hard earned money! Now our next goal has been investing for our retirements. We both have 401-K's now (Josh has had his for a while, I'm the one who's been dragging my feet) and we just invested in an IRA! I feel like such an adult! My step-father would be so proud, he's been trying to get me to do all of this since I got my first job in high school lol.

Josh bought me a sewing machine for my birthday and I can honestly tell you, it is a whole lot harder than it looks! And I'm not even working on anything difficult! Slowly but surely I'm getting the hang of it though... I wish I had a friend close by who could come over and do it with me (hint hint to anyone who lives close by).

Speaking of my birthday, we went to Midway and spent the weekend at a Swiss resort! It was so much fun and much needed. We ate gelato, I got a facial, went on really nice walks around the grounds, and ate at some amazing restaurants. It helped make turning one year older a little more happy. I don't know why but after 22, I just feel old!

To sum up what Josh has been doing lately, I only have to say two words.... MARCH MADNESS! That boy eats/sleeps/and dreams sports. I don't mind it most of the time, but I'm not going to deny that I can't wait for March to end ;). Besides that he has been working and spending his time researching where we should take our next vacation. We both have been dying to go to Europe and now that we have the money, we're going to do it! We have to wait til September so Josh will have enough paid vacation time, but that just gives us more time to plan! We have decided to do a Mediterranean cruise. We will fly into Barcelona, Spain and spend a few days there and then hop on board a ship and spend the next 8 days cruising around Spain, Italy, and France! Overall, the trip will take about two weeks, we can't wait! In the meantime we are planning all sorts of mini-vacations to keep us busy. Hopefully I'll post on those when they occur and not months afterwards.

Oh Working....

THE DOWNSIDES TO WORKING:

Since it took me 6 months to find a freaking job after I graduated, I have had a lot of catching up to do in the $$$ department in order to achieve my financial goals within the 1 year I gave myself while I sat in class making plans and dreaming of a day when I would be done with homework and actually making money. So, needless to say, I have been working a TON of overtime.

1) Working this much makes you tired and grumpy. It's like you are PMS'ing all the time. One minute you are laughing and thinking "I can do this!" and the next minute you are crying in your husbands arms and saying "Why did I think I could do this?"

2) I never feel like I've gotten enough sleep. When I'm sleeping I dream of work and when I'm awake I dream of sleeping. It's a sad combo my friends. One that includes a lot of caffeine during the day, and Benadryl to knock myself out at night.

3) Nurses get the crazy schedules that don't ever coincide with anyone else's schedules. Because of this, I have missed my visiting teaching for the month (sorry dear companion who had to go alone) and I never get to see my husband :(. This makes it very tough to feel like you have a life that actually includes another human being outside of the medical world.

THE UPSIDES TO WORKING:

Yes, I complain a lot... but I promise I actually do like my job and I feel like 90% of the time I enjoy what I do. There are definitely perks to being a "working woman" haha.

1) When people ask what I do, I proudly tell them and a little spark inside me ignites and I feel like I am exactly where I've always wanted to be in my life.

2) With all this overtime, my paychecks have been huge! So of course on payday I tend to forget all my grievances and I again feel that sense of pride. (Now, keep in mind, my idea of huge is probably small compared to what other people are making lol).

3) By March I will have achieved my goal (even faster than the year I had planned on)! Josh and I will officially be debt free! We have paid off our car and with just a few more pay checks we will have all my student loans paid off!

4) Now, here's the best part! My company is sending me to Orlando, FL at the end of April for the American Nephrology Nurse's Association Annual Conference! They are paying for everything including airfare, food, hotel, etc.! And we're not talking cheapsters here...I will be staying inside Disney World at their Dolphin Resort for 5 days!!! What's even more exciting is they are letting me bring Josh along with me so we get to make a vacation out of it! I will have to go to the conference classes during the day and then by 4:30 pm I will be free to play! We're already making plans to go see the things we missed the last time we were down in Orlando. I'M SO EXCITED!!

5) And of course, there are those amazing days when I feel like I am doing good in the world with the knowledge and skills I have been given. I look at Josh and his chosen field of work and I think, "how does that field attract you?" It is a constant dog-eat-dog atmosphere and no one ever looks at you and says, "Thank you, you just saved my life." instead they say, "Where's my money A$$-hole?!" (Sadly, I'm not exaggerating here....) So I am grateful for those special moments I get with my patients when I can be there for them during this hard time in their lives. I'm grateful for every moment I get to spend with them as they cry tears of sadness because they don't think they're going to make it this time, and as they cry tears of joy because they just got put on the transplant list. All of this makes it worth it.

Now, bring on Florida!!!