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!!!

A LaFeber Christmas

Ever since Josh and I started dating, Christmas was always spent in Nevada with my family. Well, we decided to break that cycle and spend it with his family this year, and it

was great! Not only did we get to spend lots of time with our cutie-bug nieces and nephews, but we also got to spend some quality time alone on Christmas morning together which was really nice :).

Here is our first tree! It's a baby one, but it was beautiful and we loved it. When you travel for the holidays you miss out on fun things like getting a tree and decorating it. I'm starting to think we might stay home for Christmas more often!

Here we are on Christmas morning. We got to sleep in (another thing that wouldn't have happened if we had gone to Nevada) and then we opened all of our presents. We scored a lot of good stuff! Thanks family for all the fun packages! We loved all the stuff you sent!

Josh spoiled me with candy and jewelry (yes, that is a pink watch....believe it!). I also got more movies to add to our ever growing collection, the Breaking Dawn sound-track, and a ton of makeup from Sephora!

Josh wanted some sports outfits (as if he doesn't already have a whole closet full) so he got some Alabama gear to get him ready to cheer them on in the National Championship! He also got Madden, a really nice new coat, cologne, and a gift card to Best Buy.

As you can see, it was a candy overload this year. It's a good thing we have gym passes!

Christmas was definitely good to us this year. We have so much to be grateful for and on the top of that list is family. We love both of our families so much. They are always the first people who call in the mornings, and the last people we hang up with at night. I can't imagine life without family, which means we must have a pretty good one! We are also grateful for the birth of the Savior. The fact that he was willing to come to Earth to die for us means he loves us more than we could ever truly understand. And what is life if there is not love? We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas full of love and fun! Here's to another great new year!

Soooo tired, but soooo excited!

Well, it's my first day off this week, and although I've only worked 4 days in a row, it feels like 10! I am sooooo NOT a morning person and so this job has been challenging in that department. My typical day goes as follows:

1) get up at 4 am and quickly get ready in time to be out the door by 4:30 so I can be at work by 5 am.

2) Spend all day working....this can be a great day or a terrible day depending on how my patients feel that day.

3) Come home by 6:30 (again it depends on the day) and immediately shower. I am such a germ-aphobe.

4) Kiss my adorable husband hello when he walks in the door, eat some dinner, and head to bed by 8:30 pm.

Yes, you could say we are lame....and I would probably have to agree with you! My mom called the other night and asked what we were doing for our 1 1/2 year anniversary and I told her we were watching Charlie Brown's Christmas and eating Captain Crunch for dinner and she totally laughed at me. I started laughing too once I realized how lame that sounded hahaha.

On a happier note, I am so excited for this weekend! We have decided this weekend is going to be our Christmas decorating, hot chocolate sipping, gingerbread house making weekend! Yayy!! I wanted to start decorating a long time ago but we moved last weekend to Bountiful and that kinda put a damper on things. However, we are all moved in and ready to go now! I still haven't begun decorating our apartment so it looks more like a bachelor pad than a home Ashly would live in lol, but I'm too tired to care.

CATCH UP:

I'm pretty behind on things so let me catch up a bit. For thanksgiving we went down to Nevada to see my family. We had a ton of fun eating, going rock climbing at Valley of Fire, feeding the fish at Lake Mead, checking out the Hoover Dam (I hadn't seen it since before the new bridge had been completed), and playing/laughing with family. We didn't want to go home that Sunday....especially because we knew how stressful the following week would be. We both worked, packed, and moved by the following Saturday and it was CRAZY! So glad that part is over.

Josh and I at the Hoover Dam

The girls :)

Things I'm Loving Right Now

I would have to say the first thing on this list would be my husband! He is so adorable and he tries so hard. For example, I came home last Friday from my first day at work and he had bought me pink, yellow, and purple roses and a Halloween bowl full of goodies! Some of the things in that bowl were more random/odd than others (the random Nutcracker soldier guy for example) but it totally made me laugh and that is why I married Josh.

Next on the list is my new job! I love it!!! My coworkers are so awesome and so are my patients. Getting up at 4 in the morning (soon to be 3:30 when we move to Bountiful) has been challenging but it's also nice to only have to go into work 3 days a week. Thanks Mari! I totally owe you one!

I have also been loving the beautiful fall weather we've been having here in Utah. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to go on walks for hours just thinking and looking at the beautiful leaves changing colors. Sadly, it got really cold suddenly and I'm thinking my walking days might be over for the season :(.

I love watching The Office! I always thought it was such a stupid show but then Josh made me start watching it from the beginning and now I am hooked! The best part of my day is when Josh comes home and we make dinner and watch a bunch of episodes while we cuddle on the Love Sac and laugh our heads off.

I am in love with this Green Tea HP drink I bought from the mall. It gives me energy and helps curve hunger! I just get a water bottle and pour in the little packet and off I go! My favorite lately has been the Hot Apple Cider flavor. It's perfect with this weather!

I also love my friends. Nursing school, college room-mates, high school, elementary school, you all know who you are! I adore you all and I wish we all had more time to see each other and catch up.

Life is good :).