Happy birthday darling. We love you very, very, very, very, very, very, very much

Fact: Today is Ashley's 25th Birthday. Accordingly, here are

25 Things I LOVE about Ashley

1: She's Book Smart
2: She's Street Smart
3: Witty as a whip
4: Hott (with two "t's")
5: Beautiful (in addition to being Hott with two "t's")
6: The best birthday planner EVER
7: A FABULOUS cook (all caps)
8: Best swimmer in her class
9: Rides her BMX bike all around campus
10: Can pop a good 5" wheely on her BMX
11: Can go off curbs on her BMX
12: Dresses to impress (I'm always impressed)
13: Always comes up with and has good ideas
14: Lets me grow a beard/mustache/or be clean shaven (loves all three)
15: Has beaten me in racquetball
16: Tolerates the clothes I wear
17: Very motivated
18: Always optimistic
19: Speaks Japanese
20: Is a good influence on me
21: Lives the Gospel
22: Said I can use a cane at age 40
23: Loves her family
24: Loves my family
25: Loves me (the most)

It is hard to keep this list at just 25, I sure can't wait till she turns 100.

Happy Birthday Ash - Love, Cade

things i am loving right now

1. asparagus

this tasty treat is really hitting the spot lately. despite the fact that it makes your pee stink, i think this is the greatest vegetable ever. besides tasting great, it is a good source of potassium and fiber. plus, i have discovered (thanks to my mother) the greatest way to eat it. put a little bit of butter and salad supreme on these babies and then pop them in the oven to roast up. when they are looking a little softer, pull them out and sprinkle fresh parmesan or mozzarella on top and get ready for a mind blowing experience.

i love you, asparagus.

2. the binder and binder guy

i cannot get enough of this guy lately. these commercials make me laugh for so long. who advised this guy to wear a cowboy hat!? is he losing hair? is it just 'him' to wear one? thank you binder and binder for making my commercial breaks during cash cab worth sticking around for.

3. swimming

(it should be noted that the above picture is not of me)
move over dara torres! maybe not really- but i am really loving my swimming class this semester. it is such a great way to exercise and it is so fun. the only part that stinks is when i get out of the pool, i have to bike home in the icy, logan weather. my hair freezes in huge chunks by the time i get back to our apartment- but it makes a warm shower seem even better.

4. soft tissues and warm blankets

i have a cold that i cannot shake! i am just going to go ahead and assume i got this cold after biking home with wet pool hair all the time- but that isn't going to stop me. i use so many tissues a day and after running completely out of portable tissues sleeves recently- i have resorted to carrying around a roll of toilet paper. judge me all you want- i am sure my classmates do- but when i need relief, i feel no shame in whipping that roll out and tearing off a few squares. i really need to get rid of this bug...

5. this song

i know there is no real video on the above link, but the song is fantastic. cade and i have been dancing around our apartment to this song for the past couple of weeks. i actually caught cade dancing with his ipod in while doing the dishes the other day. trust me when i say he has some sweet moves. the song is by a band called mgmt who started up as part of a thesis on indy pop. they have crazy videos and their songs can be equally interesting- but if i were you i would get this on your workout playlist asap.

mustache mania- the pictures

you may think these two boys need another hobby.



update: cade's new 'stache is on day 5 and the compliments keep rolling in. one teacher -of a class cade is not even in- saw the mustache, stopped class, and had all the students give cade a round of applause.

any guesses as to when he will shave? whoever guesses closest to the actual shave date will get a plastic baggie filled with the fallen facial hairs.

guess wisely...

presidents, slumdogs and protestors- oh my!

this last weekend was action packed. with valentine's day, family parties and president's day- we were busy all day everyday. while i am sure you would all like to read a minute by minute recap of all our events in their entirety, i will spare you and only elaborate on key events.

1. in honor of president's day, cade has shaved his beard and left only a mustache in honor of william taft. he says he will leave the mustache as long as he gets complements on it. this could be interesting.


2. cade and i opted for a low key valentine's day this year. not wanting to face the logan 'crowds' and fresh snow, we ordered pizza from papa john's and watched the aggie game at home. the game was a bit of a downer, so in an effort to boost our spirits we went out to see the movie slumdog millionaire. i have heard so much about how great this movie is and i am going to agree with all the hype and say that it is a must see. a true cinematic delight. for those of you who are staring at the screen with gaping mouths after realizing that slumdog is rated 'r,' just know that while i am usually not a fan of justifying my sins- i can honestly say that this movie is 400 times better (as far as violence, sex and swearing) than the last 20 pg-13 movies i have seen. again- not justifying- but the reason this was rated so harshly is due to the fact that the movie deals with the slum life: poverty, survival, etc.. it is not about princesses in new york or vampires who are vegetarians. so...moving on.... it was a great feel-good movie. and after all the muck we have seen lately, i found it extremely refreshing.

3. in a drastic shift, i would like to now move from justifying my media choices to the draper temple. quite the leap... but here goes.



my mom was able to snag us some tickets to the draper temple open house this weekend. we were down in salt lake to celebrate love day with cade's family and to have a february birthday party with mine- so it worked out nice that she was able to get these tickets for president's day. i have never been to an open house before but i love the idea of giving the community the opportunity to see what these magnificent buildings mean to members of the church. the temple was decorated beautifully. some of the couches and artwork were so interesting and modern i wish i knew where the church purchased them. although it was a smaller temple, i loved winding through and feeling the power of sacred symbolism that is apparent in every room. as the tour came to an end, the final rooms you walk through are the sealing rooms where couples are married and make promises to one another and to God. in each room there was a volunteer couple who explained this process and then bore powerful testimony of the happiness and peace that comes from eternal families. cade and i were married in the temple- so i like to assume i understand this principle well; however, as the couple spoke to us i realized how important that tiny, little room is to this massive earth.
my elated feelings were tried and tested as we left the temple to find all the protesters on the street outside with signs about the temple being a 'house of demons' and so on... it made me wonder if those people who were bundled up outside in the cold with their homemade signs had taken the time to walk through the temple like we just had. it may not align with their direct set of beliefs- but i am sure that a walk through of the draper temple would change the wordage on their signs. instead of the derogatory statements- their signs would read more honestly: 'i am struggling to understand your faith.' i can live with that kind of honesty.
if you can get your hands on some tickets to the open house- GO! it really was a great experience.

true blue

yes- i already did a post on how much i love utah state, but here is another one. cade is a huge basketball fan. our life revolves around listening to or watching a usu game and we never miss a home game (it should be noted, however, that we did miss a home game for brett's wedding. bffs for life.). cade and eddie will even go a few hours early to the games and study in the spectrum just to make sure they get seats for us. cade is true blue.

the aggie's record is now an impressive 23 wins and only one loss. all you cougars out there are quick to point out where that one loss came from- but feel free to click here for a humbling experience.

usu games this season have been nothing short of fantastic. the crowd is always into the game and our home winning record is one of the best in the nation. the crowd's raucous behavior has made the spectrum one of the most feared venues in college basketball- so much so, that it was recently addressed in church and we were all asked to keep our comments and cheers to an appropriate level. that's going as well as can be expected.... i have never really been a fan of the 'you suck' cheer- and cade is doing his part by only mouthing the words. regardless- the aggies keep winning at home.



good luck on the road, aggies. come hell or high water- we'll meet you at the spectrum next week.

music for your monday

i just love music... and i don't think i have shared that love enough on the blog. so, here goes my musical monday.

when we got home from belgium, our friend jason gave us a great christmas album from an artist named joshua james. it was a great album. so seasonal and perfect for our long drives back and forth to logan. i looked forward to getting to know mr. james a little better and my wish finally came true.

last week, joshua james made a stop in frosty logan for all his dedicated fans. jordan's band, grafted, was opening for him as well, so it made sense that we would not miss this show; however, we were not the only ones excited about the concert. as more and more people packed their way into logan's tiny little venue, whysound, they reached maximum standing space. who cares, right? the fire marshall cares. come to find out maximum standing space exceeds the legal maximum capacity by like 100 people. so before joshua even got on stage, the fire marshall busted in and we all ran for cover. thinking the night was lost, we huddled out back in the cold trying to decide what to do when one of the guys from joshua james' band told us they would still play for us out front on the street. although it was probably dipping into the negatives by this point, joshua james gathered us together and played a small set with his band on a tiny, little street in logan. my shoes literally froze to the ground but i loved every minute of it.

we bought his cd, the sun is always brighter, and have been really liking it. so here is my present to you this week- great music. enjoy!

click here for a musical monday experience.

the 12 days of cade

on the first day of cade, emo gave to him:

one dinner at cafe rio.

on the second day of cade, katie and colleen gave to him:

2 shoes (and a bonus... an abry's melt!)

on the third day of cade, krik and dorthea gave to him:

3 gallons of whole milk and 3 2 liters of coke (cade's 2 favorite drinks)

on the fourth day of cade, dave gave to him:

cade's favorite songs with the number 4 in them
bright eyes 'four winds' and cake 'friend is a four letter word'

on the fifth day of cade, sam and allie gave to him:

5 boxes of cereal and top 5 memories (my personal favorite was sam's memory of he and cade eating skittles at a sleep over and dreaming about their futures).

on the sixth day of cade, austin and leslie gave to him:

6 tennis balls- for many summer rematches.

on the seventh day of cade, jeff, heather, mitch, cassie and ryan gave to him:


7 bucks to buy 7 treats at 7-11 in under 7 minutes for a party at 7 pm where there was 7 layer dip, 7 ingredient korean surprise and a cake in the shape of a 7. everything was coming up 7s.

on the eighth day of cade, kate and lisa gave to him:

top eight list of cade 'bests' (not excluding the vericose veins).

on the ninth day of cade, emily and jackie gave to him:


9 holes of mini golf with cheesecake at the end.

on the tenth day of cade, paige, jordan, shawnee and preston gave to him:

10 pins to knock down in bowling (plus one cute card, i might add).

on the eleventh day of cade, eddie and kylee gave to him:

11 ballers balling- 4th row tickets to next thursday's jazz game!

and on the 12th day of cade, jason gave to him:

12 episodes of flight of the conchords, 12 tracks of mr. mon, 12 memories from junior high and a hurley doll.


today is cade's very birthday. it was no surprise to me to see how many people volunteered to celebrate his birthday- he is a great friend and the best husband. i realize that there are only 12 days of christmas- but on the 13th day of cade, i have 13 reasons i think he is the top dawg:

1. he is never mean and he never gets mad.... no matter how hard i try.
2. he is the funniest person i know.
3. i love waking up to see what he has picked out to wear for the day. always a treat.
4. he always does the dishes.
5. there are 3 things he is always up for: ping pong, basketball, and biking.
6. he has such great aspirations. nothing is impossible.
7. he is a genius. i rarely see him study- but he always gets an a.
8. he is a friend to everyone
9. he will only buy pants that are under 10 dollars.
10. he has the golden touch, is a jack of all trades and is fearless. this combination is incredible.
11. he sees the best in every situation. i have never met anyone so positive. even when we got robbed in brussels, cade turns to me out of breath and with one of his big smiles says, 'what a rush!'
12. he makes everyday count. that isn't some cheesy saying to make your heart warm- he seriously does do all that he can to make everyday better than the last. life is never boring with cade.
13. he knows who he is.

thanks to everyone who helped out with the 12 days of cade- we had such a blast these last two weeks. you really made his birthday so fun.

happy birthday, cade. i've only known you for 2 of the past 25 years- but i look forward to next 25.