officially fall.

Unfortunately living in Vegas, we only get a little taste of fall. 

We don't get the big beautiful trees that change colors.

We don't get too many leaves on the ground.

We hardly have an excuse to wear boots until....December. 

November if we are lucky.

But you bet I have been putting them boots on. 

every. single. day.

And sometimes I even wear a sweater. 

Because it's cold? Not exactly.

I wouldn't exactly call 80 degree weather cold.

But because I love this time of year!!

Just two weeks ago we were on the lake, tubing away. 

And now Halloween is just around the corner. 

Crazy, I tell ya.

In honor of fall...we went to the orchard last weekend! 

We bought pumpkins and ate the yummiest donuts. 

The kids had a blast running around like crazy.

This picture is pretty bad....but it's the only one we got of the 3 of them.

While we were there...we had my best friend Darci take some new family pictures.

Matix was being pretty awful, but there are a couple cute ones that are fun.

Maybe like two or three. (out of 300)
Oh well...such is life with a three year old.

I will show them off one of these days.
Until then I will leave you with this beauty....

It had such potential...too bad we look re.tar.ded. haha

I kinda love it though. Mostly because it's so bad.

And the colors are gorgeous...and so...fall-ish. :)

Anyways, here's what's been going on in our lives:

Matix is still cute as can be. 

He sure does have a cute little personality that I can't get enough of.

He is doing really well in preschool...mostly green cards these days.

He even is the star student this week! Go Matix!

He can write his name super well...I'm impressed.

He is still obsessed with dinosaurs. 

I am waiting for this phase to end.

I am dinosaur-ed out. Seriously.

He is addicted to Netflix. and watching dinosaur movies. Mostly National Geographic type stuff.

The scarier the better--in his opinion (he doesn't love the cartoon dinosaurs)

He is addicted to iPhone games. We still try to limit it to car rides only.

He has been peeing in his pants lately-for no reason. I could kill him.

But then he looks at me, gives me the biggest hug and tells me how sorry he is.

The anger quickly switches to smiles.

I am so lucky to be his mom.

Even on the baddest of bad days.

I have been just trucking through life.

Working and playing.

I bought a gym membership....And have been actually going!

Once a week counts...right? 

Our goal is to bump it up to 3....wish me luck.

This is groundbreaking in Ashley world.

I was dating a boy. And he was pretty great. And was my best friend.

And now it's over. 

And I'm still heartbroken.

Dating sucks.

But on a positive note...

I might get a new job. My dream job really.

It will involve a whole lot of traveling.

And one of my best friends as my boss.

Win/win if you ask me.

Cross your fingers. And pray it all works out as planned.

And that about sums up my life right now. Pretty exciting right? 

Tomorrow we are off to California again. 

Surprise Surprise.

<3

Grandpa Jacobsen

My sister has been working really hard on making a book of my grandfather's life.  He is getting to be pretty old, so she thought it would be really neat for us to have a book highlighting bits and pieces of his life-from his point of view. The book is just about done, and as I was just proof reading through it, I had one thought...my grandpa is kind of a funny guy.  He told a few stories from his younger years, memories from our cabin at Lamb's Canyon, his mission, and his current life with my step grandmother.  I have a lot of memories of my grandpa. He loves to play board games. I always played board games with him as a child...I specifically remember playing mancala and pick up sticks. He also loves to build things out of wood in his wood shop. I also remember wanting to mow the lawn with him on his "sit down" lawn mower. Or play bad-mitten and croquet in his ginormous backyard. It was always a fun time to go and visit my grandpa at his home in SLC.

Anyways, some pictures that were dug up for the book were really fun to see and will be good to have record of for posterity's sake.

Alan Clifton Jacobsen 

July 9, 1927

(My grandpa)

My Great Grandparents- Vauna Smith (May 19, 1901) and Alexander Clifton Jacobsen (April 27, 1900)

Married June 24, 1925

My Great Great Grandparents

Miriam Pearl Farmer (April 17, 1871) and Andrew Jacobsen (June 1, 1867)

(Clif's parents) 

Vauna, Norma, Thelma (sisters)

Clif and Vauna, Tom and Dwan, and Rosamae

Alan at age 2 1/2 and 6 and on his mission riding his scooters. He loved scooters!

( My grandpa was injured at birth that affected his coordination for the rest of his life. Riding scooters was something that he could do, and he could do well...so he loved it.)

My grandpa and his friends with his first car-a 1932 Chevy Coupe

Alan and his childhood dog, Bimbo

He married my grandma, Rosamae Greenwood on August 21, 1953 in the Salt Lake Temple

They had three kids:

Shauna Mae (my mom) 1955

Mark Alan 1956

Howard Wallace 1957

 My Uncle Mark and Aunt Tauna's Wedding

My uncle Mark was killed in a work related accident on August 23, 1996 while working for my Uncle Tom at YESCO.
His wife Tauna raised their four girls (Angela, Sheila, Emily, Noel) as a single mom.
She finally remarried this year.

My Uncle Howard is married to Hazel Wyatt.
He has two children Cammette and Jackson from a previous marriage.
And one step daughter, Maggie.

Alan and his Second Wife- Signe Smith Thompson Jacobsen

Alan has 12 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren (so far)

popcorn fight!

Who randomly goes to the park with a ginormous bag of popcorn...

(Popcorn Girl...yep the good stuff)

and ends up getting in a ginormous popcorn fight?!?!

....That's Right. We Do!!

baby blessing.

last weekend my cute cousins all came in town for wyatt's baby blessing. 

we love every chance we get to spend with them and i finally got to meet baby wyatt :)

i even got to see weston...for the first time since his mission (he's been home for a year)

that little turd. 

congrats cami and tanner!

aloha!!

For a girl who is constantly aching for her next vacation...I sure got a mini fix this weekend without even leaving the state!! The Pure Aloha Hawaiian Festival was in town...and we (along with Cana, Jordan, Stephanie, and Jansen-who made a surprise visit from CA ) decided to go! It was basically everything Hawaii...here in Vegas. (Minus the scenery. and beach. and ocean. and marine life. etc.. etc.. etc.. but let's not get too nit-picky here...we deal with what we got) It seriously was so much fun!!! If I don't think about how much money I actually spent. haha. It was only $5 to get in, and Matix was free. But this "free" little child of mine....was not exactly "free."  He's just so dang sweet. And he was in little kid heaven.... Eating all things Hawaiian. And riding all the fun carnival rides. He even got down to some island music with us. If you think about it...it's way cheaper than actually bringing him to Hawaii...so it's win-win if ya ask me. (although I really do wanna take him to Hawaii...someday) 

The food was my favorite part of course. We ate BBQ chicken and pork skewers. Some other chicken thing. Hot dog waffles (weird but yum). Hawaiian Shaved ice. Coconut milk. etc. Freaking bomb diggity, ya know?

Matix was brave enough to go on the "really really really big ferris wheel." And we all owned that little roller coaster. Hands up and all. The attendant liked us a lot, and let us ride it a few too many times. But how can you say no to a darling little boy who so innocently walked up to him and asked to ride again? The answer is...you can't. So we rode again. All three of us. :)

Anyways, it was a great night with family. 

And now I'm ready for my next vacay :) 

birthday catch-ups.

Thank goodness for birthdays! 

It seems like we have one between my core group of high school friends every couple of months.

It makes for a great excuse to get together, eat, and chat.

This time may have been a new record...I think we hung out for 3 or 4 hours. At two locations.

Happy Birthday Kelli! We love you!