Hoppy Easter

Eric and I had a great time celebrating easter! We were able to spend time with both families, eat lots of great food, and fill our tummies full of sugar! My stomach isn't liking me too much from all the sugar that I have consumed the past 2 days, but it will have to deal with it.

The easter bunny came and gave us cadbury eggs, reese's eggs, a movie gift card, money and a cute flower to plant! Happy first easter as a married couple to us! I am off to enjoy a night with the hubby, and a full day tomorrow of no work/school but fun with him!

Happy Easter Everyone!
xo. Ashley

You Need A Bad Day To Know What A Good Day Is

Can I just start off saying how happy I am that it is friday? To sum up my week, lets just say it hasn't been the best, but today hasn't been bad at all.

This week:

1. I have been extra emotional.

2. I dropped my phone in the toilet, yes my NEW PHONE and it doesn't work...at all. I don't have insurance on it either so as of right now, I'm not sure what I am doing with it.

3. At work, the toilet flooded all over and I got clean it all up!

4. I caved in and bought a small bag of cadbury eggs, which I should have done long ago because once I ate two, I instantly felt better.

5. I have the sweetest, most supportive, happy husband ever.

6. I realized I can't go to the extreme with dieting, because it doesn't help and I become irritable, upset, and end up gaining weight.

7. I am not pregnant.

8. I finished my last week in the elementary school for field work and I will miss my class! I learned so much during these past 3 weeks and it makes me even more excited to be a step closer to becoming a teacher!

9. You have to have bad days in order to know what a good day is.

This week has been rough and I have learned a lot about myself. I also learned that I have the most amazing husband, and that I sometimes don't deserve him because when I am upset, I often take it out on him. He is so supportive, loving, caring, responsible and overall the most amazing man. I am so lucky I get to spend my life with him and I appreciate everything he does. He is so hardworking and is always looking out for me and what he can do to help me. I can't wait to spend this weekend with him! 

I am also looking forward to my spring break next week, although I work wed, thurs, and friday, I am so excited to spend monday with Eric (he took the day off) and tuesday without school or work! The family I work for is spending their spring break in disneyworld (the kids) and a cruise (the parents) and although I wish I was joining them, it'll be nice to have a break and nanny 2 other kids for a few days! 

Happy friday everyone!

xo Ashley

Ashley, and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Today has been the worst.

My mood: terrible, onry, emotional, sad, angry, depressed, all things negative.

My luck: Terrible, the worst, not getting better, NO LUCK.

My thoughts:
1. I hate today
2. I hate my mood
3. I want to cry
4. I don't have money to fix my phone/get a new one.
5. I hate dieting and the gym
6. Everyone leave me alone.
7. Eat away my feelings? Sure, that'll resolve everything.

I don't care to even hear positive words, or encouragement right now. I just want to be upset.


Hope everyone else is having a better day than me.
xo Ashley

15 Fun Facts About Us

Here are 15 fun facts about Eric and I:

1. We have been obsessed with egg burritos lately! We eat them at least once a day, sometimes even twice a day!
2. We love love love green smoothies. We drink one every morning.
3. I have decided I like cottage cheese better out of tupperware, not a glass bowl.
4. Eric hates when it is quiet in our house. He has to have the TV on or the music playing.
5. I can only eat cafe rio with a plastic utensil. It isn't good with regular silverware.
6. At night, we will be wide awake until I am the big spoon and then we pass out instantly.
7. We order the same food every time we go out to eat at Chili's.
8. Everytime I clean the bathroom, Eric wants to cut his hair.
9. We love love love love pizza. Whenever we can eat it, we do and we always get half pepperoni, half hawaiian.
10. Eric has unusually long eyelashes, and I am very jealous of them.
11. Our favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip.
12. I am the worst decision maker, so I make Eric decide everything.
13. We are terrible at taking pictures, therefore, we don't document what we do together very well but we are trying harder!
14. Our fridge every week holds cottage cheese, uncooked tortillas, eggs, greek yogurt, spinach, berries around 10 water bottles and G2 gatorade. We eat the same things each day, as well as protein bars!(we just bought 8 packs of them while they are on sale)YUM.
15. We fight over greenie (our green blanket) all the time because it is the best blanket.

These are just random fun facts & hopefully you get to know us better as I continue to blog!
-Ashley

Staying Motivated & A Bit Of Tuna Fish

Motivation, where have you gone? Yesterday I was feeling down on myself. I have been working really hard at eating clean and training hard in order to lose the weight I would like, develop the body I want to have. I have been at a constant weight for the past, who knows how long and can't ever seem to get past it. It's the worst feeling, even when I know numbers aren't everything and that I have made SERIOUS progress, i often still find it defeating me. When you are dieting, you hit a plateau and this is where you have to increase your training and stick to your diet REALLY GOOD in order to break through it, or also your barrier. THIS IS THE HARDEST THING IN THE WORLD. I always go about a month of doing really well, when this starts happening and I STOP. This explains my consistent weight, not losing anything problem. I carry most of my weight in my legs, and have a smaller upper body but when I work out, no matter what I am doing, I always lose weight in my upper body. WHY? WHY? WHY? Because my body hates me, and it wants me to break through my barrier before I can lose weight in my bottom half. Really though, it's been such a hard task but I am honestly determined this time to get through it and to defeat the barrier. I want so badly to feel good this summer all around, not just in my arms and abs, but in my legs and butt and calves. It is going to happen! I managed to brush off my hard feelings yesterday, throw on my gym clothes and work extra hard at the gym. I got on the scale and wasn't happy with the numbers, but realized each day I am getting closer, and each day I need to work harder. Eric and I are going to the gym tonight and I can't wait for him to push me. He is honestly the best and always tells me what I need to hear. It may not be the sweetest, sugar coated bunch of words, but he tells me in the end I will be happy and that I can push through it if I truly want it. He is such inspiration and keeps me going. I'm lucky to have him as my coach, my biggest fan, my husband and my best friend<3


Side note that also relates to Eric....

He is a butt face!<---Only because he is ALWAYS right and this whole eating clean, working out is making my mind GO CRAZY. Before our wedding, I was eating healthy, clean and right and knew that I needed to try new things that were good for me since I am older and wiser now and could probably like food I used to hate. One of these foods is cottage cheese. I tried it one day during the summer and I swallowed it down because I knew it was good for me and I still hated it. This past month, I decided to take a second shot at it and buy a small package. To my surprise, I LOVED IT! I crave it all the time, eat it everyday and just last week bough 10 containers of it because I go through so much cottage cheese! SO WEIRD! I never thought the day would come that I would like cottage cheese but it has, and Eric was so happy, especially because he loves to throw it in my face that he was right. Well, it was last week that we were in PC and Susan made Eric a tuna fish sandwich....YUCK! I grew up eating "chicken tuna" and never ever liked tuna fish. I like fish, but not tuna. Well, being the daring person I am, tried a bite and to my surprise ENJOYED IT! I wanted to show my excitement, but played it off and ever since then I have been CRAVING TUNA FISH. It makes me sick to know Eric was right about me eventually liking these foods. I can't help but think "healthiness" is taking over my mind. I am happy, but embarrassed that I like them now. Eric loves it, and he is waiting until the day when I will like pickles or mustard....but don't plan on that anytime soon!


It's friday & I hope everyone enjoys their weekends!
xo Ashley

Spring Break

Eric was lucky enough to have spring break this past week and even though my spring break isn't until April 1st, it felt like I was on spring break because we both got home close after 5 and had no homework! We were also able to spend each night together! YAY! I loved having Eric home at night, and we took full advantage of every minute we could spend with each other!

Eric and I hit up the gym every night and it kicked our butts! It was so good to have him as a gym partner this week, to really push me and get me working hard! He has been helping me with pull ups and over this past week, I can say I did between 30-50 pull ups A DAY! I felt SO AWESOME! Even though Eric helped, I could really see definition in my arms and by the end of the week I was so HAPPY with my results!

After a week of hard work, we decided to head up to Plain City on friday to visit family. I love going up there! I always get such a happy and giddy feeling when we get close to arriving and it feels like a vacation when we are there! Plain City is such a cute little town and so happy, fun and relaxing! We ate tacos, fondue,

played games and had a blast with Mark, Susan, Shel and Jared. I really had a lot of fun just laughing and playing games with them and it was definitely needed! On Saturday, Eric and Mark went to get the trucks oil changed while Susan and I ran 5 miles! Susan is a crazy runner and has been training for her half marathon, so I am glad I was able to hit up a nice run with her! We may be slow, but we get things finished and we always feel so much better afterwards! She is a great running buddy, and I wish I had her closer so that I could stay motivated to run! We spent the day doing girl things, while the boys went shooting and then met up for dinner at the Pie. We all love pizza, so it was a great way to spend the last hour
before we headed back to SLC for the Jazz game. Eric and I are HUGE jazz fans, and will snag any tickets we can when offered! My dad is always so sweet to share his tickets with us, and we can't ever thank him enough. We sit on row 20, and this game we bought me a jersey! FINALLY!!!! I felt so spoiled that my hubby has been so kind to put money aside to pay for it, because it made my day! It is #15....the man Derick Favors! He is my favorite player and has shown so much improvement this season! The jazz won, and the night couldn't have been better!

Lastly, sunday we hit up the gym and did our weekly grocery shopping. My parents were so sweet and invited us to dinner for St.Patricks Day so we went there and had a BBQ. It was delicious and got me very excited for summer! Eric and I finished off the day with a nap, homework and bed. Back to school and work tomorrow! Hope you all have a great week!

xo Ashley

Food & A Healthy Lifestyle

I have felt ups and downs towards how I look, and the way I feel lately. When Eric and I met, we both loved going to the gym. He was looking towards body building, and I had recently decided to make big changes with my life, and to get in shape so that I could feel better about myself and the way I look. It was such a good hobby to share, and we kept each other motivated! Eric was at the extremes in his dieting, and work outs and he got me into it. We would prepare meals for the entire week on sundays, and would eat the same food almost everyday. After we got home from work, we would train really hard at the gym and when we got engaged, we really kicked our butts into gear so that we would feel great at our wedding! Eric has been such an amazing motivator, and always pushes me. I remember one time at the gym, I cried and yelled at him (in front of people) because I was so tired and felt he was pushing me too hard, but I know he was only doing that because that is what I had told him to do! I am grateful he did that because it has taught me so much about the gym, my abilities and kept me motivated.


<---This is one of my senior pictures. I hate to say I was overweight, but I definitely struggled with how I look a lot of my life, and it hasn't been until I got into college that I have developed a better attitude towards myself.


We went off track after the wedding, and it wasn't until a few months ago that we both knew we needed to get our butts back into gear and develop our healthy habits again. I know summer is coming, and I want to really get to where I want to be, so that I can feel confident again! Between our busy schedules, Eric goes to the gym during his lunch break, and I go after work.

Not only have we been working out and training hard, we have got back into eating small and balanced meals. I have been taking a lot of pictures lately of some of the things I am eating and I would love to share them! It is helpful to me to document what I eat, and it is motivating. I have found a website called Dashing Dish and it has some AMAZING recipes! I have loved making new things, especially the desserts on here that are protein backed, low sugar and low in calories! Check it out!

 

Eric and I LOVE food, as does mostly everyone in the world. It's important to have moderation, and to not deprive yourself from the things you love but to eat them in small portions, or like said before, moderation. 

Some of the pictures shown are greek yogurt with a drizzle of honey, twice baked sweet potato, whole wheat pancakes & eggs with sugar free syrup, protein pack oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, salmon & a spinach salad, fat free cottage cheese with berries, and the great 98 calories slice of rich chocolate cake!

There are so many great recipes out there that are full of protein, low sugar and overall healthy choices that are SO EASY! I have never been a great cook, so if I can find them and make them, so can you!

This post is not to brag, or to complain about the way I feel but rather I hope to be motivation that anyone can eat healthy, and eat good food while eating healthy! It takes dedication, and motivation but if you are someone who doesn't feel confident with themselves, or someone who wants to make some changes, YOU CAN DO IT! Eric and I both work hard, and we aren't quite where we want to be, and we don't always make the best healthy choices, but we try and we are willing to put effort into our health so that we can feel good!



xo Ashley

BIRTHDAY BABE

I'm late on the bloggin....but it was the hubby's birthday last weekend! Eric has hit the age of 22 years old! WAHOO!! It is weird to think he is 22, because all my life I thought that once you get to be 22....you are way old. He feels 22, he feels old because he gets to do adult things and be a big old adult and what not...even though he's been that way for a few years(: anyways...we had 3 days full of celebrating!

1. FRIDAY: I am the worst at surprises, so I was so proud of myself when my parents told me they were giving us jazz tickets for friday nights game to celebrate eric's birthday. I had kept it a secret all week and friday had come....well plans didn't go too well and I was very sad. Needless to say....I was antsy to get off work, didn't get off on time, got stuck in traffic, took a back road and got lost, was late to meet eric at the restaurant which then made it a 50 minute wait that we couldn't stay for and the surprise got ruined. I cried, and Eric felt bad because I was so excited, but was also exhausted and in the end, he was just happy go lucky about going to the jazz game and didn't care that my entire plan was ruined!

2. SATURDAY: Eric and I woke up and I gave him the second half of his birthday present with his cute hand made card! He loved his presents! (I gave him the jazz hoodie he is wearing, and a new nice basketball, work out tanks, and I owe him dinner) After we drank our delicious green smoothies, we went to the gym and KICKED OUR BUTTS. Eric played the "it's my birthday so you have to do this.." card and we worked out together. It was so much fun and it made me think of summer when we had the time to work out with each other everyday. I often hate how sore I am the day after working out with him, but in the moment I love it.

Saturday continued: We headed up to Plain City to celebrate with the Roddoms! (It's marks birthday too!) and we had pizza and delicious rice krispie/ice cream/raspberry dessert! I love hanging out up there and celebrating birthdays made it that much better! After that, we went and met up with some old friends of Eric's and went bowling! It was a BLAST! I beat eric (again) but he was a good loser(:

3. SUNDAY: We come home from plain city, showered and headed out to a movie with my family! We went and saw warm bodies and I thought it was such a cute movie! We snacked on popcorn and when we were done hit up costco for our weekly grocery shopping. 

My mom knew Eric loved funfetti cake, so she spoiled us with this cutesy cake and eric got to blow out the candles again!

Overall, a great weekend full of celebrating and I hope its one my hubby can remember! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

xo Ashley