Put another candle on your birthday cake....

...cuz you're another year old today.

and by today...i actually mean Saturday.

That's right...Doug is now 29 years old. dang he's old. 

but not as old as megan's husband. he's almost 30...that's ancient. 

kidding.

but it gave us an excuse to celebrate--- all weekend long!!

Friday Night: Dinner at Vic and Anthony's Steakhouse

Saturday Night: Dancing at Spazmatics at the Southpoint

Sunday: Family Birthday Dinner and explore Aria

 

 I would never have thought that someone would be so thrilled about toys from thinkgeek.com...

but he was!

 

 {Happy Birthday Doug!!}

ps...did anyone notice that my hair is LONG again? like stripper long? haha

yep...doug bought me extensions. and i got them in on HIS birthday. we both love them. he's the greatest.

Date Nights...

now consist of...

an Ashley and a Doug and a Matix :)

Not becasue we can't get a babysitter...because we could

But becasue Doug is always looking for fun things we can do with Matix because he LOVES matix. 

I dont blame him. Matix is pretty dang AWESOME.

we both talk all week long about how much we miss him when he's gone.

He asked me the other day if we could just get married and have a kid that we get to keep all the time.

i declined. 

Sorry Doug. Im not ready for all that. <3

Mini Gran Prix

last Friday Night's Date Night

Doug had free ride coupons. 

Matix loved every second of it.

 he was even tall enough to ride the roller coaster....barely.

actually i dont think he was, but the operator just couldnt deny a little boy with such excitement in his eyes.

 then we ended the night with some ice cream...of course.

I'm a lucky girl to have these boys to spend my weekends with :)

what would you do....

if you randomly got texted this picture...

yes...that would be MY boyfriend.

marrying a girl who is NOT me.

weird? umm. yes. 

and the text the followed..

"Ashley, Doug is busted! hahaha. We needed Doug to play groom for a marketing gig. Give him a hard time. He came down with a frown and said I have a girlfriend! haha."

-Jason

{i bet he didnt have a frown on his face 

when he got to kiss his bride!!!!!!!!!!!}

why wait???

so...back in august... me and doug got word that rascal flatts would be filming their newest music video for their newest single "why wait?" here in Las Vegas...
at the CHAPEL aka..dougs house.

say what??

um..yesss...please. 

so we were volunteered to "help" out as much as we could from 10 pm-1 am (holy heck)

like unlock the doors, get them stuff they needed, etc. 

well, they basically TOOK over the chapel, but we did our job. thought it was awesome for the first...umm..hour...and then we went to sleep. (i need my beauty rest)

they were still cleaning up at 3 am when i left the property.

man, a LOT of work goes into a dang 4 minute video!!

and we were just ONE of like TEN locations!

they were filming for 15 hour days, for 3 days they said.

but it was fun to be a small part of!

and yes i snuck a few pictures, veryyyyyy slyly, of course.

 

so there it is...proof that i was there. 

and the video premiered on CMT on Monday..

so, enjoy :)

and while youre watching think of us there, on site, watching it all go down. 

oh and lets not forget to mention that rascal flatts are not the first to use the chapel in their video...carrie underwood also filmed there, a few years back!

yep, the chapel--it's the place to be, i tell ya! haha

just an fyi..

you know...  

For Your Information.

doug...aka..the boyfriend is an interesting character to say the least.

but that's part of what makes him so great.

anyways...to add to his list awesome-ness is the fact that his address...

not just his mailing address, but his physical address (you know where he physically lives}

is LAS VEGAS BLVD

yes..like he lives on THE famous las vegas STRIP

where you might ask?

well on top of a wedding chapel, of course.

where else would someone live on the strip live?

{besides a hotel...lets just pretend a wedding chapel is the more obvious answer...okay? okay.}

kinda interesting/funny/random, right?

well, long story short....

his cousin married a guy whose family owns the chapel, and they used to live there but then they outgrew it and bought that cool house (that i've mentioned before) so doug moved in and took over doing on site maintenance stuff in exchange for a little apartment on top of the chapel when he moved to vegas that has since turned into more of just a room type thing and since getting laid off from his other full time job (stupid economy) he has started also driving limousines for the chapel full time until he finds another job {anyone know of any cpa's who need accountants..he graduated from byu-hawaii in accounting an international business} haha... so basically this chapel is his life right about now.

did  i mention there used to be a reality show on tlc about the chapel too? oh yes...that would be jason and holly (owner/cousins) right there in the poster.(on the right)

 

whew. that was a mouthful.

so now that you're a little more caught up...the rest of my post will make a little more sense.

the other night i took my little sisters...{not biological, obviously) to hang out at doug's house after our childhood friend christina bedford's wedding reception!

{ps: i cant believe she's married!}

first we went to luv-it's frozen custard (a local favorite) which is conveniently located RIGHT across the street from doug's casa, so we frequent it often. yummmmm. 

then we showed them the "tunnel of love" in doug's house, which was made by jason before doug moved in, but is still pretty awesome. just think black lights. pillows. and florescent writing all over the walls. i wouldnt be surprised if some sweet make out sessions have happened in there. 

{and NO we have not even kissed in there..in case you were wondering}

then we moved right along to the roof...which just so happens to have a trampoline up there...and since you are basically right across the street from the Stratosphere...it makes for some pretty scenic jumping, if you will.

what a fun night!

i love my little sisters. and i love my little boyfriend.

labor day: 2010 (part 2)

Last minute doug found out that he was able to get monday off!! hooray! this gave us great reason to hurry our our butts up and make the quick drive to orange county. I was able to switch around some matix days with his dad, since it was his turn to have him for labor day. Everything just worked out really nicely. So off to california we went. We made great timing, spent the night in brea (at the parents house), then headed straight down to san diego for the semi-annual stewart family vacation! (every memorial day and labor day) This year, the family only consisted of mom, dad, david, doug (and me) so they were pretty excited to have us join them! We went to the USS Midway, The Mormon Battalion, and of course the guys did some surfing. (the stewarts are BIG time into surfing)

{yes, that would be a surf board chillin over our heads, nbd.}

now let me elaborate a little bit about this surfing experience. we head to a beach known as pipes. (doug's mom informed me that there are pipes that run down the side of the mountain, and thats where it got it's name.) beach talk. i have no idea of anything beach related. i love the beach, dont get me wrong. but there are so many things that i am so clueless about. like why i was coerced into sitting on the beach bundled up in three towels while i read a book (eat pray love -to be exact) if i was cold OUT of the water, im sure they were cold IN the water. and no matter what anyone says...i understand that wet suits help...but they sure dont make it  THAT much warmer. anyways...after about 20 min...up comes doug out of the water HOPPING on one foot. haha. it was kind of funny. but then we realized that he was in a lot of pain. yep, he got stung by a STINGRAY! it's amazing that the teeny tiniest little cut could cause so much pain. I tried forever to get him to let me pee on the cut (I swear that's what i've heard helps the pain..he wouldnt let me. i'm kinda glad. I'm sure his mother would have been completely mortified if i had 'popped a squat' and peed on her sons leg in broad daylight, and even worse right in front of her very eyes) anyways...he finally worked up the courage to hop back to the truck and back to the hotel. after some fellow surfers advice and a little research we found out that soaking the wound in the hottest water humanly possible is the only real cure...and that urine is helpful to JELLYFISH stings, not stingrays...how could i have confused the two? stupid me! haha. anyways..after about an hour of doug running the shower and creating a sauna in the room, he felt a lot better. Good enough to go to dinner and walk normal again! yay! we conquered the stingray! but that little sting is still oozing blood...THREE DAYS LATER. i dont think doug will be surfing on a sunday again, at least not in the near future. 

The rest of the trip consisted of a little detour to the rainbow outlet in san clemente where dougie bought me my first pair.

i've never felt that any flip flop was worth $50. he assured me they are. good thing we went to the warehouse so they were only $36. SCORE (still too much in my eyes...but he paid so whatevs)

then we met up for lunch with my besties, zach and steph in irvine

followed by visiting the rest of the stewart clan, and of course meeting the brand newest addition (and the main reason for our trip)...

Mark James Stewart

born 9-02-10 

(yep, 90210 like the zip code...totally on accident...totally lucky kid)

man, we had a  

busy busy busy 

but 

fun fun fun 

labor day!!

Sundays are my favorite days...

i got to lounge around with matix eating breakfast and watching cartoons

i get to dress him in his sunday best...gosh he's handsome.

i get to see my friends at church. i love the willow springs ward. relief society is the best.

we had the missionaries over for dinner. 

plus my mom made seven layer dip..my FAVORITE.

read matix 500 books.

and watched the first two episodes of bachelor pad, keeping up with the kardashians and law and order svu.(dont judge..we love bachelor pad!)

snuggled up with the boyfriend.

{why cant every day be a lazy sunday?!?}

house of awesome-ness.

doug's cousin lives here in vegas...who he also happens to work for.

needless to say they are very close friends...

so we have spent many a summer days over there playing.

matix loves to go over there because it is basically one big playhouse

 and they have two little girls for him to play with

(sidney, 3 and josie,1)

yes, that is a slide going down their stairs.

and a rope swing hanging from the middle of the family room.

see that railing in the top of that last picture...well that would be a kid's tunnel/playhouse thing that jason built--

kind of like the play tunnels at mcdonalds. only better. it's hard to explain--just trust me it's cool.

and a rock climbing wall along the family room wall.

and a train track upstairs.

and an awesome pool

plus...they have a...

a tampoline

and bouncy house

(not pictured)

hooray for cool houses, summer barbecues, and toddler fun!

forget 'california gurls'...

i got myself a california boy. 

and im quite happy about it

this past weekend we made our way to sunny sunny california for a little playtime with the stewart family.

(aka dougs fam)

his little brother had his eagle project saturday morning, so me and matix played at the park while the boys were hard at work on the other side of the park.

isn't he just the cutest little kid? gosh i love him to pieces.

check out that smile. aghhh. he makes my heart melt.. 

then it was off to the BEACH!!

newport to be exact.

where we spent the remainder of the day building sandcastles, boogie boarding, swimming, and...

 

surfing!

(okay so that was mostly doug, his brothers, and dad)

but matix joined in for a bit too!

matix was so super nervous of course, (he's pretty scared of the waves) 

but he also told me he liked it...

 so who knows...maybe one day he'll be a little more daring with it!! 

(doug practiced with him at home before we hit the beach...aweeee)

and.. i have to mention that we found a star fish. a real live one. at least i think it was alive--i dont know much about starfish, and i was really scared of it when i almost stepped on it..but then it was pretty rad. 

and matix loved it too after he got over his initial fear! 

he is such an animal lover!

BUT the best part of the day was getting to see her...

Stephanie!! (and her husband zachary)..my two besties!!

they played with us for a few hours and it made me so so happy.

i just love them to pieces. 

then the rest of the trip was meeting the rest of dougs family, and basically just hanging out with them. 

and doug got to meet his newest niece katelynn.

she's so tiny and cute.

so long california...

... we shall return soon.