Happy Halloween!

Halloween Party…

I had a Halloween party at Jamie’s house on Saturday the 20th. We hung out, played games, and of course ate lots of yummy food! It was tons of fun!

 

 

 

I love this girl <3

Ash and Janell: Ourselves (nerds)

Donavin and Jamie: Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler

Melissa and Greg: 80’s fitness instructors

Lance and Mandy: Tonto and 90’s girl

Brad and Kami: Rick and Preggo Laurie from The Walking Dead

Halloween Eve…

I enjoyed a fun night filled with carving pumpkins with my parents :)

BATMAN! In honor of Michael :)

Daddy carving

Me carving

Dad putting the finishing touches on his pumpkin

Sadie :)

I am Mike’s girl <3

Mike would be so dang proud of me!

Carnivore pumpkin

I’m very proud of my pumpkin carving skills this year

HALLOWEEN DAY!!…

I sadly had to work on Halloween but work was actually not too bad! The best part is all of the girls wore cat ears :)

Dani, Megan, Ali and Ash

After work I got ready for trick or treating with my 2 favorite boys! The amazing Snider tradition continued of having homemade chicken noodle soup and clam chowder for dinner! This year Kami an I both dressed up as minions! Ya know, like from Despicable Me?

While taking the kids trick or treating, this is all I heard out of anyone's mouth! Haha!

My adorable nephews as Captain America and Leonardo

Rick and Minion

The whole gang: Donavin (Sheldon Cooper), Jamie (devil), Brad (Rick), Kami(Minion), Ash (Minion), Carson (Leonardo), and Sean (Captain America)

Dave and Stewart

J and I

Papoy!

I love this kid!

I love my little man!

I even got cardboard Mike to dress up with me! ;) Me as a minion and Mike as the Yellow Angry Bird

I love Halloween! It’s so fun to just dress up and goof off and have fun with your family. October has really been a great month for me! It’s been my favorite month thus far but I’m looking forward to having months that top this one! Thanks to everyone who has made it so special :)

Goodbye October, HELLO NOVEMBER!!!

I Spoil Myself

Basically, if anything has to do with missionaries, missionary girlfriends, or just plain reminds me of Mike, I buy it. I don’t really second guess it, it’s just an impulse. Although there was this one time that I did second guess myself on this really neat antique looking mailbox that would have been an AWESOME place to keep my letters from Mike. It kinda looked something like this…

I really do wish that I would have bought it, but oh well, now I’m $60 richer ;)

Anyways, my latest gift for myself is something that I’ve been wanting for a very long time. I saw it first on this girls blog but I never knew where I could get one. Finally a couple weeks ago a different girl posted a picture of hers and where she got it! I was super excited! I ordered one for me right away! If anyone is wondering, the website is www.eldertagz.com. It’s really nothing too special but I absolutely love it :) It’s a constant reminder of him and our motto for basically everything.

I love the fact that it’s in Polish :)

So Elder Raines just barely had another transfer. He actually is still staying in Bydgoszcz (The B), but he is now the district leader! And to top that off, after being in Poland for only 4 months he is now a senior companion! Oh my! His companion has only been in Poland for 2 months. Mike doesn’t know Polish as well as most senior companions well because most senior companions have been out on a mission for at least a year not a total of 6 months 1 week and 4 days (but whose counting right? ;) )This is going to be a very interesting, exciting, and tough transfer but he is looking forward to it! I’m so proud of Michael for all of things he’s accomplished this far.

Elder Raines and Elder Tingey

I <3 my Mish

Private Blog Reminder

Hey! So a week ago I posted about making my blog private and to have people email me if they would like to be invited. I only received an email from a couple people. So if that’s all the people that read this then that’s fine. Haha. But if there are more of you out there that wanna keep reading about my crazy life then leave a comment with your email or email it to me at ashbeeanna@gmail.com

I really don’t care who wants to read this blog! But I just need to know soonish because by this time next week, this will most likely be private.

Thanks :)

Stay Stay Stay

I absolutely love this song :) It so reminds me of Mike. He always tries to make a serious situation funny. That’s one of the things I love about him :) Enjoy!

P.S. 77 weeks left!

Even the Quietest Prayers are Heard

I just had to do a post about this. As most of you know, my life revolves around my boyfriend/missionary and my dogs. I absolutely love my dogs. I couldn’t live without them.

This is Sadie when she was just a little puppy

Sadie has always been one of my favorite dogs (Roxy is my other favorite ;) ) We’ve been together since day one and these past 7 years have been great. She’s always been there for me. I know that’s a little weird but seriously, she has always known when something is wrong and snuggles up with me. She’s just the best dog. Well, last night I noticed that Sadie was walking weird. She had her tail between her legs, was dragging her butt and just wasn’t acting like herself. Since I work at a vet clinic I knew what kind of things could be wrong with her. I lifted up her tail and saw what looked like another anal gland abscess (I know that’s gross and I’m sorry but it is what it is). She had one a little over a year ago and that was a horrible experience. Sadly, it was true, she had another one. I made her as comfortable as I could for the night and then took her to my work in the morning. Once at work we placed a catheter and ran blood work. Everything looked great so we put her under anesthesia. After just a couple minutes being under anesthesia I noticed that her color wasn’t the best. She had a monitor on which showed her respiratory  and heart rate. They were both very low. Doc listened to her heart with a stethoscope and her heart was faint. We rushed her over to a table and gave her oxygen. She wasn’t taking any breathes and I had to force them into her lungs. That was seriously the worst.  I was trying my to hardest to keep my cool and to not hysterically break down. I knew that Sadie needed me and she needed me to be able to do whatever Doc needed me to do.  I ran and got “the box” which basically has all the medications for animals that "crash” (stop breathing/no heart rate). Luckily Sadie did have a decent heart rate but respiratory was dangerous low. Having that box sitting next to MY dog was something that I never thought that I’d have to see. As I’m starring at my dog as Doc is giving her breathes I said a small prayer in my head asking Heavenly Father not to take my dog from me. That is when I broke down crying because a feeling of comfort rushed over me and a small voice said to me, she is going to be okay and I knew that everything was going to work out. After that Sadie started breathing on her own. There was nothing better then seeing her chest move up and down. When she was finally stable we finished Sadie’s procedure. I sat next to her as she woke up. Once she was awake, she looked up at me and I hugged her. Happy that she was alive. I was so grateful for the quick thinking of my Doctor and for the power of prayer. I know that prayer doesn’t have to be a completely formal thing where you are down on your knees with your eyes closed and arms folded. It doesn’t have to be super long or detailed. It can be something as simple as “Please don’t take my dog from me”. I love this gospel and don’t know where I’d be without it. It’s never easy, but it’s always worth it.

Right after waking up, doing great :)

Resting at home from a very long day

I love her <3

Scavenger Hunt Part 2!!

My hunt has come to an end!! :) I emailed Michael and asked him what I should do. His response was “Napoleon Dynamite is at your house too ya know!!" Well heck! I didn’t know that this scavenger hunt would travel between houses! So I found Napoleon Dynamite at my house and found this inside…

A DVD!!!

I could explain the DVD or I could just show you it!

he must really love me :)

This is my great and fantastic boyfriend at his finest :) This video made me cry my eyes out and laugh my head off. He has the best humor and I just love him. It was amazing to be able to see him and especially hear him. He’s a definite keeper :D

My Day Has Been Made :)

One of my good friends, Ashley Simmons, posted this video on her blog and it made so many memories rush through my mind. Such great memories in high school that will last with me for forever.

Here’s the story behind this video…

In 10th grade during Homecoming, a group of my friends didn’t want to go to the dance. Instead we just decided go on a date ourselves. The boys planned it and surprised us with this awesome unforgettable date! The couples were, Mike & Ashlee (obviously), Janell Snarr & Andrew Harward, Luke Porter & Ashley (Roberts) Simmons, and Zachary Ryan & Amber Mabey. We started out our date by being driven to my old elementary school where there was a picnic set up with fake food. Haha. They told us that we were going to make a “Date Movie”. I was a little nervous but it turned out to be so much fun! After making this movie we went to Chili’s where a bunch of our other friends met us there. We ordered our meals and after 30 minutes of waiting our waiter came back and said, “I’m so sorry but I totally forgot to put your order in and it’s going to take a while longer.” We weren’t mad at all because we were having such a good time but they felt bad so they brought us all of these free appetizers and free dessert at the end :) It was such an amazing date with my favorite person in the entire world.

Just so you know, in the middle this video the sound goes weird but it goes back to normal. ENJOY!!!

This video made my entire week. I have not received a letter this week (I think it got lost in the mail-darn mail!), I was starting to get super sad but this just made up for that!

<3 I love Mike <3

6 MONTHS!!!!!!! <3

OH MY GOSH I’M FREAKING OUT!!!! I honestly can’t believe that I’m writing this…6 months. Wow, just…WOW! SIX!!! I woke up this morning with my heart just beating out of my chest. I was soooo excited! I couldn’t stop smiling! I seriously feel like a little kid on Christmas! I’m so happy and proud of myself but I’m even more proud of my missionary. I can’t say that enough. I’m SO proud of Michael. He’s the most amazing person ever.

This was me today :):)

 

In honor of his six months, I wore the Poland shirt he sent me for my birthday!

Having Mike gone is actually a lot easier than I thought it would be…I seriously never thought I’d say that though. I really expected myself to be depressed all of the time and not wanting to do anything and basically crying myself to sleep every night. That’s not the case at all. Not even close! I’m soooo happy! I’ve started to hang out with my best friend since 8th grade, Janell Snarr. She’s an amazing friend and I’m so glad that even though we didn’t spend time together or even talk for what felt like years, nothing has changed between us. Nothing! We are exactly the same with each other, I can still tell her every little feeling that I have and know that there is no judgment. I’m still staying busy with school, work, family, Mike’s family, friends, being an MG and just enjoy “single” life (if you know what I mean). I have not dated anyone since Mike’s been gone, and for now I think that’s how it’s supposed to be. The time might come where it is the right time to date, maybe it won’t, I dunno…only time will tell. One other thing that I wanted to mention was about the missionary age changing. I’m not planning on going on a mission. It’s just not right for me. I’ve really never had a desire to go and I think that’s for a reason. That’s not a bad thing though. When they first announced the age change my Facebook blew up with girls saying that their going on a mission and are going to be turning in their papers soon. All of my girlfriends are going and honestly, it made me feel kind of worthless. I would think, why do I not have a desire to go? Am I not good enough? That’s something that I should have never let cross my mind. Just because I don’t want to go on a mission doesn’t mean that I’m a bad person. God has a different, specific, and special plan for everyone. I am so grateful for that. God knows me personally and I know that everything works out in the end how it is supposed to. I'd like to end with saying that Mike has been the most amazing missionary. He is working SO hard everyday but he still makes time to write me every single week. He is putting in the extra effort to serve the Lord but also love me at the same time. And I love him so much for it :)

I remember before Mike left, he told me that he didn’t want me to have a countdown like this because he thought that it would just discourage me but it does the complete opposite! This thing motivates me! It gives me something to shoot for. This is what six months looks like. It was thee most amazing feeling putting that “6 months” sticker on the bottom. I jumped for joy and may have let out a girlish scream ;)

Have a mentioned the words “six” and “months” enough? Haha.

I’m grateful to have Michael in my life. Some people might think that I’m crazy to think that I’m completely and totally in love at the age of 20. But I am. I love Michael C. Raines! With all of my heart! I’m looking forward to the next year and a half and all of the adventures it has in store for me! I’m also really glad that he still has his humor. Haha!

“I am now a sister missionary and I will be home.”

                                          -Elder Raines

Scavenger Hunt!

This afternoon I went to the wall and started the scavenger hunt!! I thought it would be a good way to celebrate 6 months! I took my mom with me so she could document it for me.The sad part about this is that I accidentally deleted all of the pictures that I took while doing them… :( That makes me super sad but my mom did take a video for me so I took some pictures from that. It’s not as good but it’s better than nothing right?

And so it begins!

This one made me laugh! My first thought was “a bubble bath??” Haha. But then it hit me!

DUH! Mike and I were pros at Super Mario Bros! We’ve actually beat the whole game (even secret level 9). We LOVE playing it together. He’s the best partner I’ve ever had.

Luckily, Mike told me about this book before he left on a mission, most likely the reason why he did ;) haha

                The Phantom Tollbooth is his favorite

book. I have never read it or even heard of it. Maybe I will while he’s gone :)

The basement! His basement is seriously soooo cold!

This one wasn’t very tricky. Before he left he bought some super nice roller blades! But the question is, where did he put them…??

I finally found them in the garage after 15 minutes of searching. His are the ones on the left. He talked me into getting some also so we can skate together, mine are on the right. (Super cute huh?)

HAHAHA! I hope everyone can think of what this is from right off of the bat!

CHAPSTICK! I found some chap stick on his desk, but! No next clue. I searched high and low in his room and the house. I couldn’t find ANYTHING! It finally hit me that maybe it’s in the Napoleon Dynamite movie case. So off I went.

My idea was wrong…So my scavenger stops here. But just until his parents get back from vacation so they can help me or until I’m bored enough to go back and start searching again.

I’ll keep you guys posted on the rest of this hunt!