Pocket Full of Ashtyn

January 2013

distinguished young women's is an incredible program.

i've always said it and i always will.

last october-january i was i was a part of this program. honestly, it changed my life. it changed the way i view myself and my situation. it changed my confidence in interviews and meeting new people.

anyways, it's this scholarship program that is formally known as "America's Junior Miss". however, they wanted to steer away from the pageant scene so they rebranded completely. there are four sections that the girls are judged on: academics/activities, talent, on stage expression, and fitness.

no swim suit.

no pageant dress.

just a group of people giving out money to girls that they think deserve it.

so the program is based around some "Be Your Best Self" principles.

they are:

be studious

be healthy

be involved

be ambitious

be responsible

so i went to region (which was actually titled "all-state" because TooCo is way too small to have its own program. there were girls in my group from cedar and logan, etc.) made it through regions, and went on to be in state! it was one of the best weeks of my life. i met so many incredible people, including barbara barrington jones!

i stayed with a host family for the week of state in their beautiful home! these were my roommates.

(left to right)

daun kwag is now at emory university in georgia. rosie jarmin just started at byu. me! and lindsay brown is headed off to madrid, spain for her lds mission in a few months!

during the week, we did a service project with make a wish foundation. we had a princess/prince party for terminally ill little boys and girls and their families. we all wore our old prom dresses and just had a blast.

this little girl and i were best friends. she legitimately thought i was cinderella. also, by the age of two, she had already beat cancer one and a half times. what an inspiration.

during the week we learned an opening pirate themed dance that we performed for the program on friday and saturday night.

this was my fun interview outfit

i lost that blazer. if you see it anywhere, please let me know.

i performed the made famous by beyonce song, "listen" for my talent.

i just love these beautiful girls.

and i wouldn't have been able to do this without the wonderful people supporting me!

i just had the most incredible experience. and i won the "be ambitious" scholarship for $300! so that was really great.

for all-state region this year, i went to help our last year's state winner emcee the program and it was so great being around all that nervous energy and helping the girls with their nerves.

anyways, the reason for this blog post, is because of an email i got today. my mentor from when i was in the program informed me that i had been chosen for the $500 "has-been" award which is awarded to past participants that have stayed connected to the program. I was so grateful and i maybe even cried a little bit! how often does money just fall into your lap?!

anyways, they also asked me to come do my talent at the end of february for the program. i am so excited, so grateful, and so blessed. i have been a little bit stressed out about money for the first time since i graduated. but luckily heavenly father has noticed my effort in trying to make the best possible life for myself. i love him and i love that he looks out for me.

so mostly, i am just so excited and so happy.

let me know if you want to come see me sing and i will give you the time and date!(:

distinguished young women's

Posted on

Wednesday, January 30

m being the bashfullest

i have the prettiest people in my life.

yep. definitely.

e is just so stoned.

mooore jowling

Posted on

Tuesday, January 29

this past weekend was the absolute greatest.

richard, beth, mary, and i al went to vegas to go see ben folds five!

beth was supposed to fly in from wyoming on friday morning where richard was going to pick her up, and then we would all be on our way....

BUT

beth's flight got delayed! and then it got cancelled! so there were a few good hours of us being super panicky and scared about who was going to pay for the extra tickets if she couldn't go and maybe she would be able to get a different flight and so many questions.

it was all very confusing.

but beth ended up being able to get a later flight straight to vegas! and we ended up picking up mary (both of whom richard and i had never met before. she ended up being super great.)

BUT

it was a super late flight!

it didn't get in until 8:45, and the show started at 8! luckily there was an opener, though. ben folds five wasn't supposed to go on until 9.

ben and the gang had played two and half songs and beth still wasn't there....but then she showed up! and it was so great! and we sang and swayed and all wished that we were standing up dancing around.

but it was so fun. we just had the best time. i had never met beth or mary before, but they were both so great and the trip wouldn't have bee as fun with anybody else!

this is what 67 degrees looks like, folks.

the whole night after the show, richard kept talking about how excited he was to get in the hot tub when we got back to the hotel. but because it was raining all day it was so cold when we got in it and we were all so sad, even though we stuck it out as long as we could.

so we compromised. with the biggest bath tub in the whole world. no shame.

(luckily the hot tub was working for night number two)

this is the only picture of our hotel room that i got. it was very beautiful! ...the hotel room.
not this picture.

this was also the second morning. after everyone woke up....and then finally after i woke up, we got ready and went to my very most favourite place for breakfast.

EVER.

EggWorks! you might remember me mentioning it from my past vegas post, but maybe not because nobody actually reads this blog.

i was really worried and scared that everyone else would think it was gross, but it wasn't. it was awesome.

here is us loving eggworks!

then we went to the strip and walked around. and just loved life.

just in case nobody knew...richard is the nicest boy in the whole universe!!

on saturday he bought tickets for us to see one of the cirque de soleil-ish shows that night. "Le Rêve". which means The Dream in french.

it was at the wynn theatre (absolutely beautiful property, bytheway.)

here is us before going in.

IT WAS INCREDIBLE.

just...incredible.

you actually did feel like you were dreaming the whole time. it was larger than life. it was complete magic.

i took some pictures, and i wish i had the desire to explain each one to you, but i don't.

they also do not do it justice.

just...incredible.

earlier that day, i had done this...

just by having facebook search the the area, i found the chapel that sounded the cutest. for apparent reasons, little chapel of the flowers won. we didn't actually get married. i just thought it would be kind of funny to freak some people out. obviously, it worked.

anyways, when we were driving to...somewhere on saturday night, WE PASSED BY LITTLE CHAPEL OF THE FLOWERS! so OF COURSE we had to stop the car, turn around, and take fake wedding pictures. that's what any sane, normal person would do, right?

my heart will go on

so happy together

lezbehonest.

beth and mary love each other very much and finally decided to do something about it.

and the store where one of my favourite "nothing to do right now but watch tv" tv shows is filmed was right down the street!

and then of course this happened.

what road trip would be complete without a little jowling?

then sunday morning richard made the yummiest pancakes and we headed home!

(what a good sport to hang out with a bunch of girls for a whole weekend. i think his look of unhappiness is deserved here.)

i had the best time! i love vacations. i think that may be one of the main components of me going into hospitality management. so hopefully someday my whole life can just be one giant vacation.

yup.

that sounds pretty great to me.

vegas, oh vegas

Posted on

Monday, January 28

once upon a time, my friends josh and dan stood in line for four hours to get into a last second neon trees show in provo. and were so kind and let richard and i jump in line with them.

it was the first concert i had been to in awhile and i forgot how much i love live music! and tyler glenn and his friends always give an incredible performance.

velour

m and i decided that we needed to get a little fresh air one afternoon, so she let me borrow one of her old cameras and we just took pictures all afternoon! it was so fun. mine aren't very good, but i'm over it.