once a schneider....

my apologies for the lengthy absence. last weekend matt and i attended the annul schneider family reunion...don't worry it's only taken me 3 days to get back to real life. it was held at palisade state park down by manti. if any of you know the schneiders then you know it was quite the freak gathering, but the funnest freak gathering i have been to yet. i have a very large, creative, musical, out-going, not-afraid-to-be-themselves kinda family and i absolutely adore every single member. so we had a few competitions at my fam reunion...most outrageous outfit...airband...i have never laughed so hard since birth...ok maybe have, but this is for sure in the running! my team (made up of me, matt, my dad, and michelle) did "i believe in a thing called love" by the darkness for our airband....we took it very seriously. matt was the lead singer and did so super stellar...i am convinced he could be an '80's rocker if real estate and farming fail. here is a very small dosage of what took place saturday night at palisade state park:

(thanks to cousin shay for the fab pictures)

 for the outrageous outfit competition matthew dressed from head to toe in pink (eww) complete with a pink fluffie boa and i wore a mis match of goodies with a hippie band to top it off. the catch was we had to were it all day to remain in the competition. needless to say we got some freaks-on-the-loose looks. however... i have begun to wonder why we dress so boringly. i would much rather have crazy/fun outfits like these every day:

(again kudos to cousin shay for the pic)

i know most of you read this blog solely because of sweet tiny merv, so here is the latest:

merv's tiny little schedule has been slightly thrown off. matt has been out late for the past week and merv hasn't had his usual couch-cuddle time. the reunion left him alone for a few days, with only an occasional friend to feed him. i think he missed us (me). tonight i have had to stop writing 4 times because merv has jumped up on the comp desk and insisted i cuddled him...which i happily obliged to. he is as darling as ever and we love having his spunkie miniature personality under our roof.

guitar playing, cowboy matt

yesterday matt asked me what and how many pets i would have if i had free reign. after commenting that i would have one kittie, one puppie, and maybe a bunnie when we had kids, i asked matt what pets he would like. the rest of the conversation goes as follows :

matt: a ferret
ash: really?
matt: no, i don't like birds
ash: what?
matt: i don't like birds
ash: a ferret is not a bird

*look of confusion slides onto matt's face*

matt: oh yeah...what's a ferret again?
ash: a ferret is a rodent
matt: oh yeah...with the long, tubie body!
ash: oh geez

silly matt makes me smile


last night matt and i went to the fair. matt insisted on wearing his cowboy hat and i couldn't let him look like a hick all by himself so i ended up in flannel and a cowgirl hat. i have to admit matt makes a damn sexy cowboy:

tonight matt and i made our first meal from scratch...don't worry, it only took us 6.5 months of being married to attempt it! we made potato soup and it actually wasn't a disaster. we for sure need to work on spicing up the flavor, but it was actually pretty tasty for our first try. a simple potato soup is probably not a huge deal for most, but i am a horrid cook so this was quite the accomplishment for me.

as i type matt is practicing guitar. he is musically inclined so i have no doubt he will pick it up fast. merv is not a fan of guitar. merv was sleeping peacefully on the floor until matt made his first strum. merv's ears shot up like little fire crackers and his tail got very poofie. he has been sitting by me on the computer desk ever since.

milk, quails, & hooper

matt and i are attempting the Old Testament and a few nights ago we were in Numbers chapter 11 and came across this scripture (verse 32) :

"And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp."

we have a student manual that we will pull out every once in awhile to help us understand something better. this is what we learned from the manual about homers:

• 10 baths = 1 homer

• 5.8 gallons = 1 bath

so i am trying to understand and wrap my brain around these ancient measurements and relate it to our day...

ash: so there are basically six gallons of milk in a bath
matt: right
ash: and there are ten baths in one homer
matt: yes
ash: so...60 gallons of milk in one homer
matt: yep
ash: and they guy who gathered the least had ten homers
matt: uh-huh
ash: so he had 600 gallons?!
matt: yep, that's a lot of quail

*pause in the conversation*

ash: so there are two quails in a gallon of milk?

*matt laughs hysterically*

i really enjoy our scripture study...it indeed makes me smile.

tonight we went to grandma's new apartment to help clean before she moves in tomorrow. we left our porch light on because we knew it would be dark when we got home and i get freaked out in the dark. anyway, we get home and pretty much find a plague on our front porch. bazillions of bugs were basking in our porch light. they were caked on the door. there was no way we were getting in without at least a hundred of those varmints coming in with us. matt suggested the back door, but again, the dark freaks me out. there is no way i can smack enough of them with my flip flop to make a break for it. light bulb! the hose! i sprayed off our entire porch, drowning any bug in sight. welcome to hooper.

cravings of ash & merv off drugs & sweet matt

a couple nights ago we were laying in our bed and our window unit was blowing freezing air on me. i suddenly began craving hot cocoa. i told matt my craving and his first words were: it's the beginning of august. i explained i was freezing and he finally gave up on reason and said we could make hot cocoa. so we hop out of bed and head to the kitchen. we are in the kitchen long enough to grab a mug and dig the stephan's out from the back of the cupboard and my craving completely vanishes with the heat that is creeping in on me! i put the kybosh on the cocoa and we head back to bed. about 6 minutes later my craving was back. long story short: we head back to the kitchen, make cocoa, and  i sipped cocoa in my bed, at 11pm, in August...with a smile on my face (while sweet matt rubbed my feet)

merv is back on litter instead of shredded paper and matt is almost as excited as merv. merv is also off drugs now which he isn't happy about. i can't believe how much he loved his drugs. the first night we had to pry his mouth open and shove them down, but once he got a taste of them he couldn't get enough. he would lick the  injector, squirter thingie long after he had downed that night's dosage.

last night we folded our mountains of laundry while watching LOST. merv jumped from hamper to hamper, pausing occasionally to watch LOST. he kept pouncing on the folded clothes so i scooped him up and put him on the couch. a little bit later i looked back and this is what i found:

yes, merv understands english

i found this video the other day when i was looking through some files on my computer. this takes place about a few weeks after we got merv. i can't get over how tiny and poofie he was! no lie, i watched it about 10 times back to back. matt and i are still smiling about this.

yesterday i came home and found a big green cup on my bed...with water in it. just sitting on my bed. i thought this was odd. i grabbed what i went in to grab, and left my room without touching the cup. later that evening, matt and i got ready for bed, opened our bedroom door, and there was the cup.

ash: in the future lets not leave cups on our bed...with water in them.

matt: it just sat there all day, not spilling. we only would have been in trouble if there was an earthquake.

ash: ha!

the next series of events happened so fast that neither of us are completely sure of them, but what we do remember:

1. matt grabbed cup

2. ash started relieving herself of clothes

3. matt went to put cup on night stand

4. collision

5. water all over floor

for this reason {and earthquakes} matt will no longer leave cups on our bed...full of water.

crazy little family

a couple nights ago matt and i made a banana/blueberry smoothie ...it was divine...we sipped on our smoothie as we watched LOST. it was a wonderful combo. as we were nearing the end of our second glass i asked matt, "is this the last of the mohicans?" meaning: is this the last of the smoothie. matt replyed yes. because of his quick, unhesitant reply i assumed he understood my weird little simile.well last night matt was being an angel and doing the dishes and i came in and saw the blender on the counter, about to be washed...with smoothie still in it!

ash: hey! you said the smoothie was gone!

matt: no i didn't, when did i say that?

ash: last night! i asked if it was the last of the mohicans and you said yes.

*crinkling of the eyebrows and confused look on matts face*

matt: i am supposed to know the last of the mohicans means the smoothie is gone?

ash: you said yes so i thought you were on the same vibe as me

matt: nobody is on the same vibe as you

ash: then why'd you say yes?

matt: i thought you were talking about LOST

ash: there are no mohicans in LOST

matt: there are no mohicans in smoothies!

this made me smile.

last night uncle ted & aunt charise stopped by and brought sam. sam is their huge, lovable golden retreiver. it was a lovely visit. i was excited to introduce merv to his first dog, but when merv saw sam coming up the walk he freaked. so i put merv inside and he went straight to the window so he could see us on the porch. sam jumped up and put his nose to the window right in front of merv. merv didn’t freak out. he rubbed up against the window sticking his nose right next to sam’s. he kept doing this over and over while we visited and i figured he wasn’t scared anymore and decided to bring him out again. merv freaked again. i put him back in the house. the rubbing and nose-touching-through-glass continued. my conclusion : merv loves dogs through glass windows…{period}

B-I-N-G-O

i haven't forgot that i am a blogger! last night a series of things made me smile despite a grumpy day at work. among these things : matt gave me a 7 minute foot rub, i found a video of when merv was super tiny (going to try to post it one day), i saw matt's true, i-love-my-life smile when we were watching A-team last night, and matt and i bumped heads...literally...and it made me giggle. another thing that has been making me smile everyday is this little game matt and i play. we are both the broken record type people that will repeat a tune over & over so we try to trick each other into doing this. i will start singing old mcdonald and matt can't help but finish it. matt will start singing the "give me my fillet-o-fish...give me my fish" and i start singing it even though i try to refrain. so last night i started singing b-i-n-g-o and of course with in seconds matt is helping me finish the song, but he went above and beyond because i dropped off singing after the second round and just smiled at him (enjoying my victory) and when he finished a couple rounds he started singing m-e-r-v-i-e (speeding up on the i-e part) this really made me smile...adorable little matt!

lovely Sunday

in relief society we talked about our spiritual bucket list...things we want our spirits to fulfill before we leave this earth. this was a super uplifting lesson for me. my spiritual bucket list is miles long because i have much to improve on, but a few things that are close to the top include: knowing my Savior fully and completely, communicating daily with my Father in Heaven, to have a truly charitable heart, having a desire to always be in service, and  having an intense understanding of the scriptures and temple work.

matt's highlight of the day was his after-church-nap. merv is still enjoying his Sunday nap. the little punching bags came off today and we are no longer calling merv mr. balboa.