True Life.

I've been back home in Utah, "on break" before I move again for a few weeks now. Is it ironic now that I have all this time on my hands, I have no time to write? Yes, I've posted a few pictures here and there, but a friend of mine pointed out that she still has no idea what is going on in my life.

I have two reasons for this, neither which is a good excuse, but true nonetheless. One being, that is is almost as if I can only function when my life is moving a million miles a minute. The more down time I have, the lazier I become. I push everything back to the point at the end of the day when I ultimately say, "Eh...I'll have plenty of time to do it tomorrow." This has become a constant cycle, and a quite annoying one at that. Secondly, I don't like writing much about myself or my real life - I like to stick with stories with the main focus being on other people, or something funny that happened to me or Ashley.
I've gotten good feedback. So that's what I do.

In order to counteract this problem, I've decided to let you all in on my secret dreams. I'm having been thinking a lot about them lately, and thought I'd share. These are my goals in life:

• Be a student...forever. I think we should all be students for life and continue educating ourselves for as long as we can. So until I run out of money, that's what I'm doing. In other words, I'm putting off a career as long as possible.
• Learn to play the guitar. I have a recurring dream that I play the guitar while Ashley sings at Carlee's wedding. I really want to make that happen.
• Speak Spanish, fluently.
• Become a long-distance runner. A marathoner, of sorts. I can't seem to make it past 3 miles, but I'll get there.
• Become a certified Bikram yoga instructor and open my own studio.
• Open a bakery and win one of those Betty Crocker contests that they always play on the Food Network Channel. Better yet...become the next Betty Crocker.
• Write a book.
• Start a non-profit organization.
• Get rid of my car and rely solely on public transportation/bike/scooter/feet.

Those are just a few. I figure if I write them down, maybe I will actually make some of them happen.

What are your secret/not so secret dreams?

Hudson-mania

I had the pleasure this weekend to babysit Erin and Miah's son, and my favorite little muscle man, Hudson. It turned into Hudson-mania once he came over, and my sisters and I decided that he is the cutest boy there ever was. We had so much fun with him, and I never wanted him to leave. Thanks Erin, for making my summer. 

It took me forever to get this shot. He was much cleaner when he got to my house then he was when he left. Sorry Erin!!

Hudson, beating me in chess. He loved the animal chess pieces.

Hudson, trying to call his mom to tell her that I was smothering him.

Hudson, now trying to text his mom to tell her I was smothering him. 

Not all fun and games (Peru part 2...the ugly stuff)

As much fun as we had on our excursion to Peru, it didn't come without a few mishaps. Here are some things that happened that made our trip that much more memorable:

We had a lot of problems with buses...which usually led to a lot of waiting.

We each came back with about 70 bug bites. Mine are still healing.

A lot of early morning wake up calls.

Some of us got sick on the hike and couldn't make it (sorry Ryan). 14,000 feet up!!!

It was cold, real cold. Our faces are close to freezing off in this picture (around 15 degrees the first night).

By the time we made it up to Machu Picchu, we were ready for a nap.

More bus problems......

Which led to more waiting.....

And some of us pushing....(Cortney is an iron man)

We ended up hitching a ride on this "truck"....

And rode like refugees for a couple of hours.

More to come....

Summer love.

Afton, being bashful and showing me why she is my reason to live.

Laney-bug, taking over control of the fountains.

Afton running through the splash park (Laney in the background making sure she's sufficiently hydrated).

Olivia, eating graham crackers and trying to figure out who the heck I am.

Grayden, just being darling in his baseball hat.

I was lucky enough this week to spend time with some of my favorite people, and favorite little-people in the whole world - Erin, Lindsey, Julie, Holly and I went to the splash park on Tuesday to play with the kids in the mini-fountains. I am so obsessed with these kids that I sometimes (and when I say sometimes, I mean ALWAYS) wonder how crazy I am to live so far away from them. They make my life worth living. It has been pretty warm in Utah, so being near the water felt great, and being with my friends and their kids felt even better. Also, Owen and Hudson were there too, but Owen was busy ignoring me and playing with the other kids, and I was too busy smothering and kissing Hudsy to get his picture.

Highlights:

• Afty calling her mom, Erin, by her other name - "Er-dog" (twice).
  
• Owen acting like he didn't hear me when I asked to be his girlfriend.
• Laney getting in trouble for trying to drink the water every 2 minutes.
  

I love you all so much. Let's do it again next week!!

Ashley and Laura in Peru (just the pics)

Click on the link to see some pictures of me and Ash in Peru:

Ashley and Laura in Peru (part 1)

Ok, we're back...

...and we've been back for a while. I'm the worst blogger ever. Right after getting home from the MOST amazing trip ever (information and pictures to come), we had approximately 4 days to pack up our entire condo and get out. That's right, our lease is up and we no longer live in Arizona. To fill you in....Ash and I had a lot of decisions to make at the end of this school year. As it turns out, we are splitting up. We are not breaking up, just taking some time apart. How do I feel about it? Sick to my stomach. But our lives are taking us in two different directions...and two different states. Ashley got a coveted job at Park City High School in Utah teaching Sophomore English and Yearbook and will be starting in August. I decided to take the plunge into grad school getting my Masters in Counseling from Loyola Marymount in L.A., also starting in August. That means that the tripod (Carlee, Ash and I) are officially going to be living in 3 different states. This also means that we are going to be racking up a lot of frequent flyer miles between Utah, Wyoming and California. Anyway, I have yet to decide what to do about the "Laura and Ashley" blog. I'm thinking I would like to keep it and still blog about Ashley (as I am the only one that does that anyway), but I'm curious to know what you all think. Do we desert this blog and start our own? The thought is heartbreaking. Almost as heartbreaking as not being able to wake up to Ashley's sweet face everyday. As you can see, I'm having a really hard time with this. But, I know we are both doing the right thing and will have some amazing experiences (and maybe be able to sustain a relationship with the opposite sex without the other interfering...no promises though). More on some funny stories over the last couple of weeks, and on our trip to Peru to come.....