Happy Halloween!

Hey y’all! Hope you all had a great Halloween weekend! I’ve got a couple of different posts about the weekend, so I’ll start with the costume fun!

I went home for the weekend so that I could go to our church’s Halloween party. Since the concert was Saturday night, I could only stay for a bit, but here are some of the pictures from the party!

ashI went as Flo from the Progressive Insurance commercials!

ash2A guy from church has called me Flo since the very first time I wore a headband to church.

mom & ash2My Momma and me!

fall2

mom & dadMomma and Daddy

ash & kam

kelsey & ash

cory kelsey ash kam

debbie & mom

debbie mom ash

roger fieriel kam

simone & brandonSimone is German, and she came as a German cartoon character. I have no idea who she was, but she looked cute!

witchesThe witches!

The party was fun, and I do wish that I’d been able to stay longer, but instead, I went to see Kris Allen and Lifehouse! Look for that post later today or tomorrow!

Fun Friday-Shopping, Halloween, & Music!

Hey y’all! It’s finally Friday! Sorry for being a little MIA this week. I haven’t been feeling great, and this week has been a little stressful. 5:00 cannot come fast enough today!
fun fridays I’m so excited for the weekend! I think it’s gonna be a great one!
Tonight, I’m meeting up with Teddie to do some early Christmas shopping. I’m also hoping I might be able to find some of these.

I’m getting up super early Saturday morning to go home for our church Halloween party. I have a different costume picked out than the one I mentioned a few weeks ago, so I’ll share pictures after the party!
A few pictures from last year’s party…

mom mom, mom, ash Mom-mom, Momma, and me
ladybug

ash & kelsey
After a quick stop at the party, I’m going with my bestie to see Kris Allen and Lifehouse!
kris allen
lifehouse
I’m pretty excited about the weekend! Can’t wait to hear about all of your Halloween weekends!

Weekend Update

This weekend was super busy! Friday night, I got to babysit two of my favorite kiddos! We had such a great time playing games and painting pumpkins.

pumpkins ash pumpkina pumpkinj pumpkin

girlI got to snuggle with their kitty.
Her name is Girl. Seriously.
She’s precious!

Saturday, I got to sleep in late and cuddle with this little guy!

jack
Saturday evening, my cousin Emily was in her university’s pageant. She has been competing in pageants for several months, but this was the first time I was able to go. It was a lot of fun! I haven’t gotten a new camera yet, so iPhone pictures are all I have.

fame2 
Opening number to “Fame”

question2
Waiting for her on-stage question.
She’s on the far right.

question 
Answering her question. She did great!

em pianoFor talent, she played piano.

em piano3 
It was awesome!

evening gown2
Evening gown-she’s in the white.
Couldn’t get a good picture of her alone.

m&m
The out-going queen and out-going teen queen danced together to “For Good” from Wicked. Really pretty!

proposal2 
The out-going queen’s boyfriend proposed on stage! It was so sweet!

michelle
Taking her final walk

 crowning3
Time for crowning! Waiting to hear!

 2nd runner up2
Emily got 2nd runner-up!
Not bad for a freshman!
Wish I had a better picture.

 crown4
All the contestants together after the pageant

top 5
This was supposed to be a top 5 picture. Not sure why the extra girl on the right is in there. Maybe she couldn’t accept that she lost! Hmm..

em
So proud of her!

ash & em
Cousins!

em & laura 
Emily and her momma

I spent all day Sunday in bed with a migraine. Hopefully the hangover from that won’t be too bad today.Hope you all had a great weekend, and hope you have a happy Monday!

YouTube Hates Me

So, I recorded a video drawing the winner of the giveaway and YouTube won’t process it! It said that it successfully uploaded it and it is processing, but after like 45 minutes, still nothing. It was only a 1 minute video. Definitely shouldn’t have taken that long.

Oh well. It’s probably best anyway. I’ve been in bed with a migraine all day and I look disgusting! I would probably lose followers if I posted that.

Ok, now I’ll stop stalling and announce the winner. The winner is…

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Tara!

tara Congratulations, girlie! I think I have your mailing address, so if you’ll just comment, email, or tweet me what color you want in the flowered headband-black, white, or gray, I’ll get this stuff to you as soon as I can!

Thanks to everyone who entered, and thanks to everyone for following! Y’all are awesome!

Friday Fives-Beth’s Coming to Visit!

Just Me and My Life

Beth’s topic today on Friday Fives is if she were coming to visit, what would we do, eat, and where would we go. I went a little over five, but there are some great things to do in OKC!

You can’t come visit OKC without going to Bricktown. There is so much to do!

We would definitely go to Zio’s for some awesome Italian food!

or maybe to go Abuelo’s for Mexican food instead!

We would go to the soon-to-be-renamed Ford Center and either…

…go to a concert…

…or see an OKC Thunder game!

We could maybe go see a Redhawks game at the Bricktown Ballpark.

I think one place that must be visited is the Oklahoma Ciy Bombing Memorial.


“We come here to remember those who were killed,
those who survived and those changed forever.
May all who leave her know the impact of violence.
May this memorial offer comfort,
strength, peace, hope and serenity.”
We would also visit the Oklahoma City zoo!
Maybe we would see cute little guys like these!

Can’t forget about shopping!!
What fun things are there to do in your town? Link up with Beth’s Friday Fives and share with us!
Also, the giveaway ends tomorrow, y’all! Hurry and get entered here!

Happiness Is…

Today, I’m so excited to be participating in Jennifer from Oh So Very Me’s Blog Hop on Happiness. Yesterday’s post came from Paris at Bless My Nest. Be sure to check out her happiness post!

What exactly is happiness? Happiness is a hard thing to describe. Happiness is not about fame or money or having the “perfect” life. To me, it’s the little things in life that truly make a person happy.

Those of y’all that know me know that I love music. It is definitely one of the things that makes me happy! I’ve chosen a song that I believe describes happiness perfectly! I’m adding in some pictures of things in my life that make me happy. Enjoy!

Outside My Window
by Sarah Buxton

fireworks “Still need stars when you’re wishing at night”

100_21393 Ash & Teddie
“A best friend to set you right”

rain“A good laugh, a warm bath”

mom & mom-mom “And a beautiful song
you can sing along to”

tracy 16 wks “Good news that’ll make you cry”

family “All the little things that
money can’t buy
No wars, no more”

rainbow“Just a big rainbow
outside my window”

Here is just a little piece of what happiness is to me. Be sure to check out tomorrow’s post by Melanie at Yellow Rose Gifts!

Also, have you entered my giveaway yet? Time is running out! It ends tomorrow night at midnight. Get entered here!

*A super super big thank you to Jeri for letting me borrow her awesome rainbow picture! It was taken during the September 2, 2010 storm in OKC. Love this picture!!*

Thoughtless Thursday-Random iPhone Pictures

Hey y’all! It’s Thursday! I don’t really have a lot to say today, so I’m just gonna post a few random pictures that I have on my phone that I’ve wanted to share, but haven’t really had a post for them. Here ya go!

90210 socks? Seriously?

Pumpkins I painted last year with kids I was babysitting. I’m doing it again tomorrow night with two more kiddos. So much fun!

From my adoptive family’s house. Can you find the thing that doesn’t belong in the kitchen cabinet?

Joyce’s sweet kitties! I just love them!

One of them spotted the bird!

Had to post one of Jack so he won’t get jealous! :)

Hope you’re all having a great Thursday! Link up with Katie to share your Thoughtless Thursday thoughts.
Also, have you entered my giveaway yet? It ends Saturday night! Go here to get entered!

What I’m Loving Wednesday

I’m linking up today with What I’m Loving Wednesday! So far, it’s been a pretty good week. Now, I’m hoping it doesn’t go downhill from here! :)

I’m loving new music! The Band Perry released a CD last week, and Sugarland released one yesterday, and they are both AWESOME!

I’m loving the taco soup I made this week!
This picture looks nothing like my soup, but I needed a picture! When I did a Google search for taco soup, a picture of the Duggars came up. NO IDEA why!

I’m loving this necklace that I won in a giveaway from Ana at Get Craftin!

It was made by Lisa Leonard Designs, and it is so cute!

Speaking of giveaways, I’m loving that my blog hit 100 followers this week!

I’m having a giveaway to say thanks for following! Have you entered yet? If not, go here and get entered! The giveaway closes Saturday night at midnight!
What are you loving this week? Link up with Jamie!

100 Follower Giveaway!

Seriously, y’all. Cannot believe that my blog has reached 100 followers! To say thanks for following, I’m doing a giveaway! Watch my video for giveaway details, and be sure to watch for a “special guest”.

Just in case you missed the details, to enter you must be a follower and comment here telling me three things that are always in your purse.

*Extra entries*

Follow me on Twitter 
(1 entry)
’Like’ Ashley’s Carnival Ride on Facebook
(1 entry)
Blog, Tweet, or Facebook about the giveaway
(3 entries)

I’ll try to take pictures of the giveaway items and post them sometime tomorrow. The giveaway ends Saturday night at midnight, and the winner will be announced on Monday, October 25! Good luck!