Happy Birthday Ashley!

Today is my sister Ashley's birthday. She is turning 21, so she is now officially legal. Ashley is the 4th child of 7 and the 3rd girl of 6. She is currently living here in Provo with the rest of us and going to Paul Mitchell cosmetology school. Ashley is very talented with things of an aesthetic nature. She has always loved makeup and hair, which is why she decided to go to Cosemetology school.
Ashley also has the most amazing singing voice. Funny fact: we were all in Galena, and during Ashley's years in Galena, she had many solos. One year, Jer-bear decided to do a publicity video with snippets of different songs and dances. So we sit down to watch the dvd and look, there's Ash, and, oh wait, there's Ash again, and again, and again. Practically the whole dvd was the Ashley Busath show. It was awesome. So I guess we're not the only ones that think she is amazing.

In my opinion, Ashley has always been the "cute" one. She is so tiny and skinny and so beautiful. I must admit that until I got to college, I pretty much hated Ashley. I hated her because I was insanely jealous of her. There were countless times that people in our ward would come up to me and say, "yeah, you did a great job singing that solo, but do you know who has the most beautiful voice? Your sister Ashley...blah blah blah." It used to make me so mad. But when I finally grew up, I learned to accept the fact that I just wasn't that talented in that area, and started to realize that everyone was right about Ashley. Since then, I have always been so proud that I had such a talented sister. I still believe that she could still make it to Broadway if she wanted to.

Ashley is also the most emotional of all us girls. I remember one story my mother told us. Ashley was probably 3 or 4 and started screaming and crying about something. My mom said that she had to go to her room until she was done crying. So she goes to her room, cries cries cries, and comes out a while later, no longer crying, but still noticeably upset and says (while shaking and still sniffling a little) "ok, I think I'm done now". :) What a silly kid. Another time, our stupid cat Bell had kittens. Our favorite one was this little pudgy one with white feet, we named him socks. We kept the kittens in the garage in a box (w/ no lid of course) lined with blankets and such. One night, we came home late from a galena show. My dad pulled into the garage driving our enormous 12 seater van. The kittens were getting bigger and were now able to climb out of the box. We could see that they were out, but didn't think they were in the way. But I got out of the van, and sure enough, dad had run over our favorite kitten, Socks. It was not a pretty sight. When Ashley found out, she locked herself in the bathroom for like an hour and just cried. So sad. So there you have it, Ashley is a very emotional girl. But I think that that is actually one of her strengths. I think that it just further emphasizes how big Ashley's heart is. She truly is one of the sweetest people I know. She is such a good, kind person and wants nothing more than to love and be loved.

These days, besides going to school and working, Ashley loves the outdoors. She is always telling me about these amazing hikes and campouts she goes on with her boyfriend. She loves music of all kinds, and in her heart, I believe she still wishes she was cloggin' up a storm! :) Happy Birthday Ash. I love you and hope you have a FABULOUS day!!

PS. Forgive the bluriness of the top pictures, I had to scan them in and they didn't turn out all that great. Oh well!