Pass the Test

So I PASSED my personal trainer certification exam. I am so excited to be not only a certified group exercise instructor, but also a certified personal trainer as well. I have the best job and great co-workers. I am so blessed to have this opportunity and it is something I can use the rest of my life.

This last weekend my mommy came in. We went to the Harding game (another tough loss) and spent some quality time afterwards since Cade had to work on film. Went to a great church service and great class. Then we spent more quality time together because Cade had to go back up to the field. We made all of Cade's players and fellow coaches double chocolate cupcakes. I forgot to take pictures :( Then we went to the Nickelback concert. She surprised me with tickets. It was wonderful.

I got up Monday to tell her goodbye and go take my test. After I passed my test I took the rest of the day off and caught up on laundry, worked out, went grocery shopping, cooked a great dinner, and enjoyed an evening with my wonderful husband.

Last night we made a homemade wreath after eating homemade pizza. It was so much fun and only took me 15 - 20 mins to put together. It is just a stick wreath with different fall leaves, flowers, and fall bundles cut up to individual stems with a ribbon to hang it on the door (the hanger I bought wasnt wide enough to fit on our door :( ) Here is the finished product.

It is amazing how stress can burden your marriage. Ever since I got that test out of the way, Cade and I have been so much closer. I love it and I love him very much. Hope you all have a great Wednesday.

Slacking

I know I have been awful with updating. Football has gotten in the way and now it is my personal training test that I am studying for. I have just been so busy that when I have free time all I want to do is relax. My test is Monday!! AHHHH!!! Im a little nervous both because I have a busy weekend ahead of me and I dont feel ready yet. I know it will all come back to me during the test but Im still really nervous. Work has slowed down thankfully, but football season is in full swing, so I dont feel like I have had a weekend in forever. I am always doing something or going somewhere. My family is coming tomorrow!! I am so very excited to see them. I miss them terribly. I am looking forward to a great weekend with a HU and HOG win and lots of fun with my family. Wish me luck on my test.

Have a GREAT weekend!!
Ashton

Busy Bees

We have had a busy busy busy week. We got to spend some amazing time at home with my family last weekend. Then we got back in time for Cade to be at practice on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday were full of work, class, and practice for both of us. Then Wednesday morning Cade left with the team to head to West Georgia. I had a late night on Wednesday night and then Thursday had a busy day with work. Then got to cheer on the BISON!!! Unfortunately they lost 28 - 21. We are keeping our heads up and looking on to OBU this next weekend. We are excited about this game because Cade's parents, Casi, Zach, Kimb, and grandparents from Texas will all be meeting us there. We will possibly stay in Nashville with them all that night or we may come back to Searcy. We will just have to see how the week goes. As for this weekend we are relaxing, working on a research paper, and studying for a personal training exam. OH and watching the HOGS BEAT GEORGIA!!! :D

Insanity is going well, we will finish week 2 up on Saturday. The exercises are slowly getting easier and I am able to do more and more of each workout. I am getting excited about it.

I have to get back to work now! Have a great day and a blessed weekend!!
Ashton

Insane

So we have started the Insanity workout. It is INSANE!! We are getting up around 7 every morning to workout before I go to work. Cade is complaining of sore calves today. My calves are a little sore as well as my hamstrings. This is a neat workout in that it is all body weight exercises. It is tough but I am really loving it. That is the fitness guru in me. The hardest part for me is that I am also teaching a boot camp class at work. I had to teach Tuesday and today due to the holiday. Tuesday was upper body and today was lower so I am sore from 2 one hour workouts for 2 days straight. Looking forward to only one workout tomorrow and its a recovery day. We will see how Friday goes to see if I can do 3 workouts in one day.

I also got new shoes for working out. They are the vibram five fingers sprint. I love them. They have helped with my shin splints tremendously already and I have only worked out with them 3 times. They feel weird at first but your foot forms to them. My feet have been a little sore from the change but nothing too painful.

I am so excited that it is finally getting cooler outside. We had beans and cornbread tonight for dinner and are having chili tomorrow with Joe and Michelle to kick off the 2010 NFL Football season. I cant wait to watch FAVRE beat up on the Saints!! WHOO HOO!! GO VIKINGS!!!

I hope you all have a great rest of the week!

In Him,
Ashton

**Keep the Patterson family from Springdale in your prayers as they lost their 17 year old daughter**

Undefeated

This week was focused on Cade's first game to coach. I was really nervous leading up to this game. Lots of change happened this season and I was just anxious to see Cade's hard work pay off. I was more nervous before this game than I ever was when he played. Here are a few pictures of the game...

Cade and Rocky leading the team out

Looks just like his daddy coaching

Doing what he loves

I love this man with all of my heart

HU WON 20 - 0!! CADE IS 1 - 0 Coaching and UNDEFEATED!!! :D I am so PROUD of him and I LOVED watching him do what he loves.

Church this morning and small group this evening were AMAZING!! I love our church and am just so blessed. I was overcome with joy and sorrow all at the same time this morning. We had a bunch of families going through a rough time and it saddened me to see them struggle but also made me thankful for the life I have. I don't need to complain about not seeing Cade as much as I want because we had a family loose a father and husband this week. I should be blessed with all the time I have with him and just make the most of it. I hope you all have a blessed week and enjoy your day off tomorrow if you get it off.

Cade and I start the Insanity workout tomorrow. Wish us luck!!

In Him,
Ashton

Plugging In

Today was a wonderful Sunday after a wonderful Saturday. Last night we went to eat at a Catfish Barn in Heber Springs. It is Cade's favorite part of summer camp for football but he had to miss it this year due to class. So, I decided to treat my husband to a wonderful meal of catfish. We went to Joe and Michelle's afterwards for some games and then headed to bed early.

This morning we got up for early service pretty easily. Enjoyed a great service with my favorite song leader leading singing. We then decided to try out a new class. It is a class for young married couples with kids up to age pre-k. We fit that category so we were excited (or at least I was). The class is using the book "In Their Shoes" by Les and Leslie Parott. We are doing another study Joe and Michelle using another book by the same authors and love it ("I Love You More"). They talked about small groups/ growth groups and we decided we would try it out tonight. Boy are we lucky. This group is great. We are really blessed to be a part of this and it is going to make leaving Downtown that much harder when and if we leave the area. (Cade really enjoyed all the down home cooking tonight). ** Church was followed by brunch and a 3 hour nap for myself and a 2 hour nap for Cade, we were tired people**

This is the start of my busy week at work with lots of reports due and lots of letters and post cards to write. Wish me and Cade both luck as we have a long week ahead of us. Its Game week! :)

Have a blessed week,
Ashton

Scrimmage Continued

Here is a few more pictures and one more video....

Casey and Jason on Kickoff Look Team

Casey lining up

Casey on Kickoff Return Look Team

Jason on Kickoff Return Look Team

Just to prove that all the Caton men stand the same on the sidelines :)

Jason running a route (28 in the back to the left)

Casey running another route

I couldn't get good video of Jason because he was running away from me. :(

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and video. Looking forward to the season and more where this came from :)

**Here are a few pictures from picture day today at the field**

Cade with his slots

And with the redshirts

Slots again

Redshirts again

Have a wonderful weekend!

Ashton

Football Scrimmage

As promised... here are the pictures and a few videos of Jason and Casey at the Fall Football Scrimmage last Friday night!

Coach Caton!! :D 

Which one is a Caton?!?

Good Tackle Jason (28)

Resting after a lot of Special Team work

Jason after an offensive play

Cool Picture of Casey

Casey

Coach Caton

This is Casey running a route

This video makes me laugh every time, but Casey likes to point out that he got the guy down too.

We are boring people...

So, nothing exciting has happened in the past few days. Just working for both Cade and I. We both had to be up early this morning. So for the first time in a long time, we are just chilling at home together on a Friday night. I can imagine that it is going to early to bed for us tonight.

Tomorrow I plan on going to Searcy's farmers market. I am really excited about this, so I hope I find some good fresh food. Cade has football pictures and practice tomorrow, so I imagine I will be spending time at the pool or just relaxing and catching up on some sleep. Hoping for a nice relaxing weekend for both of us since its our last one before the football madness begins. We are hoping to go to Heber Springs and eat at Hensley's Catfish Barn tomorrow night if Cade's schedule will allow.

Have a great weekend. I will post pictures and video from the scrimmage last week tomorrow I hope!

Ashton

A "Coaches Wife"

Friday night I went and watched the fall scrimmage. It was very entertaining. I have a bunch of pictures of Casey and Jason playing and Cade coaching a few videos that I will upload Thursday or Friday because....WE ARE GETTING INTERNET AT OUR HOUSE THURSDAY!!! WHOO HOO!! We are coming out of the stone age. Ha.

Saturday I got to sleep in a little bit and then went and ran some errands. I found a SUPER cute pair of black boots (cowboyish style, but with a small heel) for $30, they were regularly $95. I was PUMPED (wore them to church on Sunday). Then went to the coaches wives luncheon. I will admit I was a little nervous and skeptical going into the lunch. I had a wonderful time. I loved getting to know all the women in a casual setting without the husbands there to destract us. It was a good time. We had wonderful food (chicken salad that is WONDERFUL and will be my new lunch routine :D) and great conversations. Coach Huck had bought all the wives Bison earrings, Coach Simmons wife made us all charms for a necklace, Peggy made us a magnet that says "I love my Bison", and bought me and Coach Chisms wife (both new to the coaching world) a book called "The Coaches Wife". It is a spiritual based book on how to be the best coaches wife and what to expect. It is a great read. I am almost half way done and have learned a lot. It has been a rude awakening in some aspects but a breath of fresh air in others. I am so excited to embark on this journey with my wonderful husband and cannot wait to have a family of our own to take on that journey with us.

Sunday was a wonderful service at church. I love our church home and will miss it dearly when and if we move from Searcy. The singing was PHENOMENAL!! Sunday was a lazy day for me and then back to work on Monday. Last night we had devo with Joe and Michelle and really dove into some things that were eye opening for both Cade and I. We had a wonderful talk after they left and I feel so much closer to him now that we had time to talk. Cade had his "last" first day of school as a student (I hope) on Monday and he is not a fan of the class at all. He had another class this morning and will have another one tonight. There is just one more he has to go to, but doesnt know when that class will meet because it is "TBA". Looking forward to spending this weekend with Cade as it will be his last weekend before all the football game madness begins.

Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Tuesday!
Ashton

The Last Song and more

So, I read Nicholas Sparks "The Last Song" right about the time the movie was in the theater, but we hardly ever go to the movie theater so I have been waiting and waiting for it to come to RedBox. Ha. It finally came and Cade and I watched it last night. This was such a wonderful movie (10 times better than Dear John). It followed the main plot of the book while leaving out a few minor details, but it was sooooo good. I am so glad we got to watch it last night. And yes, even Cade liked it. However, (as I knew I would) I cried like a baby for like the last 30 mins or so. Just like I did the last part of the book. It was the saddest ending, but made the book. It got me thinking about life and how precious it is and how thankful I am for my wonderful family. I hate being so far away from them and am hoping that in the near future we will be closer to them. I am also very thankful for my wonderful husband and getting to spend the rest of my life with him.

The last few days have been stressful ones both at work and with Cade being so busy that we arent getting to spend much time together. Thankfully, he only has one practice today and NOTHING tonight. We get to have devo with our good friends Joe and Michelle and then hopefully just enjoy time with each other.

I have started working on my cardio workouts and man was I sore yesterday from doing sprints. It took me forever to fall asleep because my legs hurt so bad.

I have my frist Coaches Wives event Saturday. It is a lunch at Coach Huck's house with all the coaches wives. I am a little nervous, but a little excited too. Interested to see how this thing works.

I hope you all have a great Thursday. I am hoping to be productive like I was yesterday and that the day flies by.

In Him,
Ashton

Football, Football, Football...

FOOTBALL...That one word sums up our lives right now. Cade is busy, busy with football practices, meetings, film, and more meetings. Our schedules right now do not line up at all. We get to spend maybe 2 hours (if we are lucky) together a day. I know that this is only temporary but it has been challenging for us. Trying to have dinner together has been a major scheduling chore, but we finally got to Sunday and Monday night. It was wonderful to spend time over dinner together. I even had Jason and Casey over for some Grandma Caton spaghetti. It has been great getting to see Casey and Jason whenever we want. They are such intelligent young men and I look forward to spending more time with them this fall.

My work hours finally changed at work. I now work 8:30 - 4:30 Monday - Friday. It is awesome, but it they changed just in time for Cade's schedule to change. Whats a girl goin to do though? We have really enjoyed spending time with our wonderful friends. Sadly though, Maggie and Jeremy AND Kelli and Aaron moved to Pensecola, FL. This was a sad time for us, especially seeing Maggs and Jer leave. We shared almost all of our firsts together because they got married 2 weeks after us. It was wonderful to have someone that was going through almost the exact same thing as you in the same town. We do wish them all the best and know that they will be friends forever.

We have started a new small group book with Joe and Michelle. It is called "I love you More". It is a WONDERFUL book for all marriages, new or old. I have really enjoyed reading it so far. We are just on chapter 2 and are already learning so much about our marriage and how to deal with conflict. We have really enjoyed getting to know Joe and Michelle on a much deeper level recently. It has helped strengthen both of our marriages I would say.

As I look back on the summer, it has been a whirlwind of a summer for my family for sure. We have had a couple deaths that have really kind of blind sided us (2 of my mom's coworkers whom I knew pretty well), my grandpa had major surgery, then was hospitalized again, mom got bit by something, and my in-laws moved. It is one that has tested me as a person, my relationship with God, and my relationship with my wonderful husband. All of which I feel has made me stronger and those relationships stronger. This was a summer of firsts, just like last summer was, only this summer they were more life lessons.

I hope to keep up with this more this fall as we embark on more firsts and hopefully find out where our journey will take us next. We are looking forward to what lies ahead: Cade's first season of coaching, Cade's last semester of his Masters, Cade's first job (hopefully), and many many more I am sure.

I want to close by thanking all of those that have influenced my life. I have the best God, husband, family, and friends anyone could ask for. I am so thankful for all of those in my life.

Have a blessed day!
Ashton

Thinking...

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately. Partly because work has slowed down and I have finally had time, but also because I am just reflecting on how different my life is from just a year ago. I would not change the life I have now for anything. I love everything about my life, but I feel like I am in a slump (which is expected sometimes).

I am in a wedding in Joplin this weekend and it has made me go back to the week before Cade and I's wedding. What a wonderful, stressful week. I remember the feelings that I had and how excited I was. Nothing mattered at that time except for the wedding and becoming Mrs. Caton. It is weird to think back about life before marriage and the real world. The sleepovers, the baby sitting I did, working weekends, eating random things for dinner, studying, etc. All that changed for me so fast and I miss some of those aspects but as stated above I would not change a thing about my life.

My grandpa (who is a father figure in my life and I am very close to) fell on the ice a little bit ago and is going to have to have surgery to repair the damage that was done. This absolutely scares me to death. For my mother to tell me that my grandpa, my role model is not doing well shattered my heart. All I can think about is when can I see him, how often can I see him, I need to call him, etc. Why is it that when something goes wrong do we then think about what we have missed out on? I miss living at home and even going home once a month like I did before the "real world". I miss seeing my grandparents whenever I wanted. I miss that time with them. I cannot wait to see my grandparents this Sunday as we are staying the night Saturday in Garfield so we can see our families before heading back to Searcy for the week.

I have also been thinking about how much I miss teaching my group exercise classes (mainly because it was a guarenteed workout that I do not get now due to long hours and lack of motivation) and babysitting 4 wonderful kids. I miss the family that I became a part of with them. I passed them on to a very talented woman whom is a perfect fit, but I miss my place in the family and seeing the kids. I am looking forward to getting see them in a couple of weekends. My goal from here on out (keeping my fingers crossed) is to get off my lazy bum on the weekends and go spend time with people that I miss because then I wont MISS THEM!! I am tired of making excuses about missing friends and not seeing those that I love. I am DONE making those excuses and would rather spend my money on gas to go see them than to spend my money on take out food or any of the wants that I need. There is nothing that contact with those you love can replace.

I absolutely love my life and where Cade and I are. I know we will not always be in Searcy; I will not always work at the NLRAC; and that I will not always have those that I love close enough to pack up and go spend time with them. Therefore, I am going to change all of that and stop taking it for granted.

I cannot wait to see family this weekend and to see my best friend who is struggling with life right now. I also cannot wait to witness another wedding. There is something about a wedding that draws you closer to your spouse just by bringing up the emotions of that day. I cannot wait to get a big bear hug from my grandpa. I cannot wait to see my "Conway Family" a week from Saturday. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for Cade and I's future. But for now I will just be thankful for what I do have, the time I have, and the love I have from all walks of my life and live my life to the fullest and get out of this slump.

My Husband...

I am so thankful for my amazing husband. Here are a few of the reasons I love him as we celebrate our 8th Valentine's Day together and our 1st married Valentine's Day together.
1. He is the best supporter both physically and emotionally.
2. He knows how to make me laugh whether it be by dancing with me (even though we are both horrible dancers) or by singing at the top of his lungs with me or just making a random comment.
3. He shows his feelings whether good or bad.
4. He is the best at making me feel loved even after a long day of work when I just want to sit.
5. He listens to me and gives the best advice.
6. He genuinely cares about me and it shows everyday.
7. He is the best about completing a "honey-do" list instead of doing what he wants to do all day.
8. He has the BEST smile that warms my heart everytime I see it.
9. He lets me wear his hoodies because they fit me just right...big and baggie.
10. He follows along with all the silly surprises I have for him.
11. He is an amazing leader of our family and in every aspect of his life.
12. He is an amazing Christian example to me and everyone around him.
13. He lets me play video games with him.
14. He exercises with me just to humor me.
15. He eats my cooking...even if it is too healthy or too fattening.

I could not have been luckier in finding the most amazing husband in the world. I love you Cade and I love all of the life experiences we have shared thus far. I cannot wait to see where our lives take us and the fun we will have. We have had an amazing 8 months. I would not have traded anything for the experiences we have had together. I fall in love with you more everyday and am so thankful you chose me to spend the rest of your life with. I love you!

-Ashton-

Valentine's Day/Weekend

Ashton is really going to enjoy this weekend. Mainly because we get to spend alot of time together, but also because she is planning for us to have an evening tomorrow night together. So this is what we have decided to do: I get tonight to plan and surprise her with how amazing I am and she gets to do the same tomorrow. This should be fun...

SNOW DAY...

NO WORK TODAY!!! NO CLASSES FOR CADE TODAY!! What a great day it is...Zach, Kimberly, and Rocky came over to the house after waffles for breakfast. Now it is snowing pretty good. My wonderful husband went out and played in the snow with me... Here are a few pictures that we had...Waiting on Pizza to get here for lunch.

Hope you all had a wonderful Snow Day as well! :D

Christmas, New Year's, and Grad School...

I am getting tired of starting my blogs with it has been awhile, but it has.

Cade graduated from Harding with his Bachelor's of Science in Health, Kineseology, and Coaching. His teaching licensure is being sent to the state, so he should have it soon for the Kineseology part. He has one more Praxis II test to take to get his Math teaching licensure.

After graduation was Christmas. Let me just say I really missed college life at this point because working Mon - Wed was not fun. Oh well, I am in the real world. We went to Garfield for Christmas to spend it with my family. We went to Oklahoma with Cade's family Christmas Eve to see his grandma who is suffering from lung cancer and undergoing chemo. We went to Oklahoma the day the blizzard was supposed to hit, so we left earlier than planned. We made it home to my family for Christmas Eve. Had a great Christmas with my family Christmas morning and then headed to my grandparents for Christmas lunch at their house. We woke up that morning to 2 inches of snow, but lots of snow drifts. We had an easy time leaving to go to my grandparents, but when Cade and I came back to get his families presents with my dad we got stuck on our drive to the house. Cade's dad came to pick us up so we went to their house to open gifts but had to hurry home before it got dark and the road's started to freeze again. We got to spend our Christmas money on 2 new front tires for my car before we headed home. We also got to stop by and see my Aunt Doloris who is not doing well at all, so it was good to get to see her at least one more time.

Again, let me remind you how much I miss college life because I had to return to work Mon - Wed the week of New Year's. We went to Tyler to stay with Cade's grandparents. We had a wedding to attend on New Year's Day as Zach and Kimberly tied the knot. We had a great visit in Tyler, but got the call on our way home that snow was coming, so we had to be careful and hurry home.

We finally heard back from Coach Huck regarding the football GA position Monday after we got back from Tyler. CADE GOT THE GA POSITION. He is so excited about coaching. It was a long wait but it was well worth it in Cade's eyes.

We finally took our Christmas tree down the middle part of January. The reason it took so long (to keep the comments from rolling in) was because we had allowed Zach and Kimberly to use our spare bedroom where the box that holds all of the Christmas decorations was. Therefore we could not get to the box to put the Christmas stuff up until all of their stuff was gone.

Cade was a little bummed that the Cowboys got beat last week but I was not too upset because I am a FARVE fan and am hoping that they can pull it together and get him another Super Bowl Ring.

Work has been real busy for me with New Year's Resolutions. This too shall pass though. My work schedule changed, so I get off early on Wednesdays which I am really enjoying, especially since Cade started grad school and it seems like between that and the GA position I never see him. He had his first recruiting weekend last weekend and his brother Casey came, so it was a neat experience for Cade. He took me to my first HU Basketball game last Saturday for recruiting weekend.

We have started a small group devo on Wednesday nights with some of our close friends. We are reading the book "Crazy Love" as a group and then discussing it when we meet on Wednesdays. This has really helped me and its only been one week.

Hopefully it won't be as long before I update next.

- Ashton -