A Day in the Life

I have been so busy in the last week or two that I haven't had time to update! Here is what I did today...

Off to work bright and early and enjoyed a morning of some interesting discussions with kids. Apparently Santa is bringing me shoes and diamonds and lots of money. Haha! I wish he was bringing that.

Today I apparently made plans to have lunch with two people...opps! I couldn't be in two places at once so I had lunch with Liz at 12:30 at Chili's and enjoyed our weekly session of venting and giggles. It was a blast, as always. Then at 2pm I met Logan at Patricia's. We chatted and enjoyed our monthly gab session. I am so lucky that he has such an amazing wife that let's him still hang out with me. Needless to say I was really full. I ate with Liz, nibbled a salad with Logan and brought it home to eat for dinner.

Then a run to the dollar store to pick up thank you cards for those who participated in the Angel Tree we did at work and a few bits and pieces for tomorrows Christmas festivities.

I ran home to change, feed the cats, check the mail, vacuum the house and mop the kitchen/dining rooms.

Off to a training session, where I got my butt kicked. I wonder why I do it sometimes, because I hate feeling like I am absolutely done and exhausted. My muscles don't work by the end and I push like crazy just to finish sometimes. I work hard and I always am glad I did it, but man does it hurt some days.

Then off to cover a shift for someone.

I came home to eat a wonderful dinner of cereal. I finished up the last of the Christmas projects for tomorrow and decided I had to update. Ah, a day in the life of me! I am grateful for the chance to have a few down days coming, not just for the joy of Christmas, but for the chance to just nap and not have to go and do anything!

Enjoy the last days before Christmas.

Turkey Run

I started my Thanksgiving off with a Turkey Run. I ran most of the three mile course I did (could do up to five, but I pushed too hard training last Saturday and my old fracture is giving me some pain) and it was wonderful. It was so beautiful this morning and it makes it hard not to be thankful for the amazing blessings in my life!

Blessing number 1, living in beautiful Utah. This was at the end of the run and I just struck me how lucky I was to be so blessed to be surrounded by such beautiful scenery all the time. I love seeing the mountains in the background of everything and I love crisp cool air in the mornings.

I am so blessed to be blessed with amazing friends who have become my family. Being so far from my own family I have been so blessed to have amazing people come into my life. In no particular order the ones I feel most grateful for this year are: Logan, Chantal, Melinda, Tricia, Kari and Peter. There are so many more but it is this small set who have truly been such blessings to me this year by being listening ears, shoulders to cry on, late night texts about Taylor Lautner or Hugh Jackman, temple buddies, encouraging messages or telling me that no matter what others say or act like, that I am a beautiful and sweet person.

I am grateful for the gym and my trainer. You have to bored of this by now but the changes in my life have been staggering and a whole new world has opened up to me because of it. 6 days a week I am at the gym working out and I love the person I have become because of that one little fact.

I am so blessed, to know of my worth. I can move mountains, soothe troubled souls, lend a shoulder when needed and I can build and strengthen those around me. How blessed I am!

I am most grateful for the love of my Heavenly Father who has taught me that as long as I do what I know to be right, things will work out. Every time. It may not be in a week, a month or even a year, but in the end it will.

Those are just a few of the things I am thankful for today. Now that that is out of the way, on the the last bit of Black Friday planning...

Only Ten Things...

I just wanted to pop in and say how blessed I am. I truly am. Why? Let me share.

1. I have a job (or three!)
2. I have a library cards and can check out all the books I want.
3. I have a great phone.
4. I get to enjoy Lunch with Liz once a week.
5. Lunch with Logan is coming again soon.
6. Online classes rock...Ican do them in my jammies at midnight.
7. I have tickets to conference.
8. I have to go shopping, cause my clothes are too big...and falling off!
9. I have the gospel in my life.
10. I have the greatest friends...and I am so lucky to have them when I need them.

Ok, enough of my blessings. I have a million more but I need sleep. Lots of sleep.

Good Night/Good Morning!

Love It

The things I love:

* Rainy Days- I love the jolt of humidity (since we have so little) for just a day or two and then back to the blessed dryness.

* New challenges- I love when you first make a choice, decision or have a project given to you and you have to figure out how to get to your desired end result. I love that initial jumble of ideas and thoughts and making plans. I love making plans.

* E-books- I love them. I love having one at my fingertips at any moment without having to add the bulk of a sometimes un-needed book, since I only like to read long ones apparently. I love that I can whip out a favorite quickly and enjoy it.

* Un-expected Hugs- mostly from kids, because lets face it an unexpected hug from some random strange guy is not really as appealing as it is scary. But I love little arms that wrap around and the moments of happiness that come. There is nothing like it.

* Spoiling nieces and nephews- I freely admit I don't get to do it as much as I would like, since I don't have many close to me, but you just ask my sister Robin and she will tell you I have stuff for Caius every time I see him. In fact, I have a bag full of stuff for Caius and the new baby that is months away. It will be like Christmas morning the next time I see them. If I had more nieces and nephews around I would spoil them as much. I spoil the other kids in my life just as much.

* Personal Training with Zach- I wish you guys could spend one session with Zach. I wish you could see the things he has me do! I wish you could see what a change in my muscles has happened in the last few months with the guidance of Zach. He is big and scary looking but can't raise his voice to save his life! It is great to push to the point of dripping sweat and muscles giving out and him pushing just that much further and you realizing you just barely had it in you. And the next time, do almost twice as much as the time before, and smiling through the pain. Nothing better.

* New deodorant- Not something you think of, but I hate to buy I just complain to myself that if I didn't stink I wouldn't need it and what a load of pumpernickel it is to spend $7-$8 dollars on the stuff. So new means I don't have to buy it for a while and that makes me happy.

* Notes from Old Friends- there is nothing like notes from people you knew best when you weren't your best self, not always your worst, but not as refined as you like to think you are now. That they like you enough to keep in contact or recontact and have things to say makes me smile. Not to mention the little things about them you remember and the memories that we associate with them. Always the obscure, but fun nonetheless.

* Free Bagel Day- I love bagels, I do. I always have. I do not buy bagels. I do not need the temptation because I would make bagel pizzas, bagel bites, sandwiches and all sorts of other bagel concoctions with them around. So I look forward to the once a month free bagel day at work. I get to indulge in one of my favorite things (and I do love cream cheese too...all kinds!) for free without having to fight the urge to have buy them I just think to myself, "its almost free bagel day!"

* Freshly colored hair- it doesn't matter the color, the method, it just matters that for at least a week I can look in the mirror and not see grey.

* Fall- it is almost here. I already have the decorations ready to put up, the apple cider ordered, planning thanksgiving dinner, Halloween parties, corn mazes and a bon-fire or two. I am pouring over new sweater purchases and allowing myself the chance to glance at the new coat selections. I am excited to try a couple of new soup recipes I have found this summer in the most yummy bread bowls. There is nothing better.

* Lunch with my friends/family- my friends are my family. Since I have a lack of family around, my best friends are family. I am so lucky to get to share lunch with my dear friend Liz regularly and of course Logan. It makes me pretty happy to know that a chance to spend some great quality time with them for an hour or so comes so regularly. I get to enjoy lunch with Logan today and Liz on Friday (maybe Thursday). I am pretty stinkin' blessed.

I Lied

Ok, so I lied. I didn't get to the pictures the day after the wedding. And I didn't get to them today. I am just too busy! I am sorry. So, as a peace offering (don't kill me Liz!) I am uploading this video. Enjoy it. You can check out the dress and some dancing.

I hope you enjoyed this little tidbit. Uploaded while I got ready for bed. If you notice the time, it is 12:50am. I have no time! Maybe I have a few spare hours on saturday. I think.

Beautiful

It was such a perfect day! How blessed I was to be asked to be a part of it. There are lots of details and pictures and video, but most will have to wait. I am exhausted and am in desperate need of sleep. I have to be up early for work tomorrow and it is a long day. 12 hours and I am not going to have enough sleep. opps.

It was a day that I will remember for sure. I am so happy for my best friend and his new best friend. They couldn't be more perfect for each other.

Ding Dong the Bells Are Gonna Chime!

My best friend Logan gets married tomorrow. I am so happy for him and selfishly sad at the same time. Once they get married it is not ever the same and that is how it should be. I will miss him but I couldn't be happier or more excited for him. Plus, I have a newbie in the wings so it isn't so hard.

I will post pictures tomorrow of the event and you can live vicariously through me. Because I know you all want to be there, haha!

I have been so busy the last week! It feels like I was on vacation a million years ago already. Luckily I have a mini vacation just around the corner at a five star resort...for free. Ah, I love my life!

News?!

Dear Friends,

Logan, my wonderful best friend, is getting married. To a wonderful girl. I am so excited. While chatting away with the other night trying to get any detail out of him (mostly um's and uh's, BOYS!) we were laughing about the whole thing and he asked if I would dress up in a tux and be his best man. To which I laughed and quickly agreed. Well, maybe not the tux part and maybe not being the best man, but to dressing up and being a girl there, yes.

I am so happy for him. It is what he has wanted for a while and his family is so excited they are about to burst! Ah, all my friends are growing up...good for them!

While out the lunch with my friend Liz the other we were talking about growing up and I said it was funny to think she was married and had two kids (haha, I almost said three Liz! Get on that, k? haha!) and the only way I had changed is that I had two cars, and 13 roommates since we were roommates. It made us laugh.

A friend at work is pregnant and I am so excited for her!

A friend from work is moving to Oklahoma because her husband is starting medical school...how fun, and yet, how sad! I will miss her.

Seasons change in life and I am just so happy to see the seasons of my friends lives change. How blessed I am so see weddings, babies, new homes and jobs fill the lives of the ones I love so much. How blessed.

Excuse me as I wipe a tear. PMS can kill you you know...haha!

Moved..Sort Of

Well, the majority of my stuff is moved. Thank you to Logan, Tricia, Danny and Melinda. I could not have done it without them. I still have stuff to do (mostly kitchen stuff) at the old place but this is the first night here in the new place. I am exhausted. I don't know if I can handle it.

I hate moving.

Um...

So I got hungry...OK? haha!

Ok, the truth is that we had an activity last night and Logan and I were in charge of getting the pizza and took his truck instead of my car and suddenly realized the reason why that wasn't a good idea. We had a blast trying to make it to the church. We downed a pizza on our way there...it was hilarious. Logan and I always have fun though.

I hope you had as much as I did.

Long Good Day

I had a hectic and long day. A good day, but hectic and long.

I went to work and had a crazy day there, full of screamers and kids who were having rough days. At one point I was holding three screaming babies (yeah, I really was holding all of them), and at another I had three boys in time out while holding a screamer. It was rough. Just a long day.

Then I ran to the temple and did a session...it was surprising how much emotion there was today. It felt like home today, which is what I really needed. Logan and I commented on it while we were there, that it felt like home. I am struggling with the concept of "home" and "family" at the moment, so to feel like it was home was a wonderful thing.

I ran home and got changed (the third time today, are you counting?) and grabbed some food before I headed to the gym. I hadn't run yet and I wanted to stretch the muscles. I went and ran a few miles and it feels so good. I am working on my form now and am feeling better about it.

Then I went to work again. (change number four) It wasn't too bad I spent about an hour writing "J+D". One of the girls like a boy and felt the need to write this hundreds of times. Kind of funny.

I ran to the grocery store really quick because I was deserving of a treat...some oatmeal cookie ice cream. YUM! I came home, watched Super Nanny and ate a wonderful dinner of Lemon-Pepper Tilapia, mixed veggies and mashed potatoes. With a bit of ice cream on the side.

What a day! A good day, just long.

More About the Weekend

Well my friends, it may take days to tell you everything that happened in the last few days. So let me fill you in about a few details about friday and I'll get to the rest in the next day or so.

(Me and Logan in front of the Ogden Temple...and my wonderful new blue coat...blue wool...so nice!)

We started bright and early on friday morning at 6:30am for a 7am session at the Ogden temple. A great way to start the day, in the hometown temple. The Ogden temple had been closed for cleaning for the last few weeks and it was the first time I had the chance to go back and I was so grateful for it.

(Kari and I in front of the Bountiful Temple...so cute!)

After our session there we headed to a 10am session in Bountiful. What a blessing it is to live in Utah and be able to drive 20 minutes and hit a temple. Every drive was 20 minutes to the next temple.

(Me in front of the Salt Lake Temple)

A 1pm session in Salt Lake City was next. A live session was very interesting to experience. A good way to break up the day for sure. It was cool to see and feel the history of that temple. It is definitely very different than other temples.

(Logan in front of the Jordan River Temple)

A 4:20 session at Jordan River was very cool. Funny to ride the escalators up and down in that temple, but surprisingly like the Ogden inside.

(Kari and Logan in front of the Mount Timpanogos)

And a 7:30 session was planned for the Mount Timpanogos Temple, but it was so full that they were unsure that we would even be able to make it into the 8pm session! So we took the chance to do initories instead. A great way to end a day! It was funny to see that this temple was almost exactly like the Bountiful temple.

A long day for sure. We were all totally exhausted and ready to sleep by the end but...it was the most amazing day as well.

I was so blessed to feel such peace and to know more deeply how loved I am. So many amazing experiences and quiet moments of reassurance made it such a special day. It truly was one of the best days of my life. I was so blessed to share it with two very good friends as well.

Kari, I got to know her from her our mid-singles committee but we quickly bonded. We have gotten to be friends and did our big super saturday craft day together. We are the same age and have similar difficulties and we love to craft! From quilts to scrapbooking...we enjoy each other. We became closer and felt less alone in our struggles at the end of the day.

(Kari and I in front of the Ogden Temple)
Logan, oh you guys know that story. He has been such a great friend to me over the last year. He truly is family to me. The chance to share such a big day with him felt right. I am so happy that he has found some happiness lately.


(Logan and I in the car between SLC and Jordan River)
We, Kari, Logan and I, made the goal to attend all the temples in Utah this spring and have already started planning the next trip. I am so blessed to have such good friends who can and want to share these amazing experiences with me.

Temple 5k

First I am going to start off saying that this was one of the most amazing days of my life. I knew it would be pretty unique and interesting, but I had no idea that it would affect me so much.

We did it, 5 temples, one day. 4 sessions and one set of initiatories...we couldn't get into the last session, it was packed! But can I tell you the peace and joy that fill me even now, the next day? It is amazing.

We are planning another 4k in the spring hitting Draper, Mount Timpanogos, Provo and Manti and I am already excited.

I have a lot to do this morning but I wanted to get this out there as soon as I could. I'll add a picture or two, but will do a more detailed post later. I hope you all had a wonderful day!

Kari, Me and Logan in front of the Salt Lake Temple

Birthday Bowling

Bowling was a blast! I have some great friends who made this a great day for me! Not the best picture of me but remember I hadjust bowled for the last two and a half hours. And Logan even let me win one.

As you read this, I will be somewhere in the Salt Lake Valley enjoying my temple 5k. Pictures to come.

A Night at Generic High

Well the activity went wonderfully well! It was so much fun and we had almost double the number of people that we normally have at events. I spent a lot of time getting ready and planning so I was thrilled to get such positive response. Logan was really helpful and I was really grateful. So, here are some of the pictures I got. Oh, and I used the colors of blue and gold in honor of good ol' PHS. Go Badgers!

After going through the time machine they entered the cafeteria where they were served Sloppy Joe's, Corn Dogs, Fries, Chili Cheese Fries, Green beans, Chocolate or normal Milk and Creamies. Complete with cafeteria trays and lunch "ladies".

A table full of jocks, feels so much like high school! I was taken back for a minute and it made me laugh.

The Math Team or the nerds, a table full of fun!

Our Mid-Singles Committee all dressed up for the occasion. Back row: Tony (the jock), Martin (student body president), Logan (Vice President). Middle Row: Lori (cowboy), Kari (gangster), Me (Principle), Vaughn (drama guy). Front row: Nicole (cheerleader), Heather (Math Team Captain) and Boyd (cheerleader). A great group that I really enjoy!

A close up of my 90's hair. YIKES! Who thought the swoopy bangs were a good idea? Not my fav. I have so much gunk in my hair that it is gross. I hated every second of it. I am weird about my hair being stiff though.

All in all it was a great night. I heard so many great things about the evening and that makes you feel good. In fact it went so well that my ward is going to borrow the idea and one based off mine. So much fun!

Day Trip to Logan

So the Ogden Temple is closed for cleaning. Sad. So to keep up with my weekly temple trips Logan and I took a trip to Logan to go to the temple yesterday. A different temple is always entertaining and beautiful. And it is so different from the Ogden!

We made a goal to visit all the temple's in Utah this spring. What a great way to start that off! It really looks like a castle, doesn't it?

Thanks for this great pic Log, so beautiful! It was a nice drive up, we listened to a motivational cd on the way up, well I should say I did, Logan slept. It was good.

Afterward, Logan was hungry. Even though he ate on the way. So we stopped at Firehouse Pizza and ate a delicious Hawaiian pizza, which we both say is our favorite kind of pizza. It was so good and a great way to end a great day.

Oh and who would have thought that my best friend would also have a passion for reality tv? Late night phone calls about what happened on the bachelor make my day. Boy am I a lucky!

So It's Like...

As part of my birthday celebration Logan and I decided to do a Temple 5k. What is that you may ask? Well let me tell you.

Starting at 6:15am, we hit 5 temples doing a session in Ogden, Bountiful, Salt Lake, Jordan River and Mount Timpanogos with the last session at 7pm. Whew! A long day, but I have no doubt that it will be amazing. We have invited 75 of our closest friends, realizing that only a hand full with actually come, but I am still very excited.

And, we are planning another on in march right after the new Draper temple opens. Anyone in the area interested in coming along, you are more than welcome!

Birthday month will be wonderful.

The Mystery Dinner is coming together very nicely, I am so happy with how well it is going. It will be an amazing night. I will be sure to keep you updated.

Oh and Mothers out there, be sure to teach your boys the basics of the monthly cycle of a girl. So in their 20's questions like, "so, is it just like you have to pee a lot?" don't come from them. Geesh.

Not That Old!

I just needed to make mention that my birthday is right around the corner...I am excited and nervous at the same time. Logan and I were talking about my birthday and what I wanted to do for it and he suggested doing a cancer run or something and I in all my self-centered glory said, "um, no. this is one day when it is all about me, not other people!" (did I really say that? I meant it in a nice giving way...really). So he responded with a good compromise, he said we would have to do a "run to replace Nichole's hip." haha. I may have grey hair, not be able to stay up all night anymore, not as giggly and teenage-like, but my dear Logan friend, I am NOT in need of a hip replacement. Geesh.

Be sure to check out my friend Mariel's new blog, new recipes or ideas everyday! I have really been enjoying it.

And I am in need of ideas for our up coming Super Saturday. I am always trying to do lots of big projects, haha.

Ideas?

So, as part of one of my callings I am hosting a big Mystery Dinner. It is going to be so much fun! And just wait until you hear the theme, you will die!

High School. Yeah, there will be a time machine and it transports you back to high school (yikes!) and you are in the cafeteria with all those people you never thought you would see again. The math team captain, the cheerleaders, football players, thespians...you name it, there they are in their high school glory. It should be very entertaining!

But here is my delima. I need a name and colors for this "generic" high school. I am running on fumes in the creativity department at the moment and am stumped. So, please, come out of your "blog stalker" mentality and give me a few ideas.

PS: it is a stake activity for our 27 and over group. Logan and I are throwing the party and we are having a blast!

Merry Christmas, from Me and the Gang

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I had gotten a few of these from friends lately and laughed so hard! I had to make one of my own. It was almost as much fun making one as it was to watch it! Go make one of your kids ladies, you will love it!