Best part of my Christmas...

How could I have forgotten that the best part of my Christmas will be to talk to my sister Megan who is on a mission in New York! I miss Megan like crazy!!

Christmas is Coming!

This past week has been a very memorable and difficult week, but now Nick and I are looking forward and are super excited to be leaving for Arizona in a couple of days. We are going to start traveling on Wednesday! It has been a long awaited trip for Nick...we haven't seen his family together since last Christmas. I stopped down there in August for Niki's baby shower, but Nick has been very patient to wait so long to see his family. The Taylors are saying that they are going to "convert me" to Christmas in Arizona! ha ha. We will see! It will be different having Christmas without snow, but I know it's going to be tons of fun! Nick and I hope that everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a holiday filled with happiness and fun memories! Happy Holidays!

Indoor Soccer

Nick has been playing indoor soccer with a guy from our branch and his friends. It has been so much fun to watch him and see him score goals!! This is a video of his second game, which he scored 3 goals in! Good job Nick! The only bad thing about the night was that he ended up pulling his left quad muscle. He has had to stretch it and ice it quite a bit but has loved playing so far. They have about 10 games this season.

Becoming a mother for 10 days...

Nick and I offered to help babysit our friends kids for 10 days the middle of September while our friends went to Hawaii. I was a little overwhelmed with the task at first, but once we broke the ice with the kids and they felt comfortable with us....I HAD A BLAST! They are such cute kids and I really feel attached to them now. Thanks to the oldest, Emily, I was able to keep the house clean and the dishes done, but I really enjoyed every day. It was so much fun to play soccer with Corbin, help Marlie with her homework and hear her laugh everyday, to go to the movies with Emily and watch Megan build a swing-set out of paper and string. They all have their own unique qualities that bring them together and I loved getting to know them. We can't wait to see them again.


Here is Marlie putting baretts in Nick's hair. She was having so much fun! We were all laughing at the cute hairstyles that Nick had :)Nick sent me this cookie basket towards the end of our babysitting adventure. It was such a surprise and so sweet. It made my day. He wanted to thank me for all that I had done while we had been babysitting and I thought it was the best! The next day, I received another surprise...a edible arrangement! I was so spoiled! Nick is the best husband and so good to me.

All around...it was a wonderful week, but if I babysit them again, I am going to get work off. I realized how difficult it can be to work full time and have four kids, dinner, and a house to take care off. At times it became overwhelming, but I wouldn't have traded it.

A weekend at Lake Powell!!

The Barneck's, Martin's, and McMillan's spent Labor Day weekend at Lake Powell and we all had so much fun together. We went exploring up canyons and even found this little cave that we all swam under. The last picture is of Chelsea, me, Lindsay, and Chelsey. The only thing that would have made the trip better would have been to have Troy, Brooke, and Jackson there with us, but they are working hard in Arizona in medical school.

The best parents in the world....my dad and mom! Thanks for taking us to Lake Powell with you!

I got to waterski and wakeboard. I am not very talented on the wakeboard, but I was able to get up and ride inside the wake for a while. Waterskiing was so much fun....I haven't done it for a couple of years, but the water was smooth and not too cold either! Perfect!

Nick and Justin went tubing and were tossed around all over the lake. Everyone in the boat was cracking up as they flew over the wake. Justing tried his hardest to stay on the tube with Nick's help, but the weight of them both pulled the tube upside-down. Don't worry...they didn't get hurt - they fell on their heads.

One Year Anniversary

Nick and I had our one year anniversary on August 14th. It was extra special because our good friends were getting married that day and we were able to be at their sealing in the temple. It brought back all the special memories of when I got to marry by best friend. This past year together with Nick has been a wonderful time of my life and I know that the future is going to be filled with even more happiness. I love you Nick.

Niki's baby shower in Arizona

I had so much fun traveling to Arizona to go to Niki's baby shower with the Taylor family. It was great spending time with the girls and celebrating little "Tink" that will soon be coming to our family!

One of the games we played at Niki's baby shower was a "battle of tasks" to let her see how busy she might be with a baby in her arms, laundry to clean, and phone calls to make. It was so hilarious. The challenge was to talk on the phone continuously (talk to yourself ha ha) while holding the baby in your arm and hanging up the laundry. Whoever hung up the most laundry in 30 seconds won!

This is the cutest girl in the world....my neice Katie. She was carrying a baby doll around and having so much fun with us.

Happy Birthday to me!

My birthday was on July 29th (I'm slow to blog), but I wanted to show these pictures because Nick made me an icecream/brownie cake for my birthday. If anyone knows me well, they will know that brownies and icecream is my absolute favorite treat. Nick started making this cake the night before by baking the brownies and then the next day had to put it together and even put fudge around the entire cake like frosting! Mmmm...it was so delicious. My husband is so sweet.

A weekend with the Taylors. . .

Debi and Garry (Nick's parents) came from Arizona to visit Nick and I this weekend! We were so glad that they were able to come and spent some time with us. On Saturday, we had the opportunity to do a tour at the conference center in Salt Lake. Our families had done it before but we were able to do a little more "behind the scene" tour this time and got to see some things that we had never seen before. It was very interesting and we all really enjoyed it. This picture is when we were up on the top of the conference center. After we toured the conference center we went to the old tabernacle and walked around that building for a while. We went up by the organ and the organist noticed us and invited us up to the organ. Turns out, he was a very talented organist who had studied in London and had been playing for many years. He was very kind to us all and was very willing to play for us. We were all very amazed at how fast his fingers could move on the organ. We had a great time! It really made the night memorable.
For the 4th of July, Garry, Debi, Nick, and I went to Aunt Kim and Uncle Stan's home in Provo for dinner. Kim always makes these extravagant and very delicious dinners when we go to visit and would make any stranger feel like family. The five of us ate out on the deck and had a wonderful time visiting and laughing. After dinner, we walked to Stan and Kim's church and watched the "Stadium of Fire" fireworks in the distance. It was so much fun getting to spend time together with everyone.

My Sister MEGAN

I wanted to post some pictures of me and my sister Megan who is on her mission right now. She just passed her one month mark at the MTC and she is doing really well. She is learning Spanish so fast and has even given a talk in church at the MTC all in Spanish. I am so proud of her and I miss her a lot but I know she is where she is supposed to be right now. She is such an amazing person and always so kind to others. It is more important for those around her to be happy than herself and I have always admired that about her. I love being around her and talking with her because she always makes me laugh and can always put a smile on my face. She is so excited to be serving others right now and I am so proud of her and blessed that she is my sister.

Gone to New York

My sister Megan left this morning around 1:00 pm to live at the MTC for the next 8 weeks to get prepared to go serve in the New York New York North Spanish speaking mission. For the past week I had been trying to spend every minute I could with her. Last night, we got together for a family dinner along with some of Megan's close friends and ate a nice dinner together and then around 9:30 last night the stake presidency came over and set Megan apart. I was teary eyed but also felt really excited for her. Afterward, the members of my family and my grandparents hung around and we all bore our testimonies. It was very spiritual and it gave us all a chance to connect to Megan's mission. This morning we had breakfast at Denny's and sat around the table to chat for a while. At this point, everything was starting to feel very real to me. We arrived in Provo at about 11:40 and then went to a group meeting and then said our goodbye's. It was very hard for me to say goodbye to Megan. She has been the best sister and such a good friend to me. I know though, that she is where she is supposed to be and I'm excited to hear about all the experiences she is about to have. She is going to become even more amazing of a person than she already is. God be with you Megan - I love you! :)

Do you believe in magic?

Last weekend, my family and Nick and I went to California to go to Disneyland. We planned it for our final family trip before Megan leaves on her mission to New York. We started out our vacation here though because for Christmas, my dad got us tickets to "Wicked" for April 9th. We all loved the play! It was so funny and the music was great...we would all go see it again and again. We flew out to California the following morning at 8:00 and arrived at the Disney parks around 1200. Our first ride was, of course, Pirates of the Caribbean. We stayed out all night and rode as many rides as we could fit into our day. Saturday and Monday we spent at the parks too. On Sunday we went to Newport beach but the water was so cold that we could only stand to get wet upto our ankles. It was a really great trip and I can't believe how fast it went by, but it was fun to have a family vacation together. I can't believe that after Megan leaves in a few weeks our family won't be all together again until Kyle gets back from his mission. It's weird!! I'm gonna miss Megan sooo much, but I'm excited for her! :)

We've Moved!

Nick and I have finally moved!! It has been so much fun to move...well not to move...but be moved in. We have gotten as far as organizing all our junk into piles in each room and now we need to figure out where to put it. We have more room but it's hard to figure out where the best spot for each thing is. Once we get everything put together and some decorations we would love you to come over for a party! :)

My Husband is So Smart!!

So today Nick went to take his Insurance Agent exam and PASSED!! I am so proud of him. He was so worried and has been up late pretty much every night for the past week and a half and now he is all done! It takes such a load off the both of us. We thought this cartoon suited his new career. :)

It's Official

As of last Wednesday, all of our appliances, tile, and carpet were put in our house and after the final touch ups and signing our closing papers next Thursday we will get to MOVE!! I am so excited I think I talk about it every day. I can't wait until you all come over for a party and see it! :)

It's Coming Along....Yeah!!

Here are some pictures of our new house!! As you can see it needs to be finished, but I am getting so anxious. I want to go see it every chance I get. We got to pick out our carpet, tile, and counters a couple weeks ago, so we're just waiting for them to install it all. :)

Happy Valentines Day!

For Valentines day, Nick and I went with our friends Brandon and Sonjia to Park City. Nick and Brandon planned the night, but kept it a secret from the girls. It was fun to have a surprise date. I teased Nick that it felt like a "dating" date and I loved it. We ended up going to this really yummy Mexican restaurant up where all the shops are...the only things was that it was sooo freezing. Our noses and ears were frozen. After eating, we were waiting for our next surprise and we ended up going to the Egyptian Theatre for a show. Nick and I had been talking randomly in the past about going there sometime, but I didn't expect that we would be going for Valentines. It was really fun to go watch a play. It was a great first valentines with us being married. I love my husband so much. He is the sweetest person ever!

New House!

Nick and I are going to be moving in about a month to our new house! We are moving to Farmington and are so excited! This week, tomorrow actually, we get to go and pick out our countertops, carpet, and tile!! It's brand new and it will be so nice to have our own house.

Guess Who's Going To The SUPERBOWL???

The Arizona Cardinals are going to the Superbowl after defeating the Philidelphia Eagles at 32-25. Nick is a Arizona native so we are pretty exticed that the Cardinals are finally gonna make it!

It's Been One Year! :)

Today is a special day for us (well I don't know how big of a deal it is to Nick because it's probably a girl thing), but it has been one year today since we met! A lot has happened in the past year and I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father put Nick in my life. I am so happy and feel so lucky to have such a wonderful person with me forever. Nick treats me so well and makes me feel special and I love being around him. Happy one year babe! I love you!

Arizona Vacation!

We just got back last Thursday from Arizona and we had so much fun with the family. Here are just a few pictures of what we spent our time doing. We played the Wii a lot, Nick and the boys wrestled and we played a little karaoke which made everyone laugh! The last picture if of Niki, Luke, Nick and I on our last day with them. The time went by too fast, but we enjoyed being in Arizona with everyone for a while after the holidays.

Our First Christmas!

This Christmas was Nick and my first Christmas together. Nick got some new shirts, jacket, DVD's, The Office Season 4 and a couple of books. I got some new shirts, a red pea coat, and a watch. We woke up Christmas morning about 8:30 and opened up each other's Christmas presents and then we spent Christmas day with my family. My family went to St. George later in the afternoon, but me and Nick had to stay home for work the next day so we ended up searching for Christmas dinner and found it at SanPan Chinese restaurant (not what we expected Christmas dinner to be) and then went to watch Four Christmas's at the movie theatre. Anyone who was in Utah for Christmas knows that at about 5:00pm there was a huge blizzard which Nick and I discovered coming out of the theatre. We had to drive about 15 mph on the freeway and trying to guess if we were in between the lines, but safely arrived home. We spent the rest of Christmas night together and all in all was a wonderful first Christmas!

We bought the Batchelor's the "Beware of Dog" game for Christmas! It was hilarious watching them play. You draw a card that tells you how many bones you have to pull out of the dish and you have to do it without waking the dog. When the dog wakes up it barks so loud and the first picture is of Josh getting barked at by the dog. That is the funniest part about the game is just watching everyone jump back from the bark!