.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

2010-12-07T22:21:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!! Our mom is always doing birthday blog posts for everyone in the family, so we thought we would return the favor. However, she is lucking out because unfortunately I don't have very many embarrassing pics of her, like she posts of everyone on their birthday posts. :( But I will do my best with what I have. Even though my sisters and I all live far away from one another, we always put our heads together and plan a birthday gift for our parents on their birthdays.

1. First, each of us girls all wanted to say something special to mom on her birthday...

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! We just want to let you know how much we appreciate you and all that you do for us. You are a great example to us in all you do. You are a fantastic mother who is always looking out for us. We hope you have a great day and feel all the love that we all have for you!" -Love Katie and Richard

"Happy, happy birthday, Mom! We love you! On your birthday, we want you to know how much you mean to us. You're a wonderful Mother and Grandma. Thank you for all your efforts both big and small. We truly appreciate your example of "becoming" - it inspires us to keep trying and working toward positive progression in the things that matter most. We hope you have a great day and know that we'll be thinking of you. We love you!" -Bob, Dani, and Addie

"Happy birthday, Mom!! We wanted to take this time to let you know how much we love and admire you. Your example to me will always help me to make good choices. I have been thinking a lot lately how I always took for granted all the things you taught us growing up, both small and big, and now I see just how important being taught those things really was. They make me a better wife now, and even when you thought we weren't listening, we were. Thank you for being the best mom and always being there for us!! You are an amazing individual and deserve the best on your birthday! Have a great day, mom!! Love you!!" -Nick and Lindi

2. This year, after thinking for awhile and trying to decide on what she would really really like or enjoy, we came up with this... Does anyone, besides mom, remember this creation?

Well, if any of you know our mom, you know that she loves to cook and does an amazing job as well. However, if you saw her "recipe box" better known as her recipe "folder", its full of unorganized miscellaneous papers of all shapes colors and sizes. Hard to believe I know, because she is one of the most organized people we ALL know!! ;)

SO, Mom, our gift to you is your very own new recipe box that will become filled with beautifully created cards with all of your own amazing recipes on them!! Of course the box itself and all the created cards will coordinate with your kitchen! We hope that you will enjoy your newly organzied recipes!! :) :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! WE ALL LOVE YOU!!!

Continue In Patience

2010-11-08T09:08:00.000-08:00

Well To Sum Things Up...

2010-10-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

... I have been SLACKING in the blogging area. So, since I have now decided to catch up on a few things, I will make this quick and to the point. The past few months have been busy with a few trips!! After our trip to Idaho Falls for the funeral a week later we went on a...

1. Road Trip to Missoula, Montana for Nick's interview with the Missoula Rural Fire Department. 28 Hours of driving in 4 days, but a beautiful fall drive. He ended up not being offered the job; however, still very thankful for the opportunity to have gotten that far in the process since it is very competive and highly unlikely getting hired first time having an oral board interview. He has a reason to be proud about that...WAY TO GO SWEETS!!! We also got to spend time with our friends Don and Kelsi and my roomies from College in Wyo.

2. Addie's FIRST Birthday was October 14th, so my wonderful sweet hubby sent me down for 10 days. The first week was spent painting Dani's house and helping her with Addie as Bob was gone at a Teaching Conference. Katie also got to come down from school and we spent a whole week together!! :) The remainder of the time was spent with my whole family {minus mine and Katie's hubby's :( } playing and enjoying the time together. The theme for Addie's party was Farm Animals... too cute. She also wore her Carhart overalls that made the finishing touch. What a sweet sweet baby... I'm now waiting any time now for Dani to post about how Addie is walking... she is so close! :)

No more trips planned for us for awhile. Now its work work and getting ready for the Holidays!!

INTRODUCING....

2010-09-22T00:37:00.001-07:00

...my NEW online Handmade Hair Accessory(s) & Pin(s) Website....

...SIMPLY BY HAND

I finally gave in, or got brave enough, to design an online store where I am now selling handmade hair accessories & Pins for all ages. Some of you have been interested in hair accessories I have made for my niece, Addie, and now they are available for purchase on my website. There are also a variety of designs available as hair accessories for ladies or to be worn as pins on clothing, hats, shoes, scarves, or bags. Here are a few available for purchase NOW!!

Check it ALL out at....

simplybyhandstore.com

In the future, I plan on using this website for offering other services such as digital scrapbooking, custom invites and announcements, and more fun creative handmade crafts!!

If you like what you see, be sure to take a "button" to add to your blog and always check back often for updates and new designs. (see top right-hand side of blog for options)

Thank you and ENJOY!!!!

A special THANK YOU to Brittney Dye for the amazing beautiful photography and to Danielle Weber for helping edit my website!! :)

Family Pics!

2010-09-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

The day has FINALLY come!! After taking family pics in June, we now have the final photos, well the ones we have picked for now!! Take a look...

All the Kids!

Mom & Dad
Nick & I

Richard & Katie

Bob, Dani & Addie

Sweet Baby Addie
And...

The Whole Family!

What do you think?

President Doug Andrus

2010-09-17T12:35:00.001-07:00

This past weekend we received a phone call from Don, Nick's Mission Companion, that their mission President had passed away. Nick has so much love and respect for President Andrus and he learned so much from his amazing example. Wanting to attend in order to pay our respects for him, we made the last minute arrangements to make the trip. The funeral home posted his obituary online, and I have copied it below...

"Douglas Milo Andrus, Jr., 69, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, passed away 12 September 2010 at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center after a long and courageous battle with cancer. He was a loving husband, father and grandfather and will be remembered for his kindness, love, and devotion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a man of integrity, virtue and faith and was trusted by his friends and associates.

Doug was born 29 April 1941, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to Douglas Milo Andrus and Veatrice Nelson Andrus, the second of six children. Doug attended Eagle Rock Grade School, New Sweden Elementary, O.E. Bell Junior High, and Idaho Falls High School, where he graduated with honors in 1959.

He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Eastern States from 1960-1962. He was a faithful and diligent missionary and he had great success - spending much of his time in The Bronx, NY. Upon returning, he attended Ricks College and BYU in Provo, UT, where he studied business management. He graduated with honors in finance and marketing in 1967.

On 16 September 1963, Doug married his sweetheart, Deanna Daw in the Logan, Utah LDS Temple. They are the parents of thirteen children. He was a successful businessman and was co-owner of Doug Andrus Distributing and other related businesses. He was involved in many community organizations, serving in various capacities and received numerous awards for his service, including the Silver Beaver Award from the Boys Scouts of America, the Granite Pillar Award for integrity in business, and humanitarian service awards.

Doug was a devoted and faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and held many positions in the Church including Elders Quorum Presidency, High Priest Group Leadership, Stake Mission President, Bishopric, Young Men President, Counselor in Stake Presidency, Stake President, Mission President in the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission, and ordinance worker and sealer in the Idaho Falls Temple. He and his wife loved their mission, being together, and serving in the temple.

Doug enjoyed working in his yard and spending time with his 13 children and 56 grandchildren. Doug kept a journal throughout his life and seldom missed a day writing in it. In his home office, he has a filing cabinet full of these journals. During the last couple years of his life, Doug reread many of his own writings and he compiled them as his life story. Although in general much of life is routine, his children appreciate the many simple memories he has recorded.

He is survived by his wife, Deanna, and their children: Lori (Clay) Murdoch, Lynette (Kory) Kunz, Lisa (Bob) Braithwaite, Monica (Dave) Kuhn, Heidi (John) Owen, Pauline (Dan) Marshall, Charise (Chris) Monson, Stan (Brooke) Andrus, Jared Andrus, Kevin (Emily) Andrus, Curtis (Nichole) Andrus, and Heather (Rocky) Davies. He was preceded in death by his parents, his son, Brian, and a grandson, Houston Murdoch. He is also survived by his older sister, Norma Fielding of Saint George, Utah, and his younger siblings: Janet Orchard of Idaho Falls, Idaho; Heber Andrus of Idaho Falls, Idaho; David Andrus of Green River, Utah; and Steven Andrus of Idaho Falls, Idaho."

President Andrus' funeral was how I think every funeral should be. It was the most uplifting service I have ever been to. The spirit was so strong and the program was amazing. There were around 30 missionaries who had attended and they were all asked to sit on the stand as they were on the program to sing the "Las Vegas West Mission" song. It was an overwhelming sight to see the number of lives this man had touched and influenced. The closing speaker was Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the stories he told truly touched our hearts. President Andrus and his brother own a trucking company that consists of 280 trucks. Elder L. Tom Perry said that President Andrus told him once that he had a system that allowed him to know where every single one of his trucks were, all across the states, within ten feet. He told all the children and grandchildren that he was guessing President Andrus had probably already developed a system where he will know where each of them are within 10 feet. ;) He was telling them this story, so that they might always remember the teachings and example that their Grandfather was to them.

After the funeral, Nick and I took some time to walk around the grounds of the Idaho Falls Temple. I was telling Nick that this temple was were my family and I were sealed and how grateful I was for that. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that we all have the opportunity to be together as families forever. I found these thoughts so comforting for President Andrus' family as well, as my heart ached for their loss. President Andrus was an amazing individual who devoted his whole life and heart to serving others and I'm so grateful Nick was able to learn and appreciate the things he did from President Andrus.

A HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISH!

2010-09-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANI!!!!

Today is Dani's 26th birthday!! Because I am such a lame sister her birthday package will be arriving later this week. Until then, I want to wish her the best birthday and let her know she means so much to me.
Dani is the best big sister anyone could ask for... so caring and sweet, but will always tell you how it is and what she thinks. I always respected that about her because I knew just what she thought and didn't have to guess what she could be thinking. She has such a strong testimony of the church and shows that by example. She always puts herself last and thinks of others first. She is hilarious and its mostly because shes so honest about everything! ;) She is such a beautiful woman who is so smart and has the drive to become better all the time. She is a great wife and mother and has been blessed with the sweetest little baby girl.
I have been blessed to have Dani in my life and even more blessed to have her as my sister. My sisters are my best friends and I wouldn't change that for anything. I have learned that being far away from them is not fun or easy as I miss them everyday. Have a WONDFERUL 26th birthday and take some time for yourself!! :) Wish I could be there to celebrate with you!! Love you sis, you are the best!!

Summer Fun!!

2010-08-30T18:09:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago (August 19, 2010), Nick's parents came to visit!! :) They brought down Tyler, Nick's Younger brother, to College in Cedar City. Vegas is only 3 hours away from Cedar, so they were kind enough to come the extra miles for the weekend. It was a very fun and relaxing weekend that was full of different activities.
Once they got in Thursday evening, we went to dinner at Lucilles (an amazing southern BBQ resturant). We got home and stayed up WAY to late chatting and catching up. :) So of course we slept in the next morning and then planned a day of fun at Red Rock. We packed a picnic and drove out to the "canyon" to see the sights. Ya know, even though its a very dry desert out here, it does have SOME beauty to it. (of course I can't prove that because I didn't get any good pics of Red Rock).
While on the drive, we stopped and got out of the car to get some pics of the Joshua Trees. We were simply taking pics and walking along the side of a road that was off the main highway, when all the sudden this Highway Patrol or Forest Ranger comes flying up behind us with his lights on. He then gets out of his car and says with a very big attitude problem, "Get back in the car so I can write you a ticket."????? We were all so confused as to what we did wrong, but we got back in the car. He then went off about how we can't be stopped off the side of the road within a National Park. He explained that its a huge fine and that it causes problems with the traffic. Funny, because the whole time we stopped to take pics, not one car went by?? Anyways... he ended up not giving us a ticket because Nick has the same birthday as him, and so he let us go with a warning. Pretty dumb reason to not give someone a ticket, but we can't complain. :)
On the drive we kept passing signs warning us of Wild Burros. :) Yes, Burros! When we stopped for lunch we learned just how 'Wild' they really were!! Take a look...

They were so funny... just coming right up to our picnic table and eating our food. Not ten mins after being around them, we were warned by a local citizen, not to harass or feed them because we would be fined $500. WOW huh? These ppl are ticket happy for sure. So we tried our hardest to ignore them, hoping they would leave... no such luck! :) That evening we had a BBQ with Jason and Claire. Jason is Jerry and Terri's nephew and they wanted to spend some time with the family they had here. Most of the family they have here did not show up, as we had planned a fun evening, but the evening with Jason and Claire was PERFECT and so fun!
The next day we went to the temple and then relaxed at home as Nick had to work that evening. Sunday Nick and I had to speak in church. It was funny how it worked out just right that his parents were there to listen that week!! :) We hurried home afterwards and enjoyed some lunch and then had to take them to the airport.
We were both so glad they came and spent the extra days with us!! It was so fun and were hoping that because Tyler isn't too far from us, that it may happen more often!! Thanks guys!! :)

On another note....

This past week I had been hearing on the radio that the Oak Ridge Boys were in concert in Vegas. I was by myself when I heard it and seriously said outloud to myself, "NO WAY... they are still alive?" :) When I was a little girl, my parents had a tape of thier Christmas songs and ever since I can remember, I listened to that tape every Christmas season. If you heard it, you might ask yourself WHY? But its a sweet memory I have and love to still listen to it.

Well Nick and I were laughing about it and talking about how fun it would be to go to their concert. Nick was working Friday night and parked the Drumers car who plays for them. He told the drumer how much I loved them and the Drumer gave us 2 free tickets to their show that night!!! :)
When we walked into the concert, we started laughing and joking about how it looked as if a bus full of Senior Citizens had been dropped off to enjoy the show!! LOL!! :) We tried to get a picture of the audience, but it didn't come out very well! We loved every min of it and were laughing about it the entire night. It was a neat experience to see them in concert and amazing that they are STILL singing at all. Time to retire I think! ;) They have an amazing sound and it was cool to get to hear that in person. Of course they didn't sing any Christmas songs, I was hoping they would take requests! ;)
After the show we were walking out and we saw the bass singer walking towards their bus. We stopped and asked for a pic. :) We also stopped and talked to the drumer on the way by. Nick got a picture with him and then he gave us a free CD. :)

It was definetly a night we will always remember!! :)

The rest of the weekend was spent with Nick's brother, Tyler, as he came down to hang out with us! We had fun with him and are looking forward to living so close to him as he is at school!! :)

A Message of Hope

2010-08-17T22:39:00.000-07:00

We were working on our talks that we have to give sunday... :(... and we came across this amazing mormon message. Nick mentioned that it has been too long since I have posted one of these, so we decided it was worth sharing... enjoy!!

Matts Wedding

2010-08-07T22:14:00.000-07:00

Nick's brother, Matt, got married in Denver on July 29th so we made the trip to be there. It was a very quick trip with lots and lots and LOTS of driving! :) yes, we drove instead of flying because it was cheaper... still not sure it was the best idea! Neither of us have been in a car for that long before and it sure was an adventure.
We started our trip as soon as nick got home from work Tuesday (July 27th) morning at 2 AM!! Why did we leave that early? Dani and Bob only live three hours away from Denver and we weren't about to pass up the opportunity to see them. Instead of driving 11 hours to Denver, we drove 14 hours to Lingle, Wyoming! :) We lived off Rockstars and junk candy to stay awake, which wasn't as hard as I was imagining. We got to Bob and Dani's at 5 pm, had dinner, played games, and enjoyed sweet Addie. Wednesday morning we got things ready for the wedding and hung out as long as we could. Then around 2 pm we headed to Denver for the wedding dinner.

The drive seemed so short and sweet as we got to Denver around 5 pm. We checked into our hotel, met Megan and her family, and waited for the rest of both families to get in. After a very crazy evening we ended up having dinner at Applebees around 9 pm. Thursday morning came and we all headed to the Denver temple for Matt and Megan's Sealing at noon. Nick's Grandpa Garrick performed their sealing and it was SO beautiful. It brought back sweet memories of our sealing as Grandpa Garrick also did ours... what a sweet and kind man. I just LOVE weddings and the temple was so pretty! Matt and Megan both looked so happy and cute together. We took tons of pictures on the grounds and then met for a wedding luncheon.

At the luncheon, right before Matt and Megan took off, we realized that no one had trashed their car... panicked we went into the restrooms grabbed a ton of t.p. and some food from the buffet (Tyler took an entire pie) and did the best we could with what we had! :) We owe that restaurant a couple bucks for their product ;)

After the luncheon we all went back to the hotel to rest and later went to a movie and ordered pizza. It was such a fun, adventureous, and relaxing night.

Friday morning we woke up early, checked out of the hotel, said good-bye to family, and drove to Fort Collins for breakfast with Bob and Dani. Fort Collins was the halfway point for both of us. We met at Ihop and then went to a nearby park to play and relax. The boys played catch with the football and Frisbee while we played with Addie. They managed to get the football, Frisbee, and volleyball all stuck in the tree at once... very entertaining to watch. Since we had a LOVELY 12 hour drive ahead of us back to Vegas, we said good-bye around noon.

We took the I-70 back home and we loved every min of the drive. So beautiful!! We managed to get a few good pics of the scenery.

We got into Vegas around 1 AM and it has been a crazy non-stop week since. This is this first time I have had time to sit down and blog and clean house. We had a GREAT time, even though it was a LONG drive and such a short stay. We are excited to get to know Megan better and are so happy for them both!! CONGRATS!!

p.s. Thank goodness for Thompson Springs, Utah. Haven't heard of it? It will always been known to us as the gas station that saved us a lot of walking/waiting time. :)

We were too distracted by the scenery and just getting home that we looked down as the gas light came on and realized we were almost out of gas with fifty+ miles left to go before the next town. All the sudden Thompson Springs(a gas station) came out of the middle of no where and saved our lives!! :)

Until Then...

2010-07-25T23:50:00.001-07:00

I have yet to post about Girls Camp... Brit, the camp cook/assitant director, has an amazing camera and took some GREAT photos. She is kind enough to edit all the pics and make CD's for each of us. However; because there are a million photos she has not had enough time to get them all finished yet. So in the mean time, she posted a couple pics on her blog that I wanted to share... Here are a few of the girls dressed and ready to present one of the best skits in the stake: a rap written about Modern day Little Red Riding Hood, to the theme song of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (more to come later). I love the red hoodies as well, on the backside of each it reads: "Inspi(red)".

As I mentioned before, the stake them was 'Fairest of Them All'. For one of the acitivities all the wards were given two rolls of toilet paper, tape of their choice, and 20 mins to design and assemble a modest gown. Amazing camp director, Stacey, was chosen to be the model (aka: girls were fighting over who was going to be model). The girls had a BLAST doing it and I had a blast laughing at them all week long... very silly girls! ;)

(see me in the pic below?? Yes I was mistaken for a "girl" all week long at camp and continued to be the following sunday after bearing my testimony in sacrament... I'll appreicate that SOME day, right?) ;)

I'll post rest of details and all the pics when I recieve them!

Girls Camp...Here I Come!!

2010-07-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

Girls Camp keeps getting closer and closer as we leave for Mt. Charleston on Tuesday. Being Camp Assistant has been a very very big and busy calling for me. I have to say I'm glad it's coming up this week so I can focus on Nursery again. I feel like all the preperation for Camp has left me neglecting the kids in Nursery; however, its been nice to meet more people outside of Nursery and get to know the girls as well.

The Stake theme for Girls Camp this year is, "The Fairest of Them All.." So each ward chose a 'princess' or fairy tale as their individual theme. We chose Little Red Riding Hood our color is red and the value we chose is individual worth. As each of us have put long hours and thought into camp, we have each done things to give to the girls during the week that go along with individual worth, choosing the right, and staying away from the wordly "bad wolves". :) I decided that making journals for them and encouraging them to keep a journal would definetly help them to learn the importance of their individual worth. I have also prepared a devotional for the night I give them the journals and am using a talk by President Spencer W. Kimball. He says:

“We may think there is little of interest or importance in what we personally say or do- but it is remarkable how many of our families, as we pass on down the line, are interested in all that we do and all that we say...
Your journal should record the way you face up to challenges that beset you.
Your journal, like most others, will tell of problems as old as the world and how you dealt with them. Your Journal should contain your true self rather than a picture of you when you are ”made up” for a public performance.
Your journal is your autobiography, so it should be kept carefully, You are unique, and there may be incidents in your experience that are more noble and praiseworthy in their way than those recorded in any other life.”

I included all of these important quotes on the inside cover of the journals so the girls can always refer back to them. Here is what I did....

First, we took profiles pictures of each and everyone of the girls. Then I put them into Photoshop to make black/white profiles...

Second, I designed the front cover, inside front cover, outside back cover and inside back cover...

Third, I bought 11 black/white composition notebooks

Fourth, I printed the design I created in Photoshop and applied with Modge Podge each one to the notebooks.
Fifth, I made red and white rosettes to apply to the front of each journal...

And here is how they turned out...

What do you think? I hope the girls like them and that they will take time to keep a journal and remember the importance of it. More to come on Girls Camp next week!

Time For A Change

2010-07-06T16:50:00.001-07:00

Last week Nick kept informing me that he had a surprise for me, but couldn't tell me for awhile? If you know Nick, you know that this is a regular occurance at our house...and I'm definetly not complaining about that! ;) I was wondering all week what could it be? I had no idea and a couple days later his phone rang and this conversation followed...

Nick: "Hello?"
female voice" "Hi, is Lindi there?"
Nick: "Um, ya, hold on..."
(nick looks at me with a confused voice and tells me he has no idea who it is but she wants to talk to me)
Me: "Hello?"
female voice: "Hi, is this Lindi?"
Me: "yes?"
female voice: "I was calling to confirm your hair appointment with Arcs salon on Thursday @ 1:45..."

...long silent pause, thinking to myself I never made a hair appointment? I look at Nick and he rolls his eyes, calls the "female voice" an idiot to himself. Ding! Ding!! I just found out what my surprise was 3 days early because the receptionist called ahead of time and ruined it!!! :) :)

Me: "...um, yes I'll be there. Thank you!!"

This particular salon is located at Mandalay Bay where Nick parks cars. He knew this lady from parking her car and she offered him an AMAZING deal to do my hair just because she is NICE!! I mean a really amazing deal...3 colors and a CHOP for...ready for this...$35!!!!!! Originally it would have cost me around $200 for that, which is out of the question. I like my hair but really? Of course our tip was very very generous and I still owe her a huge thank you!!

Here are the results:

(best BEFORE pic I could find)

Dark, Long and getting pretty bord of it

AFTER!!!

Not a great pic to show all the different colors and layers, but you kind of get the idea. I'm slowly trying to get it back to my original color, thats why we did 3 colors and it got rid of the lovely purple tint... which is a good thing! ;)

What do you think? I'm already tempted to chop it more and go back to the a-line cut! :)

Thanks Nick for always surprising me and being the sweetest!! I should learn by now not to mention things I need/want to do because the next thing I know, he already has it figured it out! :)

And NOW We're Caught Up!!!

2010-06-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

FINISHED!!!!....for now! ;) After a long, drawn out semester I can finally say that I am done with school and now have my degree in Interior Design. :) :) After girls camp and going to Matt's Wedding in July, it's job searching time for me!! :) Right now, I'm working with the designer I interned with last semester on designing a high rise condo located on the strip. It has been a blast, and once we're finished I will have to post pics.

Here are the girls that were in my program...

{Ignore my none-professional attire, I didn't present this same day}

As you can see there weren't too many of us, so we all got to know each other very well!!

Melissa, me, Kelly, and Karen

During my last semster, once of my classes was 'Business Practices'. In this class we worked on and refined our portfolios so that we might be able to get a job in the field. If your interested in seeing what I have now... here ya go! Keeping in mind, of course, that it is an always changing and improving work.

{to view my portfolio click on the Front Page below}

AS FOR NICK....

Nick also finished another semester of his Fire Science classes. He is now Fire Fighter I certified!! Wahoo!!! He will continue to take classes and attend school to obtain his degree in Fire Science and to also attend Paramedic school. He has taken Fire Department Tests in Nevada and Montana and also will in Utah, Idaho, and Colorado. During his class this semester, he was required to get all his "fire gear" on under one min. He got it down pretty good and better all the time.

Take a look....

Here is the second part...

AFTER SCHOOL...

After we both finished school, my cousin Jessie and sister Katie came to visit us for a week. We had a week full of FUN with BBQin', swimming/hanging at the pool, playing games/cards, shopping, site seeing, and catching up.

FINALLY...

After our week of fun, Jessie and Katie flew back to Wyoming with us, where we FINALLY got to see our families and spend time with them for 10 days. We flew into Bozeman where Nick stayed until Tuesday to test for the Fire Department. This test was a state-wide test where it applied to 8 different cities in Montana. He took and passed the written and physical test. WAHOO!!! What a huge relief for him and all his hard work is paying off! :) Now we have 8 different appilcations to fill out and send in.

After he was finished testing, he joined the rest of us in Lovell. Dani and Bob also came down for the week, so all of my side of the family was together!!! :) :) This hasn't happened in over a year and has been not so fun for my sisters and I, so it was a BLAST!!! The week was packed full of thing after thing and bouncing back between our families.

It was so fun for Nick to finally be able to see his family after a year too. It has been way to long and we hope it won't be that long again. I think Nick's highlight of the week (besides passing his tests), was being able to see his little bro play football in the Shrine Bowl at Casper. He hadn't been able to see him play football at all and had been dying to. Even tho I was sick with the flu and it was 46 degrees and raining the entire time, the Shrine Bowl game was a blast and it was so FUN to watch Tyler play. His team won by 1 point as it was very intense there at the end!!

I did SOOO bad at getting pics of everything we did, but here is what we did get. :)

Since my family was all in town, we had family pictures done and we had so much fun doing them. I'm excited to see the results, and because of that I feel a little better about not getting pics of everything! :)

Thanks for having us and putting up with us for 10 days family!! We had a blast and can't wait to see you again soon!! :) :) :)

Right NOW...

2010-05-24T16:20:00.000-07:00

... we were originally supposed to be in Lovell celebrating:

Tyler's Court of Honor, Seminary Graduation, & High School Graduation

Quinn's Birthday

Katie's Birthday

Hayden's Baby Blessing

Taysum's Birthday

and the fact that we haven't been back to Lovell for over a year!!

HOWEVER, things happen in life and things don't always go as we plan so we are still here in the heat of Vegas. We are lucky enough to still be able to go to Lovell in June though, so we shouldn't complain too much. AND i'm lucky enough that my cousin, Jessie and sister, Katie are coming SUNDAY!!!!

Family, just know we hate having to miss so much and are so excited to see you all soon.

I know, I don't blog for a month and that's it? I will try to catch up on EVERYTHING we have been up to latley!!

Quick Trip...

2010-04-11T22:44:00.000-07:00

... to Logan, Utah for Easter. I know this is pretty late, so I'll keep it short. Bob, Dani, & Addie went to Utah for Easter and with them only being 7 hours away, I couldn't resist. I've only seen Addie once, so I drove down for the weekend. Lets just say bad roads/weather and no hubby to keep me happy and company, it could have been a better drive (so excited that the next few trips will be WITH you, Nick). But once I got there the weekend was great!! I stopped by in Orem to say hello to two of my old roomies from College. SOOO good to see them. It was too short of a time, but worth the stop. Spending time with Bob, Dani, and Addie was so FUN and not being able to see them more often is really a downer. :( Addie is such a doll, I mean seeing pics of her of course you can't disagree... but being around this doll is such a joy. What a good, happy, patient, sweet baby!! We took plenty of pics together and Dani promised to show her pics of me EVERYDAY so the next time I see her she'll remember me! ;) A special thanks to Bob's family for allowing me to stay with them for the weekend and being so kind!

Thanks for the invite guys... it was great to see you ALL!!

There's exactly 21 Days left of SCHOOL..............

Family, Friends, Spring & School

2010-03-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

FAMILY TRADITION

Nick's family has a "Chinese Dinner" tradition where each of them make a Chinese dish and then get together and have an AMAZING YUMMY dinner. I can remember when Nick and I were just dating once he got off his mission and I was invited over for Chinese Dinner with his family... after eating that amazing food, I knew I had to be part of that family and if Nick didn't propose to me, I would have to propose to him! ;) Of course the Chinese food isn't the only reason I wanted to be part of their family... just a major PLUS!! :)

SO... over Spring break, Nick and I planned and homemade our own Chinese Dinner. We invited a good friend and her son over for dinner to join in the fun with us. :) Like Terri said, making these recipes sure is a lot of work, but its SOO worth it!! :) WE LOVED it and I was SOO excited that it all turned out so good! I do have to say the hardest and longest part of the process was probably finding out what half of the ingredients even were before going up and down and up and down each isle at Walmart trying to find them. :)

(I apologize in advance for the lame pictures... my camera was dead, so Nick took them with his phone. I even had the funnest table setting for the occasion, but you would never know!)

Our appetizer was PF Chang Lettuce Wraps:
I actually got this recipe from cousin Claire!! :)

We did 4 main dishes:

1.Beef Broccoli

2. Panda Express Orange Chicken

3. Egg Rolls

4. Fried Rice

I love Chinese food and am SO excited that I know how to make it from scratch. Thanks Kim, Terri, and Claire for ALL the yummy recipes!! Our friend was able to take home left overs and we also had left overs for a while!! :)

TENDER MERCY
When Nick served his mission here in Las Vegas, he met the sweetest and kindest family, the Geworski's. Nick baptized the mother of the family, Laura, as her daughter, Ashley, was already baptized. Nick became great friends with the family and even today, they call to "check up" on us and have us over for dinner all the time.

Ashley is a great eaxmple and has such a strong testimony and has decided to serve a mission. Last week she recieved her call in the mail and asked if we would like to be there when she opened it. Of course we said yes and went right over. Here is a VERY important fact to this amazing thing that happens next... about a month ago Ashley was telling us that she had a dream that she was going to be called to the New Hampshire mission. She told everyone about it and how wierd it was and how in the dream she was upset because it was cold there and serving in a cold place wouldn't be fun. SO... as she opens her mission call and begins reading it outloud for everyone to hear, she read that she had been called to serve in the NEW HAMPSHIRE Mission!!!! Overcome with emotion and the strong feelings she and everyone felt in the room, we were all crying. It truly is amazing how well the Lord knows each and every one of us! Congrats Ashely, you will do GREAT!!

Crazy thing happened while we were there... we met a guy named Ryan (whose wife and 2 kids names I cannot remember) who asked where we were from... we said small town in Wyoming. He asks what's it called. We tell him Lovell. Then he asks us if we know the Crosbys. :) Of course we know them, I worked for them for years and Nick helped them around the farm. Ryan and his wife went to school in Arizona with Chris and Crystal Crosby!! It's a small world!! :)

SPRING BREAK SUCCESS

Some of you may remember my "to do" list for Spring break. Well I got MOST of those things done on that list... I did a lot of sleeping in, watching movies, and spending time with Nick. But I also completed:

1. Addie's surprise package...
a book, a jacket for her spring walks and more hair things!! :) flowers made out of fabric!!!

(if anyone is interested in knowing how to make these or wanting some yourself, let me know)

2. 50+ Mother's Day Cards for Young Womens Camp Fundraiser:

Adding cardstock behind them and some ribbon to attach them to the top of the dinners will fully complete them!

3. Successful Stampin' Up Party at my house! Of course I have No pics of this either... camera was STILL dead and I ran out of time to get batteries! :) We had lots of fun with good food and had a great turn out too!! THANKS EVERYONE!!

BACK TO SCHOOL

Now were back in school and only have 6 weeks left!!! WOW... its been FLYING by so fast, and its a good thing too, we're SO excited to be able to see all of our families SOON!! Last week in Nick's Fire class he got to put out car fires and a "bon fire" as well. He loved every minute of it. Hes been studying and preparing for his fire tests this summer in Montana and is looking forward to that.

I am trying to keep up with all the school work and internship hours. It's crazy that I'll be done with school so soon. You would think after 5 long years I would want to be done and just stop with the schooling, but guess what?? I found an Online Interior Design Bachelors Degree program through The Art Institute of Pittsburg Online Division!!!! I know, I know... 5 years in school and I STILL don't have a bachelors??... things never goes as planned and between back surgery and a degree change, here I am with two Associates degrees and thats it!! I have always wanted to finish online, so that I could get a job now and finish up as I go... well, NOW this is possible. I have looked and looked for online Interior Design programs but NO ONE offered them until NOW!!! So crazy as it is, I applied for the school and sent all my transcripts in to see what credits they will accept. If everything goes as planned, I will probably begin that program within the next year. Never stop learning and progressing, right? :)

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

Catching up!!

2010-03-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

Things have been very very crazy around here... midterms, birthday, church callings, work, and not much sleep. First off, I want to THANK EVERYONE for all the wonderful birthday wishes. I got so many phone calls, txts, and so many cards and birthday packages in the mail... it was so fun and very much appreciated. You would think that the older you get, the less excited one becomes about their birthday; however, this is not the case for me. I was so overly excited about my birthday this year and I'm not really sure why?? Maybe because it was a good excuse to get to go shopping? :) Of course Nick went WAY over the top and spoiled me rotten. I woke up to breakfast in bed :), and then when I went downstairs to go to school for the day, Nick had hung up "happy birthday" banners all over in the living room. The floor was also covered in balloons from mom's package. Nick had gotten up in the middle of the night to set all of that up for me. After I took my History midterm, Nick took me to lunch at Panda Express (my favorite Chinese place... I could probably eat there everyday). After lunch he took me SHOPPING!!!!!! The only time I really ever go shopping is when my friend Kate comes to town because it's NOT Nick's favorite thing to do. Thats how I know he loves me so much... he took me shopping! :) After shopping, he took me to City Center (if you aren't aware of what that is check it out here) I've been dying to go see all the Interior Design, so he took me to walk around and see it. After that he had arrangements for a limo to pick us up and take us to dinner. Dinner was amazingly good and after that FUN FILLED day, we were both so exhausted that we went straight home and to bed!! :) Thanks sweets for the great birthday!! You are the BEST!!! (sorry I forgot my camera that day...no pictures)

Midterms were this last week and it certainly was NOT a fun week. I had two juried presentations and three written tests. It was a long, stressful, sleepless week, but I'm pretty sure all the hard work paid off. Even though I haven't recieved any grades back, I feel pretty good about it all. Now I have Spring Break and have a whole week off school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm VERY VERY excited about this if you can't tell. This break is very much needed. I was asking Nick the other day if I'm crazy because I asked him this question... "If I just wanted to take a whole week and admit myself to the hospital to be fully hydrated with fluids from an IV and also get something that would allow me to sleep for a full week, am I crazy?"... he said I think you mean you need a vacation? "Ya I guess that's what you might call it!!" :) I'm also excited for Spring Break because it gives me a chance to catch up and also get ahead on a number of things, like....

1. Finish a surprise I've been working on for this little sweetheart....

2. Design and make 50+ Mother's Day cards for our Girls Camp fundrasier. (for those of you who didn't know, I've been called as Assistant Camp Director this summer for Girls Camp. It's already been a ton off work and huge learning experience) Yes I know, Mother's Day isn't until May, but I won't have time to even think about making that many cards after I start school again.

3. Get ahead in my online science class so I can focus on all my design classes the rest of semester.

4. Finish some projects around the house.

5. Start researching to get fun ideas for Nursery. I have been in Nursery as an assistant for about 7 months now. Last Sunday, there were some changes made and I was asked to now be the Nursery Leader for the 2-3 year olds. WOW... what a huge responsibilty. You may be thinking, really??... don't you just watch kids play all day... no, I have 25, 2-3 year olds that I have to plan a lesson, music time, snack time, and activity time for each and every week. Even a bigger job when you have one sweet little guy who has a huge problem with biting another child everytime you turn around... :( 5 kids were bit last week...ya, its a problem!

6. MOST IMPORTANTLY, spend time with Nick... sleeping in, eating, watching movies and relaxing!!!!!!

Sounds like I have one AMAZING Spring Break planned! :)

And for the MOST EXCITING & BEST NEWS EVER....................

Nick got a schedule change!!!! He is officially DONE WORKING GRAVEYEARD!!!! That may not seem like such a big deal to some, but to us it is TRULY A BLESSING!!! If any of you have worked graveyard before I'm sure you can totally relate. It has been MORE then hard on Nick and I'm so excited that he will finally have a normal and consistent sleeping schedule. Also, it will be amazing for him to feel good and not be tired all of the time. I will enjoy every night of having him sleeping next to me as this has been a trial for me for a very long time. Sleeping alone by yourself every night in a huge scary city is NOT very fun... but that also might be because I'm a wuss!! That's about all that has been going on with us latley, now we're all caught up!!

Home Sweet Home

2010-02-27T11:10:00.000-08:00

FINALLY... I know (Dani & Katie)!!! With school being so crazy and with me also trying to finish up with some things around the house, I haven't had time yet to post about the house we moved into in January. Since both Nick and I's families are so far away, they haven't seen the house yet. They have been patient and have been waiting for pictures. So for family, personal documentation, and others interested, here you are! :)

First off, I thought I would VERY QUICKLY (so quick that NOTHING is even to scale... my teachers at school would NOT approve) draw up 2 floor plans of our house. It is a two story house and because my pictures aren't very good, and because I didn't post pics of every room, you can still get an idea of the layout of the house. Doors, windows, and not all furniture have been added... just walls and basic things, so that you get the idea.

First Floor

Second Floor

Our house is decorated in all black and white with accents of different colors in each room. I'm obsessed with black and white. I'm also in love with Damask print or a contemperary baroque style.

Guest Bedroom

This particular room was inspired by the artwork I did at Northwest College, in the Lower right-hand corner. Nick says I don't use my artwork around the house enough, so I decided this piece would be fun to use. As you can see two identical pieces are above the bed.

I plan to add other pieces of artwork to this room as well... of course ones that are the same type of art.

Guest Bathroom

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Living Room

Pretty sure that this is my favorite room in the house. First of all, because we're renting, I'm not allowed to put up any wall coverings, so for the damask print I wanted to do, I did the next best thing... stenciling!! (love the stencil?? I know just where you can get one!!)

Kitchen

Granite Counter tops, dark wood cabinets, and Black appliances (minus the fridge... did ya see that??) :) Wierd huh?? Remember we're just renting we didn't pick them out! :) I LOVE LOVE the pantry. Having room for food is amazing. Not to mention all the cupboard space... some of them don't even have anything in them! :)

Dinning Area

Well, there you go... what do you think? Thanks to my patient husband, this was able to be accomplished!! :) We have been loving living in a house and not in an apartment. I guess there is two things we miss from the condo we were living in before...

1. HOT TUB

2. Fireplace

...but its completely worth it all when you don't have to worry about hearing everything that crazy people do (like beat their wife.. and then hearing the cops pound on their door at least twice a month) so family... I know you like it so much your just dying to come see it in person aren't you?? The guest room is calling your name! :)

Cheap Date Day!!

2010-02-15T18:08:00.000-08:00

(NOTE: This blog is not only a way to keep in touch 'visually' with our families, but is also a way to document the things we do together as a couple, so we can always remember them. The main point of this post is to remind us how simple things can be while still having a BLAST!!)

Have any of you seen this commercial?? It's a Sonic commerical, but it's really funny. Check it out...

Well, we LOVE this commcercial and it has inspired us to have 'Cheap Date day/nights' on mondays!! :)

(warning: we don't plan to have DAY LONG dates like this every monday, but we had 3 different things to celebrate... NO SCHOOL, Valentines, and cheap date day!!)

Today we decided to celebrate Valentines and also do our 'Cheap Date Day'. It started off by driving to Logandale... WHY? you might ask... well I am love with Marverik Hot Dogs. Ya, it may be sick and disgusting to some of you, but I LOVE them. I can't even remember the last time I had one. I also LOVE their pickles and banana peppers. Doesn't take much to please this girl!! Vegas doesn't have Maveriks, but Logandale does...

30 min drive+couple bucks for lunch=CHEAP AMAZING DATE!! :)

Look at this sign we saw on our drive... we're only 1/2 mile from home!! ;)

(for those who don't know, Byron is a small town not to far from our hometown)

We drove around Logandale for awhile, just relaxing and checking out the small town life. It was such a fun, relaxing day. It was also such a beauitful day, 70 degrees. :) Very very nice since its been raining off and on the last month. I've been looking forward to the sun!! :)

When we got back to Vegas, we decided it would be fun to go mini-golfing. It was open this time and we had a blast. We met a family from Wheatland, Wyoming... they were one hole ahead of us the whole time. We think we may have annoyed them a little because we have fun and tend not to care what people think about it! :) We started to get a little bored waiting for the wyoming family to move onto the next hole ahead of us, so we began making human obstacles for eachother to try and get the golf ball through. :) (You'll have to check out those pics!) On hole 16 I got REAL lucky and got a-hole-in-one!!! That's pretty good compared to the previous holes where it was more like a-hole-in-5!! :) I got my name on the "Hole in One" board... yep, just as excited as a 5 year old I know... once again very very easy to please.
I'm going to just put a slide show up of all our pics from the golf because that would just be too long. :)

To celebrate Valentines, Nick decided to end the date day with going to dinner at Olive Garden.
Obviously, not making it an ALL DAY thing will help keep the whole "cheap" idea in order. :) I am personally looking forward to these date days together. We're already sick of this semesters schedule and not getting to see eachother very often, so this is going to be great, cheap, and so much fun for us!!

King of Country

2010-02-08T10:23:00.001-08:00

Nick and I may be George Strait's BIGGEST FANS EVER!!! :) I have ALWAYS wanted to see George in concert and knew that living in Vegas would HAVE TO present the opportunity to us!! When Nick and I were engaged, and he was here and I was still in Wyoming, George was in Vegas and we tried to make it work so that I could come visit at the same time... But of course that didn't work. I told Nick then that he couldn't go without me! :) :) Nick waited for me and said that George would come back to town another time and we could go together... that's how I knew Nick was a keeper! :)

Well, George came back to town on February 6, and we promised each other that no matter what, the next time he came to town, we WERE going!! So, we got tickets in advance and on Saturday night, we went to MGM to see George in concert. And we lucked out too, because Reba is on tour with him right now. Two of the best country artists in one night... you can't beat that!! Leeann Womack opened for them too, which was also great!! Either of us had EVER seen either of these artists in concert before.

Everyone must have been just as excited as us, because getting there was a NIGHTMARE!! Traffic and lines into the arena were just ridiculous. The place was packed tight full of random people too. :) Between Reba and George we went out to take a break and walk around, but we ended up standing along a wall and watching all sorts of different people walk around. 'People watching' is one of our favorite things to do. :) :) I kept telling Nick, "my dad would be getting a HUGE kick out of this", and for two reasons; one being that he also loves to 'people watch' and the second, seeing all the city-folk dressed up in their "cowboy gear". Nothing is funnier than seeing a bunch of brand new, never-worn-before cowboy hats, boots, and jeans... you know what I mean. However, we did see some people representing Wyoming via shirts, hats, etc. We wanted to get pics of them but they disappeared too fast. :)

ANYWAYS... back to concert, that was just one of the highlights of our night!! :)

During Reba's performance, they did the funniest thing... Are you familiar with the TV show, "Reba"? It's on lifetime and is a pretty cute show. Melissa Peterman plays 'Barbra Jean' on the show and is a very funny character. Reba and Barbra Jean have a love-hate relationship and right before Reba sang the theme song for the show, "I'm a Survivor", Barbra Jean runs onto the stage.... here is a clip of it...

(please ignore the annoying girls screaming in the background) :)

George Strait did an AMAZING job!! You know they are the real deal when they sound even better live then on the radio/cd. Since George doesn't have even ONE bad song, they were all amazing and it was so fun to actually get to see him. They did a close-up shot of him on the big screen and Nick and I looked at each other with surprising faces... the poor guy is getting old :)... hes been the "king" for years and years, but I guess I didn't realize how long it actually has been. We looked it up later and he's 58 years old! :(... but still one good looking guy who has the best voice and BEST music!! :) If any of you are country music fans, it is a concert you DO NOT want to miss!! Now I can cross a number off my 'bucket list'!! :)

HAPPY DAY!!!!!

2010-02-06T08:37:00.001-08:00

Many of you know that I've been attending the College of Southern Nevada in order to complete the Interior Design program. I started this program the Summer of 2009 and have been working hard to complete it as soon as possible. In fact, I quit my job in order to take as full of a load as possible to complete as soon as I could. Thanks to my hard, hard working husband, this has been possible. However; there were a few things holding me back from completing it as soon as I thought was possible...let me give ya some background info before I explain this....

I graduated from Northwest College, (Wyoming) in May of 2008 with an Associates of Fine Arts and then transfered to UNLV thinking I would complete my degree in Art Education. Well, long story short, UNLV and teaching Art was NOT for me. So then I transfered from UNLV to CSN to complete the Interior Design program which I LOVE and it has been so fun!!

...SO back to "THAT THING" holding me back.... Transfering from school to school to
school, is a very LONG and sticky process. Most schools would transfer an Associates degree as a whole degree instead of breaking it up into individual classes, but CSN does NOT do this. Well, I got my Degree Audit from the Admissions office at CSN in October 2009, and it was broken down class by class telling me what they would and would NOT accept from both UNLV and NWC. It said that they would NOT accept 8 of my transfer classes. GENERAL classes, let me add... math, science, communciation, english...you get the point. SO instead of me graduating in MAY 2010, it would be more like May 2011. That wouldn't have been such a big deal to me if it was more interior related classes that I had never taken, where I would be learning more. But it was just taking the exact same general class I had already taken... VERY frustrating!!

So, I ended up calling my program director, almost in tears, and he reassured me that we would work together to get these classes passed, so that I wouldn't have to take them again. Between meeting with him, and a counselor who specializes in transfers, I wrote up 8 different sets of paper work explaining that "I have already taken this class", and so forth...We then turned in the paper work and it was sent to each program directors office for approval or denial.

5 MONTHS later, February 5, 2010, I recieved the results............

AND....

They APPROVED all 8 classes that I fought for and I WILL be graduating in 4 months,

May 2010!!!

Thanks to Strep Throat....

2010-01-30T15:15:00.000-08:00

... I can take a break and catch up on the blog! :) Ya, not starting the semester off too great. After having a "cold" on and off 3 different times since Christmas, I finally went to the doctor and found out I have strep throat. After sleeping, resting, staying home a few days, and taking my antibiotics, I'm starting to feel a lot better thanks my hubby who helped me out and got everything I needed.

anyway...here's what we've been up to....

"GET-AWAY"

During the break between semesters, the Vegas temple was closed for 2 weeks for cleaning. I wanted to go to the temple and Nick had the day off work, so we drove up the St. George and attended the temple there. I have never been to that temple and Nick had only been there once. It's a very pretty temple and it reminded me a lot of the Salt Lake temple. It was a lot of fun to get away from unpacking in the new house and away from the city.

"DAY O'FUN"
The Day before school started again for another semester, Nick and I thought we would have a "Day o'Fun!" It was going to consist of tubing on Mt Charleston, then going shooting, then mini golf and finally bowling! wow huh?! :) Ya, well it didn't really work out like we planned.
We left the house and headed for Mt. Charleston in the rain. Nick thought that would be perfect because that meant it would be snowing on the mountain. Well, we didn't even get half way up the mountain when we got stopped by a flagger who said, "If you don't have chains for your tires, you can't go any further and will have to turn around here." Nick and I looked at her with the blank stare... then we looked outside all around us and yes, it was foggy and raining a little, but NO SNOW. We didn't have chains, so we turned around... BUT the point is, if we did have chains where the heck were we supposed to go with them on? Down the paved highway? The one that had not ONE snowflake on it?
Well, we decided NOT to let that poor confused person ruin our "day o'fun", and went exploring an a different mountain for a good shooting place. We came across this...

Knowing it MUST be the perfect place to explore and go shooting, we turned down this road and drove for awhile until we found a great place. We set up some targets and also threw a few clay pigeons. Nick also attempted to slide down on the patches of snow that were there... that didn't work at all. :(

We ended up spending a lot of the day here and still had to run some errands when we got back into town. We called the mini golf place to make sure it was open (it was a holiday), and of course it wasn't open because everything was determined to ruin our "fun" day. ;) So, we headed home and called it a day! :) We were pretty excited to find 'Lovell Canyon' and will defiantly make that our new shooting place.

SCHOOL

Now we're both in school until May and this semester seems like it will be a good one. I'm taking 20 credits again and also doing my internship. I was offered my internship position at the Las Vegas Parade of Homes Award Night. Nick actually taught the lady who owns and run the parade while he was on his mission. While we were at the awards Night, I was visiting with a designer there who found out I was in the Interior Design program at CSN, and then she offered me the position for which ever semester I chose. Its located at the World Market Center (click to learn more) here in Vegas. I work on Saturdays with a designer by the name of Kathy Wilson. I work her and watch how she works with her clients. I go around to all the showrooms and get familiar with the products they have and also the managers. I also get offered random jobs that will be available at the different showrooms throughout the semester.

I've really enjoyed it so far and look forward to learning more and getting to meet more designers and show room managers. I also like my design classes and hopefully this will be my last semester of school!! :)

Nick is also going to school this semester and taking a fire fighting class. This class is very physical and he learns how to pull/drag the hose, runs the flight of stairs dragging the hose, puts our car fires, and learns a lot of different drills and training for different firefighting tacticts and situations. Part of this class requires him to get familiar with the fire fighting equipment and he has to get ALL his gear on under 2 mins...(that's with the oxygen tank connected to his mouth piece and ON)...very challenging from what I saw when he was practicing at home.

o, and here he is showing us all how he would put out a fire at home in the sink. ;) And here he was showing me that if "some" firefighter was to get knocked out and was laying flat for over 1-2 mins, the oxygen tank would make a very loud sharp ring that would make it recognizable and easy for others to find...
The class is very demanding and very hard physical work. And to add to that... the class is on Saturdays... he goes to work Saturday morning at 1 am, gets off early at 6 am to make it to class no later than 7 am. He gets done with class around 12:30 and has to go back to work at 2 until 5 pm to finish his 8 hours for the day. Then he comes home, eats, sleeps and goes BACK to work at 1 am. So you can see we are starting another busy busy 5 months. :)

HOUSE POST COMING SOON!!!

CONGRATS!!!

2010-01-06T09:27:00.001-08:00

Nick's brother, Matt, is ENGAGED and will be getting married sometime this summer, probably in July. (date is not set in stone yet!) Nick was talking to Matt on the phone last night, and he told us the proposal story and plans for the wedding and such. Matt sounded so good and so happy, you could just "see" him smiling from ear to ear. We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet her.

CONGRATS MATT & MEGAN!!!

We are so happy for you both!!

Christmas 2009

2009-12-26T14:06:00.000-08:00

This year, Nick wasn't able to get work off for either of the Holidays. We can't complain though because this is the first time they haven't given him the time off that he's asked for. So for both Thanksgiving and Christmas we weren't able to see either of our immediate families. :( We missed them dearly and know it would have been great to spend the holidays with them; however, considering the circumstances, we had a great Christmas and feel very blessed for everything we were given.

When Aubri and Daniel, Nick's cousin, found out that we weren't able to go home this year, they immediately made plans to make sure that we still had the best Christmas that we could without seeing our families. They invited us to their house on Christmas Eve where we enjoyed some great food and even better entertainment. :) We played games and had a very fun relaxing night. We haven't gotten together in forever with them, so it was SOO nice to see them and have a good time together. Thanks again for the invite Aubri & Daniel... we had a blast!! :)

Christmas Day Nick got home from work around 9:30 am. He IMMEDIATELY wanted to open presents! :) For once someone my age was even more excited than me. ;) He separated all the gifts into two piles for the both of us and then we each took turns opening each gift. :) We got so many gifts from each of our families and are so thankful for their kindness. Nick also got me great things!! (thanks love!) The one gift that totally surprised me from him, was a Hunting/Shooting game. :) One night we had dinner at this small bar and grill and they had an arcade game there. We decided to give it try while waiting for our food. It ended up being a pretty fun game that we got some really good laughs from! :) Well, Nick ended up finding this exact game at Bass Pro Shop. You simply plug in the cord attached to the gun into the back of the tv, set up the target scanner, and you're ready to play. :) After we finished opening our gifts, we opened the shooting game and gave it try... 1 hour later we decided that we should get ready for dinner and clean up! :) Thanks to BOTH families for all the fun, sweet, and thoughtful gifts. We missed you all so much and look forward to seeing you SOON (hopefully)!!!

For Christmas Dinner, we were invited to Laura and Rolly's (good family friends, Nick met on his mission). They are the sweetest people and we had such a good time there. They are always checking up on us, and making sure everythings okay. Nick thinks of them as our parents away from home. We had GREAT food, good company, and played some games there as well. And of course, they sent us home with half the food they prepared... so we'll have Christmas Dinner left overs from a dinner I didn't even have to cook! :) We loved spending the afternoon with them and are thankful for their friendship. Nick mentioned on the way home, that he was so glad we had decided to accept their invite because it was probably the best thing next to being home with our families!!

I took the camera with us both on Christmas Eve and Christmas day; however, we only got pics of us opening presents :(....

Our first Christmas away from home was not the easiest thing and we wished we could have seen our families, but our family and friends here made it easier for us and we thank them for that!! We hope everyone else also had a great Christmas!!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-23T18:08:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a very

Merry Christmas!!!

Have a happy and safe holiday!!!

Officially Finished...

2009-12-19T15:17:00.000-08:00

...with the Fall 2009 Semester!!!!!!!! O my goodness it is a GOOD thing too! I think that Nick and I were both about to loose it during the last 3 weeks. BUT, we stuck in there and finished. Nick had 3 final tests, 3 quizzes, one state exam, and two physical exams within the last two weeks. He hasn't gotten his final grades back yet, but knows he did pretty well on them. He now has his Fire Fighter II Certification!! WAY TO GO sweety!!

I had 3 Presentations (in front of local Interior Designers), 2 final exams, and 1 project that I just had to turn in NOT present. I have NEVER put this much time into school in my life. Not even in my art classes was it quite this demanding. That also had to do with taking 21 credits though, I'm sure. I have recieved most of my finals grades and have to say that I'm very happy I chose to put as much time as I did, because I think I might have pulled off straight A's! To some this may not seem like such a big deal (DANI), but with 7 classes, and always seeming to make this my goal for each semester (with it NEVER working), I have FINALLY met that goal! I cannot believe with as little sleep Nick and I both got, that we did not end up getting sick during the semester? We now have a month long break until next semester and have already been enjoying every moment of it. :)

For our FINAL presentation critique in my Studio I class, we did the presentation a little different. Usually, we would take our design project up in front of our entire class, the teacher, the program director, the dean of the school, and 6-10 Local Interior Designers. Well, our teacher gave us (and the Local designers, as far as I'm concerned) a break from the norm and we presented our final in more of a Gallery-style form. Each student set up their projects around the computer lab in the main part of the biulding, and then each designer (and family and friends that were invited) came around individually and listened to us present our designs to them. SOOO LESS stressful this way... it was actually a lot easier and funner to have one-on-one discussions with the designers. It was also A LOT easier to be told what was wrong with your design and WHY not being in front of a WHOLE room of people! :) Nick was taking finals during this same time, so I THOUGHT he wasn't going to be able to come listen to my presentation, but the sneaky little sweetheart he is, showed up and stood back behind me, listening to me, without me realizing for about 10 mins!! :)

Our teacher also took some pictures of us presenting and posted them afterwards and this is the one he sent me.

Anyways... enough about school... It's the holiday season and now that's what we are truly able to focus on.

Just to catch up a little.... even though we weren't able to go home for Thanksgiving, Nick and I still had a great one. We missed our families a lot, but we are blessed enough to have some family here that love us and always include us! (THANKS) We went to dinner at Nick's Aunt Vicki and Uncle Keith's. It was fun to see all of Nick's cousins and family members that came from out of town. After, dinner there, we went home and enjoyed the rest of the day together. I cooked my FIRST Turkey ever!!! In fact, I did the entire meal... turkey, potatoes, homemade rolls, salad, and a green bean mix, and 4 homemade Chocolate Cream Pies for friends and family (I do have to admit that those turned out better last year). But the turkey was amazing... :) I was very surprised at how easy it is to cook a turkey. When I was first cleaning it and removing everything, I was freaking out and was pretty grossed out too! :) My dad would have kicked my butt if he would have seen what a "girl" I was being about it all.

We also put up our Christmas tree that weekend, knowing if it didn't get done then, it would get done at all. We got a real tree again this year. It is very pretty and I just LOVE having it up. I kind of wish we could leave Christmas trees up year round because of the feeling and mood it creates in our home. :) We also put up some Christmas lights and wreath to decorate the small entrance to our condo; HOWEVER, because the HOA is retarded here, we were asked to take down decorations or we would be fined. WOW huh??.... yes, they are TOTALLY missing the Christmas spirit. And I really wanted to remind them of that, :) but I didn't.

Which brings me to my next point... We won't have to deal with the HOA here after the 1st of January because we are moving into a house!!! :) :) We are both VERY excited about that. No, we are not buying, just renting. Why rent a condo if renting a BIGGER space (house) is the same price, right? I will post pictures of it when we move in. We are NOT excited about the "moving" part... that's like the worst thing ever, don't you think? But it will be SOO worth it when we are all unpacked and settled in. We feel SOO blessed to have the opportunity to move into a house and have things working so well for us here.

I hope that everyone is having a GREAT holiday season thus far and continues too!!!

family

2009-11-12T19:45:00.000-08:00

this is nick posting this time and i recently found out that i wasnt able to get thanksgiving or christmas off from work this year. im feeling pretty bad about that because i know that even though she wouldnt tell me lindi's pretty dissapointed about not being able to go home for the holidays and i am as well. i wish there was something i could do - i guess well see what happens. but just in case we dont end up goin home i wanted to let all our family know back in wyoming and nebraska how much we love appreciate and are going to miss them this holiday season.
im sure this happens to everyone this time of year but good memories and fun family traditions are starting to come back and stir up feelings that make you want to be home and around family. you miss things like tubing on the mountains, putting up the christmas lights and tree, staring at and working on a puzzle for hours, playing with nephews and nieces, driving back and forth making sure we spend equal time with all our family, sitting around the living room and just talking and telling stories, taking

turns making fun and getting made fun of, playing games, and watching the old classic christmas movies. i hope everyone knows how much we love them and that family will always be our number one priority.

even though we cant go home we are excited to spend the holidays here together and continue our family traditions with eachother and make some of our own traditions. were so thankful for the family and friends that we have here in las vegas. they have been life savers. were so grateful to them in reaching out and always inviting and including us in family get-togethers and activities. it has been a great opportunity to get so close to our family here. it really has been a blessing to have them here for love and support.

we hope that everyone has a happy holiday season and we hope to be able to get back home to see everyone real soon.

Halloween Happenings

2009-11-01T22:21:00.001-08:00

Our Halloween weekend was fun, but also a little unusual for Halloween. :) We had a bunch of plans originally, but life happens and things don't always go as planned. We had awesome costume ideas, but we didn't even end up dressing up. :( We had planned to go to a Halloween party in Boulder City with Nick's cousins, but it didn't end up working out... which to be totally honest, was kind of nice for us because I had SOOOO much homework this weekend. (hence the reason I have not blogged forever) SOOO our plans changed to staying home friday night carving pumkins together and watching Halloween movies. It was a lot of fun and a very relaxing night together. On Saturday, I again did homework all morning, Nick took me to the temple, and then we met up with some friends for dinner and then headed to Jamie Johnson in concert. (ya, we didn't know who that was when we were asked to go... he sings "Should Have Seen It In Color") We only knew a few songs, but it was still fun to go and hang out with some good friends.

There were some pretty "interesting" costumes at the concert. Or as Nick would say, lack there of. While were walking through the Casino towards the concert, I mentioned to Nick that it was very easy to mix up peoples costumes with how they dress everyday. That's Las Vegas for ya!?!?! NOT my favorite part about this place. It truly is amazing what people go out in public wearing and even worse, they think they look good.

So like I said, not a usual Halloween for us, but it was still very fun and just what we needed... TIME TOGETHER!! My husband has been a very patient loving guy... he lets me leave to Wyoming for a whole week, then I get home and have basically lived at the school ever since. I keep telling him that I've been the worst wife lately because I'm always running back and forth to school and home and feel like I'm never home to do the things I usually do for him. I hope school slows down a little soon, so that things can be back to normal for us.

Hope you all had a happy Halloween!!

___________________________

This is for Jerry and Terri... The shirt that Nick "designed" online...

For all you who know the movie "it's a Wonderful life"

Addie Adele's Arrival

2009-10-14T18:31:00.000-07:00

Addie Adele Weber was born on Wednesday, October 14th 2009, at 11:46. She weighs 6lbs 4oz and is 19 1/2 inches long.

2009-10-12T18:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I flew into Casper, Wyoming for the week to be with my sister, Dani, while she is having her baby. You probably noticed it was an "I" not a "we". Nick wasn't able to come with me :( due to work and school. It will be a lonely week without him, but we're both staying postive. He is missed dearly by my family and I. Yes, I am also missing a full week of school which is a little stressful, but I turned in a lot of my work early before leaving, so that helps. Unfortunatly, my teachers weren't too happy with me leaving either (we won't EVEN go into that story), but family comes first in this girls book. :)

Today we finished putting baby Addie's room together and I have to say, it's my favorite room in the house. It turned out just perfectly!! We all made a group effort to finish the room, take pictures, and post it on mom's blog. We decided to ALL copy that post and paste onto our blogs. :) Don't mind the silly inside jokes as we were all wired and being silly as always when we get together!! :)

Hi!! This is a shout out from Dani's house in Lingle, Wyoming. Katie and I headed down to Lingle yesterday and picked Lindi up at the Casper Airport as she flew in from Vegas for the week. It only took us 2 hours longer to get to Dani's house from Casper because of the WONDERFUL roads, which were covered in ice... BLACK ice that is... did you know that black ice is like the devil?... It's true, you can't see it but the evil is always there! Anyways... back to the story... we made it to Lingle SAFELY around 12 am. :)

As you can see, my daughters and I are having a good time creating this post together and you will see the same one on all of their blogs as well. NOW... the reason why we're posting...

INTRODUCING... (the FINISHING touches)... ADDIE'S ROOM!!!!!!!
Note: The colors in the following pictures don't show their true hue.

I picked out fabric for pillows to be made for the nursery and was hoping to find someone to make them. I hit the jackpot when I thought of Brenda, she did an AMAZING job!! The pictures don't do them justice, they are adorable and we all LOVE them!!!!...

The above pillow turns to the other side and it is pictured in the second picture in the rocking chair...they are all so cute and absolutely perfect!!!! THANKS Brenda!!!!!

The following items were made by Michelle and the ribbons were added by Lindi today. The ribbons are the same ones that were used on the pillows and we wanted to tie them into the room...

(I couldn't edit any of the pictures, because I don't have my computer...hence not soooo good...)

The following decor was provided by the talented Lindi...

Lindi made the name...addie...

Lindi helping...

The expectant mother, anxiously awaiting the big day which is this Wednesday!! In this picture, one can see that she is carrying Addie on the left side and in real life she looks a little funny!!! But she's always been a little special and we still LOVE her!!!

I'll keep you posted on the excitement from Lingle!!!

For Addie!!

2009-09-21T18:42:00.000-07:00

My sister, Danielle, is having her FIRST baby on October 14th (unless that little sweet thing decides to join them sooner). It is the first baby on my side of the family and mom & dad's first GRANDCHILD... that sounds very strange. But they are going to be the BEST grandparents ever. I wanted to do some FUN things for Dani and their sweet "baby-soon-to-come", Addie. Since some family members have asked to see, here is what I did... I decided to first, make a couple of things for the nursery.

Here is a picture of the nursery so far. My mom helped Dani to make this corner super cute.

I'm showing you that, so this makes more sense! :)

They have a large blank wall on one side of the nursery where we planned to put these:

Simple frames with baby Addie's name and coordinating paper and ribbon inside. :)

Danielle had mentioned to my mom that she wanted a picture of the Logan, Utah temple in Addie's room. I used the same paper and ribbon for this tile and used modge podge to put it all together. It will sit on an easel in her room.

The next thing has nothing to do with baby Addie's room, but something I could NOT resist doing. When Dani had her baby shower in Utah, the one thing she did not get enough of were "Hair Things." SO... I did some simple research I tried my best to come up with a few fun hair things for Addie.

Here are the headbands... 9 different colors.
And here are 7 different flowers (with clips attached to the back of them that attach to the ribbon on the headband.) They're ALL made to mix and match so if the white flower matches the pink headband because of Addie's outfit, she is set. :) There is also 6-7 bows that also attach to the different headbands. These were SUPER fun to make and way easy. I already have a bunch of new ideas to make some more. ( I know there's probably enough as it is right?)

Dani just got this package full of goodies in the mail last weekend and was thrilled. I hope you like it all Dani, and that the frames will look good in Addie's room. Just comparing the pictures of the room next to the frames, it looks pretty good!! Let me know how it all turns out!! We can't wait for the arrival of Addie!!

It's a GOOD Crazy!!

2009-09-18T12:45:00.001-07:00

Once again the blog has been put on the back burner and I have a feeling that it will remain that way until school is over in December. So there will be far and in between posts from now on I am sure. Nick and I just finished the 3rd week of this semester and it has been a very big adjustment... one that we still are trying to get used to. With Nick working full time, taking 3 classes (working towards receiving his Fire Fighter I Certificate), and working one day a week at the temple is crazy enough in its self. He pretty much works, works, sleeps, studies, goes to class, and then works again. As you can see, sleep seems to always be the last thing he takes time for. ;) I don't know how he does it all?

Then I am taking 20 credits and spend a lot of my week at the school working on projects. So about the time Nick gets home from work in the morning, I'm already at school. When I get home from morning classes, he's sleeping or I have to do homework, then we both go back to school at night (on different campuses), so as you can tell... things are very crazy and our schedules are the exact opposite. Just the other day we were joking about how we had to adjust by getting to be together every day during the summer because I didn't work. And now... we're adjusting BACK to never seeing each other which is far more difficult. I know, I know... everyone goes through this and there are plenty of you right now that have even more on your plate. We realize we are SO blessed to be able to do all of this at once and are grateful for the things we are learning... we are just a little wore out right now... so its a good thing it's friday!! :)
So even though things are so crazy... How are we dealing with it?? well... Nick likes most of his classes. He's learning a ton and doing all he can to better qualify himself for the fire department. He is one hard worker and I love that about him.

My design classes are amazing... I'm really enjoying them and am really impressed with my teachers (minus one of them), and the program overall. CSN just recently got a new Interior Design program director that is revamping the entire program. He, himself, is an architect and all the teachers in the program are some type of designers that work for different firms in Vegas. I have learned so much already and am excited to continue with the program. Just last night we had 5 different designers from different firms come to our class and critique the projects we're working on. WOW... very intimidating but what a great opportunity to meet so many of them and get professional advice on our own work. They're each coming back for the final presentation next Thursday!!! I get butterflies just talking about it. ;) BUT... I got some VERY postitve feedback from them and some great advice on some changes that need to be made to my design.

We also get to go on "feild trips"... like we're in kindergarten. We get to go around to different places/stores in Vegas that are GREAT resources for interior designers. We get to go back as students whenever we want and use these amazing resources for our own projects and needs.

So even though things are crazy... its a GOOD crazy with many amazing opportunties!! :)

Fun Birthday Gift Wrap Idea

2009-09-03T21:08:00.000-07:00

I found a VERY cute Birthday gift idea online and made it for my sister, Dani, as a birthday gift. Click HERE to see how you can turn these simple items into a CUTE gift, like the one shown below.

This is how the finished product will turn out...

Let me know what you think!!

Family Tree

2009-08-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

On Monday, (8/24/09) Nick's parents, Jerry and Terri, celebrated their Anniversary. (CONGRATS!!) Nick's sister, Kim, called me about a month before the occasion with a gift idea for them. Kim is very creative and talented. She explained to me that she wanted to do an "Anderson Family Tree" for her parents, but she wanted my help to make it happen. She gave me A LOT of freedom on this project and pretty much said, "I thought it could be done on tiles. Maybe you could use a tree and have the family names on it. Then maybe you could do 5 smaller tiles with us kids' family members." Very creative idea huh?? I would have never thought of that. So... after much thinking and researching for ideas, I tried to make it as simple as possible.

(surprise, surprise... I didn't get good pictures of it ALL TOGETHER on the easels, but you get an idea of how it would have looked all together!!) :)

The MAIN tile (16x16)... Family Tree
And the 5 smaller Tiles (6x6)...

Since Kim didn't have an EXACT way of how she wanted it done, I was REALLY nervous on wither the final outcome was what she wanted or how she wanted it. I told her that I think I stressed Nick out because I wouldn't stop talking about how worried I was. LOL! However, when Kim got it in the mail, she called and said how much she loved it. Jerry and Terri also called once they received it from Kim and Lindsay on their anniversary, and expressed their gratitude and love for the gift. It was such a relief to know they liked the gift and it was somewhat like Kim had in mind. ;) Thanks for trusting me with your idea Kim... Happy Anniversary Jerry & Terri!! Hope you had a great day together! :)

The Final Project

2009-08-14T12:54:00.000-07:00

{NOTE: This post is mainly for my family due to them asking about my drawings. It's also nice to journal because of the hard work and things that I learned. I will warn you that the pictures are HORRIBLE and you will have to click on them to really see whats going on. Have you ever tried to photograph drawings? Not easy!}
As some of you already know, I took a summer class and just finished 2 weeks ago. The class I took was called Introduction to Drafting Theory. This was one of the first of many drawing classes I will have within the next 2 semesters. :) I LOVE to draw and after getting my Associates of Fine Art from Powell, WY, I slowly started to stop drawing. I just didn't make time for it and taking this class made me realize how much I really enjoy it and how much I miss doing it.
Of course this class was a different kind of drawing from the ones I've done before, but it was still drawing. :) Drafting Theory is all about drawing floor plans of a specific building for constructors to use. Even though this class was only 2 months long, I cannot believe how much I learned.

Our first "big" assignment was to draw a Kitchen Floor Plan using 4 different scales on Vellum that was 18"x 24". This assignment was given to us so that we could practice and get used to using different scales that are used in drawings. You can see from the drawing below that drawing in different scales will result in a smaller or larger overall drawing.
This drawing is just on Vellum, using pencil, colored pencil, and marker. The final drawing had to be ran through a machine, with another piece of paper, to create a "blue print". This process was referred to as "running blue lines".

After passing that assignment, we stared to work on "THE Final Project". :) Our final project consisted of drawing 6 separate plans drawn on 18"x 24" Vellum paper. These plans would construct a Library. The 6 drawings were:

(Remember, clicking on the photos will help to see what's going on ;) )

1. The Main Floor Plan
2. The Reflected Ceiling Plan
3. Exterior Elevations
(These two may be the only 2 drawings where you can tell whats even going on because they are the how the outside of the building will end up looking, and how the inside of the 2 bathrooms will look.)
4. Interior Elevations

On the Interior Elevations we only had to do the womens and mens Restrooms. Thank goodness for that. I can't imagine having to do the entire Interior Elevations for this assignment. :)

5. Wall Sections

Wall Sections show the materials needed in order for the walls to be constructed correctly.

6. Building Details

Building Details consisted of 4 smaller drawings. These were simply the details that the constructor would need to know that could not be found of the coordinating plans.

We also had to "run blue lines" before this project was complete and bind all of the plans together.(You'll notice the red marks on this drawing. This is the graded complete project. Now you know why I didn't want to take pics of the blue prints... TOO many red marks :) )

This may not look like much, but believe me, when your teacher marks off points for a line overlapping another by 1/32 of an inch, or if the measurement of the line is off by 1"... it becomes a big deal. :) With the time restraint it was very stressful and many longs days were spent finishing this. :)
It was an interesting class and MOST interesting of all was the teacher. Let me explain why... This course was 8 weeks long. Well Nick and I went to Wyomng for a full week right in the middle of this course. My teacher warned me, that skipping one full week of the summer semester, is equivilant to skipping 2 full weeks of a regular semester, but assured me that together work it out. Ya, probably NOT so smart to miss that much, but we still went to Wyoming and I had to work by buns off to catch back up and finish on time. When I was finishing up the very last day of class and about to turn in my project, my classmates informed me that the teacher would MOST definetly be impressed because while I was in Wyoming, he told the entire class that he gives me 2 weeks before I drop the class because of the work load when I return. Well, there were PLENTY of words I wanted to say to that man when I turned in my final, but getting an A was good enough for me! :)

Successful Antique Shopping

2009-08-12T21:50:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago Nick and I spent hours in this Antique Mall, looking for a specific gift for a friend. Well, I just had to take this opportunity that Nick took me to an Antique Mall and look for ideas for our condo. :) It's not very often we go to Antique Malls... my husband REALLY LOVES to shop! ;) SO after looking around for a while, I found this window back in a corner...
Some of you may be looking at this saying, "okay, why did you want this?" Then there are people like my mom who are saying, "that has some potential!" :) Those of you who have seen my mom's house understand her obsession with old doors and windows and why she would say this piece has potential. :) So thanks for the idea mom! Of course I had to pay a little money for mine, while most of yours are found in old houses for free. But, the lady was very nice and gave us half off, so ended up paying $25 for it.

So I took this thing home and chipped off all the old loose paint. I sanded it, and then washed it down with soap and water trying to get all the loose dirt off. Then I painted it black. Here's how it turned out.
I used a painting technique that would result in it looking older. I didn't want to loose ALL of the old paint, so it would add to the layers and worn look. Now what right? Still needs a little more work until it's finished. AND where is it going to go in our condo you may be wondering.

Well, Nick and I have these gorgeous wedding pictures and even though it has been over a year since we had them taken, they're still beautiful. AND... there aren't very many in our living room, the room where most people would be able to see them. Plus, there's this big wall that our couch sits against that looks kind of bare because there aren't very many things decorating it.

This is the BEFORE picture:

SO, with a little redecorating and bringing in our wedding pictures, this awesome window was a success.

The window with wedding pictures from the field and some ribbon added.

And the finished product...After adding more frames with more wedding pictures, and some mirrors, the project was complete. I also added coordinating ribbon to some of the frames to tie it all together.
What do you think? Is it too much?
This was all possible with the help and patience of my husband. Thanks sweety! :) And thanks mom for the inspiration!
I'm excited for the next trip to the Antique Mall!! :)

Two Quick Road Trips

2009-08-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

It has almost been a month since I have updated... that's got to be a record. :) Things have been a little crazy around here and so I have left this to the last thing.

I finished the summer semester last Thursday. YAY!! It feels great to be done with that semester. Since we got home from Wyoming, it has been ALL I had time to do. Everything has been put off until now because my class was so time consuming. But, I guess it paid off because I got an A. :) My parents asked about seeing pictures of my final project and so I will probably be posting about that later. So now that I'm done with that, I have until August 31st to relax, soak up the sun by the pool, scrapbook, and finish other projects I have put off. :) Nick and I both start the Fall semester on the 31st, so our summer is also coming to an end... but I'm going to fully enjoy the rest. :)

I'm also just barley getting to this because once I was done with school, Nick and I took a couple QUICK road trips to help some friends and family. Last Friday we headed to Long Beach, California with some real close friends of ours. We met this couple almost as soon as Nick started working for the valet company he works for now. We became such great friends with them that we decided to move to "their" side of town when we were done house sitting. We were in the same ward, condo complex, and worked for the same company. lol! Unfortuneatly, they decided that their was nothing left for them in Vegas, and headed back home to Hawaii. :( They had to have their car shipped back to Hawaii and the port it was shipped from was in Long Beach, Cali. After dropping off their car, they needed a way to get back to Vegas... and so thats why we decided to go along. PLUS, it was the last time we would see them (well, until we get invited to visit them in Hawaii!!) That's probably the ONLY reason we were okay with them leaving Vegas in the first place... we now have a good reason to go to Hawaii. ;)
I have only been to Cali twice now, and it was such a short trip that we weren't able to stop and enjoy the beaches, but we did choose to eat at a restarunt that was located along the docs. So, we at least got to see it. :) And I have decided (only making this judgement on two trips to Cali), that that state is crazy because of ALL of the confusing, intersecting interstates and traffic ALWAYS ALWAYS making things miserable. I don't know how those people do it. I will now try not to complain about Vegas traffic. ;) We had a good time and were glad we got invited to go along. We will MISS YOU Jesse and Ty and your ADORABLE kids!! Thanks for all the fun times. :) :)

As if we hadn't had enough fun driving there and back in one day, we decided to drive to Logan, UT on Sunday. As most of you know, Bob and Dani are moving to Torrington, Wyoming where Bob has got a teaching job. They are leaving Utah for good TOMORROW and we knew they had a lot of packing to do in order to be ready for the move. SO, with Dani being 6.5 months pregnant, and being able to do a lot, we decided to drive down and help them pack up their apartment. We got to Utah on late Sunday night and spent ALL day Monday packing up. We had a blast even though we were their to work and not to play. :) And we even lucked out because Richard and Katie were in Prestion, Idaho (1 hour away from Logan), where Richard had a construction job for the week. So Katie came down to help pack all day and then Richard came down later that night to go to dinner with us and play games afterwards.
We had dinner at The Coppermill, it was GREAT food. :) And even though we had quite the annoying run-in with our waitor, we still managed to enjoy it. :) After wards we played cards at Bob and Danis... right smack in the middle of all the boxes. I'm pretty sure that I will now have to buy Tripoley for Nick. It's his new favorite game. :) We played until Katie and Richard had to get back to Idaho. :) It was so nice of them to come down, it was great to see them and we had a blast. :)
Tuesday morning we woke up early and headed to the Logan Temple. Nick and I have never been in this one and it was very pretty. We had a great time and are glad we were able to go with Bob and Dani. We then headed home to finish packing as much as we could before Nick and I had to head BACK to Vegas. Yes, I know a VERY QUICK trip, but Nick had to work at 1 am. :) For as short as it was, we were VERY glad we went. Helping Bob and Dani was a blast and it was SOO good to see them. Dani makes the cutest pregnant girl EVER!! It was great to see the changes from the last night I saw her. Thanks for letting us come!! We had a BLAST and hope that everything goes well with the move. And we REALLY hope everything fit into that trailer. :)
We love you very much and good luck in Torrington with teaching, settling in, and getting ready for your sweet baby girl!! :)

p.s. We had SUCH better luck on BOTH of these trips then when we went to Wyoming. :) The car we didn't take WAS THERE when we got home. :) And we didn't have any flights to miss, so we were safe there! :)

A Little Piece of Home

2009-07-09T17:57:00.000-07:00

Here is a sneak peek of a mini book that I made for Nick for our One Year Anniversary. Click HERE to see it ALL and get details.

Sounds Like Life To Me

2009-07-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

Here we are... FINALLY back to the blogging world. Life gets CRAZY and seems the blog gets left until the last thing. The past two weeks have been FUN&RELAXING, STRESSFUL & VERY FRUSTRATING all in one! :) How can that be, you might be asking yourself?! well, let me explain.

The FUN & RELAXING part:

1. Nick's birthday was really fun and went well. We had a family and friends over for cake and ice cream. My mom sent a package of the cake mix, frosting, plates, napkins, and candles. Thanks!! :) It turned out DELICIOUS!! Nick used sprinkles to decorate the top... 23!

2. I have started school, and I'm liking it a lot. There's a lot of drawing involved, so it has been a blast.
3. Nick passed his National Registry Test that Certifies him as an EMT Intermediate. WAY TO GO sugar plum. ;)
4. We celebrated our big ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!! on the 20th of June. :) I planned on doing an ENTIRE post just on that, but then again... life happened. On Saturday, the 20th, We went to a Resort called Primm. It's about an hour outside of Vegas. We enjoyed the resort and relaxed a lot. We also went to a BIG&RICH concert. They are SOOO good live. You know when you go to a concert and the singer is HORRIBLE live... well, not BIG&RICH. They were awesome. We exchanged gifts and headed home Sunday because we were flying to Billings that night to go home for a week. :) YAY!!
(A side note about the first year: I do have to say that our first year of marriage has been a BLAST!! We have had so many great opportunities and have learned so much together. We love living in Las Vegas and are so grateful to have been able to get to know Nick's family here. I can honestly say, that this has been the best year and the happiest I have ever been. Thanks love!!)
5. ANYWAYS... We spent a week in Lovell for Lovell's Days and it was SOO fun and relaxing. Nick really needed the break from work. We stayed with Richard and Katie and it was a blast. (thanks guys!) We enjoyed the week full of activities such as BBQ's, Strong Man Competition (watching Tyler...way to go!!), The Follies, the Parade, BBQ Beef sandwhiches in the park with my family and playing football, Family Fun Night, the Fireworks at Horse Shoe Bend, and more. It was good to see all our family and friends and we wish we could have stayed longer... but back to real life we went. :)
5. While we were in Lovell, I had a Stampin' Up! Workshop that my Mom Hosted. It was a GREAT turn out and SOO fun to get together with all those girls. Thanks everyone for coming. :) (p.s. The tiles I was selling at the party are now in Peggy Rhor's store for your purchase)

____________________________________________________________________

The STRESSFUL & VERY FRUSTRATING part:
1. Yes, I do love school, but taking a week vacation has left me LOTS of homework to make up. But thanks to my helpful classmates, it's going pretty well.
2. When we got to the airport in Las Vegas to leave for Billings, the line to check your bags and gets your boarding pass was VERY long. We stood in line for 30-40 mins. When we reached the front of the line, the lady informed us that we would NOT be able to make out flight because they had stop giving out boarding passes 20 mins prior to boarding. WELL... as some of you can guess, I LOST it and was not nice to the poor lady at the airport. After much argument and confusion, the lady ended up putting us on a flight to Great Falls, Montana. For those who are not familiar with the area, Great Falls is 6 hours from Lovell. My parents were supposed to be picking us up in Billings at 8:30 pm. Thanks to my HELPFUL, LOVING, PATIENT parents, Nick and I ended up renting a car from Great Falls, and driving to Bozeman where we met my parents who had to drive 3.5 hours from Lovell. :( AND it was on Father's Day, so I pretty much owe him for the rest of my life. We ended up getting into Lovell at 3:30 am. Thanks mom and dad!!!
3. Once our FUN week in Lovell was over, we headed to Billings to fly back to Vegas. We made sure we were plenty early for this flight only to find that the plane was delayed for 4 hours. :( We hung out in the airport and finally got into Vegas and home by 1:30 am.
4. So as if this wasn't enough BAD luck for one week... once we pull into the drive way of our condo, the first thing I notice is that MY CAR IS MISSING???? Nick's is there, but where is mine? After a few mins of panicking, we walked to the security office and frantically asked a million questions to the security gaurd. We went through stacks of paper work to find that while we were gone, our car had been towed to a pound because supposibly we were parked in the wrong spot? Let me explain something, we have been parking my car in the spot for the last 6 months with NO problems. When we first went to look at this condo, the guy who showed us the place, told us that THIS spot was OUR parking spot. Long story short, a family had moved in the complex while we were gone and they had been told that the parking spot was THEIR'S also. They had our car towed because we were not there to be informed about this confusion. We finally got everything figured out and got my car home safe and sound.

___________________________________________________________________

This is why it's important to see the BRIGHT side of every situation and be thankful that we actually got to Wyoming and back safe and sound. :) We are still SO happy that we went because it was GREAT to see our family and friends and we had a great time while there. Thanks everyone for putting up with the BAD LUCK if it affected you.

___________________________________________________________________

Now that the last two weeks are caught up with...

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!

Nick's Cousin Jason and his family invited us to go with them to Logandale (small town outside of Vegas) to their hometown's 4th of July Celebration!! It was a day full of activities, but nick and I just joined them in the evening because Nick needed to get some sleep from work. We met at the park and enjoyed a yummy dinner, a program, and a fireworks show. It was fun just relaxing and playing with the kids while catching up with Jason and Claire. Logandale is a very nice small town and it actually cooled down at night so we could enjoy everything even better and get away from the 105 degree weather. We got Nick home just in time to go back to work. :(

Thanks Jason and Claire for the invite. We had a great time and always do. :)

Happy Birthday Love!!

2009-06-17T02:28:00.000-07:00

Today, June 17th, is Nick's Birthday! We counted down the mins til 12 AM before he had to go to work this morning. I have been thinking and planning on how to celebrate for a couple months now and it seems a lot of my plans fell through. However, that isn't the most important thing about birthdays. It's about being with that person on their day, making them feel special, and most importantly letting them know they mean the world to you.
That is one of the reasons for this post. My world would be completely different if I was not lucky enough to have Nick a part of it. It's hard for me to even picture how my life would be right now or where I would be right now without him. Here is a quick list of the reasons I LOVE Nick.

1. BEST husband in the world- Always puts his wife and family first. Takes me to the temple every week.
2. HARD WORKER- Works all night(morning) then helps around the house or runs errands or whatever needs done.
3. KIND TO EVERYONE- He can talk to strangers about anything and never judges them.
4. GREAT MISSIONARY- I truly admire this talent because I am not very good at it. Not only was he a great missionary while serving his mission, he still shares his love for the gospel through example and testimony.
5. OPTIMISTIC- I can be having the worst day, be in the worst mood, and Nick always see's the postive side and happy thing in every situation. No matter how much I'm determined to stay grouchy, he always changes my mind. :)
6. SUPPORTIVE- He supports me in everything I do. I wouldn't be able to succeed in anything if he wasn't behind me 100%. His advice and opinions mean so much to me.
7. FUN- One of the best things about being married to Nick is that we are ALWAYS having so much fun. He has such a great easy going personality that it makes everything an adventure.
8. SETS GOALS & IS DETERMINED- Nick is the type of person who writes downs his goals and sticks to them. I also admire this because I set goals in my head ONLY. ;)
9. PATIENT- He is the most patient person. I have tried to learn from his example and grow in this area myself. He is great at making comprimises. :)
10. THOUGHTFUL & CREATIVE- He is ALWAYS surprising me. I will never be able to "catch up" in this department.

Happy to have found Smokey The Bear on Mt Charleston

Pulling the Sword out at Disney Land Being himself :)Showing Halloween Spirit for Work :)And BBQing for Dinner

I want to be able to look back at this and compare the different years. Thank You, Nick for being the best guy for me and being all these great things all the time. I have no idea why I lucked out and got you, but I am SOO grateful for it. I love you! Hope that you have a GREAT BIRTHDAY!! :) :) And always remember, even though it will never compare to the surprises you do for me, I do still try and be creative and make your birthday a special day.

Being a Slacker, and GOOD at it!

2009-06-07T19:09:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been a few weeks since I've posted anything. Nick keeps asking me why I haven't updated and I keep telling him... "we just haven't been that exciting lately." BUT... he keeps coming up with a list of things. SO... here it is... :)
First off... I'm currently unemployed... have to admit it's been pretty nice. But its also been a hard adjustment for me. I'm used to getting up in the morning rushing out the door TRYING to get to work on time and then cramming everything else into the day that i wanted to accomplish. Well this last week has gone like this...
sleep in...
eat breakfast...
watch some tv...
clean up around the house...
scrapbook...
eat again...
run errands...
.... your getting the idea... I've been REALLY lazy and my poor husband has been VERY patient with me! :) He kept saying,"You only have 1 week to do nothing, so enjoy it." Well... I did my best. For the FIRST TIME EVER I actually liked Nick's graveyard work schedule. I could get used to spending ALL day with him. :)
O... the reason for the unemployment is because the company I worked for was not willing to work around my school schedule any longer. They need a receptionist who could work full time without having to leave once a day for classes.

Speaking of classes...Tomorrow I start school for the summer. Have to admit I'm a little nervous because it's only going to be an 8 week course. So the pace of the class (just 2 classes) will be very FAST and demanding. BUT... it's the start of my design classes so I'm VERY excited about that!! While were on the "design" topic...I have a certain number of field experience hours that I have to fulfill. Well, Nick and I attended the 2009 Parade of Homes here in Vegas about a month ago. There were 12 amazing homes and it was so fun to get to tour them. We were looking at the information about the parade online and Nick noticed that the lady in charge of the whole show was a lady he knew. Her name is Lisa and he actually met her on his mission and taught her the discussions. He called her after the Parade to say hi and catch up. He mentioned to her that I'm going to school for Interior Design and needed the experience hours. So SHE invited us to the "2009 Parade of Homes Award Night." This event was full of the designers and builders of the 12 homes. :) Lisa was so neat and kind and she introduced me to ALL of the designers. How cool is that? A designer by the name of Bobbie Jo Kensey was there. She is a very well known Interior Designer and she offered me an internship. I feel very honored and blessed to be able to have this opportunity because while I have been discussing my options with my adviser, he's informed me of the difficulty it will be to find ANY kind of internship right now because of the economy. All the firms around Las Vegas have been letting a large number of their employees go. I'm very excited about this opportunity and look forward to the experince and knowledge I will gain.

And for the last new and exciting news about me... I finally gave in and decided that since I didn't have a job for now and I LOVE scrapbooking and such, that I would be a demonstrator for the company Stampin Up! I'm very excited about this and the friendships I have already made from it. :) I have my first Workshop this coming Friday... wish me luck. I also started a different blog for Stampin Up! creations and personal crafts. On the side of Stampin Up! products, I will also be selling some of the crafts you have on this blog... the tiles with vinyl. So all of you who told me to start selling my ideas... well, I'm trying it. And if it fails... I'm blamming you! :) Just kidding... I think it should be fun and something worth the try. :) The link to my other blog is at the top right hand side of this blog...check it out (the tiles haven't been added to that blog yet.)

Nick has been studying for his last test that will actually certify him as an Intermediate EMT, the National Registry, which he will take this month. For the most part he has enjoyed the softball team he plays on. His last game is tomorrow and I think he's kind of thankful for that. :) After he takes his National Registry, he will be doing "ride-a-longs" with two different fire departments all summer, along with studying the Fire Test Manual. The City Fire Department will be testing in January and so he will be studying to take that.

Like I said... "we haven't been too exciting lately...:)"

And Yet Another Fun, Crazy, Week

2009-05-21T14:30:00.001-07:00

Friday morning, Nick's brother Matt and his girlfriend Emily flew in from Nebraska. Matt had a 2 week break from school before having to start his summer classes. :( We're glad his choice to spend it with us! :) I'll try to keep this short and sweet. After reading through it all, we sound CRAZY!!

FRIDAY: I had to work, so we had lunch when they got into town and that night we went to the temple. That night we enjoyed YUMMY Panda Express and fun night in the pools and hot tub.

SATURDAY: NO work for me. :) Nick got some sleep that morning from being at work while Matt and Emily went and saw the sights of Las Vegas. That evening we had planned a BBQ for about 30 ppl. We thought it would be a blast to get together with all our family and friends, eat some good food, and then play a game of softball. WELL... lets just say that we were lucky to have SOME ppl show up. :( We had PLENTY of good food for those who did come and had a good time. It was a good for Matt to see his cousin Daniel and Aubri too.

SUNDAY: We went to church. Nick and I did a VERY fun lesson with our class involving a lesson and ice cream... mostly ice cream. :) The Ice Cream was used to represent our "spirits", the bowl was our "body", and the toppings were either choices that obeyed the commandments or disoboyed them. The kids did a GREAT job at not getting too excited and were still able to learn from it.
The rest of the day we enjoyed relaxing and resting.

MONDAY: I went to work and Nick ran errands all day while Matt and Emily went out on the town and enoyed exploring. They picked me up from work and went to dinner and then to THE LION KING!! :) This show just opened in Vegas and Nick and I wanted to take Matt and Emily so bad. We were so happy to be able to get tickets. Of course we got the cheapest ones, which means the very back. BUT at Intermission, we ran into Daniel and Aubri. We didn't even know they were going that night. It was so fun to run into them there. They had seats in the front and they informed us that the row right behind them was EMPTY and needed the Anderson clan to fill em' up. :) The second half of the show was even better nice and up close. :)
After the show Matt, Emily, and Nick wanted to ride the New York New York Roller coaster. Yes... everyone but me and that's totally fine. :) I HATE the rides, but really enjoyed seeing their faces as they stepped off it and told me all about it. :)

TUESDAY: Back to work for me. Matt and Emily hung around the pool most of the day. Nick and I enjoyed lunch together that day. I always love when he comes and gets me for lunch... its a treat because it doesn't happen very often. They all went to the Strasphere while I finished work and rode more roller coasters. :) New York New York was by far their favorite. That night we went out to Red Rock and before going to bed we watched a movie.

WEDNESDAY: I got the day off and we all headed out to Hoover Dam. They hadn't seen it before and enjoyed it. It was VERY hot that day, so we didn't last long out there. We headed back to town enjoyed some pizza and all took naps. That night we headed over to Daniel&Aubri's where we met Jason&Claire for some snack foods, Smores, and a good time. :) I love being able to spend time with them, we always have so much fun. That was also a good opportunity for Matt to see Jason&Claire.

We had a great week and hope it's not too long until we see Matt again!! Thanks for spending one of your weeks off with us! :)

How We Celebrated Mothers Day

2009-05-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

(I know it's a little late and the pictures are horrible, but I wanted to journal these for future reference)

Since Nick and I couldn't be at home with our mothers on Mothers Day, we did everything we could to make up for it. :) I'd be contemplating for a couple months on what I should do for our mom's. I knew I HAD TO do something for Dani, because the first time being a mom is a VERY special one. :) I couldn't leave Kim and Lindsay out either, because they are also such GREAT mom's and role models. So then I REALLY had to think about what I should do for them ALL.
Here is what I came up with...
For Dani and my mom, I put together this "Forever a Family" frame. This picture is EXTRA special to all of us because it is the day we were sealed together as a family. I always wanted this picture in my house and thought it would be a GREAT way to use it and an even better Mothers Day gift. Now I just have to make myself one for my house.

For Nick's Mom and his sisters, I decided to make them each a different tile with family quotes. I was really worried about these making it safely there because they break SOO EASILY! To my surprise, they all made it there without a scratch. :) I hope you all enjoy them. The quotes used on them are: "Charity never faileth", "Peace be unto this house", and "Forever a family."
The funnest part about these was wrapping them and make individual tags for them each.

Here are the tags:

My mom...

Dani...

Terri...

Kim...

& Lindsay...
This next sign was not something that I did for Mother's Day. It was a Thank You gift for my cousin Jesse and her husband Jake. They gave us an amazing set of Pampered Chef pots and pans and for that I could not simply write a thank you note. I wanted to give them something in return. Jake and Jess have been helping my Dad trial cows into the ranch all week and they have not received this gift yet.... so I haven't heard what they think. I hope they like it!
(mom-you can't tell them you saw it first when you take them lunch tomorrow)

And the tag for their gift:

When I was making these, I realized that I cannot remember the last time I gave my mother a gift that I did not make. I've given her some of my artwork, some scrapbooks, and other simple crafts. I have always loved doing this for people and I believe it makes the gift so much more special and meaningful. I hope that I can keep this goal in mind and always have the energy and motivation to do so.

Crazy, busy, and FUN

2009-05-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

Our crazy and fun filled week started last Saturday when we got together for our "Cousin Monthly Gathering," with Jason & Claire's and Daniel & Aubri's family. Daniel and Aubri planned the month of April's activity, which was a GREAT ONE!! We had a fun night at the park of BBQing and playing wiffleball/softball/through-the-ball (at Gabriel...meaning ONLY Daniel). :) We missed Caleb though and hope he will reconsider getting together with us next month. :) It was a wonderful night with laughs, fun, great food, and WARM weather! Thanks for planning it Daniel and Aubri!! We can't wait for next month's activity. :)
Sunday was also a day full of many different activities. For starters, Nick and I had to do Sharing Time in Primary for the FIRST TIME!!! Yes... we have been in primary for ten months now and have never had to do it till NOW. We always seemed to by out of town when it was our turn before now. Let me just say... WOW, I'm glad that's over until October. It's WAY harder then I thought it would be. All the other Primary teachers assured us afterwards that we "did great and even though it seems like the kids are doing EVERYTHING BUT listening, they did get something out of it." However; we did survive that day of church and are just glad it's over with. :) It will be easier the next time... right?! ;)
After church we had another BBQ with some friends from our ward that live in our complex. The weather was also just perfect for this event. It was soo fun getting to catch up with them and play with their kids.
Later that night around 10:00 pm, our friends, Deloy, shannon, and Declan, flew in from Wyoming. Shannon was here for some work related training and we had a great couple of days with them. I love when people come to visit from Wyoming... I do have to say, that is one great thing about living in Vegas.

Our week with them was FULL of running around like crazy, little sleep, and FUN!! :) That's what it's all about though right? Since we did SO much, I'll just touch on some of the funnest things we did. Monday night was one of my favorite nights. After work, I met Deloy & Shannon and took Declan for the night as they were headed to a show. Nick had a baseball game that night so we decided it would be a fun place for Declan to run around and play. That kid is the cutest and funnest kid. Me and him sat on a blanket and played with his toys while watching nick's game. Declan was totally content just sitting there with me playing and watching the guys run from one base to the next. After walking around for awhile we sat back down on the blanket and were playing and the next thing I know....

... He was fast alseep. TOO cute!!

Wednesday night (their last night here) We did alot of sight seeing and went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. :) They had never been there and since we LOVE that place (and it's cheap) we thought they had to experince it for themselves. At Buffalo Wild Wings, they have something called the "Blazzin' Challenge." This challenge consists of eating 12 wings that are SOAKED in their HOTTEST sauce under 6 mins. No drinks or napkins are allowed. If you complete the challenge, you get your picture on the "challenge wall" and a free T-Shirt. :) Now how can you turn that down?! :) For those who love hot stuff, this wouldn't be too hard. Nick and I told Deloy about the challenge and dared him to try it. LOL! He's not a huge hot sauce fan, but he gave in and said "I'LL DO IT!" We were so excited because we've never seen anyone does this before. We've only seen the hilarious pictures on the wall. So... after dinner we told the waitress that Deloy wanted to try the Challenge. We got some awesome pics and Deloy did so good, that even surprised himself! He ate 12 HOT wings in 2 mins and 42 secs. WAY TO GO DELOY!!

I took them back to the airport Thursday afternoon and we said our goodbyes until we go back to Wyoming this summer. It was soo good to see them all and spend time with them. Thanks for taking time to hang out with us guys!! Come back soon!

RECIPE BOX PROJECT

2009-04-28T09:33:00.000-07:00

Some of you know I LOVE to scrapbook, and if I could, it's all that I would do all day, everyday. :) BUT since I can't do that, I pick one project and work on it in my free time until it's complete.

Well, this particular project is not complete YET because it will always be something that I will continue to add too throughout my life. My recipes used to consist of random sizes of paper unorganized and only kept together with a paper clip. Some where even written on napkins and envelopes. It was a pain to find the recipe I wanted when it came to cooking. I have been working on this project for a while and I've completed what I have in my recipes so far. I decided to "scrap" my recipes.

I designed cards by digitally scrapbooking and then I simply added the recipe. It has been really fun and such a great way to make them organized, clean, fun, and cute! Then I found a cute and very different box that I made my "recipe box" that would go well with my kitchen and organized them in it.

Since I scrapbooked the cards digitally, it was really easy to put all the "pictures" into a slideshow. Below are a couple pictures of the box, the "category" dividers, and then all the recipe cards in a slideshow.

THE OUTSIDE...

THE INSIDE...

THE "CATEGORIES"...

AND THE CARDS...

(p.s. I know my side bar column is not showing up. They are having problems with their website right now and there are a number of people having problems with this same issue... hopefully they will get it all fixed and SOON! and if it does happen to you... don't worry.) :)

"How Can I Find Happiness?"

2009-04-27T10:53:00.000-07:00

It's Monday again... the wonderful weekend is over and it's back to work and school. BUT...here is 'message' to cheer you up! :)

I hope this message will help to make a great start to this week. :)

LDS Musical Production

2009-04-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

In commemoration of the 2009 Easter season, the Henderson Nevada Anthem Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sponsors a two-hour musical production, "Savior of the World: His Birth and Resurrection" at the Henderson Pavilion on April 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25th. Nick and I had the opportunity to attend this production last night with a couple from our ward who invited us along. It was the first time all of us had seen this musical. It was shown in an outdoor pavilion and the weather was just perfect for it. It was a good program and a great missionary opportunity as it was open to the public."This production was created by the LDS Church as a testimony of the Savior on the second millennial anniversary of His birth and has been presented in the Conference Center Theater near Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah since November 2000. In 2008 the Las Vegas Valley enjoyed this extraordinary production, and we now have the opportunity of presenting it again in 2009. We invite everyone to attend our second annual presentation of "Savior of the World" in Southern Nevada. As a great prophet once said, 'we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ.' We feel privileged to share this deeply moving musical dramatization that depicts the birth and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ."

We actually ran into a lot of different people we knew while there. It was good to see more people from our ward. It was good for me to meet more people Nick knew from serving in different wards on his mission. And guess who else we ran into?? I'll give you a hint... a missionary from our hometown (well, pretty much) in Wyoming serving in the East mission in Vegas... Jordan Peterson. All the missionaries were handing out the programs and also answering questions that people had. We found the isle we needed to walk down in order to get to our seats and he was right there. We talked to him for a couple minutes, asking him how he was doing and what not. He looked great and happy as could be. Since he's in the East mission, we've never ran into him before, so it was a big surprise.
It was a great night and for those who have never had the opportunity to attend, I would encourage it!

Two Weeks Later...

2009-04-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

LAST week my mom asked me if I had been sick because I hadn't updated the blog in 4 days. NOW... it's been 2 weeks and I guess I better update things before it becomes 3 weeks!
(Warning: This post is long with NO pictures!)
SCHOOL UPDATE
There hasn't been TOO much going on around here lately. Just trying to end this semester so I can start the summer one. Yes... I'm going to school during the summer and I'm beginning to ask myself "What Am I THINKING?" This week it has been 90+ degrees here in Vegas and it's already too warm. :) And it sure is taking me back to LAST summer here, thinking I was going to DIE from the heat. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only thing that kept me alive my first summer in Vegas, was staying inside the house. :) But that's not going to work this summer because I have a job and school to go to just like every one else. :)
I'm transferring to CSN to complete their Interior Design/Decorating program. I'm VERY excited about it. I've always wanted to get a degree in this area, and now that it's being offered to me, I'm taking it.
Nick on the other hand can't wait for this summer. The last part of this semester for him has been a little crazy and overwhelming. Nick will take the summer semester off from school and just focus on work and relaxing. He will take his first fire test in September and the next one in December. He has the manuals to study for the test and will also focus on that and more ride-along's with the fire departments around town. :) As the end of the semester is getting close, Nick has been finishing up his Clinicals. He had a total of 7 to complete this semester between Emergency rooms, Ride-along with Fire Departments, and also with an Ambulance. He's enjoyed his experiences and learned a lot from them. He was able to do a lot of hands-on training this semester. He's been stickin' people with needles drawing blood and doing IV's. I could never do that, but he's really liking it. He will also have to finish this semester by taking and passing the National Registry in order to complete his Intermediate EMS course. He did GREAT on the last one, so I'm sure he'll do the same this time. :)
LAS VEGAS 51's
Last Weekend we went to the opening game for the 51's. It was pretty exciting in the 9th Inning because that's when they decided to actually play the game. :) Since it was the opening weekend, they had a fireworks show after the game and that was neat. That night I got really sick with what I think was the flu. So this is my first day back to work for the week and actually doing anything. :)
THE RED BULLS
Nick also joined a Softball team, The Red Bulls, that plays once a week. His first game was pretty fun to watch. They one the first two games and did a pretty good job. :) I was one of two girls sitting in the stands watching, :) and the coach came up to me, asked me who's "girlfriend" I was then proceeded to designate me to the "Red Bull Team Photographer." lol! He explained to me that he always asks someone to take pictures of the team during their games and then after the "season" is over he gives each team member the pictures. I told him I don't think that he wants ME to take those pictures, but he didn't buy that.
THIS WEEKEND
This weekend we have two of our good friends flying in from Wyoming; Deloy and Shannon and their baby Declan. Shannon is coming for some work related training. We're very exited to see them and spend time with them while they're here.
We're also joining a group of people with cousins Aubri and Daniel for a BBQ and softball game... that will be interesting, but very fun!! :)
I think that's about all within the last two weeks... Now were up to date!

Weekend In Lehi, Salt Lake, Logan, and Orem...

2009-04-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

THURSDAY:
Around 9:30 am, Nick got home from work. I was still packing everything (yes, including his things) :) and we had planned to leave by 11. Well after getting something to eat, going to the bank, dropping something off at a friends, we ended up leaving town at 1. So we had a very LONG drive ahead of us. I do have to say that I sure do prefer flying. :) Right as we were leaving town, the driver's side back window decided to stop working. It wouldn't roll up or down. Instead we would push it up and as we drove along, it would slowly just fall down. VERY annoying when driving on the highway. :) It was an adventure as I was driving through a rain storm while Nick was fast asleep and the rain and freezing wind was coming right into the car. :) Eight hours later, Nick and I arrived in Logan, Utah at Bob and Dani's. They waited up for us and we hung out for while, catching up and what not.

FRIDAY:
Nick and I had plans to head BACK to Salt Lake for the day to attend a session in the Salt Lake temple and then drive even further AWAY from Logan, to Nick's Mission Reunion. :) Sadly, Bob and Dani had to work that day and could not join us. For those who have not had the opportunity to attend the Salt Lake Temple and are able to do so, I STRONGLY suggest that you do so. You will NOT regret it. How amazing and beautiful it truly is. I'm so grateful that I was able to have that experience.
After the session we hurried out of Salt Lake and on towards Lehi. Well, lets just say that either Nick and I are absolutely retarded when it comes to reading directions, or the directions were as bad as we thought. :) We were calling the other missionary buddies of Nick asking them how they got there. FINALLY we gave up and started over from the exit off the interstate. :) After that, we drove straight to it. Life and learn huh?! And to our surprise, we walked in just as it was starting. :) We were afraid we were VERY late, but it actually started a hour later then we thought!
The reunion was a GREAT turn out as there were over 200 missionaries and their guests who attended. I was so glad that Nick was able to see so many of those people that he missed. We had a lot of fun and I got to meet even MORE people that he served with. After that, we drove BACK to Logan. (NO... we didn't get lost)

SATURDAY:
We slept in. :) We woke up in time to listen to conference and make some breakfast. We relaxed around the house and listened to conference until Bob got off work. We then went out for Lunch/dinner at this awesome pizza place (good choice Dani)! Then the guys got ready for Priesthood session and Dani and I went shopping. :)
After Priesthood was over, we all met up and went to Shane's house to play Guitar Hero. Most of you are probably what's the big deal because a lot of people play it all the time. Well, not us and so it was a sight to see and some priceless entertainment. :) It was a nice full day of relaxation and fun!

SUNDAY:
Our last day in Utah! :(... going back to work, school, and responsibilities. Nick and I woke up early and got everything ready to go. We watched the first half of conference with Bob and Dani and then drove to Salt Lake. Nick's brother, Matt, was lucky and kind enough to get us tickets to the afternoon session of Conference. This was another first for me. I had never been to General Conference or even in the Conference Center for that matter. If you think General Conference is amazing on tv, being right there in the same room is another experience. I'm SO glad that Matt was able to get us these tickets. The last session was one of my favorites as it was FULL of great talks, messages, and answers. I will never forget that experience.
After wards we drove to Orem, which was on our way towards Vegas. My friend, Kate, lives there and I wasn't about to drive right through the town she lives in without stopping. :) We had dinner together and hung out for awhile. It was SOO good to see her!
It got around to 8 pm and we still had a 6 hour drive ahead of us, so we decided that we should better get going. About half way home, we both gave in and ducked taped the window shut. Yes, it looks pretty white trash, but at least we weren't freezing. :) The drive was even better after that. We got to Vegas around 1 am and went right to bed.

What a great weekend full of so many awesome and spiritual experiences. I'm so grateful we were able to get time away from work and school in order to go. It was short and FULL of driving and non-stop activities, but it was ALL worth it.
Thanks Bob and Dani, for letting us stay with you and having so much fun with us. We love you both!!
Matt, thanks for the tickets. I wish everyone could go to conference each time because it is amazing! :)
Thanks for making time for us too, Kate. Wish we could of had more time with you also. There's never enough time for everything it seems. But we always make the best of it and have good laughs!!
Below are some pictures from our weekend... check it out!!

THIS "Monday's Message"...

2009-04-06T15:16:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's already Monday again. :) As promised, here is this Monday's "message." I thought this was such a cute story...How we ALL miss President Hinckley.
Enjoy...

I also felt that this particular message was very appropriate because of the many things we learned from Conference last weekend. What a great conference it was, full of many motivational messages. :)

Monday's Message...

2009-03-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard about "Mormon Messages", they are simply encouraging and uplifting messages from the church. They're posted on You Tube and I find it very comforting to read them. Nick had the idea of posting these on our blog for an inspirational message for anyone who chooses to veiw them. We are now making our Monday posts "Monday's Message", as corny as that sounds, I like the idea. Viewing these messages starts my week off just right and gives me a good and uplifting thought to ponder throughout the week. Enjoy...
...and don't forget to pause the music on the sidebar first! :)

St. Patrick's Day Surprise!!

2009-03-17T23:27:00.000-07:00

When I came home from work today, Nick told me not to look in the kitchen. So I stopped and sat on the love seat and waited until he gave me the "ok". When I walked in I saw that he had made us a St. Patrick's Day dinner. I was so excited to see GREEN eggs and ham!! :) He went ALL out and made it way fun!! :) Thanks sweety for doing that!! I've never gone all out like that for St. Patrick's day before. I guess we'll have to make it a tradition.

I never know what the new day will bring with Nick. That's one of my favorite things about him!! :)

Weekend in Wyoming!

2009-03-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

It seems like we JUST got back to Vegas from being in Wyoming for Christmas, and we had the best excuse to get to go back so SOON!! My little sister, Katie, got married this past weekend to Richard Walker in the Billings, Montana Temple. It was a beautiful day and they got lucky with the warm weather. Mom talked to us earlier that week and told us to start praying because it had been eight below that week. Nick and I were going to FREEZE!! :) But we all lucked out and enjoyed the beautiful day.
Friday was spent decorating for the reception. It turned out BEAUTIFUL!! But I'm sure that's NO surprise to those who know my mom. She pulled off the 3rd and last reception for us girls. :( It still blows my mind that my sisters and I are all married now. How time flies!! Katie picked a pretty good guy and what a darling couple they make. We love Richard!!

Saturday was a LONG but very joyous day!! Us girls were up and ready to roll by doing hair at 5 am! And of course this wouldn't have been the same without Jamie there to make all the hair complete. Were on the road headed to Billings by 7 am. Nick and I were running a little late and because we were trying to catch up to my dad the entire time, we ended up getting flipped off a couple of times. :) That's alright though because I told Nick that we HAD TO get there in time for me to be with Katie. They don't call us 9er's for nothing you know?! :)
The ceremony was so sweet. President Morrison did a wonderful job. They had a great turn out with the amount of people who attended both the ceremony and the reception. The ceremony was followed by everyone taking pictures with the bride and groom. They had a light luncheon following that and then everyone drove back to Wyoming to get ready for the reception. Like I said before the turn out at the reception was GREAT!! We visited with so many family and friends. It was so good to see everyone.

The pictures that I've posted below are during the decoration process and are not fully completed as they were at the reception. I left a lot of details and pictures out because I know my mom is going to create an amazing post with all those things and more. :)

We had such a WONDERFUL time being home again and getting to spend time with our family and friends. Like always, it wasn't long enough though. Our flights were great and the only thing we ask for is probably more time with both families. We are so grateful that we were able to go home to be part of this wonderful event.

I wanted to do something fun and special for Richard and Katie. Below is a picture of the two things I made for them. They didn't exactly turn out how I planned, but it was fun to try!! :) What do you think?

The purple canvas on the left is hard to see. I will add a better picture later. The quote below the 3 pictures says "Together is a great place to be."
Richard, we are SOO excited to have you as part of the family. Nick had a good time at the bachelor party and going shooting with you two. Katie, we couldn't be happier about your choice to marry him. We are so happy for you both and know that you'll LOVE married life and all that it brings. :) CONGRATS!! We love you!!

Shocked, Surprised, and Spoiled...

2009-03-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

Friday morning I'm at work like every Friday, and Nick calls to tell me he's on his way. Since he gets off work at 9am and I'm just going to work at 9am, he usually stops by the office and says good morning. Well, this Friday was a LITTLE different. I'm expecting my husband to walk in when I heard the door open, but I look up and it's KATE JONES(best friend from college in Wyoming)!!! She now lives in Utah and we're constantly talking about how we miss each other and how we have to plan a get-together sometime. WELL... my SWEET husband did it ALL for me.
I was SOO shocked and overwhelmed by this awesome surprise that I hardly said a word when Kate walked through the door. It took a moment for it to hit me. And then it did...very hard. I started crying because I was so excited (and I didn't sleep the night before...that had A LOT to do with it!!) Then Nick walked in and handed me an envelope with my name on it that said HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Here's what it included...
"Lindi's Birthday Bash!!!"

He had our entire weekend planned out for us. Which I have to say I was surprised because he can never make a decision. :) We followed that schedule to the dot. It was a FUN FILLED weekend.
If you noticed, Friday night we had reservations for dinner at "The Mix." When I read this I had to ask Nick what that was! He parks the car of a manager who works at this restaurant. The restaurant is on the 64th floor of the Mandalay Hotel. Nick told him that it was my birthday and asked if he could get us a deal. Well, it was one heck of a deal we got. The three of us got to go for free appetizers and dessert. It was AMAZING food and a GREAT view. They only serve alcoholic beverages, so we ordered water!! The water they served was "Voss" water... in other words very expensive water!! (You can see the glass bottles below.) :) Kate talked the guy into letting us take our water bottles home as a souvenir.

The View...

That night we headed home and enjoyed the hot tub!! :) We're so glad they got the pools and hot tub done just in time! The next morning Kate and I were shopaholics!! I'm pretty sure that Nick flew Kate out here because he knew I wanted to go shopping for my birthday and he HATES shopping. It worked out pretty well for us though because we found some GREAT deals and loved every minute. That night we headed home for Stake Conference which was very good. Sunday's session was a special broadcast for the Stakes of Nevada from President Thomas S. Monson, Elder Bednar, and Sister Cook. That was another very pleasant surprise. Sunday night we had family and friends over for cake and ice cream. My mom and dad sent me a "birthday package" in the mail with a cake mix, frosting, napkins, balloons, candles, and a card. (Thanks Mom and Dad!!) We used every piece of it! We even blew up the balloons for the kids entertainment.

We had a BLAST and since it was a party we had to play MAD GAB!! (my FAVORITE!) and of course it was boys against girls!!

Monday I didn't have to go to work since it was officially my birthday. My bosses were sweet enough to let me have the day off. Kate and I slept in while Nick had to get up and go to class. While he was at school we finished up some shopping and got Kate all packed to take her back to the airport. :( After Nick got home we ran around town doing some fun things while we wasted time before taking Kate back. Nick took us to the Bass Pro shop. He's always told me how cool it is. Well he's right... we had a blast wasting some time there. When my dad and bob come to visit us sometime were taking them there. :) We said our goodbyes at the gate at the airport. :( Thanks for taking time to come Kate. I had such a great weekend and birthday!! :)

As if this weekend was not full and crazy enough, one of our good friends' boyfriend was in town and she wanted us to have dinner with them so we could meet him. After dropping Kate off, we headed to Town Square for dinner. After we were done eating, the waiter brought out a piece of cake with a candle in it for me. I looked at Nick and rolled my eyes. He swore he didn't do it and so I asked the waiter who told him. He said the waitress at another table overheard us talking about our birthday weekend. So that was another delicious surprise! :)

Throughout the day (monday) I got TONS of phone calls from friends and family and received lots of fun cards in the mail. Claire and Jason sent me an Edible Fruit Arrangement. YUMMY... thank you so much. Kate gave an adorable jewelery box that looks perfect in our bathroom! :) Thank you to EVERYONE who made my birthday such an amazing day/weekend for me. Nick, you did WAY to much, but I had a BLAST and it couldn't have been any better!! This years celebration is enough for the next several years!! Thank you!!

Our "Blue" Weekend

2009-03-01T16:39:00.000-08:00

This weekend we had to the opportunity to go see The Blue Man Group live at the Venetian.

All of the shows here in Vegas were 1/2 off this month for locals. We always try to get together with Nick's cousin Jason, and his wife, Claire, at least ONCE a month! Claire heard about this great deal and we couldn't refuse the offer. The Blue Man show was our "monthly get-together activity." :) It was such a FUN night!
Claire told us that she got us 2nd row seats and we were pretty excited about that. We met them and two friends of Claire and Jason's there also. Once we walked towards the front where we would be seated, we noticed that everyone that was sitting in the first couple of rows were wearing plastic covering. It had a hood to protect your head, two holes for your arms, and then covered the rest of your body. I looked at Nick and said "what the heck? We are going to be COVERED in paint aren't we?" Claire was just laughing that she got us 2nd row tickets...real funny! ;) Here's are cool we looked in the 2nd row. ;)

I have to admit that at first I was a little freaked out. I didn't know if the Blue guys were scary or what?! :) I soon found that the show was a comedy. We had a blast and it was very interesting. Here's a clip I found online. It's just from one part of the show.

This next video can get a little long... I understand. BUT... This is what happened to NICK at the show! :) Watch the video clip until you see the part about the throat... TRUST ME!!

The blue man walked up to Nick...all freaky like that and put the camera in his mouth. Then on the screen they showed what the camera saw. This camera showed everything from his mouth to the bottom of his stomach. I of course knew it wasn't real because I was sitting right next to him and knew the camera didn't go past his mouth. The crowd on the other hand, TOTALLY believed it and they were all freaking out believing that the camera had been shoved clear to his stomach. Jason was worried about Nick after wards because the camera showed an ulcer in Nick's stomach. :) LOL!! It was awesome!
At one point in the show, they had TONS of crept paper dropped from the ceiling in the back of the room and it was passed over the tops of everyone's heads until it reached the front row and then was passed onto the stage. It was CRAZY!! There was SOO much paper and it seemed like forever until it was over. Here are some pictures of us after wards.

Here was one of the piles at the front of the stage after the show.

Claire, thanks for thinking about this. We've wanted to see this show but weren't sure we wanted to pay the full price. This 1/2 deal was an awesome opportunity for us. Thanks for taking us!

King Benjamin

2009-02-27T14:54:00.000-08:00

I thought this was such a cute and funny stroy that I have to share. It happened last sunday, so it's kind of late; but still funny.

Nick and I just recently got called BACK into the primary in our new ward. We teach a class of 4-5 year olds together. This last week our lesson was on Prophets. At the very beginning of the class we told the kids that we would be having a special guest that was coming to visit us and talk to us. We told them he was a King and was a very good guy. After that, Nick told them that he was going to go find him and bring him in to meet them. Nick proceeded to go out into the hallway, wrap an ivory sheet around him with a belt around that, and then put the "Burger King" crown on. I wish I would of had my camera with me. :) Nick was such a great sport about this dress up thing.

While Nick was out "looking" for King Benjamin, one of the sweet little girls in our class looked SO sad. I asked what was wrong and why she wasn't excited to meet the King. She then burst into tears and in between sobbs I got out that she was scared to meet the King and didn't want him to come to our class. :( I walked across the room towards her chair trying not to laugh. I explained to her that this King was SOO nice and he was going to teach her about Prophets. I asked her if she wanted me to sit with her when the King came in. That wasn't stopping the tears. She then asked "Does he have a beard?" It was the funniest thing. I tried not to smile and explained that he doesn't have a beard, hes really nice. That didn't stop her crying either. This whole time I'm thinking, what a great idea to have Nick come in dressed up as a King... The kids will LOVE it. And now... they were crying. What would they tell their parents when they got home? Finally I had to tell her a "secret." That it wasn't REALLY a King, it was Nick playing dress-up. She laughed then and was excited to meet the "King."

So in walks Nick with his whole outfit on and the kids started laughing. They knew it was him of course and loved it after that. The NEAT thing about this story/experience was the crown in the picture above. When Nick walked in with the crown on his head, I was thinking to myself, where did he find that paper crown? I knew we didn't have one at home and then it hit me... there was a Burger King in between our house and the church. I was shocked that he went to Burger King to get this stupid crown. After the lesson I asked him about it. He laughed and said You won't believe this, but I found it on the side of the road on my way home to get the outfit for the lesson. We both laughed and shook our heads. To us, that was a tender mercy... how ironic?! :)

Happy 25th Anniversary!!!

2009-02-17T21:40:00.000-08:00

This post is for my mom and dad!! Their 25th Anniversary is TODAY (February 18th)!!!:) 25 years is definitely something to celebrate. I'm so happy and proud of my parents and hope nothing more but wonderful years of happiness together.

My sisters and I (and our husbands...well ALMOST Richard) always talked about doing something really fun and exciting to celebrate Mom and Dad's 25th!! We talked about throwing them a huge surprise party with all their close friends and good food. Well... a couple years later and Dani and Bob are in Utah, Nick and I are in Nevada, and that would leave Katie and Richard to watch them celebrate... BORING!! So we went with plan B! Most of this was Dani's idea so I have to give her most of the credit. We arranged a "Get Away Weekend" for the two of them. My mom had mentioned a Restaurant in Rod Lodge, Montana that they really liked! We found that it was a hotel as well. The "Get Away" included reservations at the hotel, diner, and breakfast. My sisters and I split all the assignments up and made it happen. Dani made the reservations, I made a card with the information about their "Get Away", and Katie ordered the flowers and had them delivered with the card. In order for this card to be delivered to my mom's house without her knowing, I hid it in the bridal present that I sent to Katie. She then took the card to the flower shop and asked for it to be delivered with the flowers. Did that make sense? Yes, it was very sneaky I know! :) Anyways... here is the card that I made.
(I didn't take pictures before sending the card, so I took the pictures off your blog mom!! Thanks)

I found out today that my mom didn't realize that we set up this "Get Away" until she looked at this part of the card closer! :) It has all the details! She simply thought we made a nice card and sent her flowers... How lame do you think we are?! LOL!

We had a lot of fun setting all this up and we're happy that mom and dad liked it as well!! We hope that you truly enjoy your 25th celebration!! Love you both!!

A Year Ago Today...

2009-02-15T23:05:00.000-08:00

... Nick and I were engaged and were apart from each other. He was in Vegas and I was in Wyoming finishing school. My mom had called me about a week prior to this and told me that Allegiant Air (an airline company that does WAY cheap flights from Billings to Vegas) was having GREAT deals on flights for the weekend of Valentines day. I of course was SOO excited to hear this news and thought it was a great chance for Nick to come to Wyoming and see me for the weekend. I called me right away and could hardly contain myself as I told him this exciting news. He on the other hand was NOT NEARLY as excited as I was. He was acting VERY strange about it and said that he wouldn't be able to get work off. For $29 for a one-way flight he couldn't even try to get work off? I was very disappointed and hung up the phone. Well, little did I know he already had this weekend ALL planned out to come see me. :) :) :) He was SOO sneaky about it all too and I fell for it all.
This next couple of days I was acting very awkward towards Nick on the phone. As if being apart wasn't hard enough, knowing that he didn't want to see me was enough to call the whole thing off. He took my bad attitude and snotty remarks very well. I'm surprised he didn't give in and just tell me he was coming to surprise me, so that he didn't have to deal with my attitude anymore.
He sent my a Valentine's package in the mail just to make it seem like he wasn't coming. I loved it and was coming to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to be able to see him. :( That Valentine's Day was a Thursday and the Friday after, our student ward was having a Valentine's dance. My best friend Kate's, dad, was the DJ at the dance and so I went with her to help them set up. Of course I didn't stay for long because I didn't really have a purpose to be there (Nick wasn't there). Before going to help Kate, I remember getting a phone call from Nick. I heard a voice in the background that sounded like it was coming from an over com system. I asked him what it was and he told me that it was something at work. I believed it and found out later that it was the airport, and he tried desperately to cover it up. So after I was done helping Kate, I went home and started cleaning my apartment. About and hour later, Kate called me asking if I could bring a couple mountain dews to her dad. He was dying for one and after all, I knew what that felt like! :) Little did I know, Kate called me to get me out of my apartment. While I was gone, Nick snuck into my apartment. Braden picked him up from the Billings airport and drove him to Powell. He called Kate when he arrived and she got me out of the house. When I got to the dance to give Kate the drinks, Nick had Braden take a picture of him sitting in my apartment, holding up a sign that said "WISH YOU WERE HERE!!!" I received a text on my phone and opened it. I saw the picture of Nick, realized it was MY apartment in the background and started SCREAMING!!! I took off right in the middle of Kate's sentence and she yelled surprise to me while I left. I sped around the corner to my apartment, running the stops signs and all! :) I ran down into my apartment to find him there!!!! :) That was the best Valentine's Day EVER!! I will NEVER forget it!

TOO funny!!

2009-02-12T16:37:00.000-08:00

My mom sent this to me today and I got a REALLY good laugh from it. Check it out!
Watch out for those female drivers!

25 Tag

2009-02-06T15:54:00.000-08:00

Sorry, here is ANOTHER tag. You're probably sick of these, but Andrea did mine and so I HAVE TO DO hers. :)

Rules:
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 5 people to be tagged.
1. I was born with a congenital hip and had to wear different braces for awhile to turn my leg back out. And no, they weren't braces like Forest Gump had to wear. :) Don't worry, it's pretty normal now... just a little piggoned toed.

2.My middle name is Jo. I'm named after my grandpa Joe Bassett and my Grandma Mary Jo Preuit! :)

3. I grew up on a farm and spent my summers at the ranch with my dad. That's where I grew my love for horses.

4. I had a run-away with my horse Goldy when I was younger and thought I was going to DIE! I was riding him bareback with a halter and was taking some horses out to the pasture for my dad. I was slowly trotting behind the horses and planned on stopping at the gate. Goldy didn't stop and he took off at a DEAD RUN across the pasture in the DARK! I tried and tired stopping him. Finally he game to a big ditch, jumped to a stop(thats when I flow over his head and landed on the other side of the ditch), and then proceeded to jump over the ditch and land on me. :)

5.I had a HUGE crush on Nick in 8th grade! :)

6. I'm DEATHLY afraid of Spiders, I think it annoys my husband a little! :)

7. When I was 18 years old, I had back surgery - a two level fusion. OUCH!

8. My dream would be to own a huge beautiful scrapbook store and just scrapbook ALL day about my family, husband, and kids!

9.I LOVE Disney Movies. Nick and I are trying to collect them ALL! (well, the good ones anyway)

10. My goal to obatin a bachelors degree. I've been going to school for 4.5 years and I still haven't obtained it. It's taking forever! :)

11. I love both my family and Nick's to pieces. Living far away from Wyoming isn't always the funnest thing!

12. Country music is my favorite type! Good thing that have country music stations in Vegas!

13.I have a REALLY bad habbit of chewing on both my finger nails and biting my lips.

14. I have two sisters who are my best friends. I wouldn't have it any other way.

15. Nick and I have set a goal to attend the temple once a week and I LOVE being there with him.

16. Nick's Grandpa Garrick sealed us and it made it that much more special!

17. I think I have Insomnia? I never sleep through the whole night. I wake up at least 3 times in then night, sit straight up, look at the clock, and then roll over. Kind of wierd huh? (family, it's all because of that freaky guy looking in my bedroom window when I was younger) :)

18.Living in Las Vegas has been really fun (surprisingly). We never run out of things to do and getting to know Nick's family here has been a blast and we've made such great friends with them.

19. Ever since I've lived here, I've learned that I have this obsession with watching planes land and take off?? Call me weird, but I drive right past the airport everyday for work and it's the first thing I look for??

20. I truly admire Nick for working the graveyard shift and then going to school all day! He has a goal and is determined to reach it. He's a very good influence!

21. My little sister is getting married march 14th and I can hardly believe that both of my sisters and I, are all married!! How times flies!!

22. My sister kaite, our classmate Michael, my college roomates sister, kim, and both of Nick's mission campanions, Don and Brandon are all getting married between now and AUGUST!

23. I'm running out of things to say....so I'm making this a 23 tag!

I tag:
Claire
Aubri
Dani
Lacey
and since my mom will never do these, I guess I will tag...
Destiny

7 Things

2009-02-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've been motivated to blog again, but I'm back!! Claire tagged me so here I go!!!

7 Things I can do-
* Scrapbook
* Be moody
* Draw
* Be understanding of others
* Eat a whole jar of pickles in ONE day!
* Beat Claire and Jason at Mad Gab! :) LOL!
* Ride horses

7 Things I can't do-
* Go 2 days without drinking Mountain Dew :) Pathetic huh?
* Watch football on TV with Nick and act like I'm totally into it! :)
* Run a marathon
* Play the piano
* Act like I'm not going to die when there's turbulence on a plane
* play darts... that game is difficult?!
* stand at a Josh Turner concert for over 4 hours without dying of leg, feet, and back pain!!

7 Things I say often-
* OH man....
* Are you kidding me?
* What does that even mean?! :)
* Yay! I'm so excited!!
* Are you serious?!
* Get some sleep!
* I Love You!!

7 Things I love about Nick-
* He does things around the house that I need done while I'm at work.
* He can talk to anyone about anything
* Testimony/Love of the gospel
* He has goals and dreams and does everything to achieve them
* He always tries to make me laugh!
* He is ALWAYS surprising me with the sweetest things!
* He makes me go to enrichment!

7 Favorite foods-
* PICKLES
* pizza
* steak and potatoes
* Subway
* Jamba Juice
* Arbys
* cabbage rolls

7 People I tag-
* Dani
* Cousin Jessie
* Mom
* Aunt Donna
* Kim
* Andrea
* Charlene

The complex and living room

2009-01-18T16:34:00.000-08:00

Today Nick and I took a walk around the complex and took some pictures for our family to see. Unfortunately the pool(s) and BBQ area is shut down for mantience, so we weren't able to take pictures of that part of the beautiful complex. I'll add them later. :)

Thursday was a VERY exciting day because we got both our table and chairs and couch. :) YAY!! We've been waiting for them for a couple weeks now. Poor Nick had a long day of no sleep from working the night before and then putting together the chairs and table and then going to pick up the couch and haul it into our condo. Of course once again this wouldn't have been possible without Jason's help. Thanks again, hope you enjoyed the cookies!! :)
Here is the living room. It's not completely finished... just need to finish some minor details and we'll be all done. :) What do you think?

I'm still working on this wall. I plan on adding some more wrapping paper and a quote about all the pictures welcoming guests into our home.

Here is the table right off the kitchen. We have four chairs to it, but will only use the fourth one when we need it for company. We are still missing curtains and an area rug to go underneath the table. I know that will finish that corner of our dinning area, but here we are so far...

Here are some close-ups and detailed pictures. Some of them are hard to see because of the lighting. Sorry!

Nick wanted me to do something with these pictures from high school. :) So... I made them black and white, we went to walmart got frames, a curtain rod, and black hooks. Nick drilled holes in the frames and inserted the hooks. I placed ribbon on them and we hung it all up on the wall. There will be a quote above it saying "We were both young when I first saw you." I have to give Lindsay and Terri credit for the curtain rod idea. Thanks!!

And the Bathrooms...

2009-01-14T14:18:00.000-08:00

In our condo there are two bathrooms: the guest bathroom and the master. The only difference is that the master is right of our bedroom, it has a garden size tub, and is little bigger. I got SOO much cute stuff from my bridal shower that I had enough to decorate two bathrooms with. I just had to get one extra shower curtain. I decorated the shower curtain with some things that I had left over from my apartment in Wyoming. The colors I used are "fun" colors and are a little more wild than the rest of the house. Also, I ordered vinyl wall quotes for each bathroom, so they aren't completely finished. I also found its hard to take pictures of smaller rooms, but here they are.
First is the guest bathroom...

And these are the pictures of "OUR" bathroom right off the master bedroom...

These towels were given to us by Deloy and Shannon. WE LOVE THEM!! They go perfect in our bathroom and are so fun!

Starting with the kitchen...

2009-01-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

I know I said I was going to post pictures of our condo this weekend, and that was the plan until my camera died and I only got some of the pictures taken. Plus we're still waiting on our couch and table to get here so my mom gave me the idea to slowly post pictures of all the different rooms one at a time. I started taking pictures of the Kitchen first... so here they are!
Since we're living in a condo, we're not allowed to paint or put up wallpaper or anything like that... I'm sure that you know that. SO... I tried my hardest to get creative and cover SOME the plain white walls somehow. Here is what I came up with...

... WRAPPING PAPER and ribbon around the edges. The oldest part of our condo is the oven in the kitchen. The other night when I was making dinner, I had to ask Nick had to work it. LOL!! He looked at me like I had to joking. But it didn't beep or anything once it was preheated. So I asked Nick how I am supposed to tell when it's ready? He said just keep opening it until it's hot... GREAT!! It also doesn't have a timer so, we use the microwave above it as a timer. It been fun and to my surprise, the oven works REALLY good. In fact everything I bake in it is done about 3-4 mins before it's supposed to be.

Once I get some batteries for my camera, I'll take pictures of the next room and post them.

HE DID IT!!!!

2009-01-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, Nick's goal is to become a Professional Firefighter. This is a VERY competitive profession and the process of becoming one is very lengthy and takes dedication. Nick started classes at the College Of Southern Nevada last fall and did GREAT in his classes. He was enrolled in Basic EMT classes as he is progressing towards earning his Paramedic Certificate. You might be asking yourself why he is getting his Paramedic certificate to become a firefigther? Well... if he wants to become a firefighter, the more qualified in the areas they are in need of, the better chance he will have to get on. SOO... after completeing his first semester of basic EMT classes, he still had to take a test called National Registry. If Nick didn't pass this test, (even though he passed all his classes) then he wouldn't be able to continue onto this semesters Intermediate EMT classes.
Yesterday was the BIG DAY that Nick was scheduled to take the National Registry. He was really nervous and since the test covered 40 chapters worth of information, he wasn't quite sure what he should and shouldn't spend time studying. He stopped by my work after he took it and he didn't feel very good about it. Both of our moms called yesterday to see how he did and how it went. The results would take a couple of days to be posted online, BUt we JUST looked online this morning to find that HE DID IT!!! He passed the National Registry and can now continue with his EMT classes!! I knew you could do it babe!! Good work!!

FINALLY....Catching up!!

2009-01-08T11:02:00.000-08:00

Yes... it's the 8th of January and I'm just getting around to blogging about our trip home for Christmas to Wyoming!! We had a BLAST going home and seeing both of our families. It had been six months since we've seen either family and it was a very over due trip.
We landed at the airport in Billings on Monday the 22nd. My family picked Nick and I up and we headed to diner at Texas Roadhouse... are favorite!! :) Nick and I were VERY shocked by the COLD weather. As soon as we stepped off the plane it hit us! :) After diner we headed home and were greeted by Katie and Richard. Richard introduced Nick and Bob to Ginger Beer. Richard served his mission in Australia and that's root beer to them. I think its DISGUSTING... but Nick liked it. After a late night of visiting we went to bed.
The rest of the week was filled with both Bassett and Anderson family traditions: putting a puzzle together, watching Christmas movies, having a Christmas Eve program with the Andersons, playing Mad Gab, and much much more! Nick and I had a very full schedule with trying to visit each family and spend an equal amount of time with both. We didn't get any picutres with the Anderson family and am SO sad about that. I'll have to get some from Jerry!! :)
My sister Dani and I decided that it would be fun to plan a get-together with all our friends from Wyoming. We ended up inviting over 30 ppl to the local bowling alley for visiting and bowling. We had a pretty good show of 25 ppl and had a BLAST seeing everyone and getting to visit with them all.
We also got to visit our good friends, The Crosby's!! We got to see their BEAUTIFUL new house and wonderful kids and catch up on everything!! Thanks for having us over, it was so good to see you guys!! We made a trip to Powell to see our good friend Kate Jones too! It was SOO good to see her and catch up on everything!! We wish you lived in Vegas!! :) Love ya Kate!!
We also had the opportunity to go to the Billings, Montana temple together as a family. It was such a neat experience to have everyone there. I'm used to being with a group of people I'm not familiar with at the vegas temple so it was very nice!! And soon our little sister Katie and her fiance Richard will be joining us!! :)
We are SOO excited to be going back to Wyoming sooner that planned to see Katie and Richard getting sealed to one another in the Billings, Montana temple on March 14th!! Thanks to both families for being patient with us and our busy schedules. We has such a good time seeing you all and we're so excited to come home soon again!!

Our New Years Eve was supposed to be a BIG one full of excitement!! :) WELL... that changed as Nick and I were both asleep and in bed by 10:30 pm that night! LOL!! We ended up moving into our condo that day and after tried to start unpacking. We were both SO tired that we didn't even care to see the HUGE display of fireworks on the strip. I know... Losers huh?! BUT... we did get moved into our new place and it's ALMOST completely moved into and decorated!! We are just waiting on our new couch and table to arrive and the condo will be complete with a few minor changes!!
The day after New Years Eve we were treated to diner by a friend of Nick's from Wyoming. Dave Rael and his wife were in Vegas and asked us to meet them for diner and Smith & Wollensky's! WOWEE... I tell you what that food is AMAZING!! We've never eaten there, but heard it was a pretty fancy place! Well... that was right. It was expensive and DELICOUS!! We met a party of 13 there (Dave's family) and we actually found out that all of them knew my parents and some of them went to High school with them. :) So it was a very fun night full of YUMMY food!! :) Thanks Dave and Jenny! (once again no pics) :(

Now... were both back to regular life back in Vegas in our new Condo!! We are SOO excited to have our OWN place now and it has been so fun to make it our home. I will be posting pictures of the condo this weekend! Today Nick has to take his National Regsitry Test to completely pass his EMT Basic class and recieve his certificate. I'll let you know it goes!! He has to pass this test in order to continue to his next classes: Intermediate EMT. Good Luck sweets!! I know you're going to do a GREAT job!! I start school on Monday again and Nick starts on the 20th. Were back to work and our regular routine!! Life is good!!

Moving...

2009-01-02T14:42:00.000-08:00

We returned home from Wyoming Monday night at 12:30 pm. Our plane was delayed 2 hours thanks to the LOVELY weather in Montana... BUT, we returned to Vegas safely and that's what matters. Ever since we got home, Nick and I have been back to work and in between that, we've been packing everything up and moving to OUR new home (condo)!! :) Things have been very crazy as we've been trying to get moved in and get everything organized and decorated! We are SOOO looking forward to this weekend to hopefully get things all finished in the house!! Thanks to everyone who made our Christmas at home a VERY lovely one! It was so good to go back to Wyoming for a week to see everyone again! And it sure did make me thankful for the 50-60 degree weather we've been having here in Vegas!! :) Sooo... until we can get our condo all moved into, I'm not FULLY blogging about Christmas, new years, or the condo!! :) And you'll just have to deal with the lovely Christmas Background until I do get the condo finished! Sorry!! :) Until then... HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you!!
I also have to tell my sister, katie, CONGRATULATIONS!!!...
My little sister, Katie, got engaged LAST NIGHT to Richard Walker! They are getting married the 14th of March! Good luck planning the wedding!! HAVE FUN and we are SOO HAPPY for you!!

"Our" Christmas

2008-12-21T11:00:00.000-08:00

Nick and I have become very close with a couple of great families here in Las Vegas. Since it was Christmas time, it was the perfect opportunity to express our gratitude and appreciation to these families and show our love for them. We decided that putting together some Christmas goodies would be fun! I made homemade oreo's chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate pretzels(you know, the ones with m&m's and melted kisses?)! :)

I made tags for each one! Using wax paper and tissue paper, I stuffed these Christmas containers full of goodies!!

Here is the finished product! We ended up making 5 of them. We delivered them the "knock and run" method because of the number we had to deliver and the distance between each persons house. We are usually pretty sneaky at "knocking and running", but this time we got caught everything! :) Each person ended up calling us afterwards and visiting with us! :) It was great! I love doing simple and fun things for other people. We are truly grateful for these families and others who have been so kind and welcomed us to Vegas. Living here as been SO much better than I had hoped for. Nick and I have LOVED it and have these kind welcoming families to thank! Merry Christmas!!

Nick and I decided that it would be fun to have "Our" Christmas together before going home to Wyoming for Christmas. We decided that Saturday the 20th would be a great day to celebrate for 2 reasons. First, we leave for Wyoming on Monday; and second, the 20th is special because it marked 6 months of being married to one another. Man... how time flys!! We had a great day! Nick got home from work that morning around 10 am. We had breakfast and then opened presents. As you can see from the picture, the present on the right is the one that Nick wrapped for me. :) It's a pretty large present for such a little girl huh? And you have to admit that the wrapping job is classic! Nice work babe!!

We enjoyed watching one another open each present. Afterwards we watched "A Christmas Story" while I finished preparing Christmas Diner/lunch. :) We did our first Christmas ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, ceaser salad, and green beans. It was pretty tasty!! :) I was surprised that it all turned out so well. After that we had planned to go sledding with the tube that Nick got us for Christmas...BUT... our planned had changed due to FOOTBALL!! :) Nick got a call from Jason and Claire right as he arrived home from work telling him that he had free extra tickets for the Las Vegas Bowl. Let me explain how big of a deal this is!! Nick had been looking for FREE tickets for the last month for him and mostly his dad, and finally gave up and then we get this phone call. SO... we changed our plans. How could I tell him we weren't going to go to the game after all the nice things he always does for me? Plus the tickets weren't exactly cheap and we got them for FREE. So after diner/lunch we took a nap and then got ready to go to the Las Vegas Bowl! :)

This years Las Vegas Bowl was Arizona vs. BYU! Right when we got to the game, Nick called his dad to rub it in a little, and he was SOOO upset that he couldn't be AT the game. Nick explained the situation about the tickets to his dad and of course he understood. By the end of the game his dad was glad that he didn't go sit in the cold to watch BYU loose! It wasn't exactly FREEZING outside that night, but it wasn't WARM either. We got ALL bundled up, but since I'm such a wimp he gave in a took me home at the beginning of the 4th quarter. It was a pretty fun day! That tube will just have to wait until we get back from Wyoming! :)
Check out all our pics (Since it was "our" Christmas morning, I made it look that way as I hadn't showered or gotten ready for the day!)

P.S. My family will probably be the only ones to know how much this means to me... BUT... Nick found out that my FAVORITE Christmas songs are by, of course, The Oak Ridge Boys! :) Nick searched and searched all over Vegas and he got me their Christmas CD!! :) :) :) Now we can make it our tradition to listen to it when decorating the tree and house!! :) Thanks babe!

This week Nick and I also found a Condo that we'll be moving into once we return home from Wyoming. We're moving out of this house sooner than we had planned, but we're VERY EXCITED and can't wait to have our "own" place! We've been very blessed to be able to stay in this house as it has allowed us to save money and learn a great deal of responsibility. With the challenges we both faced trying to "keep-up" this house (replacing water heater, having rusty water, cleaning out the pipelines, cleaning the pool, digging up plants due to the HOA's request and finding out later we dug up the WRONG ones), we've decided that houses are TOO much responsibility and we'll be happy to live in a condo the rest of our lives!!! (kind of joking!!) We're also excited to get all the moving done before school starts again! Moving in the middle of a semester would not have been very much fun! Our condo will be closer to school and work for the both of us and now we wont have to spend 1 hour trying to travel only 10 miles because of the ridiculous traffic!! It will be a 10 min drive traveling maybe 5 miles. Things are going great and we're very excited for the upcoming year and the things that it will bring! :) I have to get back to packing now... we'll be landing in Montana in exactly 24 HOURS!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS to EVERYONE!!! Have a GREAT week with all your loved ones!!

A Few Things....

2008-12-15T15:12:00.000-08:00

First of all... I know it's below zero in Wyoming right now and I'm soo sorry for those who are dealing with that... BUT IT SNOWED IN LAS VEGAS TODAY!!! Can you believe it?? :) Not that is stuck to the ground or anything, but it's still amazing!! In fact, Claire said to me today, "Lindi you brought all the snow to Vegas with you!!" Sorry Claire!! :) I just had to share... anways...
Finals were over last Thursday for both Nick and I. We were VERY relieved to get them all over with. Nick's first semester went very well and he's decided that he likes school, but is VERY excited for the break!! My first semester at UNLV is over and I'm happy about that. This semester was NOT my favorite. I'm hoping that it was just because of the courses I took. I'm very excited for the break and have high hopes for next semester!!
I got sick over finals week and Nick being the sweet husband he is, surprised me with a professional back massage on Saturday! :) It was VERY relaxing and took A LOT of stress of my back. Thanks babe! We also did our Christmas shopping on Saturday... well we tried to get MOST of it done! We found some great deals! The MOST exciting thing about shopping was that we're taking all the things we bought HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!! We missed our families in Wyoming for Thanksgiving and we're so excited to go home for a week for Christmas!!
We also weren't able to make it to Bob's Graduation on Friday because of finals. We would have loved to be there Bob!! Looks and sounds like you did great though! We're proud of you and admire your will to do it ALL!!
With one week left before we go home we're just getting things ready for Christmas and enjoying NO SCHOOL!! :)

We love you MOM!!

2008-12-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mom!!!! :) I wanted to take this opportunity to express my love and appreciation for my mom. Mom was always FULLY involved in us girls' lives. Her and dad's famous line is "Remember who you are at all times... Somebody is always watching you!" This was such great advice as it warned each of us to always be constantly choosing the right.(Ya... sometimes we didn't do what they advised!) BUT... we tried!! :) My mom never missed an event that we participated in. In fact, she was always there 30 mins ahead of time! ;) She fully supported us in every GOOD thing that we involved ourselves in. My mom taught us how to cook, clean, and care for the things that we've been blessed with. She was always helping us if we asked for it and always making sure that we put nothing less than 100% into everything we did.
As most of you know, my mom is a VERY talented woman. I've learned SO much from her and Dad's examples. You know that saying, "Parents don't know anything?"... well, this is exactly what I thought when I was younger. I thought that I knew more than my parents and could learn my own way. WELL... I sure have learned a lot on my own AND I could have saved myself a lot of mistakes if I had just listened to my mother's counsel. Parents DO KNOW EVERYTHING!!! I knew I was blessed to have such great parents to guide me throughout my life, but as the years go by and I grow up more, I realize that my mom is an amazing women. If I could tell anyone anything, it would be to listen to their parents. Mom spent her life devoting it to her kids. Now that we've moved out and their empty nester's, my dad and her have been able to spend more quality time together and have a lot of fun. I'm so thankful for that because they are such great examples for how I want our marriage to be when we're older. You both deserve to be able to spend that time together and I hope you're enjoying it. I want to thank you, Mom, for being a better mother than I could have ever asked my Heavenly Father to send me to. You have taught me so much and I have been so blessed because of your testimony and example. Thank you for everything that you do for me and Nick. We hope that you have a GREAT birthday and we love you! Thanks mom!!

hey this is nick here...just wanted to say happy birthday real quick too...happy birthday! and thanks for everything that you've done for lindi and i...it's been a blast having you as a mother in law...i always have a good time listening to you and matt and your stories and just hanging out...it's a good time and we're looking forward to being with you all again here soon...thanks for everything! happy birthday...

Our First Thanksgiving (A little late... I know!)

2008-12-02T14:05:00.000-08:00

We had a good Thanksgiving this year. It was espically exciting because it was our first one as a married couple. :) This year was my first Thanksgiving away from home. It was a new experience for me, but because of Nick's great family here in Vegas it was a very good Thanksgiving! Nick is used to being away from home for Thanksgiving and so it was not such a big deal for him.

We had a very eventful day as it started by going to Nick's Aunt Vicki and Unlce Keith. Nick got see a lot of cousins that he hasn't seen in quite some time. I also got to meet to each of them and their kids. We had a very delicous lunch of turkey, potatoes, corn, rolls and salad. The kids all exchange their presents on Thanksgiving each year and so we watched them do that. After mingling and munching, we headed onto the next families house that we were invited to. :)

Nick's cousin, Daniel's wife Aurbi, invited us to dinner with her family. Meegan, Aubri's mom, is the sweetest lady ever. She called me ahead of time to give me a food assignment. I had been thinking that I wanted to try to make my mom's chocolate cream pie that she makes every Thanksgiving. I told her I would bring that (if it turned out) and she told me just to send her the recipe so that SHE could make it for ME!! She explained that since it was my first Thanksgiving away from home that she wanted to do something for. I really wanted to learn how to make this pie and so I insisted on doing it myself. Thanks for the sweet notion though Meegan.

Aurbi's family is so sweet and considerate. We had a good time getting to meet everyone and visit with them all. We ate LOTS and LOTS more there too!! :) So we got all sorts of good food and company. We got home around 5 pm that night and since had not gotten any sleep that day, we both went straight to bed and were knocked out until 12 pm that night. :) I guess all that food did it for me! Nick had to work at 1 am and since I didn't have class or work the next day, I joined him at work. Since it was a holiday there weren't many costumers and we were able to watch movies together and snack on goodies all night (I know, really healthy)!! Even though it was a Thanksgiving away from home, it was a good day with LOTS to be THANKFUL FOR!!! :)

The following Saturday we decorated for CHRISTMAS!! I'm extra excited for Christmas this year!! I was telling Nick that I think I took for granted the time I got to spend with my family on holidays, because when you're away from them and not spending the holidays together, you can really tell the difference. I am so grateful that I was able to be with Nick for Thanksgiving and we're even more grateful that we will BOTH be able to spend Christmas with BOTH of our families. Anyways.... We didn't want to spend a lot of money for lights outside because we will be moving into an apartment soon and won't need outside lights for some time. So we went through the Christmas stuff in the garage. :) I usually only like to use one solid colors of lights when decorating anything for Christmas, but the only lights we found in the garage were multi-colored! :) Great huh? Well, we(I mean Nick) put them up anyways!! :) Yes it looks very hott!! :) He did a great job and would be willing to compete with brother BOB anyday!! :)

We also went a picked out a REAL Christmas tree. This was super exciting for me because my mom is allerigic to pine and so we always have a fake tree. The smell this tree is filling our house with is WONDERFUL!! :) Sorry that you're allerigc mom!! :( We picked the most beautiful tree ever! :) For a real tree is sure does look fake because its SOO full. We figured that since we will buy a tree every year, that it would be worth our money to buy clear lights and some things to decorate the tree with. :) We got some great things at Michaels and Nick picked out our stockings!! I think he did a pretty good job!! :) Decorating our first Christmas tree was kind of a big deal because Nick says that our FIRST tree topper has to be our tree topper FOREVER!! So as you can see the main theme for the tree was important. The results turned out pretty cute! As you can see we don't have ornaments yet, and so I picked things that would still make our tree pretty and not bare. What do you think? We also made the "Tree Juice" and poured it in. This was also a new experience for me because of having fake trees my whole life. The way we brought the tree home was also a BLAST as people driving by were looking at us like we're CRAZY!! :) Check all the pics out!!

I still have to take pirctures of the lights outside and the stockings that Nick picked out!!

Thanks again to everyone who made our Thanksgiving a special day!!

Are You As Disappointed As Me?

2008-11-23T11:01:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm talking about the Twilight movie. I was warned by a couple of people not to get very excited about this movie for 3 different reasons.
1. Movies are NEVER as good as a book. You all know that these books were AMAZING!!! Could the movie really match up?
2. The movie wasn't going to follow the book exactly. It was only based on the book.
3. The book was about VAMPIRES!! Of course the movie is going to be a little strange.

With all this in mind, and trying not to get excited, I still was. I don't mean to offend anyone who really enjoyed this movie, but I personally thought it was a very poorly scripted and filmed movie. You could defiantly tell that it was a LOW budget movie. And of course no matter how each of us pictured this book in our minds, a movie could have never met that perfect image for any of us. We compare the movie's image to our own and of course the movie would fail. I guess I've learned that a movie based on a book always has the chance not to please us. Either way I'm glad that I went because I wouldn't have known wither the movie was good or bad. I've decided that I'm going to read the books over again to get a better picture in my mind.

On a more positive note, the night was still a BLAST!! A night with Claire and Aubri could not go bad!! :) We still had a great time making fun of the stupid parts in the movie and talking about the good parts that we agreed on. Imitating some of the stupid parts afterwards was probably the best part. ;) Thanks for the fun night girls! I would say lets get together for the NEXT Twilight movie, but I think we already know the answer to that!!

I'm interested to know what everyone else thought about Twilight!! Let me know if you were satisfied or disappointed!!

Family Gathering

2008-11-19T20:11:00.000-08:00

You're probably looking at this picture and thinking, "Family gathering?... It's a UNLV basketball game!" :) Hey... if it takes a UNLV basketball game to get this family together, then so be it. As I mentioned before, the people in this picture are one of the reasons why I love Vegas. Daniel and Jason are Nick's cousin. Aubri and Claire(not in this pic) are their wives. I have grown very close to these two girls and I love them to death. It has been VERY FUN to get to know them and to be able to call them when I'm in need or just to get together. :) With all of our individual busy lives it has been very hard to find time to get together for diner or just to visit lately. Jason told Nick that they had season tickets and we were pumped because we get in free and they'll always be there. I'm thinking that from now on out UNLV basketball games will mean something more than a game (well, to ME anyways... probably not the guys!) :)

This little guy is Emmett. He's Aubri and Daniel's baby boy. He's pretty dang CUTE isn't he? I met this guy on the 4th of July, but haven't seen him since. I've been WAITING and WAITING to be able to hold him and play with him. So here is our first time hanging out! :) He got to come to the game because his headphones finally came in the mail. :) He doesn't like the noise and so Aubri had to wait for the headphones to be able to bring him. He looks pretty cute in them. Emmett is extra special because he was born on the same day that Nick and I got married. ;) Happy 5 month old birthday tomorrow Emmett!!

Thanks for the fun night guys!! We had a blast! We'll see you at the next game!! :)
(and girls... I'll see you FRIDAY... TWILIGHT!!)

Late For Work?... What To Tell Your Boss?

2008-11-18T15:51:00.000-08:00

This is a totally random story (sorry, once again no pics) but Nick and I got a real good laugh at 7:30 this morning... maybe that's why it was so funny. ANYWAYS...
The house that we're currently living in has a ADT security system. Of course the last question I ask Nick each night is, "Did you lock all the doors and set the alram?" And of course he always say yes! Well this morning, our alarm clock went off at 6:45 am and I did NOT want to wake up. So Nick said that he'd take a shower first so that I could sleep for a few more mins. Next thing I know I'm WIDE AWAKE because the ADT alarm goes off! WOWEE! That thing is louder than a fire alarm. So I FREAKED out because I thought Nick was still in the shower and someone has broke into the house and I'm going to die! Well not knowing what to do I just sit there in our bed waiting for whoever broke in to come down the hall and kill me, I guess?!? Then I'm thinking I know Nick can hear this alarm going off so why isn't he coming out of the bathroom to safe me and beat up this person who just broke into the house. Well... don't worry... Nick just opened the window in the bathroom and neither of us were aware that the windows were actually set on the alarm. So Nick slammed the window shut, grabbed a towel, and met me in the hallway where I was prepared to KILL someone and he says, "Sorry, it was me. Don't freak out, don't freak out!!" After we got the alarm shut off we both had a good laugh about how I was prepared to kill someone.
By this time it was 7:30 and I needed to be out of the shower by now and getting ready for work (if I wanted to be on time.) But of course I couldn't just hurry from then on and get ready. Nick had a test today and it was about taking the correct steps in order to save someone who has just been hit by a car. Nick had asked my last night to help him study and I thought that meant that I would just be asking him some questions to see if he knew the answers. Well we didn't get time to study last night because I wanted to go to bed. LOL! So this morning, before I could get ready Nick asked me to help him study!?! He said "You've just been hit by a car. Lay there unconscious." Nick then proceeded to test himself by running throught the correct procedure on how to safe someone. I'm glad that I could help Nick study because he did great on his test.
Well... as you know from the title of the post I was late for work, and I was all prepared to tell my boss that someone broke into our house and then I got hit by a car!!

Pretty Laid Back...

2008-11-17T18:07:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted anything for the last week and 1/2 because to be honest with you, there hasn't been much excitement in the Anderson's lives. :) The last two weekends have been very relaxing as Nick and I have taken each Saturday to lay around and relax and just spend time with one another. This has been very nice and fun for both of us. We're also just counting down the days until the end of this semester. It has been a very boring one for me. I register for next semesters classes this Friday, so I'm hoping that I can get some more interesting ones. :)
This semester was nick's first. He loves going to school to get his paramedic classes out of the way. It's just the first step in the right direction to becoming a professional firefighter. Along with his paramedic classes, he's also required to do 6 clinical's. Two of them were in the E.R. at one of the hospitals, one of them was in the Delivery room... yes... Nick saw 6 babies born that day. I told him by the time he was done witnessing that and being a part of it, we'd be able to have home deliveries when the time came. LOL! One was in the crazy person home... which was a pretty pointless day for Nick because he didn't really perform any medical procedures at all. It was more like babysitting? And the last two clinical's are ride-a-longs with different fire departments. His last clinical is a ride-a-long and it's Wednesday. His first ride-a-long with one of the fire departments was a blast for him. He LOVED every second of it. Even though Nick has loved his first semester at school, is has also been very competitive and demanding. He's learned a lot and is looking forward to moving onto next semester.
We also went to the first UNLV basketball game of the season. We met some of Nick's cousins there and that's always a blast. That has been one really good thing about living here in Vegas... we've gotten to know them very well and it has been really fun. Nick says that we're becoming UNLV BASKETBALL fans... LOL!... their first game was very fun to watch and we're excited to see them play more.
We also found out that we'll be moving out of the house that we're currently house-sitting in March. We've been very blessed to be able to live in this house for awhile and to be able to save a lot of money by doing so. However, I'm getting very excited about moving into our own place and making it "our home." We've been apartment/condo searching the past couple of weeks also. We've been able to find some pretty good deals... even though this economy is a very difficult time for many, it does have it's up's (lower rent prices). We've also been keeping our eyes peeled for good furniture sales. We went to Ashley Furniture on Friday as they were having a 1/2 off 1/2 the store sell. We found some GREAT deals on a love seat and ottoman. I know that we're not moving out until March, but we have the room to store it and it was a deal we could not pass up. So... as Nick puts it... "We bought our FIRST couch!! That's a pretty big deal!" :) You know Nick... he had to tell the lady at check out that too! :)
So... like I said, we've been pretty boring and quiet around here lately. With both of us always running 100 mph it has been just what we needed! :)

One Nation Under God

2008-11-06T13:38:00.000-08:00

This semester at UNLV, I'm enrolled in 2 Political Science classes. Yes I know, what a time to be enrolled in these kind of classes. I have learned more about our government and politics this year than I ever have. I'm glad for "having" to take these classes because of the knowledge I have obtained. However; with this years very competitive election, it can be very overwhelming at times to constantly hear about it in class, on the radio, on the tv, on billboards, and in the newspaper. I honestly have to say that it has been a very eye opening experience for me. I've also learned the level of debate that can go on when discussing this topic, so please understand right now that my intentions of this post are NOT to affend anyones beliefs or thoughts about this years election. Many of the discussions in my classes have addressed the legalization of gay marriages, abortion, and mariguana. Some topics like these are VERY heartbreaking to me and it blows my mind that people even have these thoughts.
Last weekend our stake had Stake Conference and we had the privilage of hearing from Edler Harry Coleman. His main concern was the state that our country is in and asked us to continue to do as we know is right and have faith. He also talked about being prepared for the worst... having a "shelter from the storm." This was very informative and also a comfort for me to hear. I also recieved this email from my mom today which also gave me a comforting feeling. This email and past weekends conference is the reason why I finally decided to post about this topic. Here is the email I recieved...

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, 'The Rest of the Story,' and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.
Billy Graham's Prayer For Our Nation: 'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it p olitics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!'
With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called 'One nation under God.'

Halloween Happenings

2008-11-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

Our Ward's Trunk r' Treat was Thursday night. Our ward is pretty fun and we've made a lot of great friends so it was really fun. We're also primary teachers and have a class of nine 5 year olds...SO I was super excited to see all the kids in their costumes. Along with the trunk r' treating, we also had a chili/corn bread diner. :) I made chili using my sisters recipe and it turned out pretty good. :) I was looking forward to having some left overs to take home, but it was GONE!

Nick and I had been thinking about what we should be for Halloween for the last month. We thought about Woody and Buzz, Beast and Bell, Tinker bell and Peter Pan, Wizard of Oz characters? None of them were working out so the other night after watching The Best of Will Ferrell, it hit us... THE SPARTAN CHEERLEADERS!!! :) If you have no idea what I'm talking about, this is a clip from the video. (p.s. I have NO idea why 2 of them show up? When I tried to edit them, none of them even showed up? only watch one!)

Well, we found the costumes and it was classic. We were so excited and once we got to the trunk r' treat we started to wonder if ANYONE would even know who we were? Well we were a HIT!! Everyone LOVED it!! We decorated our Trunk with streamers and candy and sayings from the video. We also had a little dvd playing of the video clip in case no one knew who we were. It was a blast.

Friday night Nick and I just wanted to hang out at home and have a quiet night together. So we watched Hocus Pocus which is absolutely the best Halloween movie EVER!! :) And then we made the BIGGEST sugar cookies and decorated them. :) It was pretty hilarious. They turned out the size of a plate. It was fun though!! We also had quite the amount of trick r' treaters come to our door too. It was fun just relaxing and getting to see all the kids' costumes.

That night Nick had to work. Of course he had to wear his uniform, but this is how he went to work! :)

Our LOVEly Weekend

2008-10-28T15:03:00.000-07:00

This friday Kate Jones, one of my best friends, flew into Vegas for the weekend. Kate and I first met while attending college in Wyoming. We graduated together in May and the last time I saw her was at our wedding. Nick also got to know Kate very well and we've always had a BLAST together.

We told Kate that we had a surprise for her and she would find out when she got here. While Nick and I were waiting for Kate to come down the escalator at the airport, Nick was talking to a couple of LAX escorts. LAX is a club at Mandalay Bay. The escorts were waiting for Reggie Bush and they told Nick he would see him later at work that night if he didn't see him coming down the escalator. So I while Nick and I were supposed to be looking for KATE, he was TOO busy looking for Reggie! ;) I found Kate first, so Nick had to wait until he went to work. lol!

Once we left the airport, we went to eat diner at Stripburger. We told Kate we had to get her surprise before we could get diner. We pulled up to the Mirage and walked to the concierge desk where we picked up 2 FREE tickets for the LOVE show and purchased one. The LOVE show is a Cirque du Soleil show featuring The Beatles. As some of you know this show is pretty expensive. The only reason we went was because one of Nick's classmates works at the Mirage and got us 2 free tickets. The show ended up costing each of us $46 which is amazing compared to a total of $420. You can see we would have NOT gone if we didn't get any free tickets.

The TICKETS!

Hangin' with The Beatles After the show

We went to the show Saturday night after a full day of shopping and going to the temple. It was great to do baptisms together. Nick and I haven't done them for a very long time and Kate actually couldn't make it to her wards temple day so it was perfect for us all. What a great experience it was too. That day while Kate and I went shopping, Nick went to an Elder's Quorum activity where they watched the UNLV v. BYU game. And I do have to say that BYU didn't KICK our butts this time. :) It was tied the whole game until the very end where we ended up loosing. And of course the LOVE show was the highlight of the weekend. For anyone who has the chance and money to see this show and is a BEATLES fan... it's totally to die for. It was amazing! Check out this clip from youtube...

Sunday we went to church and Kate got to meet our cute primary class. :) They LOVED the Halloween treat bags we made for them too. After church we had a great diner of potatoes, steak, salad, and corn on the cob. :) When Nick and I got married, Kate got us this CUTE Caramel Apple set. So... since it is the Halloween season we decided that making caramel apples would be a blast. Check it out...

And then we TRIED to eat them.... YUMMY MESS!!

We also decided that carving pumpkins was A MUST....

Here is the finished product...

A sister missionary that was in Nick's area while he served his mission was also in town this weekend. She dropped by to visit him and meet Kate and I. She was a such a sweet girl. It was fun to hear their stories and get to know her. Another friend of ours, Bruno, also stopped by on Sunday and dipped an apple while we finished our pumpkins. It was so fun to be with them all.

Kate had to be to the airport by 6:00pm on monday so we made the best of our last day together. Nick missed out unfortunately and had to get some sleep and studying in for school. Kate went to work with me for a few hours and then I had one class I had to go to. After that we hit the strip and visiting M&M world and the Coca-Cola store. I've never really done the whole "trourist" thing, so it was all new and fun to me. We also walked down to the Mirage to check out the LOVE show gift shop where Kate found a coupld of souviners for her family. It was sad taking her to the airport :( But we were SOOO GLAD that she made time to come to Vegas to see us and we couldn't have had a better time. :) Thanks Kate!! We love you!

Bite of Las Vegas

2008-10-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

This weekend Nick and I went to Bite of Las Vegas at Desert Breeze Park. For those of you who don't know it's a food and music festival. There were over 40 different GOOD resturants there as well as the bands Puddle of Mudd, Secondhand Serenade, Lifehouse, and Metrostation. It gets even better... it was only $8 a piece to get in. It was a very fun and relaxing family atmosphere where you could just enjoy the food and listen to the music from a distance OR try to make your way to front of the crowd. We did both and it was very fun! We went a little later in the evening so we only got to hear Lifehouse, but they did a GREAT job. Nick was laughing at me because it was my SECOND concert... yes, in my whole life. The first concert I went to was Garth Brooks in Montana. My Grandma took all of her grandaughters and what a sweet memory it is to us. :)

There was a photographer at the park that was randomly taking peoples pictures and then handing out cards with a website where we could get our free picture. Here it is! Not the best picture, but my camera wouldn't download the vidoes we took or the pictures last night? So it's the best I can do. The other picture is the lead singer of Lifehouse.

Before we went to the concert, we also went to the temple which truly made our week. I'm SO glad that we've set a goal together to attend the temple each week. It really is the best thing for both of us and a great way to spend our time together. When we were there I told Nick that it would be awesome if we could attend EVERY temple in the world just once. I don't know if that'll happen, but I do know we're going to try and attend every temple that we're near at that specific time.

Just to catch up on a couple of other things... Nick has a phone now. :) AND it's the same number so that makes it easier for everyone. So if you need to get ahold of him, now you can. :)

You know that I'm really into scrapbooking and digital scarpbooking is the new thing; however, I haven't really gotten into that until recently. I'm just learning, but I've found that I love it just as much as regular scrapbooking. I've been experimenting with designing my own blogger layouts and headers. The one you can see right now is my FIRST. Yes... I know it's a little rough but I'm excited to see how much I can learn and see what different things I can create. It's a fun new hobbie for me esepically when I need something to distract me from homework! ;)