FHE

Family Home Evening is great. I always thought it was funny that you have an FHE group in a singles ward. Mainly because, we aren't family. But I realize that you get to know the people in your ward so well, plus, you have fun! I love it! Plus, it's getting me ready and giving me ideas for my future family for our FHE's ;) I can't wait for that!
Oh, and another thing. I was listening to the devotional today and the girl talked about a woman who had a blog and she always shared her testimony after each post no matter what it was on! So, I'm going to try and do that from now on ;)
I do know that FHE can have a profound influence on people and is important because it teaches us things and let's us spend time with our family (or friends in a YSA ward). It is direction from the prophet's to have FHE and you cannot even have church meetings on Monday night because of it, but because it is guidance, advice and a commandment from the prophet, it is from our Heavenly Father so it much be very important!

St. Patrick's 2012

This St. Patrick's Day was a great one. Usually I go all out in green, paining my face, dying my hair, socks, pants, shoes, shirt, jewelry. The whole thing. 

This year I didn't. 1. Because it was Saturday and 2. Because I've been trying to be more mature lately... I'm in college.... but guess what! I'm doin' it next year. It just wasn't the same. 

So my mom bought me a cute shirt that said: "Everyone loves an Irish girl" or something like that. I probably was judged because I'm a red head ;) but I don't mind at all!

So we were supposed to go on the balloon ride, but they canceled again. So I got to sleep in. I woke up to green muffins and my mom making green omelets! 

After breakfast we went to Katelyn's basketball game in Orem.

Then we went to my aunts house to give her something and we learned that they were having a blood drive for a little girl who had leukemia, so we decided to go and donate. Ash couldn't cuz she didn't have her I.D. And my mom's iron was too low. So I did it by myself :) I love donating blood because it makes me feel like I'm doing something for someone else and I don't mind needles at all so it's something easy for me ;) But I do have to say, the worst part about giving blood is that stupid finger prick at the beginning... blah. That hurts. I would rather have 2 needles in my arm then get my stupid finger pricked. Plus, it still hurts for days after... my arm doesn't even ever really hurt. That's all. 

Then we went to Desert Book to go shopping (yes, we like to go shopping at that place. We get carried away sometimes) and at lunch at Coney's. Ps, Coney's was sooooo good! We had this yummy burger and this yummy hot dog and some yummy fries and then ate some yummy pistachio (green) ice cream. 

Then we went home and... I really don't remember what we did... oh ya, Cleaned. 

Then we ate dinner.... It looks gross, but it was just chicken stuff wrapped in a croissant, dyed green.

Then I hangout with Jackie and 2 returned missionaries that taught her. We went and Saw This mean War. It was the second time that I saw it, and I realized it was a lot dirtier then I thought the first time... won't be seeing that again! 

Then we hangout with Ash, Austin and Andrew for a bit talking and playing games. 

OH ya! Me and Jackie saw a red limo on the way to the movies. Must have been going to pick up some people for prom! So cool! But, if they had a green one, they should have picked that... 

It's hard...

Yep. I'm sure you all knew this. But apparently I'm just figuring it out.
School. Is. Hard.
I am not good at it.
I'm struggling.
I want to break down crying quite often when it involves school.
I'm counting down the day's till this semester is over (20 school days) (only 15 if I go on vacation).
I seriously want to give up.
But I won't. Don't worry.
I hope it gets better.
I hope I don't fail all my classes.
I should be working on a paper right now.
I miss my family already.
I'm sick with a cold and have 4 exams this week plus a paper.
My room is a mess.
My laundry isn't done.

Yep. So there's some negative for you. I usually don't like to tell the negative. But I guess someone someday will want to know that my first year of college wasn't just a piece of cake, and it wasn't easy at all. In a few weeks I'll be writing all about the great things that have happened to me this year. I just had to get some negatives out first. :)

One of the best Sunday's :)

Today was seriously an amazing Sunday!
Jackie was here so I went to her sacrament meeting with her at 9:00 and then we went to my stake conference at 10:00. We were for sure uplifted!
But we didn't end up getting to stake conference until 11, so we waited for intermediate hymn to walk in. While we were out in the hallway a mom was bouncing her little girl. The baby wasn't old enough to talk or even walk. She wasn't very happy and was crying a lot. Her mom then just kind of walked over to the big picture of Christ at the second coming trying to distract or calm her down (you know this one, they at least one big one in every church, plus, it's one of my favorite pictures).

 Right as the little girl looked at the picture she immediately (really) stopped crying and started almost giggling with a huge smile on her face. It was the cutest thing I have EVER seen! I couldn't help but smiling and me and Jackie both turned to each other and just said "that's so cute!" Then her mom kind of started walking away and she started to cry again. Then her mom walked over to a picture of Heavenly Father and Christ appearing to Joseph Smith. The baby immediately stopped crying again and looked with a huge smile and started giggling! Then her mom also showed her the picture of Christ appearing to the Nephite's.
I can't even explain how amazing that was. It just really showed me how close He is. And how really close children are to him. They recognize Him, and know Him. It was a very humbling and testimony building experience.
Then stake conference was amazing! We heard that we missed a lot of good talks in the first hour as well. But, I was also grateful that I was able to take the sacrament ;)
Then my stake president said something that me and Jackie just loved. He said: "Share your testimony. You never know who might need to borrow it for a little bit." I loved that! Because people do need to "borrow" others testimonies before they gain their own. So we should constantly be sharing it with other to not only strengthen theirs, but build ours.
I then went home and me and my sisters spend most of the day watching funny home videos. Most of them were just of me eating, taking a bath, lying there... you know, the first child thing. We have a million tapes of me, but not as many of my other sisters. It was kind of cool to see how much my parents loved me, and loved being parents. Plus, it was just fun to see my mom and dad so happy and in love with each other :)
While we were watching we came across one part where my mom and dad were sitting on the couch. They had probably just put me to bed and they were having FHE. They set the recorder down and my dad said, "this is for you Nicole, and for the rest of the kids to come." Then they tried to started singing "Love at Home" but as always my dad was making my mom laugh and it took them a good 5min to start it seriously. They then sang "Love at Home" (a family favorite, as well as one of my mom's and dad's favorite), "I Stand all Amazed" (my dads favorite song), and "Because I have been given much" (my moms favorite). I have to say, they weren't bad, and I loved hearing them sing together. This was the first time we had ever seen this and we all just loved it. We all then started singing along with them on the tape. It was a special moment for us ;)
We then just watched some more random things like Christmas and Easter, family parties, flaming gorge, birthday's, and other random things. I loved it!
We then ate dinner together. We were all kind of in a little bit of a weird mood. We were kind of getting to each other before the prayer and things. But then something really stupid happened before we prayed.... I can't even remember what it was, but Karly started to pray and couldn't even get 3 words in before we all busted up laughing and couldn't stop. The funny thing was, we all still had our arms folded and eyes closed. We just laughed until we couldn't breathe. Karly was crying, Ash was on the floor, and my mom's head was on the table. It was beyond funny! Those are the moments that I just love! Obviously we needed to be nicer before we could start the prayer! Hahaha. Well, we did get through the prayer and had a yummy dinner plus lots of more laughs.
I then went to a fireside for my singles ward and had a great time at that as well.


OH! I forgot! In case you didn't know. We watched my dad play a whole basketball game on the home videos and guess what.... ya.... he was the older Jimmer. I swear. I have proof. We were impressed! You guys need to see this!

Nice Men and Spiritual Thoughts

Last night I really wanted to ride my scooter. I have just been itching to get on it since this beautiful weather has started. But, it's been being really weird and been having some problems... I can't start it electronically (or whatever you call it), so I kick started it. It's starts fine and runs fine, but after it starts going if you aren't continually giving it gas it will slowly die out. So I got it started and thought that if I just rode it around for a  while and just giving it gas on the stop lights that it would get "warmed up" and finally work. So I headed off. I was just a little ways from my apartment and then it died at the stop light, even though I was sort of giving it gas. Luckily there were no cars coming the other way so I ran it up on the side walk and tried kick starting again. You have to remember, I really stink at kick starting it so I probably looked like a complete fool. But then a nice man stopped his car and asked if I needed some help. Then 2 seconds later another man stopped his car and asked again. They were actually friends and had just gotten done rock climbing together. They told me where they rock climb at a place called the cove or something. I remembered my visiting teacher was a hard core rock climber and I asked them if they knew her. They smiled and said ya! We know Jenny! We love her! Hahaha we laughed about the thought of how small the world is ;)
Just my luck one of the guys had a truck and had motorcycles and just happened to have a ramp in the back of his car. So after they tried to help me start it they put it in his truck and gave me a ride home. I was so grateful! Then they took it off the truck and the one that had the ramp (his name was Matt and the other one Austin) actually started it and tried to help me figure out the problem. He works on motorcycles for a living. Of course. So he even filled up my gas to see if the gas was just old and that didn't work. Then he figured out the problem, something just needed to be cleaned out. Then he gave me his number and told me he could actually do it for me this weekend if I wanted. HOLY COW! How nice! I felt so blessed! Heavenly Father is really looking out for me! It must have been me praying before riding to keep me safe ;) I just know that he is always with me and that if I listen, I can hear him. I'm so grateful for those men who helped me and listened to that small prompting that they had. Even if they weren't members of the church. I believe that my Heavenly Father was looking out for me and gave them a prompting. He knows us, and knows our needs, and if we are following Him and have our hearts in the right place he will help us along the way, even if we make mistakes. No matter how simple it is, He will be there and help us. :)

Fun Friends :)

On Tuesday I was able to hangout with a  bunch of my friends :) Jackie came and picked me up and we went and got Austin, Logan, and Celeste. The bunch of us decided to go to a movie...Ok wait this is actually pretty hilarious...
So as we were driving to go to the movies in Austin's car I had to get out of the car real fast to get my wallet from Jackie's car. We were just in the parking lot and so I quickly grabbed it and then Austin started to tease me and drive off. So I start running for the car and the door is still open and I told him I wasn't going to get in while it was going (really because we were already squished in the back and I didn't want to hurt Jackie... or myself... well that didn't' work! So Austin took that as, "stop right now." So he slammed on his breaks and I was still sort of running and yep.... I smacked right into the door. Hahaha it kind of hurt, but I didn't care. We couldn't stop laughing. I wish someone was recording at the time because I'm sure it looked like a movie. I just smacked right into that thing. Jackie was laughing because she said she was surprised I didn't fall flat on the ground. This was for sure a "had to be there moment" but it was still hilarious! We laughed even after that for a while. Haha I don't mind being the person that makes people laugh through getting hurt. As long as it's not too bad! ;)
So we got treats, watched John Carter (kind of boring if you ask me, but if you ask Austin and Logan, they loved it),  and then went to Austin's and played.... actually I don't even know what it was. Some war game. I sucked. Jackie was pretty good cuz she had played a game like it before and  Austin just beat everyone. I think I had one kill over the whole thing, and it was by accident. But it was pretty fun. Then me and Jackie headed home (she drove me of course) and that was it.
But I did make a mistake later that night that I will never make again. You can't just expect people to do things for you. I knew that already. Duh. But I just got worked up over something that was nothing and ended up being a complete jerk to a friend. Just remember to not freak out over little things and to remember who your true friends are :)

Teaching Relief Society....

So, I've never taught before. Well, I have sort of, but not a bunch of people that are older than me.
So last weekend I was given the opportunity to teach a bunch of relief society teachers about how to keep their kids off drugs. I got this assignment in 2 ways. 1. My mom is in the stake relief society presidency, and 2. my platform as Miss. Saratoga Springs was love life live it drug free or something like that.
So I was able to teach them and I made 10 points on how to do that and things like that. It was fun and I felt like I did a pretty good job. I learned a lot as I studied as well as taught. My mom also co-taught with me and se talked about things she did or is doing as a parent now. I think it really helped the sisters and it was a great opportunity for me. :)
Then we had a key-note speaker when all the classes were done. She was amazing and I would do anything to have her job. She works in hospitals and helps families/moms that have just given birth or are about to give birth to a pre-mature baby. I think... I can't remember exactly what she and her co-worker do, but they provide things for the moms and the babies and they help the family thought the hard time. It was amazing to hear her stories and give us advice about these special moms/families. It was very spiritual and I learned a lot! It just shows us how the spirit can speak to us in so many different ways. :)

The jokes of the doctor's office ;)

My mom might just be slightly paranoid.
Might, just might be enormously UNDER exaggerating.
2 summers ago we went to Flaming Gorge for our normal family vacation like we do every year. But, this time for some reason all of us lost our brains or something...
We always get sunburned when we go to that amazing place. I know that sounds dumb. But what are you supposed to expect when you are outside from sunrise to sundown in the water or playing 4 square. That's just how it works when you have sensitive skin (for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about because you tan easily. This is coming from a girl who literally goes outside for 5min and gets sunburned).
So we all got burned. From looking at my back, I actually had the worst sunburn. But, when we looked at the legs/thighs, Ash was the worst.

You can't really tell from this picture, but it was pretty bad... 

Ouch. We didn't really wear shirts for a while, just our swimming suits.

It was pretty painful for her. She couldn't really wear pants other than basketball shorts, and even that was painful. It just seemed to get worse and worse so my mom, being the paranoid mom she is. Took Ash to the doctors.
Surprisingly it was actually a good thing for her to go because she ended up having a 2 degree burn on her thighs. He gave her some creme and she couldn't walk or wear normal pants for a week, but still, isn't that sort of a really embarrassing thing to go to the doctors for.

But the worst part about this story is a month and a half later I come into the doctors office. Being carried. By Ashley. For what reason? Ya, I burned my feet on the black top.
This story needs a little explanation.
I was at school and we had conditioning for basketball. We had to run a mile on the track outside. I didn't bring any tennis shoes, I had completely forgotten, I had just worn flip flops to school that day. It was a pretty hot day, but being me I didn't really think about it. So I just said I would run without shoes. My coach and friends said to run on the grass, but I didn't want to because for some really odd reason that I'm still questioning in my mind I thought that I could step on a rusty nail and then die...
I guess what happened is better... (I think) then stepping on a nail (NOT dying).
I was running and doing fine. My feet kind of hurt and burned, but I thought it was just because it was a little hot and I was running bare foot on the ground. But as I was halfway through my last lap I realized what was going on. I started to feel the bottom of my foot sort of rise up... like a bubble... NOT GOOD!
When I finally finished I went and sat down to look at the damage. They didn't look too bad when I first glanced, but when I touched them... ya owww...

This is right after it happened... this doesn't even look bad. But if you looked from the side, it was a lot worse... and it grew after this.... 

I had two huge blood blisters on the top part of my foot. They were about the size of that top part of your foot if you were to walk on your tippie toes all day. And then I had 2 small ones on my heals. Wow. I felt like an idiot. We went inside to play basketball. There was no way I was going to play now. I could hardly walk (I was just walking on the sides of my feet, good think I don't have bad ankles). The worst part was, the blisters just kept getting bigger and bigger and filling up more. I thought it was slightly awesome, because that's just how I am. But I'm not going to lie, it was pretty painful. My feet just constantly felt like they were on fire. But my friends kept laughing and telling me how dumb I was (which WAS totally true, who does that...?). Oh, and my coach. He already had plenty to make fun of me for, but this was just juicy. Ew, literally.

This was a LONG while after. Actually, on the day that I took all the skin off because it had finally dried.  This looks great compared to what it really looked like. Ha, plus, it looks small.

So, because I couldn't walk (I really hardly could without a lot of pain) I had Ashley give me a piggy back to the doors and then Austin drove his truck to the doors and he then carried me to the truck. I got home and my mom was like great. She then proceeded to ask me the logic of running on a blacktop on a hot day without shoes. As always I couldn't really explain besides the whole I was scared of stepping on a  nail thing.
She asked me if I would rather have her pop the now 1/2inch thick blisters or if I'd like to go to the doctors. My mom sometimes isn't too gentle with her own children, I decided to go to the doctor. So Ash gave me a piggy back in the doctors office. All our doctor could say was, "oh no, what now?"
Yep. Another "burn victim" and only on month away. That's embarrassing.
I told him the story, he couldn't help from laughing. I don't blame him.
Then he slit open those guys with a razor and sqoze (ok I don't think that's a real word) all that blood out. Sooooooo painful. Then he wrapped them up (this, and beside the fact he had just slit open those things made it so I really couldn't walk) and we headed out. Ashely and I were planning on going to the movies and dinner with Andrew and Austin, and they still wanted to do that. Even though I couldn't walk....
But we did and Austin just carried me everywhere. Kind of embarrassing, but entertaining because I got the weirdest look... this girl being carried everywhere by her boyfriend.... with these huge bandages on her feet.... I would stare too.
After 3 days of not being able to walk I finally was able to, but only on the sides of my feet. My ankles and the sides of my feet are very strong now.

Ok now here's the other story before we get to the story that happened this week.
Katelyn was at school and her hands were blue.... (I don't know this story very well, so sorry) so the teacher called my mom and she came to pick her up. My mom is freaking out because she thinks (thinks is the key word) that she's losing oxygen because they are well, blue. So she takes her as quick as she can to the doctors office. While in the waiting room, I think, she was just thinking and realized that Katelyn had new pants on and that she had been rubbing her hands on them all day. Hence, making them blue. The doctors office had a good laugh.

So where this whole thing was going, Ash told me a story about how on Friday my mom took her to the doctor because she had this weird bump on her elbow. Ya. A bump. She told my mom and then she said we are going to the doctor. The doctor just gave her some meds and said it was good she came in, but then Ashely said she was reminded of how we are sort of the joke of the office. And, our doctor still hasn't forgotten about these events I just shared with you. We just make his day when he comes in, he knows it'll be something interesting. ;)
That's all! Wow! Lost of words!

Need some Motivation?

Here are some amazing videos I was shown during a study, I just couldn't keep them to myself!
No Excuses

Come what may and Love it - this statement actually hangs in my house so it's pretty awesome ;)

If you haven't failed, you haven't lived

You will feel so great after watching these :)

Aren't Grandma's the best?!

I just have to say, and I'm sure all my cousins will agree with me, that I have the best Grandma's EVER! Seriously! Both of them are always there for me. They always come and support me and my sisters in everything! Whether it's basketball, graduation, or my pageant, they have always been there. Also, my Grandpa's were always there too, and I'm sure they still are up there cheering for us with my Dad :)
But anyways, yesterday my Grandma Ruth sat and told stories to me and my family about pioneers. It was fun and exciting because we have a pretty interesting history. I'm so glad that she got to be my grandma :) I don't know what I would do without her :)
Besides that, both of them just care so much about everyone. :) they are both going straight to heaven that's for sure! But hopefully not too soon...
That's all =)

These are both not very good pictures of my grandma's, but, they were all I had! 

My Grandma Ruth at her 75th Birthday party! 

My Grandma Calder at Flaming Gorge... hahaha she smiled, but I happened to catch it right after she stopped. Hilarious. 

Karly's testimony...

My sister Karly is beyond amazing. Me and Ashley were just talking the other day about how we can't figure out one time Karl has ever been rude to us or ever said anything bad. We are pretty sure that she is as close to perfect as it gets. But I know that I look up to her more than she probably knows. She is the person that I wish I was in millions of different ways. I'll explain that later though ;)
So today we went to my cousin Aubrie's baby Carter's blessing. It was fun to hear the beautiful blessing, see family and eat some of Aubrie's delicious food :)
But Karl got up and bore her testimony on attending the temple. Her and her friends have made a goal to go to the temple every week (holy cow! I wish I was that good!) and she told about how they had trials getting this week but that she knows that God will help you along the way and that God will ALAWAY triumph over Satan. That really stuck with me as well as something else she mentioned. She said that the temple is our Heavenly Father's home as well as ours here on earth. We go to the temple to feel the spirit, get away from the world, and receive relation from our Father in Heaven. Then she shared how our house is the same way. We go there to feel the spirit, get away from the world, and to receive advice from our parents. This is totally true and it really hit me when she said it.
She has such a strong influential testimony. She is the sweetest person I have ever met in my life and knows what she wants. She has the strongest testimony and it grows every single day. She is a great example to me, as I'm sure she is to many ;) I love her and am proud to call her my sister :)

How to get to sleep...

The other night I could not get to sleep for some odd reason. I am the kind of person that can fall asleep at anytime anywhere. Plus, I sleep super deep so I don't wake up for anything.
The other night I just couldn't get to sleep. I went to bed around 1:00 and I was just not falling asleep. A couple hours later (literally, I was watching the clock, it was 3:30) I finally realized that I hadn't said my prayers that night. I don't even know why I didn't. I always remember to, and I had even read my scriptures, I guess I just had a lot on my mind. So I kneeled down and said my prayer. I got back up, layer in bed for a couple min and went right to sleep.
I'm so glad that I actually didn't get to sleep because I didn't want to miss that opportunity that I had to talk to my Father in Heaven :) He knows what I need and knows how important prayer is. Plus, I love talking to him and I know that he loves listening ;)

The end of the road...

More pics to come!

Here we go! 

Right now my emotions literally are... flat... if that's how you say it... I really just don't think that everything has set in yet. Or maybe I'm just relieved... I'm not quite sure yet.

But here's how the pageant went. 

The night before was a little crazy. Maybe a little tears, but not for the reasons that you are thinking and lots of headaches and craziness. 

The morning of the pageant was completely crazy as well. My mom was helping Christina fix her dress, but then she ended up wearing a different dress anyways. But I was so tired from having a "slumber party" with my mom. We stayed up till 3:30 talking like either a married couple (not in a weird way, just about my sisters and things, my mom just needed someone to talk to about things like that so she always tells me everything. I just really love that I can be there for her and that I have a great relationship with her so he trusts me and wants my advice) or like a couple of teenage girls (maybe just a tad bit more mature though). 

So I felt like I was going to fall asleep while standing the whole day... that didn't help everything that was going on. But we got through the dress rehearsal and all the girls did AMAING! I just couldn't wait! Everyone kept asking me if I was nervous. To tell you the truth, I really wasn't. I didn't get to nervous before the pageant last year either, and that was a lot more intimidating. But I didn't feel too good about my piano piece when I was practicing... I didn't have a ton of time to practice, so... yep... 

Then just a bunch of craziness in the middle before I had to be there. I had to get all my stuff ready and organized plus take a shower, get my hair and make up done, practice piano, eat, and breathe. It was a lot less time then I had anticipated. 

But we got it all done in time, barely. I got there and we got some last min stuff done before.

My first outfit was slighty awesome. We decided on the day of the pageant that I should go with the 50's theme. So I wore my short pink dress with the white ribbon in my hair and around my waist. Then I had my hair curly in a hight pony tail with my crown and some awesome pink and white sparkly converse :) I have to say, I think people thought I was a nut/awesome. 

Oh ya, so I was able emcee the whole think with Mike (a member of the city counsel). It was pretty fun, but sort of awkward because there was only one mic. 

My second outfit was a black dress that I had original planned on wearing for the talent but the day of the pageant again I decided to switch for some different reasons. But I wore them with some super cute pink shoes. I failed at my piece, but that's ok! I have some excuses.... that are pretty legit... I think ;) 

The last outfit I wore was a teal dress that is actually Ash's dress. It is beautiful and I felt pretty amazing in it. ;) 

But after my walk (which was completely lame I'm not going to lie. But we won't even talk about that) I actually had Kirah (the one that originally won) come up and I recognized her. I'm such a weirdo, but I started crying for some reason! Why? I have no clue. I swore I wouldn't. But just all the emotions of everything came down on me and It was hard to handle. But, oh well! Hahaha I did feel pretty stupid though. 

Alayna Woodhouse won Miss. Saratoga Springs 2012. 

Ashley Ottoson won 1st attendant.

Koryssa Farr won 2nd attendant. 

I am so happy for all of them :) they are going to have a way fun year! 

I feel relived and sad at the same time. It's kind of weird. 

But... surprise! I might be doing another pageant this April! Ok, I will be if I'm one of the first girls to turn in my papers. 

It's called days of 47'. I'm super excited because this is for sure my kind of pageant. I don't know much about it, but my grandma told me about it and she's really excited for me to do it as well :) 

More to come on that later! 

But over all I had an amazing night even thought I feel like I completely failed at everything I know the girls had a good time. Plus, I'm super proud of Christina :) she did AMAZING! I'm glad she had a good time and I loved watching her :) Thanks to everyone that came and supported me! It was so great to have all my family and friends there for me, as they always are! Love you guys! 

THE END! For now....