Moving forward...

The past month or so I have been given an opportunity to explore new horizons with a new company.  I have been working for WSU for nine years now, I love WSU! It is my alma mater, but not only that, I literally grew up on this campus. It's filled with people who I feel are family members and is considered a second home to me - truly. Since I was 10 years old I have only been disconnected from this school for maybe 3 years total. It has been loyal to me and I am grateful for the experiences I have had while here. Thus, choosing a new opportunity with a new company, for me, was a big deal. I know some of you may feel that is WEIRD! to have such a connection to a school/job, but I am a sentimental fool - "It's my one weakness!"

The new opportunity though has brought with it answers to some long waited prayers. I know that it is the right move for me right now. Some of the benefits are that I will be able to work from home thus being more accessible to my children and a bit of a pay increase, and who can argue with that. I will be working for the company SunGaurd Higher Education who is currently undergoing a merger with Datatel. In very basic terms my responsibility will be interpreting institution's catalog degree requirements and inputting them into the computer program so that students can pull up a check list of sorts that helps them see their progress. For those who attend WSU, they call it "CatTracks."  I love higher education and could not have asked for a better compromise of being home with my kids and still keep my foot in the door of the career field I love so much. Definitely a miracle from above.

As my time at WSU comes to an end I am feeling a little emotionally bipolar! So for those who interact with me in the next couple weeks - please be patient as I will most likely be a bit of an emotional mess. That said, be comforted, as I am, that it is the right path for me and any struggle will be met with faith, hope, and smiles all around.

too cool...

I love this picture. It was a great but slightly long day as we went to the movies and then to dinner down in Salt Lake. Rhett had just bought his fadora with his birthday money - the long awaited hat that makes him "cool and older", whatever makes you happy says mom! In any case, the fact that he wants to be a teenager is driving me crazy, it's practically all he can talk about - well that and skateboard video games he got for his birthday. So when you see your wanna be teenager still snuggling with his baby (yes still calling him the baby- don't even go there as I too find it pathetic) brother you snap the picture and put it in your blog for all posterity to see! I tried to ROCK STAR it up so he doesn't get too embarrassed, but what can a mom say - LOVE YA RHETT!

LOVE IT!

I wanted to show everyone my new phone.... THANKS SKIN IT AND DIGI SCRAP DOWNLOADS! Isn't this just the cutest phone... or should I say ADORABLE! I got this for my birthday about a month ago, but wanted to show it off to those who may not have seen it. I have to say, I didn't think I was such a "techy" - I don't even know if that is how you spell that. In any case, being able to look up things online on my phone - - - let's just say, I ROCK AT SCRIPTURE CHASE!

It's about DARN time!!

So here I sit surrounded by girlfriends, taking one BIG deep breath. Grateful for the birds, creek, and wind through the leaves of the trees that have answered my SERENITY NOW cry; I am ready to blog. I'd like to take a second to catch up everyone (or anyone for that matter) of the adventures that we as a family have been experiencing.
FIRST: I AM EXTREMELY PROUD OF MY HUBBY! He completed 18 credits this semester, is 6cr. shy of his degree, and is now accepted into the Education Certification Program. It's been three years that he started this school thing; filled with ups, downs, and an extremely overbearing wife but he was patient, worked hard, and has accomplished an amazing goal.
SECOND:  Easter/Spring BLISS!

 THIRD: BIRTHDAYS!! Both Kenidy and I completed another year. I had been looking back over the year and my "34 Dreams" post seems like it was just yesterday. And yet, I have had some of the most amazing experiences; well above 34 - so I feel completely blessed. I am not very excited about the fact that I am getting older, but I am trying to do it gracefully... fighting every gray hair that pops up. My cute new phone though is really making life fun!  I'd post a picture, but BLOGGER is buggin' out right now. In any case it's the Droid Aris, and I custom made a skin that's all cute 'n stuff - hehe ;D

Now that we are all caught up (well enough to get a move on) I'd like to showcase my latest endeavor: crochet and knitting! I don't have my knitting done, but look how DARN TOOTIN' CUTE the blankets are that I did for my soon to come niece Reagan.

I know they're pretty cute. I think my mom would be completely surprised that I did this, but all in good time. Which makes me think... I better not get angry with Kenidy when she doesn't want to learn or do things when I want her to learn or do things.  

ALL IN GOOD TIME! 

 Right Keni!

To be or not to be FOOLS!

To be or not to be... yes this week has been a week of ups and downs and still has not ended.
FOR CRIMANY SAKES HERE'S THE BREAKDOWN!

Sunday was an up - a great afternoon with family as we sent one of our own out to serve his Lord on a mission to Florida. We are so excited for him and can't wait to hear all the stories. GOOD LUCK JAKE! His mom (and supporters) did an amazing job of having the most delicious (IN ABUNDANCE) food available to easily 100 (and most likely more) people. We are going to miss those Maddox rolls! I guess we can go buy them - whatever!

Now Monday my sister had to go into surgery, which came with some slight downs and fortunately is at this point an UP - I watched her kids on Monday, and had a great time working on my knitting skills and laughing at her son be the cutest thing in the book. KEEP GETTING BETTER SWEETIE, and let us know what we can do to help!

Tuesday was SCARY I guess is a better word than down - with February a shorter month you can imagine that me being a couple days (almost a week) "late" was not a........ let say - WELCOMING feeling. Emotions got crazy, plans started being hatched, and then I got fed up with guessing and took a test - NEGATIVO!! Which was - Gracias al Senor - a relief. Now I know some of my family would say - "You should have more kids" - I KNOW:  1) my kids are beautiful...I know, ;) 2) I'm a good mom and Aar's a good dad.... debatable at times but we do try hard which says a lot, 3) how fun for Keni to have a sis. - WELL - as all of those things may be true - IT'S JUST NOT IN THE CARDS! So an appointment is getting made for Aar as soon as we know whether the insurance we have now is better than the one we will have come July.

So Wednesday WE ARE UP AGAIN... and really the UP just kept getting higher as last night I spent an amazing night with two of my most favorite men - Aar (of coarse) and MICHAEL BUBLE!!! What a great concert - if you get the chance (especially Tag and Thesha - I'll explain in a sec) GO!!! His opening act was NATURALLY 7 from America's Got Talent (I think) - THEY WERE FABULOUS - and ACAPELLA - see them in action:



and then came HIM!



SO - Now I'm on cloud 9 and can start my Easter/General Conference weekend with a smile, A BIG SMILE on my face. I LOVE MAKING EVERYDAY THE PRESENT! Thanks Mom - and Happy Birthday - it's not 'til the 11th - but April Fools is a day that always reminds me of her - she was always having fun on this day - SO TAKE HER ADVISE AND HAVE SOME FOOLISH FUN TODAY!. :D

My turn...

So now that you have experienced the exciting Christmas of my family, I should tell you that I TOO recieved a surprise to beat ALL surprises! I awoke that morning excited to see the kids do their thing, and to get on my way - however, there like a sidenote to an amazing day was an envelope. As the saying goes, big things really do come in small packages; and so I ripped open the side of the envelope and pulled out two tickets to...

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT~ I know, it's kinda a present for Aaron too because even though Aaron said I could take any one I'd like (which WILL BE HIM) he knows that I will come home VERY HAPPY and as they say in Mama Mia " dot dot dot"! Just in case I don't remember my camera for that evening I wanted to show you what I will be doing that night... wait for it... while at the concert.

AHHHH... how fabulous!

new fun...

So during my lunch break today I started going through my FABULOUS browser sites listed below and click - click - click I came across this fun new site, Photovisi, that will do my collages for me FOR FREE!!

FABULOUS!
(I didn't have all of the pics "PSed" - photo shopped - which would make this even better)

I am so excited because what can normally take me hours to do took me literally (and I mean the literally that my BBFF - "blog best friend forever" - Lisa, that's Blue and Shoe under the list, speaks about. Which by the way you should totally read!) TWO MINUTES!

Don't my boys look so handsome - and Keni - well she just is GORGEOUS DARLING ;)

So this is a collage of my beautiful munchkins having fun at the Scarecrow Festival with their cousins at Thanksgiving Point. They had a ball (not literally), going on all the blow-up toys, playing little carnival games, and getting their face painted. The best was when my dear nephew Hayden exclaimed what I had wanted to say the whole time, but keeping my mouth shut as to not destroy the fun for the kids... "THESE SUCK" - so true, so true Hayden. Your mom and I could have TOTALLY done a better job at painting your cheeks - but it did go to a good cause! Next time though - I AM SOOOOO going to just ask that I paint their cheeks for them. I'll still give them the 2$ (I want my 2 dollars - had to be said) just give me the paint and brush.

Well, I can't leave today's entry with out a shout-out to all my NEW MOON FRIENDS! Can hardly wait to see the wolftastic movie tonight! I LOVE MY LIFE :D

Too cute for words...

I mean truly, can you just imagine how fun these would be for a BD party too!! I just love this.... YES, it is a cupcake, brownie, and cookies! I wish I had more time to do things like this... thanks bakerella's for this fantabulous idea! OHOHOOOOOH.... what about for a YW's activity? The ideas just keep on coming - I LOVE when I find things that just get my creative juices going. SO FUN!

It's DIGI scrapbook day...

So this afternoon I let myself go exploring and I found two new (to me) sites with way fun stuff! So I thought I'd share since it is digi scrappbook day!

The first I found while trying to look for some free downloads. I love the Halloween pages and the great scrapbook ideas! SO YES I AM A FAN!

The second is a designer that is showcased on "Two Peas in a Bucket" site that I love to shop at... the site is The Project Girl. She has some cute freebies!

One of the things I fell in love with was this Kitchen Set.... SO CUTE!!

HAPPY DIGI SCRAP DAY!!

White Family Photoshoot... too fun.

My friend Laura asked that Catrina (my friend and her sister in-law) and I come take her family pictures for her. We had a lot of fun, and the kids were so great! I had to race them at one point... I was out of breath before I realized what I had said. Thanks Laura for letting me be a part of such a fun night!
I love this last photo.... so seventies!! Seriously, can't you hear it... "I'll build you a rainbow..." oh, man - I better stop before I get too mushy! Love you guys!

Sassys Retreat Fall 09

It's time to be jealous, cuz I have the best friends in the world! We are having a lot of fun at this year's Sassy Retreat. We have been shopping, eating, and scrapping. This year we took our photos up in Midway. I have been a having a blast with our photos. Here are a few that I've been working on...

Boredom in class - trouble - devistated mommy...

So yesterday after homework was done, and we were eating dinner I noticed Kenidy's hair was not looking quite right. I began to panic - and excused Kenidy from my sight. I was afraid I would either physically or mentally abuse her because of the travesty she had committed to her hair. I didn't know that I would respond quite as drastic as I did because I would have guessed due to my mother's experience with loosing hair to chemo that hair wouldn't be that big of a deal. But when I had my Keni, and she had her beautiful long hair I made a decision to do everything possible to keep it long, healthy and beautiful. It became her trademark, AND NOW - she had made cuts shoulder high that would not be easy to fix. I also am ashamed that I let it affect me so -

It all happened at school. She was bored, couldn't find paper to cut while the other kids were finishing their craft project, and thus - snip, snip. My first response is to beat down her teacher for not watching her more closely, then I realize that is not the solution. So I would love to hear from anyone reading what you think, if anything, I should do.

In the mean time, here are the pictures of what my FABULOUS hair dresser was forced to do to make things as best as they can be. THANKS COURTNEY!! You were so understanding of my devastation, and hopefully Keni will listen to you.

Swiss Days in Midway

My friends and I have been attending the Swiss Days festival in Midway for a few years now. It is always the weekend of Labor Day, and we usually go up Thursday night to Park City (about 20 min. away from Midway) and then head over around 7:30 in the morning. Some of my friends have been going for the past eight years. We have a great time together, and I am grateful to have these friends in my life. We did spend too much money, and could have stayed much longer. However, I got a darling new temple bag and the cutest hand made winter hats for me and Kenidy. I'll have to take pictures of us in them, cuz darn it - THEY ARE CUTE!! In any case, this was just a taste of what is to come - our SCRAP RETREAT. I am getting so excited, and will have to move up my count down so that it's up where I can see it...

Any way - if you have ever been to Swiss Days go ahead and let me know what your favorite thing about it is, or let me know why you don't go. I'd love to hear from you all -

Ready for another summer Tuesday -

This summer I have my work set up so that I can spend all day Tuesday with my kids. I usually try to get to bed early so I can wake up and make them a fabulous breakfast, get the chores started and some of them done, and then plan for a fun activity for the afternoon. Aaron has a full day of classes and work so we don't see him until dinner time, which is usually around 7:30 during the summer. So it's me and the kids. I will admit that sometimes I have to talk myself into that day being special, but usually if I plan well it goes great!

A couple of weeks ago My kids and I were able to spend an afternoon reading, listening to music, and swimming. We also did a little Karaoke, and Rock band. Below is Kenidy singing one of her favorite songs - love you sis! I love having these special days with my kids. I hope they will remember them as much as I will cherish them. I am listing this post as one of my 34 dreams because it has always been a dream to have fabulous kids and be able to spend time with them having fun! They are each others best friends and I am a very lucky mom.

MOM OF THE YEAR...

My dear friend Jen sent this to me today, and so I want to share it with you in hopes that you will be so kind as to go and send this to all the mom's in your life! Truly we are together in this motherhood thing, and I am blessed to be surrounded by FABULOUS MOTHERS!!! I learn so much from you all.

MOTHER OF THE YEAR AWARD GOES TO...

Thanks to all my mothers!

Just a PUNK at heart...

So I did it... my hair is almost the same as my Guitar Hero character. I really do love it, and I want to thank Courtney for making it fun but still presentable. YOU ARE AWESOME COURTNEY!! Oh, and the pictures do not do it justice. Thanks to all those who convinced me to go for it on Facebook!

FIND THE CURE!!!

Click Here to find out more!

You may know that one in eight women will be stricken with breast cancer in her lifetime. What you may not know is that you can help these women and thousands of others in the fight against breast cancer.

On May 9, 2009 the Nicholas family will be participating in the Komen Salt Lake City Race for the Cure to honor my mom, Patti Nicholas Choate and my cousin Jill Brown Graves. Join the fight by registering as part of our team "Saving Second Base - pbj" or by supporting our efforts with a pledge contribution. The money raised through the Race will fund vital education, screening and treatment programs for underserved women in our own community and support the national search for a cure.

We had an amazing and surprisingly emotional time last year. We would love for you and your family and friends to join us - not to mention we had the cutest shirts, and will have the cutest shirts again this year. So if you would like more information about our teams shirts/sweatshirts please let me know.

What Kind of MOM....

So I took a "What Kind of Mom Are You?" test on Facebook and I thought I'd share my results on my blog page as well. As you can see I'm like 'Kitty' from That 70's Show.

"You are doing pretty good! You know that being a strong mom is important and that you aren't perfect! You can laugh and cry with your kids! You demand respect and set a certain standard for your kids to follow! You are the MOM of the Year!"

Really I'm just glad to hear I answered the questions right. And while my kids are young... makes it a little easy to be soooo cool. When they get to be teenagers - well, lets just say I'm a bit afraid!!

Message for Women...

If you can't view the video attached go to the following web site:
http://www.lds.org/pa/display/0,17884,4644-1,00.html