Maybe if we concentrate really hard our combined psychic powers will move it closer.

The summer months always call for the reunions of families. This year we had an extended family reunion on my mom's side of the family, and one with our immediate family a few weeks later. For the extended family reunion we watched the 4th of July parade and attended the rodeo.  It was a blast!

This was Jeremy's first rodeo.  I secretly got a kick out of his reactions to the different events.  He loved the bull riding (of course) and the mini show with BMX bikers going off jumps.  All in all, I don't think it'll be that hard to talk him into going to another rodeo.

For our immediate family reunion we went down to my parents' cabin and partied.  We rode 4-wheelers, went on hikes, ate good food, and played fun games.  We also got to celebrate this cutie's 1st birthday.

We’re going to stage an intervention with the neon post-its and make them give up their wacky crazy ways.

I lack in having patriotic decorations.  I found this idea on Pinterest, and decided to give it a go. All it took was canvas, red and white paint, painter's tape, and a paper to make a stencil of the US of A on.  Here's what I did:

 First, I traced around the map of the US on a piece of paper.  Yes, I could have printed it out, but I was too lazy.

 Second, I put stripes on the canvas using painter's tape, and painted red in between the tape stripes.

 Third, I cut out the map of the US and taped it onto the canvas once the paint dried.

 Fourth, painted to map white.  This took a few coats so the red stripes wouldn't show through.

Finally, I took off the stencil and let the paint dry.  I then took a little bit of blue nail polish and painted a blue heart over Utah (the land that I love).  It was a really easy project, and a great way to show off some patriotism.

I can be flexible. As long as everything is exactly the way I want it, I'm totally flexible.

This cute guy turned 3!  I can't even describe how much I love that this cutie pie is in my life. Boy oh boy does he love superheroes, swimming, and sweets.

Happy birthday B! I sure do love ya!

When I have made one zillion dollars from my rocket gum invention you will eat those words! Or rather you will chew those words and blow a bubble with them.

I love Christmas time! Teaching makes it even better.  I love being around excited kiddos that help spread the Christmas spirit.  This year I decided to involve an Elf on the Shelf in my classroom.

He started out on our Christmas tree with his book wrapped underneath.  My students loved it! We named him Elfis.  Here are some places that he decided to hide throughout the month:

The reading room with a book of Christmas jokes.

Making snowflakes by the school supplies.

Making fun of the teacher (a definite crowd pleaser).

Dressed up like Harry Potter flying on his paintbrush.

Playing Candyland with Mr. Sock Monkey.

Hanging around the lunch count.

Some students were getting a little stinky and were choosing not to believe.  Elfis didn't like that and decided to take their pencils and put them in the crab tank.

He also helped keep the classroom clean.

Elfis was so loved in our classroom that the students even made things for him.

He loved his bed.

Needless to say, it was a great way to add a little fun to the Christmas season, and it also was a great classroom management tool!

Even without an inhaler, "Follow Them to the Edge of the Desert" is too long. Yeah, but when we get famous, our fans will shorten it to F-T-T-T-E-O-T-D.

I love summer.  Let me say that one more time, I love summer.  It's warm outside, the sun is shining, there is no school... did I mention that it's warm outside?  Here's an update on what Jeremy and I have been up to so far this summer.  I'm going to go chronologically backwards (get over it).

This weekend Jeremy and I went to Park City.  I love Park City.  It is beautiful up there, and there is some great shopping to be had.  On the way to Park City, however, Jeremy and I noticed a car show at the park in Heber.  Knowing Jeremy's love for cars, I suggested that we check it out.  It was a lot of fun!  There were so many awesome cars.  Jeremy was in car heaven, and now he is obsessed with the idea of getting an old truck for his next car so he can fix it up.

After the car show, we headed to the outlet mall in Park City.  We wandered around for a bit then decided it was time to go to our favorite store, The World Market.  If you have never been there you need to go.  It is pretty much the coolest store ever invented.  I could walk around for hours.  They have a little bit of everything, jewelry, home decor, kitchen supplies, foreign food, etc.  Their website is www.worldmarket.com if you want to take a gander.  On our way home we stopped for dinner at our favorite burger joint in Park City, The Dairy Keen.

They have great food, and delicious shakes.  I suggest you stop there on your way to, or way home from Park City.
Also, last week my dearest friend Stephi got married, so Jeremy and I were able to go down to St. George for her and her husband's sealing and reception.  I am so happy for them.

I also got to be a bride's maid.  It was so exciting.  I have never been a bride's maid before.
Jeremy and I also had the privilege of going to my family's cabin in Pine Valley a few times this summer.  I love it in Pine Valley.  It is gorgeous.  I love chilling with my family, eating good food, and being out in nature (with a flushing toilet and warm shower close by, of course).

While we were there we were able to go to the Pine Valley Chapel for church.  The Pine Valley Chapel is the oldest LDS building in use.

Since it was Memorial Day weekend, it was quite busy up at Pine Valley and we had to sit outside for the church service.  It was kind of cool to have sacrament meeting outside.  My cute nephew, Brey, didn't mind being outside one bit.

Well, that's it for now on our summer adventures.  Feel free to be jealous.

I’ve had about all the crazy I can for one evening.

Happy Easter ya'll. Today I realized at church that I  hadn't done my visiting teaching for the month of March, and seeing as today is March 31st I figured I probably should do something about that quick.  When I got home from church I whipped up a batch of cupcakes, frosted them, and made Jeremy walk around with me to drop them off.  What a sweet man he is.  The recipe I used was from yourcupofcake.com again.  I seriously love her cupcakes.  Today's concoction was Strawberry Colada Cupcakes:

Strawberry Colada Cupcakes

Coconut Cake:

1 box white cake mix

3 eggs

1/3 Cup oil

1 C. coconut milk

1/3 C. sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp. coconut extract

Strawberry Buttercream:

1 C. butter, softened

4-5 C. powdered sugar

2-3 tbsp. strawberry jam or preserve

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Shredded Coconut

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners.

2. Sift cake mix into a small bowl and set aside.

3. In a large bowl combine eggs, oils, coconut milk, sour cream, vanilla extract and coconut extract.

4. Add cake mix and stir until smooth.

5. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 17-22 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

6. Buttercream: Beat butter for 2 minutes. Add in powdered sugar until thick. Add strawberry jam 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach the right flavoring. Taste to test :) Mix in vanilla extract.

7. Pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes.

8. Sprinkle with coconut.

Would you like to eat dinner with fragrant lilies in the room?

Valentine's Day is one of my absolute favorite holidays--second only to Christmas.  I love that we have a holiday based on love.  It was my favorite holiday even when I was single.  I'll have you know that I never had a boyfriend for Valentine's Day before Jeremy, so I spent many Valentine's Days alone, and I still loved it.  My job also makes the holiday extra splendid.  For example, this was what one of my students wrote on his valentine:

It's true.  Kissing is good.  Many people asked me what Jeremy and I were doing for our first Valentine's Day as a married couple.  It's kind of funny to think of last Valentine's Day.  Jeremy and I had just started dating.  It was so fresh that I remember thinking Do I get him something for Valentine's Day?  Is it too soon?  This year I knew I needed to get him something, but I had a hard time coming up with something good.  This is what I came up with:

I typed up 100 reasons why I love him (which was quite easy), and bought a few gifts that went along with some of the reasons I came up with.

He seemed to really like it. :)  Jeremy gave me four of my favorite things: flowers, Reese's peanut butter cups, dinner, and a sweet note.  He always picks out the prettiest flowers.

We were going to go to Thai Evergreen for dinner as a tradition because that's where we went last year, and it was dead slow.  If I remember right we were the only customers there, but their food was DELICIOUS!  When we got there, though, they were packed, so went to Fusion, a Korean restaurant, instead.  The food was really good there.  The best part was that while we were looking at the pictures of customers on their wall by us (like every hole in the wall Asian restaurant has) we saw a picture of Jeremy with a date on the wall!  It was hilarious!  What are the odds that you see a picture of yourself on the wall of a restaurant?  Well, that basically sums up the Nicholls family Day of Love.  Cheers!

I’ve got that elephant’s memory when it comes to nearly dying

It was hard to see through the billowing smoke, and the sirens and screaming made it hard to think clearly.  Panic and terror pursued my tender heart as I realized that Jeremy would most likely never let me cook again.  I couldn't believe that I let it get to this.  First the melted plastic spoon, then the melted plastic crock-pot handle, now this?!  I must really be letting myself go, or being with 35 eight- and nine-year-olds really is sending me to the nuthouse.
Okay, it wasn't really that bad, but it felt like it at the time.  I had just finished cooking dinner (I was in a bit of a rush because my Presidency meeting was coming quickly upon me), and we sat down to eat.  The meal was delicious, if I do say so myself.  Jeremy went to the other room to check his phone because he had heard an alert.  I was sitting at the dinner table, praising myself for whipping together such a lovely meal when I smelled it.  I caught the terrible whiff of something burning.  What could it be? I thought, The food is on the stove, and I turned off the oven.  I quickly turned around and saw my favorite grey pot holder smoking!  "Not again..." I moaned.  Jeremy quickly asked me what happened.  He dashed into the room, and said, "It smells like something is burning!"  Come to find out, I forgot to turn off one of the burners that was keeping the sauce warm, and later had set the pot holder on it.  This was the end result:

On a happier note, yesterday was Jeremy's birthday.  He's a whopping 27 years old!  We're thinking of getting him a hearing aide (aid?) next week.  To celebrate we had my former roommates, one of his former roommates, and a coworker of his come over Friday night for games.  On Sunday his siblings came over for dinner, and last night we went to dinner to Sam Hawks --where we went on our first date almost exactly a year ago (awe...).  It was a lot of fun to go back.  That place is delicious.  If you like Korean food, I highly suggest that you check it out.

**And for all of you smartypants out there that are thinking Nicole will eat Korean food? The answer is yes, so ha!