so much has happened.

I have definately been slacking as of late in the blogging department. so much has happened since my last post i dont even know where to start. Thailand was amazing and i think about it all the time. mark my words.... i WILL go back one day :) traveling is the best and i really do plan on traveling a lot in my life. There are a lot of things that I want to do. right now i feel like i really need to focus on school tho! i do have a small announcement tho.......

drum roll please.

I FINISHED MY LAST FINAL TODAY!! the semester is over and boy does it feel good! although it did go by super fast :) i really dont have much to complain about, but it feels good to have a few more classes done! This was my first semester up at BYU Idaho. and it has been so much fun! i have learned soooooo much!! I just have to laugh because i swore i would never come here, and i really knew i wouldnt. (i honestly dont know how i got here) but i love it! i really do. the professors here are amazing and the school has the greatest spirit about it, every day i learn something new. and i love how they tie it all back to the gospel. I love how it keeps me focused even if i do live in a bubble. I dont even care. its a nice little world here in rexburg and i figure i mind as well enjoy it while i can! right??

I mean where else do they pray in every class, and assign you talks to read in science class? thats right, no where. at first ill admit i was a little freaked out! but once they brain wash you it all just seems so familiar! haha jk... but really it is soo nice here and i feel so lucky to go to school at byu idaho. soo thanks whoever decided that i was allowed. (even tho i didnt finish seminary ..... :(......i regret that. and my kids are never skipping! haha.

anywho! next adventure PARK CITY! my family just moved from boise(my new favorite city because now i dont live there any more, why does it always have to work that way! i miss it so much ....) park city will be a lot of fun tho! it is beautiful and i am excited to move home with my family again. i feel like i just left. im hopeing tho that my dad will whip my butt back into shape, you see he is training for a marathon right now and even tho when we run together he always runs away from me... leaving me to squint at his faint figure in the distance, he always pretends like he wants my company until we got out there and he is gone! thats okay tho, because its good for me. and im excited to chase after him again.

whelp! there are good things to come.. i can just feel it! i am promising myself right now that i will write on this blog more because i never do.

soooo until next time!!! xoxoxo

nic

THAILAND FALL 2009

wow.

wow. WOW. wow....

I really just dont even know where to begin. Thailand was so AMAZING.

the most: interesting, eye opening, adventurous, fun, wierdest trip i have ever been on.

4,000 pictures, 15,000 miles, 30 hours, 11 cities, 42 days, 239 540 pancakes later...

we are home :)

it feels good to be home, but i MISS it already!

pics coming soon.

new job!!!

I finally got a job!!!! If you cant tell, I am so HAPPY!

it is temporary but hey anything right now is awesome:)

Thank you IES.

&

thank you mom for taking me down there

Chiang Rai Thailand

We finally made it to Thailand after 30+ hours of traveling. And WOW was it worth it. This place is so so beautiful! the people are amazing and incredibly nice and friendly. We have been volunteering in northern Thailand in a town called chiang rai for the past 2 weeks. We are up in the mountains with the hilltribe villiages, working with an organization called Mirror Art Group. THey are a non profit organization that help the hill tribe people of Thailand, teaching them english, helping with childcare, citizenship work, selling thier product and much more! so far the experience has been great! and something i will never forget. we have only been here a little over 15 days but i have already learned so much! last week we got to go on a 3 day 2 night homestay to 2 villiages. We got to stay in thier homes and they cooked for us, breakfast and dinner, it was SO good! some of the best food i have had here! everything was so fresh and yummy :) their homes are made of bamboo and straw, they have sqaut toilets and bucket showers. they grow all thier own food, harvest thier own rice. they make everything they have from what is around them. they were incredibly nice and welcoming. thier home was so cozy and clean, it was one of my favorite weekends here so far! we also got to go on an elephant ride!!! o. my. heck! those things are so so big! i was surprised at how gentle they were, riding them was a little bumpy but i loved it!

I have taken tons of pictures but i cant upload any yet, soo pictures are coming soon!

overall aside from the strange bugs, food..., (rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner) the extreme humidity and heat, hard beds and cold showers, strange smells and no english.....

I am loving thailand!!! :)

ITS OFFICIAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The plane ticket is PURCHASED sooooooo,

Thailand here I come . . .

and I cant wait!

4th of july weekend!!!!!!!!!!

This year was the first fourth of july that i was without my family. and i missed them a lot.... but im lucky to have such great friends around to make it so much fun! My best friend karalee came down from boise and i got to spend the fourth with her! im so happy she came down, we all had a lot of fun!

As we were watching the fireworks, one of the guys we were with just got back from iraq and was telling us a little bit about it, and it really got me thinking how greatful and blessed i am to live in this wonderful country! we are all soooo lucky, and its hard to not take it for granted. But i really am so thankful for everyone that has faught for our indepedance and for those who continue to fight today! they are all so amazing and brave and we owe so much to all of them!!!! I love the USA!! :)


Over the weekend it was my friend laurens BIRTHDAY!!! sooo we all went out to chilis for dinner to celebrate!

Day 1 of the fourth of july:

Logan is kinda wierd, they do their fireworks on the 3rd of july.. and not the fourth soooo friday the third we went boating all day up at bear lake, which by the way is gorgouse!! the water is a bright blue color, and although it was COLD it was okay, cuz it was just so pretty :) after boating we stopped and got us a big fatty famouse raspberry shake and boy was it tasty! so worth it. that night we went and got dinner and had a picnic on campus and then watched the fireworks! it was so much fun! after the show we went to our friends house and watched a movie and around 3 we finally went to bed. it was a good day.

Day 2 of the forth of july:

was... also a blast. well except for one minor detail. which was me+Als sporting goods= 4 hours of SUPER SLOW BORING WORK WITH NO ONE IN THE STORE. EXEPT THE EMPLOYEES. but on a more positive note......
me+Als sporting goods+the fourth of july= being payed time and a half. which is bank for me:) yea babay.

after work me and kar drove up to provo to meet some friends. We went to one of thier houses up on the hill, with a really pretty view and had pizza and smores and a warm fire. and love sacks to lay on and a trampoline to do tricks on, chips to chomp on and pop to drinkkkkk. yum. it was great. we got home around three o clock (again) but it was worth it!

me and liv :)

we were hungry...

They gave lauren a free dessert!!! O. MY. GOSH.

so good.



all of us!!

ashlee and lauren!!

Sunday involved some football on old main hill.

it was so much fun! and a perfect night!

sitting around the fire.....

toastin the mallows!

kar and austin!

me and kar

pretty fireworks...

kar lookin, o so cute!

I love the fourth of july. I love good food and having fun. i love fires, smores, and boating. i love my friends and my family. i love this country. i love my life.


:)

Robbie creek 2009!

(* start reading from the bottom up)

(searching for our backpack at the finish line)

(YAY!!! we made it!)

(we all put on tatoos at the beginning)

(my dad ran so good this year! he is an amazing runner and works so so hard! im proud of him, and once again he kicked my butt in this race)

(there was a big beer party at the end, we drank pepsi :)

They always have a big after party at the end, there were lots of people there!!
me and my dad!!

me and my uncle jerrott!getting ready to start the race!

i hate this part

wow! it took me way too long to post these pictures! but they are finally here! haha :)

They are in the wrong order, and i am too lazy to change them, but the beginning is right above and the first pic is acutally the last one!

I ran this race with my dad and uncle. this was our second year running it and i have a feeling im going to be running it every year until i die. haha. its a lot of work but it is a lot of fun toO! expecially when you reach the finish line:) it is a half marathon, 8. something miles up hill and 5 miles down. you feel pretty dang beat up once you make it to the finish line but each time so far i have been glad i did it!!!

Happy mothers day mom!!!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM!!!

You are soo amazing and i look up to you soo much! i dont thank you enough for all that you do for me! you are one of the most talented, smart and caring people that i know! thank you for being so selfless and for giving up all that you do for us. i appreciate it SO much. thank you for always being there and for listening. i love that i can count on you for anything, and i mean anything!!

Thank you for your loving example, i love you!

Love, Nicole

Robie creek 2009!

This last weekend i went home to run robie creek! it kicked my butt but it was lots of fun! i will post about it as soon as i have pics!

Wow am i behind on blogging! i have been really bad at staying on top of this. but i think its only because i don't really have anything to write about. I was thinking the other day, this really is a selfish time in my life. haha i mean im not married, i dont have kids and i dont live at home, so pretty much everything is just about me. i have no one else to worry about. soo when it comes to blogging i just feel like all i ever do is talk about myself! which gets super boring. but... a few ppl have been saying i need to write more soooooo ill try my best to make this interesting. :)

since i am so far behind.. i found lots of pics to put up!

in march sometime me and kar went for a run and decided to take the camera. on campus there is this big hill called old main and lots of ppl sled down it in the winter. we hadnt done it yet, and wanted to give it a try! one problem tho, we forgot our sleds.. soo we just used some we found:)

the cardboard box worked great!!

I think i was praying that i didnt crash and die on the ice

Kar, getting ready for the ride!

we left them there for next time!

old main hill.. these stairs are a killer good workout:)

kar looking o so cute!

Last month we went to the krishna indian festival of colors in spansh fork!! and o my gosh it was soooo much fun! there were tons of ppl there! the roads driving there were crazy and we passed at least four bad crashes. and ppl were parking 2+ miles away for a parking spot!

Here is the temple! it was really cool, and pretty (from far away)
upclose i sware it is made out of stuco or plastic. haha

They had bags of colored chalk that you could buy and throw at eachother! it was crazy. everyone was covered in blue purple green orange yellow and pretty much every other color too! it was EVERWHERE!

They had a big dance and a bon fire and music!
it was lots of fun!

a few weeks ago me and my roomates and some other friends all decided that it would be fun to go on a hike up to the wind caves!! logan canyon is so close, it only takes about 5 min to drive up to. it wasnt very pretty that time of year BUT it was still fun and it was nice outside that night. we left about 7 and it was only a mile or so up. but its kinda steep so it took about an hour and on our way down it was pitch black! we only had 2 flashlights so it was kinda hard to see!
and kinda creepy when the deer took off running in the bushes around us and we couldnt see anything except their glowing eyes in the light! scary! haha

after our hike we had a campfire and cooked dutch oven cobler!!!! yum! it was sooo good!

it might not look amazing, but my tummy thought it was!

oh! and we roasted peeps! haha

me and kar sitting on the arch by the wind caves!