I even had friends when i was little..

The first friends i can really ever remember having were Carlee McCormick, Brandi Kordsiemon, and Jessica Wetzel. The four of us were the best of friends!! We all did everything together! I'll try to give you a break down of each of these girls and some memories i have of us!!

First there is Carlee! Carlee moved in to the house just next door to me when we were two years old! She was the first friend I had ever made!! And she seriously was one of my lungs for most of our childhood! I even went with her and her family to Florida and on a cruise when we were in 6th grade!! It was sooo much fun and I still have very fond memories of that trip!! Carlee moved away right after 6th grade. And even though i had other really close friends, it was still very devastating to me! We kept in contact a lot for the first little while. But once we hit high school it got harder and harder and we sorta lost contact! :( .....to be continued...

Brandi moved in when we were about 3 or 4.. and instantly became our friend!! She was super shy! Or so I'm told! haha I don't really remember her as being shy... She always talked to us!! :) But she was, and still is, the most calm and quiet one out of all of us! haha Brandi and I were in the same Kindergarten class, and our teacher was Mrs. Bingham... well... Mrs. Bingham couldn't ever keep Brandi and I straight!! We ALWAYS got the other one's name!! And don't worry... we still get our names confused!! (I blame my parents for giving me a fake name that is too much like another name!! ;) haha) Well.. you see.. Brandi moved away right after Kindergarten... and since we were so young, we lost connections with her kinda quickly! We tried to hang out every once in awhile.. but that really didn't last for very long. .....also to be continued...

Jessica moved in when were were 5... i think! haha she kinda completed our little group! I remember first meeting her and thinking that she had the most beautiful crystal blue eyes! I'm not really sure why i even noticed that at age 5... but i did! And it is so true! :) haha I remember hanging out at Jess' and blasting Ace of Base and dancing around her house! Jessica was the oldest in her family.. and her parents were very strict!! Quite the opposite of how mine were with me! I had kinda rubbed off on her and taught her how to have an attitude!! I remember once she got grounded from me because of it!! Whoops!! Jessica moved when we were in 3rd grade? Or was it 4th? I can't remember... but she still went to the same Elementary school that Carlee and I did.. so the three of us still hung out all the time! We would even walk to Jessica's house after school sometimes and play for awhile! She went to a different Middle school and high school though, so once we got out of elementary... the contact kinda stopped with Jessica as well! ...... also to be continued....

So I used to have a MySpace account.. well, technically i still do... but i never check it or use it. But back before i had a Facebook account.. i used to be on MySpace a lot! Well, i get on one day and Jessica had sent me a message! We started talking to each other and texting each other! It was so fun to catch up! I hadn't talked to her in like 5 years! We talked on and off for about a year and then kinda lost contact again.... Until later we "became friends"on Facebook... And even then we only ever talked once in a blue moon........

So one day I log onto Facebook and I have a friend request from Brandi! I couldn't believe it!! I hadn't seen her or talked to her since we were 8, i think! So i accepted her friend request and we started sending messages back and forth! It was so fun to catch up with Brandi! See what she had been up to and what she was doing with her life now.... 

And finally i got in contact with Carlee again! Like I said earlier.. I never check my MySpace anymore... but i had been looking in my e-mail inbox and Carlee's little brother, Cody, had sent me a message. So i log into MySpace and check it out. Cody had said Carlee didn't have a profile so she wanted him to look and see if i had one.. and I did... so I ended up writing him back and asking for Carlee's number.. and we started talking and catching up! Carlee and I went out to dinner about a year ago. It was the first time i had seen her since we were 16! So we caught each other up on everything that had happened and gone on up until that point! It was so fun seeing her!

Eventually Carlee had been talked into getting a Facebook.. So all four of us were able to keep in contact with each other a lot easier! :) One day I thought it would be fun if we all got together and went out to dinner to catch up!! So together we planned a night and all met up! The four of us hadn't been together in 15 years!! So there was a lot to catch up on! We all have such different personalities! But at the same time we are so similar! It was crazy to see how much all of us had changed and how differently we had turned out! Jessica had gotten married about a year before... Brandi was engaged to her missionary that she waited for.. and Carlee had been dating the same guy for over 4 years! Yes... I am still the only single one! haha and I am now the shortest! When at one point i was the tallest! I'm not really sure how that even happened!! (Except that really they all kept growing when i stopped! haha)

It was so fun seeing you girls again! I have really enjoyed our get togethers! And I do believe we are due for another one sometime soon!! ;)

The last time we all tried to get together... Brandi ended up having a dress fitting for her wedding dress so she couldn't make it. (Strange that she thought that was more important! haha JOKE!) But Jessica, Carlee, and I took a picture together... so until we get one of the four of us.. I'll just put this one up! And I'll replace it with the other one as soon as we take it!! :)

California, much?

We all know I LOVE going to California! And I'm obsessed with Disneyland!! Its my favorite place ever! I mean.. how can one NOT love Disneyland, right? :)

Well, this summer my friend Kimberly and I traveled to California for a week! We stayed with an Elder from her MTC district and his family, in this town called Yucaipa.. (Pronounced You-Ky-Puh) Its right next to Redlands.. Yeah, don't worry, i had never heard of it either!! :) So luckily we had Plott to drive us around so we didn't get so lost!!

We got to do a lot of fun things that week! Things i hadn't done in California before!! For starters.. Plott had to work a little bit during our stay, but it actually worked out to our advantage! :) The day we arrived he had to work at a clothing store in this awesome outdoor mall! So while he worked... we shopped!! :) Ha! Only girls could shop for 5 hours and not be bored! ;) But we found some super good deals and some really cute stores!! We bought lots of clothes!! And even for Utah standards they were good prices!! My favorite store was one called Papaya! I'm obsessed!! It was the cutest store! But of course... there aren't any in Utah!! BAH! haha

The next day we went to the Redlands Temple!! It was so beautiful!! And so small! haha I had never been to a temple that small!! They said that the Draper and Oquirrh Mountain were small... ha.. right! :) We took a bunch of pictures outside, but they honestly don't do it justice! That afternoon, another Elder from Kimberly's MTC district joined us! Poor Groves! He had such a long drive!! haha we didn't do much that night, we just hung out with the boys and went out to dinner! But the next day......

We went to... DISNEYLAND!! Of course, it was amazing!! My brother-in-law, Josh, works for Disney, so he got us discount tickets!! (My sister, Kacey, printed them off for us! -- Just so she gets the credit for giving us the tickets!! haha) We only spent one day there... but it was fantastic!! And we definitely got some good pictures!! haha Hopefully Groves doesn't kill me for putting a certain one on here.... but... he willingly let me take the picture.. so its his own fault! ;)

     

Oh.. about this last picture... We were about to go on Pirates.. So i told Kimberly to make her best pirate face... guess this is the best she's got?? bahaha

The next day we drove down to San Diego! It took a long time to drive down.. so we didn't have enough time to stop at SeaWorld that day.. So instead we went to the San Diego Temple! GORGEOUS! But... I forgot to pack my dress down to San Diego with me (we left most of our luggage at Plott's house to save room in the car!)  So Kimberly went to do a session... and I got stuck with the boys.. the brilliant ones who wanted to go see a really stupid movie! Lets just say I really wish i would have taken my dress!! haha We did get a lot of good pictures at the Temple though! And afterwards we went to dinner and then to the beach! But it was getting dark by the time we got to the beach... so we didn't get too many good pictures that night. :( We had to make a Walmart run before going back to our... "hotel".... We didn't have any towels in our room.. so we had to go buy our own! haha yeah.. super classy!! But.. it was cheap.. so i guess you really do get what you pay for!

 

 

Saturday morning, after breakfast, we hit up SeaWorld!! I actually saw more of SeaWorld than i ever had before!! Even though we didn't go see the penguins!! Sorry, mom!! haha We had a good time though!! When we went to see the Dolphin show... the boys thought it was a great idea to have us sit on THE FRONT ROW!! Ugh! Girls who take time on their hair DON'T do the Splash Zone! haha The arena was TOTALLY packed! So its not like we chould just choose different seats! So we thought maybe it wouldn't be too bad.... We were wrong. The first five minutes and we were soaked!! So Kimberly and I got up and walked up all the stairs to the very top of the arena.... don't worry... we got lots of laughs and comments on our way up! And we even got a few comments later in the day from people who passed by us!! And I have to admit... it was pretty funny!! It was a fantastic day at SeaWorld! We pet the stingrays and held starfish! We saw the dolphins up close and walked under sharks! We even got a little sunburned! :)

 

  

 

We left SeaWorld a little early so we could stop by the beach again and get some pictures!! It was a success!! We headed back to Yucaipa late that night.. and made another Walmart run.. this time to get wax for Plott's legs!! bahahah! It had been a long week.. and the boys were a little difficult at times.. so Kimberly figured it was payback!! But... when we got back to Plott's we discovered all the supplies weren't in the box.. so we only got to wax off one strip. Not as exciting or painful as we had hoped.. but still a fantastic reason to only get two hours of sleep before leaving for the airport!! :) We made it back safely and I even made it home in time to shower and get to Jeremy and Jon Neilson's homecoming!! :)

It was a great trip and I had a ton of fun with Kimberly!! I'm so glad she let me go!! And I'm pretty sure she was glad she wasn't stuck by herdelf with those two boys all week!! haha

NAHAs

For all my hair people out there... you're probably the only ones who know what I am talking about!!! ;)And all my friends who I have told all about my two experiences with NAHAs!!!

NAHAs stands for the North American Hairstyling Awards!! And every July a bunch of crazy hairstylists get together down in Vegas for an awesome awards show!! Its hard to explain how fun it is!! :)

So with NAHAs hairstylists submit their work.. and then people vote on them and then people get awards!! haha honestly.. its like any other award show... its just for super awesome hair!! :)



Seriously... the hair is off the hook!! :)

Last year I was in school during it! And Taylor Andrews is BIG on the NAHA supporting!! haha So I went down with school and roomed with a bunch of girlfriends!! It was so much fun!!!

This year I went down with my friend, Kristen, who went to TA with me!! And she brought her boyfriend, Stuart! It was kinda nice having a guy around so she and I didn't look or feel so vulnerable!! But... at the same time... it was a bit rough being the third wheel!! haha I did find a boyfriend for the weekend though.... His name is Buddah... maybe you've heard of him or seen him around!! haha just kidding!! kinda.... ;)

Well...despite all the awkward parts of the weekend.. it ended up being a pretty fun trip!! The awards show was AWESOME!! And there wasn't a certain annoying male hairstylist who talked for WAAAAY too long this year!! Thank goodness!! Two years in a row would have thrown me over the edge!! hahah

Here are just a few pictures from the trip... :)

Bear Lake!!

As most people know, Bear Lake is one of our favorite places to go as a family! Last summer, since i was in school, I didn't get to go up much.. :( So this year... I made up for it!! Well... as much as i could!! Since I still had a job!! haha

In May we took Brett up for his first time in almost three years!! It was so much fun!! My parents and I took Brett up on Thursday night and spent all day Friday out on the boat wakeboarding! The water was perfectly smoothe all day long!! It was amazing!! Kacey and Josh and their kids came up Friday afternoon and Misty and her family joined us later Friday night! We missed Kade and Tara that trip.. but since Tara had just barely had Mia two weeks before that.. we figured we'd give them a break!! ;) It was Blake's first trip to the lake too!! And he LOVED it!! Usually when we put babies in their lifejackets they HATE it!! But Blake is such an easy going baby so he did really well with it!! And his fat little face was soooo cute all squished!!

We took a week long trip to Bear Lake in July!! My parents went up a few days early for the big "Cousins Party"! My parents said it was a really fun weekend!! I had to miss it because i had to work! :( So i drove up Sunday night with Kacey and Josh!! It was fun to drive up with them!! It had been awhile!! And car rides with them remind me why Heavenly Father made me the youngest child!! haha It was a super fun trip and nice to get away!!!

In August we finally got Kade and Tara up there!! It was a busy week... our old ward came up for Girl's Camp.. So we took them around on the boat!! But we still had a good time with everyone!! Mia and Blake had a great time playing around with each other in the water!! They were so cute!! And it was so fun seeing Mia adjust to the feel of the cooler water... she didn't like it at first... but as time went on she hated it when we'd take her out of the water!! 

Baby Mia!!!

So we found out on Father's Day '08 that my sister Kacey was having a baby.. and she was due in December... But on Halloween '08 we found out my sister-in-law, Tara, was expecting!!! And she was due in May!! So we were not only getting one new baby... but TWO!!! (and actually.. i found out a couple weeks before my parents did... so they found out on Halloween... hahaha) 

Shortly after Blake arrived we found out that Tara was having a GIRL!!! Mia made the 8th grandchild and the 3rd granddaughter!! We were soooo excited!!!

So... On May 20th (a weekish past her due date..) Little Miss Mia Ashley Nichol joined our family!! She was 7 lbs. 9 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long!! She had black, naturally curly hair and the prettiest, long, black, curly eyelashes! She was, hands down, the most beautiful newborn i have ever seen!! No lie!!

Tara and Kade are the cutest parents!! They are sooo cute about Mia! Kade is already wrapped around her chubby little fingers!! And Tara is such a proud mom!! I am sooo happy for them!! Little Miss Mia is such a stinkin' DOLL!! I am so obsessed with her!! Actually, most people are obsessed with her, I think!! And everyone thinks she looks like she could be the poster child for a cabbage patch kid!! yes... she IS that cute!!!