One Month Down!

I just realized I have successfully completed my first month of nursing school!! I heard it would be 4-6 weeks until we would really get the hang of it and the workload would even out. Other than the 7 assignments due on Monday... I guess we're getting there. :) It's been really great, I'm loving that I get to study things that really apply to what I want to do! It's also pretty nice just deciding which color of scrubs I want to wear 3-4 days a week, instead of trying to put a decent outfit together every morning! I hope the rest of the year goes as fast as this month has... I have a feeling it will.

the bark side...

Thought this was funny :)

Overalls

When Nate gets a project in mind, he reminds me of a kid on Christmas eve, so anxious and excited he just can't stand it! He recently had the idea to build a wood burning stove for our garage. Well... here it is.


He also reminds me of a kid when he puts on these bad boys. Yes, my hubby wears overalls, with PRIDE. That's what growing up in Georgia has done to him. :) I never would have thought I could love a man in overalls, but I sure do! He's such a hard worker and so good at taking care of our little family (me and Mose, that is)!

Christmas and Farewell

As usual, we had a great Christmas, with lots of family time! It was kind of neat to have it on a Sunday this year, it made it feel more special. We opened a few gifts from each other before church and then headed down to Brigham City afterward.



We had a nice afternoon with Nate's family. Grandma Joy got a guitar, she and Hallie were very excited. :)

Nate was pretty excited about his air compressor! "thanks mob"


Last night my parents were set apart as full-time missionaries. All the family that lives in Utah came and we had some special family time with them. We're sure going to miss them! They are at the MTC this week and then fly out to Croatia next Monday!

Ruffle Wreath

I'm loving this felt ruffle wreath I made with my mom and sisters this weekend! I ran out of the gray when I was almost done, but I'm glad I did! My sister taught me how to make the cute felt flowers and I love it with a little yellow splash! It was a blast hanging out with the girls, I wish I had brought my camera. Thanks for the fun!

have a ssspooky halloween...

We had a fun Saturday night listening to the Halloween station on Pandora (mostly The Monster Mash and The Nightmare before Christmas songs) while Nate carved a mean pumpkin and I made a new wreath! Check it out...






Also, we're so excited for my parents! They got their mission call yesterday and will be leaving January 2nd to the Slovenia/Croatia Mission (oddly enough the name was changed as of yesterday to the Adriatic Mission and now includes Bosnia).

Go Katie!

Katie wrapped up her forth marathon(Top of Utah) yesterday. She and my sister, Malissa, both participated and had a great experience. Great job you two! -nate



OWL!

Came home this morning and Katie had spotted our new backyard guest. I think is is a Great horned owl. I compared with pictures of screech, Burrowing, and Barn owls but that was my conclusion. Any thoughts? He/she has been there all day. I think it is way cool! -nate

the progress

I thought I would share the progress of our little garden I posted about a while ago.


The garden today.

I'm so excited for all this tasty stuff!!! We have raspberries, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach and broccoli in this box. We also have another little garden area where we are growing some of the same stuff as well as rhubarb, peas, bell peppers and strawberries.
There is just something fun about making a sandwich and pulling a fresh lettuce leaf off the plant to put on it. As usual, I can't really take much credit for all this goodness... aside from being really good at choosing a husband. :) I love that guy!

Online Warehouse Sale

Since the JJ Cole warehouse sale won't happen like it used to, now that our warehouse is in IA, we've decided to hold one online! It starts this afternoon, but our Friends and Family sale is this morning from 8am-noon on www.jjcolecollections.com. This is an exclusive opportunity to buy before the general public. The discount will be 50% off select items + free shipping on the site Thurs 19-Mon-23rd. Spread the word, the product will go quick!

Pescando

My friend Ben and I caught a few beauty catfish at Bensen Marina a couple days ago. May you enjoy looking as much as I enjoyed catching :) -nate

a little help?

A good friend of ours is getting married on Thursday and we are drawing a serious blank on a wedding gift --don't worry, I'm POSITIVE he doesn't read our blog :)--! They are registered at BBB, but I wasn't excited about anything that wasn't already purchased for them. So, if you would be ever so kind as to share your favorite wedding gift, that you received, or that you love to give (and please keep it clean! :) ) it would really help us out!

birthday boy

(Our camera takes horrible pictures, this is so dark!)

We celebrated Nate's 26th birthday on Friday, it was a little stressful, and a lot of fun!

Stressful because I decided to make dinner (which I RARELY do) and a cake, and didn't really have time to complete them both, let alone clean the house, wrap his gifts (one of which didn't get here until today), write him a thoughtful birthday card, or study for my finals...

Fun because he really liked the Clam Chowder (and so did I, minus the clams), the cake looked pretty nice, even though it wasn't the best, he was surprised/excited with the backpacking hammock I got him, and we got to go see the movie Hanna with his parents. ...and because he's just a good husband and even though he doesn't normally fold the laundry or make the bed, he did both of those things because he knew I had really wanted to get them done before he got home... it made me feel really guilty for a minute, but then I just decided it's okay that he is the sweetest husband I could ever ask for!

We're getting excited to go camping soon!! His new backpack came today, so hopefully we'll be off to break it in soon too!

FB?

To "facebook" or not to "facebook"?

This is weird, but it's a real question I have. I have never had a fb account, and to be honest, I was REALLY against it when we were engaged and first married (I only cared because Nate had one... he was such a good sport to humor me by blowing it off for a long time). However, occasionally I run into an old friend or think about someone I haven't seen for a long time and would love to know how their life is.

For example: tonight I got a text message from a friend from about 6 years ago, that I haven't much contact with since. I felt kind of bad that I hadn't made an effort to keep in touch over the years, but I was really excited to hear from her!

I know I am probably part of the minority at this point, but I really haven't worried too much about it. Here are a few pros and cons I keep tossing around.

Pros:
-I could keep in touch with old friends
-I could be more informed about friends lives
-Hopefully avoid being one of those people that can't accept new (not new anymore... I know) technology. :)

Cons:
-I think I could waste a lot of time
-Should I worry about keeping in touch with people from the past when I should just be living my life.
-What if I become one of those people that is trying too hard to be involved with everything everyone else is doing.
-what if I look like a loser because I don't have very many fb friends? ;)jk

I'm sure there is more to add to each of these lists, what do you think?

I have a feeling this will be read by very few people that don't have a fb account... but I would still like to get your opinion. This blog post proves that I would waste time on fb, I've wasted 15 minutes just blogging about it. :)

Spring!

One of the many things that I appreciate about Nate is his ability to start and finish a project in one day... something I am not always too good at. He has been talking about building a small greenhouse in the backyard for over a year (a desire that most likely came from the landlords of our first apartment, Davey and Summer, they are such awesome gardeners!). He threw this together a couple of Saturdays ago and has already got some plants sprouting. From what I can remember... we're growing broccoli, lettuce, spinach, a variety of peppers, dill and some flowers (they aren't all planted in the box garden, some are in the small cartons just to get started)... he is so proud of his little sprouts!!

This was right after he built it, so no plants yet.

Spring Break was a lot of fun, we had plans to road trip out to California with Nate's parents, but it didn't end up working out. So, we decided instead to take a trip to the Tanner Family cabin, in Oakley, UT. It was so fun! Here's one picture, but we need to get the rest from their camera, so we'll do another post soon!


We're so ready for spring weather... go away snow!!

Funny one.

27.

Well, I turned 27 yesterday. It doesn't feel too much different... if I don't think about it. To be honest, after 25, birthdays haven't been the same and I don't expect they ever will. Nothing to worry too much about, it's just kind of weird sometimes. :) Lately I have found myself wondering what age people that don't know would guess that I am, if I ever dress like I'm trying to look younger than I am, or if I'm having an early mid-life crisis worry about lame stuff like that.

It's funny though, I feel like I am still 23, until I think about all that has happened since I turned 23... I married my favorite person in the world, got a job that I have thoroughly enjoyed, made friends I hope I'll always have, taken a break from school to make a decision, made the decision, started school again, we bought a house, we got a dog, I lead the music in primary for a year (and LOVED it), am now serving in the primary presidency, we went to San Francisco, Havasupai, Portland, Georgia, and Kauai, sold my little gray civic, we got a Tacoma, and another scooter, among many other things.

I'm so grateful to be where I am and excited about what the future holds.

ps... Nate made me a delicious dinner of tortellini soup, got some yummy cup cakes from Temptation Cupcake, let me choose a chic flick (which is big for him) :), and got me a cute shirt and some much needed shoes. I love that guy. Thanks Nate for a fun b-day!

happy birthday.

my mom is one of the most selfless people i know, never talks bad about anyone, would do anything for her family, friends, patients, coworkers, or probably even a stranger... i have always admired that.
happy birthday mom, i love you.

Kid History

Katie's cousins showed us this video. We thought it was funny.

Ice Fishing

We woke up at 5:30 this morning and headed down to Manuta Lake to meet Nate's dad for some ice fishing. Nate has gotten really into it the past few years and this year he, his dad and his brother-in-law, Chris, each got some "essentials" for Christmas so now they pretty much have everything they need. His dad got a really sweet shanty, he and Chris got 'Mr. Buddy' propane heaters, and he and his dad each got sleds to pull all their gear.


My little fisherman...





They have been catching a lot of Blue Gill and some Trout.

Nate had a nice fish sandwich for lunch. I, on the other hand, had a ham sandwich... not a fish eater. I did taste it, and it was good, but not good enough to be my lunch. :)

I think I will just recycle the plastic ones...

Video Courtesy of KSL.com