Twinkling Lights

I don't know about you but I absolutely love going to Temple Square and seeing the lights. One reason is because I think Christmas lights all over those trees surrounding the lit up temple is absolutely beautiful. The bigger reason is because I love being able to laugh and joke and walk around with my family. This time around it was momma snapping pictures, pops cracking jokes, Savannah giving me hugs, Taylor giving me a tease or two, and Nicky Wayne holding my hand.

I had to take a potty break. Bathrooms are an ideal place for pictures didn't you know? ;)

The Stika girlies

Here is Dad and his headaches, er I mean kids.

Pops and I

I'm standing on a 15 inch ledge and barely taller. Nice.

I decided to showcase my muscles

Savannah wanted a turn

And then Nick didn't believe I could hold him
so I HAD to prove him wrong.

I love love this picture of my parents

Mim and HER headaches, er, her kids too.

The Stika's AND the Chadwicks :)

My creative photography picture



My favorite boys



My favorite girls

 I can't totally explain my feelings towards my family but I can tell you that it is indescribeable. We have our differences, but I love them with all my heart. I think about and worry about them constantly and want them to be happy. I don't think there is a better time to remind your fmily how much you love them than the holiday season.

Only one week until Christmas! :)

Stika Family Party

Saturday was the Stika Family Christmas Party. It's so fun to get together with everyone once a year. Here is a quick picture recap.

I had to add this picture in there because hello, my favorite shoes :)

Taylor and Uncle Mike



So, this is after I worked I night shift and I was going
off of 45 mins of sleep since the night before. So
I'm just wondering why Nick looks more tired than I do haha



Momma and Poppa Stika

Grandma and Grandpa Stika

This was the competition of the party (since us
Stika's are always up for a little competition). Dillon, Denise,
and I won the "Smartest" cause it was packed with smarties,
and of course, it was made by a few smarties

Nicky Wayne being aweseome. Sure do love him :)

Savy got a zebra print snuggie. You think it's aweseome? I concur.

Crazy Busy

Things have been pretty stinkin busy lately. Here are some ups and downs and the going ons:

• Still training at work and I'm liking it more and more. I've had to re introduce myself to sunrise though which has been pretty stinkin rough. I'm surviving though.
• Finals are next week and I'm thinking this is going to be my best semester yet as far as grades are concerned. And after this it's officially the start of nursing schoool.
• This Sunday we (accidentally) slept in, made breakfast, and watched Saving Private Ryan (love love). Nick had to work that afternoon so I spent some time with the Stika family. We had mom's amazing meatloaf and watched Griswald's Family Christmas which is poppa Stika's favorite movie. Had us all laughing for a few hours :)
• I've don't a lot of Christmas shopping which has become quite expensive and hurts my heart (and bank account) a little bit. Sure is fun to see a pile of presents wrapped under our tree though.
• Our big Samsung TV just pooped out on us which means we will be purchasing a new one before Nick goes into withdrawl shock. He's about at that point. Yikes.
• I am working my first 12 hour night shift this weekend which will be interesting, and heading to the Stika Family Christmas Party a few hours after I get off. Sorry in advance family for being the cranky little thing I might be.
• This Friday Nick and I actually have the whole day off. We'll be heading up to Salt Lake for the day for some shopping, doing my background check for school, the temple, and dinner celebrating my sister in laws birthday.
• I have been making some cute scarves (I'll have to upload pics) for Christmas. I go through phases of crafts :) Hopefull I'll be in this one for a while to get lots done.

How are you all doing? So excited for Christmas?? I sure am.

Dress Drawing

So a fellow blog buddy posted on her blog a little while ago that she was going to do a little artwork of wedding dresses for the first 3 people to send her pictures of their dress. So I, obviously, jumped at the chance. She posted them today and I think that you all should see how aweseome she is.

Doesn't it look so aweseome!? Oh, you're wondering why I linked almost every other word to her blog? It's because I love to read her blog and I think that you should probably check it out sometime. I'm just sayin .. :)

Decorating

This afternoon has been aweseome. Nick and I went and bought our first Christmas tree together. A few things I've learned about buying real trees: 

1. Wear clothes that will make you SWEAT because it's so cold outside and choosing a Christmas tree is a big deal and takes time!

2. Don't do it on the day after a blizzard which happens to be windy. It makes the cold feel even colder.

3. Have a vaccum handy because pine needles are already showing up in places a tree has never come close to.

4. Trees scratch the roof of cars.

I think those are the only lessons I've learned about tree hunting so far

Before lugging the tree in we had to get rid of some of this:

Snow. Everywhere. This guy took care of that :)

Once that was taken care of it was on to the decorating. I was so excited to put our tree up together. I think it's so fun to do things like this on your own as a couple. Makes me realize again how much of a family we are toether and what we have to look forward to.

Nick finishing off the tree with a star

Hanging the stockings from the window was Nicks idea. I love it :)

Next step in the Christmas prep? Wraping presents to put under that tree!

Turkey Day

For Thanksgiving this year Nicky Wayne and I went to my parents house. Nick worked until 2:30 so I was there in the morning just hanging out and spending time with the fam.

Peeling some eggs with mom

Me being ... well ... me!

Me and Daddio. I sure do love this guy

It was fun to cook with Mom again which I don't get to do very often anymore. She seriously is the best cook ever. I'm learning her tricks and I'm getting there. I'm even straying away from using recipes and using my own ideas that are turning out pretty delish! Anyways back on subject. Thanksgiving!

 

The Stika girlies

Daddio and Momma Stika



Thanksgiving table

Mom and Savannah always have our tables decorated so cute and nice for every dinner we're over there and Thanksgiving was no differect. I am kicking myself though for not getting pictures of all the food. Seriously, nom nom. We had turkey (duh), mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, yams with marsmallows, stuffing (which I LOVE Momma Stika's recipe), jello salad, gravy, and cranberries.

 

Once all that settled it was time for some pie. Mom made one for everyones tastes. Pumpkin, pecan, and my personal favorite, banana cream. After the dessert it was time for some good ol' family competition. Games!

 

Nick (lets label him as squints for this picture) and Daddio

Savy and I

We played some Apples to Apples and some Yahtzee. Might I add that I dominated at both. I won 2/3 of Apples and got FOUR yahtzees in two games. Me? Competitive? Naaaah. :P

 

All in all it was a pretty aweseome way to spend ourThanksgiving :) So grateful for two families that we love so much and love to spend time with.

 

Make those deviled eggs especially for Nicky Wayne

 

The List

I've gotta do it. My thankful list. Mom used to have us write one when we were little or have us list them off at the table. Ever since then I think it has been a little tradition of mine to grab a pen an paper, or in this case my laptop, and write down things that I am vry grateful for this Thanksgiving. If I could list everything I would be here for days, but here are the few that are, for the moment, my greatest blessings in no particular order.

* Nicky Wayne for being my better half (most of the time haha)
* My parents and siblings each for calling me when I need a smile
* The Allman family for their friendship, acceptance, and the examples they are to me
* My religion for being the rock I have that I know will never go away
* Music and the talents I've had the opportunity to share
* The Chadwick family for making me feel like family and for being examples
* Our DVR and the hours of joy it brings :)
* My job and the smiles that it gives me
* School and the opportunity I have to learn
* My new contacts that will fix my astigmatism
* Friends that can make me laugh so hard I alsmot pee
* Blogging and the therapy it provides me to write everything down (even if no one reads this anyways)
* Cell phones and the internet. I have no clue how people got anything done or found an address without e-mail and mapquest!
* Yummy restaurants that provide me a full stomach when I don't feel like cooking
* Greys Anatomy brand scrubs that are so soft and make me look skinny
* Mint ice cream, banana cream pie, grashopper cookies, and scones
* Our apartment as well as two cars that run
* Facebook, blogging, texting, and e-mails that has helped me stay close with family members I love so much
* My new-ish boots from Macys that make me feel totally sexy
* The opportunity I've had in the past 2 years to really find myself and to figure out what defines me and who I want to be
* Followers and commenters on my blog. Makes my day.

I love Thanksgiving and the feeling it brings. Don't let Thanksgiving be a cop-out though. Don't let it be the one day where you realize how much you have to be grateful for and then move on with life. One of the best pieces of advice I've ever been given was to be grateful daily. Look at what you have around you every single day no matter how hard that day might be. There is always something to be thankful for and something to look forward to. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy a little break! I know I will! (Until about 8:00 which is when cramming for 2 tests next week begins! Wish me luck!)

The What's Ups

Got a few things I wanna talk about today :)

1. Seriously, I love my job. Pretty much everything about it. The people I work with are all so nice. They are so flexible with my schedule. The trainig has been aweseome and I am learning so much. Intermountain is such an aweseome company to work for and I feel SO blessed to have the job that I do.

2. I worked yesterday and this morning so instead of driving home in what was SUPPOSED to be the storm of the year (which wasn't even close to huge). It was a bummer to be away from Nicky Wayne but hanging out with the Chadwick side of the family was a lot of fun. We grabbed us some Dairy Keen for dinner and then Maddy and I went to see the new Harry Potter which was SO jumpy! But fun at the same time of course.

3. School is winding up which is so aweseome. I got my first 100% on an anatomy test. Mission accomplished :) I've got 2 more anatomy tests next week and after that all I'm left with is 2 finals! I am totally going to survive this semsester and after that guess what? Only 5 semesters until I'm a nurse! Woo!

4. I taught my sunbeams for the first time on Sunday. Um ... it was fun but I seriously need to learn how to make a 5 minute lesson last longer than 10. They have even smaller attention spans than me! Love them though. They say the funniest and cutest things.

5. Nick is doing aweseome of course (because he is always aweseome). I've got a new found respect for him because I've been waking up as early has he has for the past year and I'm exhausted. My body is definietly still adjusting but it's fun to actually be concious for his hugs and kisses goodbye :) He's such a sweetheart and I am more and more grateful for the support and encouragement that he gives me.

Life is great and I feel like I am starting to accomplish things that mean so much to me. I feel very fulfilled and happy which is something that I think everyone is working for. I'm so grateful for the opportunities I have in front of me right now as well as all the support standing behind me. Hopefully I'll still be able to update here on a somewhat regular basis. If not anything else, I'll let you know I'm alive :)

Tis The Season

For Jazz games! Jazz games remind me of Nick and I when we were first dating. After about a month and a half of dating we decided to drive to Colorado, visit his mission, and watch the Jazz play against the Nuggets. Our Jazz, unfortunately, lost to those Nuggies, but we had a blast anyways. Some sports I don't like to watch with Nick and get bored easily but the Jazz is another story. I'm always up for watching them play :)

Last night Nick and Scott had one of their UVU classes at Energy Solutions so we thought we'd all buy tickets and go up to the game. We ate at crown burger and by ate I mean I inhaled my burger. I was starving! Anyways, we ate and Nick and Scott went to meet up with their class while the other 4 of us went to the Gateway.

Have you ever been to Urban Outfitters andskimmed through the books they have there. Hil-a-ri-ous. Seriously, we were there forever just laughing and sharing what we'd just found with eachother. after that we walked to Anthropologie which I have never been to before. They had the cutest stuff, but for not the cutest prices. It was fun to look around anyways.

The game started at 7 so we all met at our seats around then. Our Jazz beat the Nets but it was kinda a slow game. It was still fun to talk with friends and be able to do something different.

Nicky Wayne and I

I really love these two, Sarah and Scottt

Everyone that went. Lexi, Derek, Nick, me, Sarah, and Scott.

Check out our seats! Yes that is the back wall at the top of the statium :) Yay for $6 seats!

I've Got Some Good News

I got the job! Isn't that so great!? I will be trained for med/surg, mother baby, and their ER units. I can't even tell you how happy I am. A blogger buddy once said that she felt like she was in the top .00000000001% of the luckiest people alive. I feel the exact same way. In the past 3 months I've married the best man I could have imagined, I got accepted to school to work towards the career I've always wanted, I've got a job with a company I've wanted to work with for a few years, I've gotten a closer relationship with my family, the list goes on. Amazing how things work out when you're working hard to do what you should be doing.

On another note, sorry that I have been slacking on the blogging business. I had a math and anatomy test this week, job interviews and meetings, time with the family, etc. I am going to try and be better :)

On another side note have you ever been to Peachtree Cooking blog? Well, they had the easiest recipe for a roast and ohmagosh. It was amazing, cut with your fork recipe. So ... because I love you all, here it is! Try it!

Glory

Wanna know what can make a few bad days a whole lot better?

A phone call from this girl and hearing her tell me how much she loves me.

Drinking one of these making my headache go away.

Being asked to talk here abuot adoption and feel like I really made a difference.

Having this little lady call me and make me laugh so hard my stomach hurt.

Having little miss call me just because she wanted to chat with Sadey :)

Being called in for THREE more interviews with these guys. I think this might actually work out :)

Side note: MY SHOES GOT HERE TODAY!

Another side note: I curled my hair and it looks stinkin cute. Well, I'd like to think it does anyways.

Yet another side note: I only had to work 9 hours today instead of 13. Glory.