Bate's Nut Farm

It has been a tradition for years for us to go to Nate's Butt Farm... er... Bate's Nut Farm the day after Thanksgiving. They always have a craft fair so we go to look at the crafts, buy snacks and feed the animals. There wasn't anything at the booths I really wanted so I didn't buy anything but I had fun looking at everything. We bought some sausage at the general store for later and we fed the animals with the corn that had fallen on the ground from clumsy children. We came home and ate turkey-salad sandwhiches and the snacks Mom bought for lunch. And since it is officially the Christmas season, we watched A Muppet Christmas Carol. Such a good movie!

Feeding the sheep

"Can I have some more?"


What a chunk


"Yay, I'm a llama again! ...wait..."


They missed one


The emu on the right would NOT hold still. He kept walking back and forth and hiding.


Do you ever have that nagging feeling that you're being watched?

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Wednesday, we spent the night at my family's house so we could spend as much time there on Thanksgiving as we could. We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and cleaned the house before the guests arrived (we spent the day with some friends from the ward.) We snacked on some appetizers, played trios and quartets (combos of trumpet, flute, violin and piano) and took Jadis to the school across the street to run around. When Dad came home from work at 4, we ate Thanksgiving dinner. Yummy!! Then we played some more music and ate pie! We topped off the day by watching The Incredibles. We had so much fun!

Sandy was watching the parade

Jared's favorite part

Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus!

All ready for everyone to arrive

We had both white and black clouds outside

Pie! Peanut butter/chocolate, pumpkin, sour cream/raisin, mince and apple!

Show me some love

Pretty please? Hardly anybody comments on my blog. Am I boring? Does nobody read this?

The weather outside is frightful

Are you kidding me? 90 degrees in the middle of November? Wake me up when summer is over.

I got tagged!

My very first tag:


Rules:
1) Post rules on your blog
2)Answer the six "8" items
3)Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving them a comment

8 Favorite TV shows:
- Heroes
- AFV
- Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
- American Idol
- America's Got Talent
- The Price Is Right
- The Bonnie Hunt Show
- 7th Heaven (yes, I admit it)

8 Things I did yesterday:
- Went to church
- Played organ in church
- Played piano in church
- Went to Douglas' quartet rehearsal
- Went to choir rehearsal
- Played chimes
- Ate cookies
- Watched Discovery Channel with Douglas and Jordan

8 Things I look forward to:
- Thanksgiving
- Choir rehearsals
- Christmas
- Vacation(s)
- Joining a new orchestra
- Being with family all the time
- Going shopping for new clothes
- Playing in my new Christmas quartet

8 Favorite Restaurants:
- Applebee's
- Subway
- Jack in the Box
- Olive Garden
- Souplantation
- On The Border
- Ihop
- Chili's

8 Things on my wish list: (I guess I've turned these more into goals)
- Be a mommy
- Own a house
- Adopt a dog
- Be healthy
- Lose 10-15 more pounds
- Learn German
- Get as much knowledge as I can
- Do more than just teaching with my music skills

8 people to tag:
- Jessica S.
- Jessica Y.
- Claudia
- Karlie
- Katie S.
- Katie C.
- Lynn
- Brooke

Jared

I thought this was so cute. As I was putting Jared to bed Wednesday night, he wanted to write in his journal. So he pulled it out and asked me what date it was. I said November 12. So he wrote it down. He then proceeded to write every single word by himself, spelling and all. The only word he needed help with was "Douglas." My favorite is how we "baby sittd" him. Not bad for a 6-year old!

Birthday Celebrations

I started out my birthday celebration on Friday by going shopping with my mom at the Lake Elsinore Outlets. They have a ton of great stuff there at really good prices. Since I've lost a lot of weight, I needed some new clothes so I got a whole new outfit and then some! Thanks, Mom!

New earrings, shirt, skirt and boots (I also got another pair of earrings and a pair of jeans)

Here's a better view of the boots. I'm modeling them in the store.

On Friday evening, we all went to opening night "Plaid Tidings" at the Welk. It's very similar to "Forever Plaid," except with a holiday twist. I laughed so hard! Every year, the Welk's Christmas show opens around my birthday. I love it! Then, of course, we went to the cast party afterward.



When we got home, Douglas decided to give me my birthday present at midnight.

Here's the bag it came in. He knows how much I love cupcakes (or rather pictures of cupcakes)


There were stickers on the bag!

Inside the bag was.....

A massager! It's purple!


And it lights up when you turn it on!

On my birthday, I invited a few girls over to play Apples to Apples and Disney Scene It and eat chips and chili dip and pizza!

We took 2 pictures, one with Jared and one without. The one without wasn't a very good picture so I'm posting this one. We have Lynn, Katie, me, Karlie and Penny.


Lynn got me this Body Butter that smells amazing! Thanks, Lynn!


I wore the "B-day Girl" sticker on my birthday

Jared made me this. He folded it randomly and stuffed it in an envelope, hence the creases.

Then later in the day, we had a family dinner at Coco's. Mom made me a yummy cake and everyone sang to me in the restaurant (which I was TOTALLY excited about. Yeah.)

Grandma, Grandpa, Jordan, Douglas, me, Jared and Dad (Mom's taking the picture)

Isn't it pretty?

Since we didn't want to put 24 candles on the cake, we put 2 on one side and 4 on the other. Jared called me earlier and left a message on my voicemail: "Nicole, how many candles do you want on your cake? Bye."

Happy Birthday to me!

Today I turn 24 and am officially in my mid-20s! My dad and I have a running joke about a "problem." When Jordan was born, he had 3 kids who were 3 years apart. That is, as soon as I turned 6 four months later. He always liked to tell people his kids were 7, 4 and 1 or 12, 9 and 6 or whatever the case may be. So every year on Jordan's birthday, he tells me he has a problem because it's just not the same telling people his kids are 17, 14 and 12 or 17, 15 and 12. Michelle's birthday comes before mine so she begins to solve the problem and I resolve it on November 15 each year. Consequently, Jared was born 12 years after Jordan so every 3 years, we are multiples of 3. This year, Dad can officially say his kids are 24, 21, 18 and 6. You're welcome, Dad!

Potpourri

Enjoy some random pictures...

Mom is eating popcorn and I think the dogs might want some.

Last Friday was such a beautiful sunny day, the sun was reflecting off the water and I thought it was so pretty!

On Monday, the Larsons came over for FHE and brought dessert! Very yummy!

Tuesday in between students, I was greeted with this stunning sunset - way too pretty not to take a picture.

Battle Scars

WARNING: Gross pictures ahead.

A couple weeks ago, I got bitten by a dog while going door to door delivering door hangers. I had walked for 5 hours and it happened at the very last house as I was walking away. It seemed like a really sweet dog but I said hi to him/her as I walked away and he/she lunged at me and snapped at my leg. Um... ow.

From 2 different angles; the bite mark in the middle and the bruise about 2 inches in diameter around it. It was puffy for a while so it must have been broken blood vessels.

Then last week, I go to return the neighbor's dog who got out for the second time in a week and I was in a hurry to get back and I tripped on my shoe in their driveway, twisted my foot and landed on my knees and hands. So I get up hoping that nobody saw my ridiculously stupid-looking fall and hurry up their driveway and up mine. Since I was shaking from the fall, I fell AGAIN on my driveway! I ripped a hole in my pants (probably from the first one) and I have a nice scrape on my left hand and one of my fingers, a bruise on my left knee, a cut on my right knee and a sore right foot. I was limping all day. Luckily, now my foot is mostly healed but my right knee is having a heck of a time healing. It hurts to bend it all the way and whenever it touches anything... which is almost always.

This is my left knee - the bruise is about 1 1/2" by 1" and it's a lot more colorful than in the picture.

Gross, I know. This is my right knee after removing the bandaids 3 days later. So, this is better than it was. It was pretty nasty-looking.

Thanks for reading. Hope I've grossed you out enough.

Bye bye, DeGolyers

Our good friends, Vaughn and Jenn and their baby Chloe moved to Colorado last week and came for a last visit before their long drive the next day. We'll miss you! Don't be gone too long!

What a cutie!

Yummy finger!

It's dark, but I thought it was cute. She's eating Daddy's knee

Playing with a shoe

She found some keys!

Chillin' with Mama

This is my favorite picture! She actually loved the dog!

Happy Halloween!

Yes, yes, I know it's a little late, but better late than never. We started out the day by watching The Price Is Right Halloween edition with everyone on the show dressed up. Then we headed over to the church building to decorate for the carnival to be held that evening. I then taught two students and proceeded to get ready for Halloween! I dressed up in my homecoming dress I wore when I was 16 and it fit! I braided my hair in little tiny braids on each side and tied them together. Then I placed a crown on my head and voila!... Rapunzel! Douglas wore his armor and became my Knight in Shining Armor! We each ran a booth for the carnival and then handed out candy to kids from our car for Trunk-or-Treating while blasting Bach's Toccata and Fugue. (Don't know the piece? Go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipzR9bhei_o) After cleaning up after the carnival, we headed on over to my family's house to watch "Dracula, Dead and Loving It" while eating leftover cupcakes from the Cakewalk. It was an awesome Halloween!

This is for you, Lynn (her adorable baby Charlie helped us decorate)

Decorating the gym

At the entrance

Official greeter (when you push the button, his head moves around, his mouth moves up and down and his eyes glow)

All the signs Lynn and I made

My booth was "Put Me Bones Together" where the kids competed to see who could put the skeleton together the fastest. Apparently harder than it looks.

Douglas' booth was the "Mummy Wrap" where the kids competed in pairs to wrap their partner in the most toilet paper in 1 minute. Or if they didn't have another pair to compete with, they tried to use an entire double roll of toilet paper in 2 minutes. Nobody was able to do it because they didn't know the secret... both people spinning instead of just the "wrapper."

We timed it beforehand. I'm a mummy!

Getting food on a break

Rapunzel and Prince Charming