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

Hangin' with the Girls!

I've had several opportunities within the past couple weeks to have some "girl time." (I love my husband, but girl time is needed.)

Saturday, Oct 25 I went to a bridal shower for my friend, Renee. I got a chance to meet some great people and eat some awesomely great food!


Then I drove immediately over to Jenn's house for some more girl time! I met Jenn and Mary and then we drove to Chili's and watched High School Musical 3. I can't believe I actually liked the movie! It was so cheesy and corny but very entertaining. We spent the evening just laughing and laughing. We tried the new chocolate chip molten cake at Chili's (which was so good!) Somehow an "argument" started between Jenn and Mary about a character in High School Musical (I was not a part of it because I knew nothing about the movie at the time) and Mary ended up asking the table across from us (which was filled with teenagers) to settle the argument. It was so funny! And the waiter was SO hitting on Mary. I've never seen a waiter spend so much time at a single table. He even got down on his knees and started talking to us! We had a blast!

The following Wednesday, I got to go to Ihop for lunch with Katie and her two adorable little girls! I am so bummed that I didn't take any pictures. But it was a ton of fun!

Then that evening I got to spend some time with Lynn while we made posters for the Halloween activity (which I do have pictures of, but will be posted later.)

It has been so much fun to be with all these amazing girls! I hope to do it again soon!