Birthweek

Yes, I love celebrating not only my birthday, but my birthweek.... which so happens to be the week after Sammy's birthday (our bdays are actually only 4 days apart), so it's just an all around, fun celebration time.

Last Monday I was sooo excited to get to see my cousin Shauna and her little fam! She lives in Colorado and they were in town so of course a meet-up was mandatory. Her darling girl, Bradli, was not wanting to be a part of our pictures below, but at least I still got Shauna and Brooke.

Wednesday was my actual birthday. Sammy did a homemade version of Kneaders french toast (better than actual Kneaders - can you believe that?!) in the morning. It was so yum. I had a full work day and even had a work dinner that night - but it was at the fabulous Sundance and I knew I'd get to celebrate more over the weekend, so I didn't mind too much. On Saturday, Sam and I spent a little time at the mall (thank you Nordstrom half-yearly sale for falling on my bday weekend!) My cousin and his wife, Brooke, (pictured above) met up with us for dinner. We love getting to hang out with them; I took a picture of the cute couple at dinner, but found today that it was no longer on my camera. I think someone is guilty of being a little sneak and deleting it... (Matt?!!) Oh well, here's the new 23 year olds....
Sam was a total babe and decided that he needed to bake me a birthday cake. I assured him this was unnecessary, however he pulled out all the cookbooks and decided he was going to bake a carrot cake (this was his first time baking a cake, that wasn't from box) And bake he did. All from scratch. And it was so yummy!
After dinner we had friends over for more celebration. Cheetah pic was necessary, of course.
I love birthdays. Now that mine is over, I'm already on the countdown for Christmas. I can't believe it's right around the corner, annnnd Christmas is definitely a month long celebration! :)

PS. Is it sad most of my bday explanation includes food? Ah.

Birthdays, BYU, and Boo-day

Birthday #1: If you read my previous posts, you know that October 21st was my BFFs birthday. I was able to gather some of my girlies and make a cake delivery to Maeg on her birthday...

BYU: The following day Sam and I got to go to the BYU game (thanks for the tickets Papa and Grandma!) Even though I'm an old alumni now, I still love going to the games. Cougars won so all was well!
BOO-DAY: Halloween is a HUGE deal at my office, like HUGE. Every department has to decorate their work area and it is mandatory to dress up. The entire day is spent eating food, playing wii games, costume parading and having everyone's kids come through the office to trick-or-treat. Here is witch Allison with BP Oil worker Heather and Princess Jasmine (her real name is Jasmine so the costume was quite appropriate). I love my work girlies.
Everyone goes all-out for costumes. I can't even begin to describe how creative and hilarious all the costumes were, but I thought I'd share this one with you...
On Saturday, Sammy and I hosted a Halloween party and it was so fun! We had a few couples over and served chili with bread bowls...

Sara's (aka Gilly from SNL) husband came later because he had work.

We served up a little witch's brew (homemade rootbeer)

And we had everyone make their own caramel apples. These turned out so yummy with all the different toppings! (I'm still eating caramel apples and it's becoming a problem) This adorable pair of cheetahs got right to work with the apples...

I was a Ute fan and Sammy was a Zoobie (he was really proud of the braided belt he found). Just a little bit of reverse rivalry.
Giant's pitcher, Brian Wilson, and a hot tiger were in attendance as well.
And the night would not have been complete without Tink and Peter.
Birthday #2: Annnd of course since it was this man's special day we sang to the birthday boy with candles on his requested pie. Sam was against having a party for him, but a Halloween party was OK. :)
With the costumes, food, games, fun, friends and so much laughter I think it was a successful night! Thanks friends for partying with us!

One Year Older and Wiser Too

Happy Birthday to You! (Sammy that is).

Yes, Samuel Brett Nielsen is 23 years old today. When we met, we were just little babes at 18 years old! I remember making Sam a birthday card and buying a Pez candy thing for him on my way to see him in American Heritage class on his 19th birthday. (He loves Pez...I learned this year that his Pez love is inspired from Seinfield - another thing he loves) I had no clue at that point in my life that my American Heritage buddy would later become the love of my life. Maybe I should've sensed the foreshadowing since the only class I ever got a C- in was the only class I ever had with Sammy. That class was really hard, but I may have also been a little distracted by my cute friend who would always save me a seat and doodle funny pictures or notes in my notebook. Good news is, I still graduated college just fine and I still get to flirt with that cute boy. Isn't he so handsome?

I am so grateful for Mr. Nielsen. He always makes me laugh, plans fun activities for us, cooks for me, sings musicals to me (really!), motivates me and makes me feel loved. Sam is a wonderful husband and I know he will be a great father (when the time comes. No, I am not announcing anything...) He is always mindful of others and willing to serve. I don't think anyone who has ever met Sam could find a reason to not like him (unless you were on his opposing football team).

I am so happy to know this man will be mine for all eternity! I can't wait to see the things he'll do to make me laugh when we're 80! I LOVE YOU SAMUEL!

Happy Birthday Sister Olsen

Last year I published the post below in honor of Maegan's birthday when she was still serving her mission. Now that she is back, I decided to post again so she can see it :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY BFF! And yes, I will be seeing her on her birthday this year....

If you know me, you know my best friend Maegan. At least that's how it has been since the 3rd grade. Today is her birthday and I won't be seeing her because she is currently serving as a missionary at the Salt Lake City, Temple Square Mission. Last April, I stalked and found her in between the 2 sessions of General Conference. Check out this hot missionary...

Our birthdays are two weeks apart. Early in our friendship we figured this equation: Her birthday week + 2 weeks between + my birthday week = 1 month of blissful birthdayness This season has always been our favorite time of the year.

Let me tell you a few things about this friend of mine.

The first week of third grade I was sitting in class when the pretty blond girl saw my CTR ring and said, "Are you Mormon?" I replied, "Yes."
"Hey me too! And look, I have the same CTR ring!"
Best friends ever since.

In junior high and high school people would joke that we were pretty much the same person. It was known that MaeganandAllison were always together always doing the same thing. We didn't mind, we liked it that way.

Maegan is the best best friend anyone could ever ask for. She's always got my back. We have that best friend bond where if one starts crying, the other starts crying. And we can understand each other without even saying much.

Maeg and I love doing anything together. One of the biggest blessings was coming up to BYU with her. I was scared out of my mind to leave my home and high school friends, but with Maeggers by my side I knew all would be well. And yes, we even moved to Hawaii for a summer and jumped out of an airplane together.

We both love a good outfit, even if it's 80s inspired. We are each others main fashion consultants and love to dress up, no matter the occasion.

Put us together anywhere and we'll have a good time. Maegan's enthusiastic hysterical compassionate loving trustworthy and spiritual personality is one I will never get bored of.

Maeg was present the first night I met my husband. Ok, she is still an amazing best friend regardless of this fact, but I just love that I can say that.

Maegan has helped me be the person I am today. I have always counted her as one of the biggest blessings in my life. Most of our major goals in life we share and we have always kept each other in line along the way. She is so solid and I have needed her all 14 years that I've known her. I have missed her a whole lot while she's been serving her mission (especially at my wedding) but I couldn't be more proud of her. She's a real gem.

Happy Birthday Maego!

My Favorite Part of Yesterday...

happy fall, y'all.

Random Updates

Hi. We're still here. Just plugging along with school and work. We had a whole lot of visitors this past month and loved it. Here's a few pics of some of our most recent events...

Sam's mission buddy took us shooting up Provo canyon. I had to get a picture of Sammy with the bullet-sling thing on haha so hardcore. I definitely did not impress anyone that night with my shooting skills, but we still had a fun time.

My parents and little brother came in to town conference weekend! It was great to see them and spend time together. We also attended Sam's mission reunion and held our traditional ebelskiver conference-brunch that weekend. Below is one of the few photos I actually snapped that weekend; Taylor, my mom and Sammy met up with me one day during my lunch hour...

Curtis, Candace and RooBear made a little visit to Provo as well! We had a great dinner with them one night and spent quality time goo-ing and gaw-ing over little Reed man. He is sooo adorable...

We also had visitors from Sam's side of the fam! His parents and sister, Maddie, came up to the grand beehive state for a weekend as well. We had a great time spending time with them and were so happy to have them visit! One night we had an enjoyable dinner with Maddie and her boyfriend, Lindsay, and friends Katie and Bryson. Here are the ladies...
And the gentlemen...

This past weekend we attended a ward pumpkin carving party. We had fun chattin it up with new couples we met and as always - Sam meant business with his carving....

Us and the finished product!

Thanks fam for visiting us! We love getting to see those we love and miss all the time. Hope everyone is enjoying their fall season!

Weekend in AZ

Last month Sammy and I spent a fantastic weekend back in AZ. We are always so busy when we get into town, but it is always packed full of fun things so we'll take it! We were able to visit with both families and attend a lot of fun events.

Thursday night we attended the Mountain Point football game (Sam's HS) to watch Jack play. The team won and Jack did great. I was able to catch a pic of the two best looking fans in the stands...

The following day we went to the lake with Curtis, Vanessa, Oliver, Maddie and Lindsay. There was pretty much no one on the water but us so it was really a nice day for us.

Saturday we were able to attend the Nelson wedding reception! The lovely Tiffani Philips and Justin Nelson were sealed in the San Diego temple a few weeks previous. (I stole this pic...)

Then they had a fabulous ring ceremony and reception in Phoenix. Sam has gone to school and been friends with the couple since elementary school, so he enjoyed getting to see so many old friends at the celebration . Sammy and some of his high school boys...

The whole event was so glamorous!
I loved spending the fun night with my boy...
Sam and the groom, Justin.
The bride, Tiffani, and I. Her dress was amazing!

The whole Nielsen clan that attended the wedding....

I looooove getting to watch Sammy break it down! haha The dance floor was a hot spot.
All the bridesmaids looked so stunning! I wish I had a shot of all of them together! Here is gorgeous Catlin....
It was a fabulous night! Congratulations Tiff and Jay!
We're so lucky to have such a great family and friends that we get to visit. Now I'm just counting down the days till we'll be back in AZ again for Christmas!