life through instagram

hi. we're still alive. just two busy bees trying to get everything done, and unfortunately i've let blogging fall of my list of things to do. sam is now in finals mode (bless his heart, i know i DO NOT miss those evil tests, and mine were nothing close to what he has to do...). my job has gone through a lot of transitions, 99% of which i'm not that happy with, but, oh well. i've failed at documenting life as i used to. i try to blame it on sam's lack of enthusiasm when the camera comes out, but i really don't have an excuse besides i stopped carrying my camera everywhere and i've become addicted to instagram! so, here's my catch up...

i had a birthday, i'm now 24 which is kinda freaky since it's only a year away from 25 and 25 is only 5 years away from 30. crazy.

my sister came to town. we shopped and ate and then ate and shopped. it was great!

sam's family came to town for thanksgiving. i actually pulled the real camera out that day and snapped a few photos, so those will be the next post :)

my friends threw a great baby shower for our dear whitney who is due to have her little girl, Brooklyn Nicole, february 7th! the shower was so much fun, the sad part is whitney and her husband, scotty, are moving to california TOMORROW. i just got back from saying our goodbyes and am a little depressed :( sam and i will surely miss those two!

i pulled out the christmas decor and we bought a tree!!! last year our tree's name was henry, this year her name is henrietta. she's a babe. christmas music has been playing non-stop on my pandora since november 25th.

my friend, amanda, and i got together and made christmas wreaths (i asked her to teach me to be crafty!) i'm a little proud of the final product.

in other news, we finally got callings in our ward...we're nursery leaders! we love our new little friends, they are so fun and awesome. utah is freezing, but without any signs of snow. now we're on the countdown to be with family in az for christmas (and have a break from school and work)!

sister

Today is my sister's bday. This evening I will be picking her up from the airport and we are going to have some sister fun all weekend long. I'm excited, really excited (unlike my emotion in one of my fave pics below). 

Happy Birthday Jen!!!

fall festivities

This time of the year is full of fun over at the Nielsen home. Between Halloween, Sam's bday, my bday, Thanksgiving and Christmas... there is always something to celebrate or get geared up for. The past two weeks we've had fun celebrating Halloween and Sam's birthday.

A few weekends ago we met up with Amanda and her husband, Eric, for a yummy dinner and then pumpkin carving. Of course our staple pumpkin chocolate chip cookies accompanied our pumpkin carving time since that is only natural. Amanda and I opted to paint instead of carve...

The line up of the finished products...

Of course, Sam was a clever one with what he thought to carve. Sad I won't get to cheer on my Suns this year. I thought his pumpkin looked pretty good lit up! 

Last Friday my work celebrated Halloween just as big as they usually do. It is pretty much mandatory to come in costume and at the end of the day everyone's kids come in for some trick-or-treating through the office. I was a toddler. I loved my friend Whitney's version of Edward Scissorhands. (I promise I don't usually do myspace pics but I snapped one before heading out to show my little niece in California I was serious when I said I was going to dress like a baby!)

If you care at all and want to be entertained by viewing my office and coworkers on OrangeSoda's favorite holiday, you can view here.

Saturday night we went with some friends out to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Sam's birthday! (I love that man and I love celebrating him). Cheesecake never disappoints so it was enjoyable as predicted. We then finished the night off making caramel apples at our place.

Sunday was Sammy's actual bday. We had the privilege to attend G's wonderful Halloween party. The annual party is always full of food, costumes, bingo, a pinata and great prizes!!! It was so fun to see all of the cousins, especially their little ones dressed up in costume.

And, the party was finished off with Sammy blowing out some candles on a birthday cake! My favorite 24 year old.

The fall season has been great. This week the weather is taking a turn for the worst, and I am never ready for that. I experienced the cold first hand this morning as I sat on my doorstep frantically calling for a ride to work. I had locked the door to our place (from the inside) stepped outside and shut the door only to discover I hadn't grabbed my keys. Reallll coool. Sammy was already on campus and had a quiz first thing in the morning. My dear friend Sara went out of her way to pick me up on her way to work. While I waited, shivering, my neighbors opened up their door to take out some trash and saw me, they graciously invited me in so I wouldn't freeze. :) I am grateful for nice people.

birthday boy

Yes, it's my boy's birthday today. I've been trying for the past month to get Sam excited for his bday. I don't think it's really worked but on Friday he started referring to this weekend as his "birthday weekend", so that's an improvement!

In trying to brainstorm what to write in this post, I just kept thinking of little things that I love about Sam. So, since my man is the big 2-4 today, you get to read 24 things I love about him (original, I know...)

1. He makes me laugh every day
2. He is a good cook
3. He studies hard in school
4. He is smart
5. He often sends me a text at a random time in the day that just says "I love you"
6. He kisses me before leaving each morning
7. He brings the ipad into the bathroom where we're getting ready every Friday morning and either plays Rebecca Black's "Friday" or Katie Perry's "Last Friday Night" and dances
8. He willingly does service for others
9. He honors his priesthood
10. He takes me on dates every weekend
11. He watched Kim Kardashian's wedding with me
12. He goes to the doctor with me every time I have to have my blood drawn and holds my hand and talks to me while it's happening to distract me (I've only passed out on him during this once)
13. He looks good :)
14. He lets me cuddle with him (I'm 10x more a cuddler than he is)
15. He takes care of our cars (I hate dealing with car stuff)
16. He gives me good back rubs
17. He lets me vent to him about work stuff when I need to
18. He is athletic
19. He springs out of bed in the morning (I'm groggy when I wake up. Sam can literally open his eyes, jump out of bed and start singing)
20. He teaches me and quizzes me about football (pretty sure this is out of love)
21. He never complains
22. He is kind to everyone
23. He makes me want to be a better person
24. He is my best friend

I love you Sambo, Happy Birthday!!!!

hi.

I haven't updated the blog in awhile, but I suppose there hasn't been much to update on. Sam is super studios in school, I just work everyday and on the weekends we get to actually hang out together. :)

Last Sunday we decided to drive the Alpine Loop and take advantage of the beautiful fall scenery before it turns to winter (as that always seems to happen WAY to fast here). The colorful leaves were beautiful and I loved every minute of ooo-ing and aww-ing as we made our way through the mountain. Sam didn't want to stop and get out of the car (I'm still trying to get him to appreciate pictures) so my phone pics from the moving vehicle will have to do...

For your viewing pleasure:

Had to get some of the Aspen trees for my mom:

happy fall friday.

makin me happy.

pumpkins in front of grocery stores

pumpkin chocolate chip cookies fresh out the oven

it all makes me happy! the leaves are slowly starting to change as well (ill need to snap pics of that). conference is this weekend. tomorrow is october which is sammy's birthday month. which then leads right into my birthday month. which is also when my sister will be paying me a visit.  :)

hope you can find some happy in your friday!

as of late

Just a lot of random happenings to report on for an update. 

A few weeks ago Sam's grandpa, Chuck, had all his grandsons together to teach them a little about investing. We hosted the gathering since our house was somewhat of a central location for everyone. This was my second time meeting Grandpa Chuck so it was nice to see him and get to know him a little better.

Last week my Papa Curtis, Uncle Brent, Aunt Corina and cousin Kevin all came up to Utah for the BYU vs. Utah game. No need to discuss the game (embarrassing)  but having family in town and getting together was fun!

Last weekend my sweet friend Dani came over and helped me make some yummy raspberry jam. She was such a help and it was so great to catch up. I wanted to make sure I made the jam just the way Sam's mom does, since that is how he prefers it. After about 10 calls to Sallee and 4 grocery stops later, I FINALLY found all the right stuff and was able to get started. The funny thing is the recipe isn't anything unique, Utah grocery stores just don't seem to carry what I was looking for! However, I am happy to report that the jam turned out great and I got Sammy's taste test approval!

My grandparents weren't able to make it up this weekend for the BYU game, but they were so kind to let Sam and I use their tickets. It was a Friday night game, and thank goodness the cougars won. We enjoyed the game and I was grateful to finally spend some time with my lover! (School has taken over Sammy's life this semester).

And that's a wrap.