Nauvoo

Back in October we went with Scott to take out his endowments in the Nauvoo temple. Matt and I went up the night before and stayed with Christa in a cute little hotel room across from the temple. Then my parents came up with Scott the next day. I LOVE the Nauvoo Temple!!!!! Everything about it is just beautiful, words can not describe it. It was so nice to get away and go to the house of the Lord.

My Sweet Grandma

On September 25, 2009 on Grandma passed away. It happen very fast and unexpectedly. I was very close to my grandmother and am glad that I was able to attend school near her. I know she is happy and with my grandpa. I am so grateful for Heavenly Father's great eternal plan and I know I will see her again.

Here is my grandpa's headstone.

Here is my dad with my cousin Travis.

Katie and I at the burial.

My beautiful sisters and I.

My grandmother had been working on this for a surprise graduation gift for me. She had talked to my mother and said, "Don't tell Nicci because I want it to be a surprise." I think something inside of her knew that she was going to pass because weeks before she had told a friend that she had to get it done! These are the flowers (I have been wanting to do something with them anyway) from my wedding and the Salt Lake temple is when her and my grandpa were sealed in the Salt Lake temple along with my father. She went to the craft store and picked out the shadow box along with the satin at the bottom. On the little card it says, "Matthew and Nicole, Married on Feburary 15, 2008 in the Salt Lake Temple." When we arrived to her house from traveling all the way from Kansas and I saw it and couldn't believe she had done this. The gift really touched me and made miss her more. I love it and wish I could have told her in person how much it means to me. I will always cherish it. Matt wasn't to thrilled to have dead flowers in the house, oh well.

Eddie Money is in the house!!

Yes we're living in the past. Eddie Money, need more be said. Matt and I were looking for some entertainment Friday night and we came upon a free concert at Crown Center. When it's free it sounds a lot better than it really is. There was only two songs we really knew, "Take Me Home Tonight," and "Two Tickets to Paradise." It was fun to see some of the 80's in 2009.

Then I just have to add this little side note because I am so proud of my father. My father, mother, Sarah, and I all ran a 5k in September. All of us made the goal to do it weeks before and "trained." It felt good to finish and accomplish a goal. My father has quit drinking pop and has started exercising. He has lost quite a bit of weight. Yeah!!!

Recently...

It has been awhile since I last posted but here is what is going on in our world...

Matt just finished his application for the KU nursing program. It was this big ordeal where he had to write essays on why he wants to be a nurse and some of his qualifications. He then had to get three letter of reccomendations to include in his application. I am so proud of him for getting it done while working and going to school. It was due this month and we will find out in Feburary. We both can't believe we won't find out until Feburary to see if he gets in or not. In the meantime he plans to apply to other colleges in the area. Matt quit doing banquets because we never saw he each other and is currently working for his parents selling used cars. It has been quite the adventure for me. Orginally he bought me a Nessian Maxima 2000 however found someone that was interested in it and made a good profit from it. Then he went to the sale and got a killer deal on an Infinti G20 I love it! It has leather seats, sun roof, and seat warmers which is so nice to have with the weather getting cooler.

I stayed where I did my internship as a preschool teacher. I am really enjoying and love working with that age group. A funny story is one day this little boy's parents asked him who worked with him that day and he replied, "Jicole." They were thinking, "Jicole? Oh does she have blue eyes and blonde hair?" He smiled and said, "Yes." So now whenever his parents see me they call me Jicole (I came home and told Matt and we both agreed it sounds like an African American name). Most of the children are so loving and one little boy will come up and say, "Mrs. Nichole, I love you."

Children love to learn and are so inquiste about the world around them. This past week we were talking about acorns and squirrels. So on Friday I brought in an acorn and had the children use a magnifying glass to see it up close. Then I went around and asked them what they thought was in the acorn. Some of them said a nut, or a dinosaur egg!!! Then one little boy pipped up and said "Well lets find out!" So I got out a hammer and let the children take turns on taking a wak at the acorn! One little boy laughed and giggled each time someone hit the acorn. When we got done to the nut part, one little boy shouts out, "It's A Peanut!" This of course cracked me up! Days like these I just love my job.

Being close to family has been really fun! In a couple of weeks we will be going to Nauvoo with our families to be with Scott as he takes out his endowments. It will be a glorious day when Katie and Sarah make sacred coventants too. I recently got a calling to be the CTR 6 teacher and Matt got called to be the Priest Quorum Advisor.

Another day we are looking forward to is when our Aunt Rita comes all the way from Germany! She is coming in November and will be staying for about two weeks. We wish the rest of the family was coming.

Oh and I can't forget to acknowledge what movie is coming out in November.... NEW MOON! My mother-in-law (also pictured with Rita) got us midnight showing tickets!!! I am so excited. Both Christa and I are excited to see Robert!

Scott's Mission Call!!!

My brother Scott received his mission call yesterday! He is going to serve the people in Piura, Peru!!!!! We are so excited for him. He is currently in Alabama selling security systems so he opened it there. My family, Matt's family, and us were all crowed around a computer so we could see him on skype! He leaves December 2! Matt and I are doing well, we move into our place on Saturday so we are thrilled about that.

***Twilight****

My mother-in-law, brought up the movie Twilight when she was here and we watched it and of course I have my mother's disease, I feel asleep during it. Well she then left me the book and I have become infatuated with it! I read the first book in two days, then I got the second from the library, and read that in two days and now I am on the third book eclipse. When they first came out, I didn't know why everyone was obsessing over them but now I can see why. I have watched the movie all the way through and think Edward is so good-looking and mysterious! The second book was a struggle because Edward went away. I told my mother about my newest obsession and she wanted to know if I was still fixing Matt lunch and dinner, so don't worry I haven't let our marriage go down the drain. We are moving next week and I have almost all the packing done and I figure its better then me out spending poor Matt's hard earn money. Every time Bella is with Jacob, I just want her to leave that boy alone and stick to Edward. I plan to have the 3rd book done by Wednesday so I can return it to the library. The books are so good!!!! I can't wait for the 2nd movie to come out in November. Is there anyone else that loves this series?

Graduation!!!

Friday, April 10, 2009 was graduation. Our family came up Thursday. It was so fun to have them here. Scott was down at Provo and had class so he was unable to make it. Katie is taking some tough class this year and felt like she couldn't miss school. Commencement was at 9 a.m. and then the receiving of the diplomas was at 11:00. It feels so good to be done. In a way I am going to miss BYU-ID but glad to be finished with tests, finals, and projects. I think I will miss the learning aspect. It was great to have the newest apostle there, Elder Neil L. Andersen as our guest speaker. President Clark addressed us to stay close to our Heavenly Father, serve, and to not get caught up in the world. Then Elder Andersen, referred to Wisdom. He also disussed turning our hearts to the Lord and not to the World. It was such a wonderful day! I am so grateful for my family, Matt's family, and escpecially Matt's support. I couldn't have done it without them. (Sarah, I am sorry I don't have any pictures with you, they must be on Christa's or mom's camera.)

My cap was driving me nuts all day. I felt like my hair was being killed by it. Matt was a real sweet heart and gave me these beautiful pearl necklace and earrings for my graduation gift.
This gown made me look like a large marge!

Some fun girls I had some classes with and gott to really know!