December in a Nut Shell

I'm Baaaack! I left the blog world pretty much all of December, but I'm back & fully ready to catch up! I find it funny that when I actually have something blog worthy I'm too busy to blog about it, because I'm too busy living it, but here I am. Ready to post.

This is what I experienced while away...

1. I experienced a miracle! What miracle you ask? I survived finals...and it gets even better than this, I got all A's this semester. Don't think I even did that in high school.

2. I saw my cute sister dance at the UVU drill competition (December 12). Aren't they cute?

These girls did awesome! Placed well in all of their routines and were so fun to watch.

3. I spent time with family. We had two Clyde Christmas Parties this year!

Party One (December 13): Our "traditional" Christmas Eve had to come early this year and in a new location, I had a great time with our more extended Clyde fam.

Uncle Jeff playin the accordian for us.

My siblings with Grandma Pinkie

Grandma Pinkie entertaining us all!!!

Party Two (December 20): The typical party at Nana's. Full of fun, nativity, and exchanging cousin gifts! Thanks Mckay for my great gift...although I must admit I was slightly disappointed you didn't give me those Star Wars legos, like your Mom said you were going to give me! :(

Nate made a great donkey this year, I think he enjoyed it more than any other part he has played.

The Single One's

4. My Best Friend & Roomie got hitched (December 19)! It was fun to be a part of it and see her so happy. Congrats Jaynee and Cameron.

Since Jaynee doesn't believe in sleep we had a crazy night with the girls the night before the big day.  It was full of laughter, memories, jokes, and a 1 am run to In N Out. At 2 am, we finally called it quits even though the bride didn't want to. Little did we know, she would stay up an additional hour and then wake up at 6am to go to the gym to run. Crazy girl!

She might not look it here, but she was happy as ever. Jaynee & Cameron are perfect for each other and so cute together. Love them both.

Jaynee dancing with her Dad.

Isn't she gorgeous?

 

The girls.

Just me & the bride.

5. Natalie turned 16 (December 16)! Woot. Woot. She is still thrilled...and dying to go get her license!

We celebrated Texas Roadhouse Style w/ a Giddy Up and all.

I was too busy w/life to give her a birthday post so this will have to do!

Happy Birthday Sis!

6. Had a very wonderful Christmas! Santa spoiled me and my whole family! He surprised us with a Wii. I never thought I'd use it, because I hate video games, but I'm actually kind of liking it!

 

Nate got a Austin Collie jersey which was his favorite gift! It got a bigger reaction than the Wii.

Natalie is a little accessory queen and loaded up on jewelry, purses, scarves, and a new wallet.

 

Boots, Jeans, School Tuition, Jewelry...Santa definitely loves me. I was spoiled rotten. Ty really spoiled me this year too. He bought me a new camera, a case for it and a new memory card (yes, I lost my last memory card. Some creep at UVU probably found it and now has all my pictures.) He also got me a BYU jersey, a movie, and a clock...which is awesome...I have to make it myself, but it's going to be an activity for us both! He has one himself, too. I'm shocked he's volunteered to do a craft. haha. My grandparents also gave me great gifts that I love! Thank you Pinkie, Nana, Grumpy, and Grandpa Schaefer. I appreciate how generous you all are. Love you! I'm a very lucky girl.

Page & Kevin were the most spoiled of all.  They got a new tv and my parents bought them a blu ray player. Page surprised Kevin with a Wii and he surprised her with a Cricut. Santa brought them Guitar Hero for their new Wii.

We got my mom this super cute shelf! She was pretty happy about it. She'll probably kill me for putting this picture on the internet, since she has no makeup on, hates her picture being taken, and is in her pajama's, oh well. (sorry Mom, everyone else made the blog so you had to as well.)

 

Dad and Grandpa Schaefer

It's become a fun tradition to have him come see us Christmas morning!

We Love You Grandpa!

7. Shianne & CJ got engaged (December 5)! Pretty exciting stuff! He got home of his mission and within only a few weeks there was a ring on her finger.

I'm so excited for them!

...and props to Stephanie Cheney. She did a great job taking these.

8. My awesome brother got an intership at Channel 2 (December 22). Maybe if he's lucky, they'll like him enough to hire him and he won't have to move out of state come spring! If any could pull it off, it would be him. Nobody can talk sports like he does. He also got another gig at BYU. Good Job Kevin!

9. I finally made it to Temple Square to see the lights (December 27). Tyler and I doubled with our friend Jeff, and his date, Kelley Anne. We had a lot of fun. I didn't get the many pictures and didn't even go where I wanted to take them, but we were freezing so we made it a short trip!

I do love this one! Turned out pretty great. I'm loving the new camera!

Love this one as well.

Tyler and I

Kelley Anne and Jeff

10. This is a soon-to-be happening (January 9), but I'm sharing because I'm excited. My cousin, Melissa is getting married so I will soon be heading to Arizona for her wedding. I am so anxious to get out of this bitter cold Utah weather. I'm excited to see all of my family down there, including my cousin Mia who I have yet to meet. She was born in October and is VERY cute!

They're definitely not in order, I realized I did this kind of dumb, but oh well.

Good Luck Pionette's!

Today is my lil' sisters very 1st drill competition! I'm so excited and nervous for her. She's been competing at dance competitions since she was in Kindergarten, but drill just isn't the same! I love how intense it is and can't wait for her to experience it. The nerves are way worse though too, but I know she is ready to face 'em. I hope she does well and hope the whole team does well! I had the privelege of judging them this week so they had an idea of where they stood. They did really awesome so I hope they have a great season! I'm sad I can't be in Delta today for their first invitational, but will look forward to being at the UVU invitational next week! Good Luck Pionette's! and Good luck Nattie!

Rough Week

I'm so thrilled that the weekend is here! I am sooo sick of school...and I hate finals. I should be spending the entire time doing homework, but I can tell you right now I won't be. I will probably procrastinate til Sunday and at that point I will be hating life, but oh well. Mid December just needs to get here!!! I can't wait to have a few weeks that are school free!

Instead of homework my weekend will be filled with:

• Spending time with Tyler
• Christmas Shopping
• Dining
• Movies
• Setting up my Christmas Tree
• BYU basketball game @ Energy Solutions!
• Sunday dinner with my 'rents & sibling, plus grandpa, the Ballantynes, and Em!

...and maybe, sometime late Sunday night I will get around to that dreaded homework that makes me want to pull my hair out! The good news is I'm just about done with my dance class after Monday it will be stress free. And by Thursday I will have everything done for my English class and I will be done with English forever. **Knock on Wood.**

And for anyone who plans to be around me in the next couple weeks: Beware, because I might just look like this...

Love My Girls

We had a friend shower tonight for Jaynee & it was lots of fun.

We played a few games & chatted & opened gifts.

A few of my friends are married now, one is even expecting a baby in a couple of months & a few I know will soon be engaged (coughshiannecough) so it was great to catch up with everyone since life seems to get crazy. Getting together with them makes me miss high school a little & all the crazy times we had together. I love them all and their crazy fun personalities! Husbands, Fiance's, Boyfriend's have kind of taken over all of our lives, which is great! Guys are awesome (haha). But all I can say is nothing can replace my girls!

Here are a few pictures from the shower:

Christina sportin a little skanky wedding dress.

Erika going Ellen Degeneres Style.

...and the lovely bride herself, stylin' some 1990 poofy sleeved style dress. Oh, and her train was the best part...too bad my picture of it came out blurry.

If I must say so myself, we did a great job designing!

Jaynee just a workin' it.

 

All of us Girls :)

Love you all!

Time to Show Some Gratitude

Earlier in the week I started off by sharing how thankful I am for my little sister and I thought it would be nice to finish off the list.

More than anything I'm so grateful for my family. They say you can chose your friends but not your family. I don't really like this saying, because if I were to hand pick my family, I would chose the family I have now all over again. And when I say family, I mean ALL of my family...parents, siblings...including my cute new sister-in-law, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I'm so lucky to be close to the majority of my family. My best friends are truly my family members and I'm so grateful for the relationships I have built with them. Just to get an idea of how close I am with my family I have to share a funny little story from a week or two ago...

I was down in Santaquin at Tyler's parents house and his mom was asking me what I was doing for Thanksgiving, I told her what side of my family I would be with this year and she proceeded to ask me if I switched off each holiday, or year, or what??? I started to say yes, and as I did Tyler muttered under his breath, "it's not really switching off if you have a party with them EVERY month." I couldn't help but laugh, because this is SO true. The Clyde side (my Mom's side) has lots of get-togethers. But for the record Tyler...we don't get together EVERY month...just most of them...haha. and some months WAY more than once! So yes...we do see a lot of each other. I wouldn't have it any other way. I love the Schaefer side every bit as much and wished I saw them more than I do!

I'm also very grateful for my health. I've been very lucky to have been given a healthy working body...I've had a few minor injuries, etc. but I am grateful that I haven't had anything that has held me back. I love dancing so much and know that there are many people who would kill to have my health and the abilities to do what I do. In my Jazz class I'm taking at school right now, the very first dance we learned was done as a tribute to a long time dancer and instructor at UVU. She was diagnosed with cancer and died this fall. Her niece just so happens to be my instructor and wanted to do this dance in honor of her. The inspiration behind her choreography and music selection all had to do with the words of her aunt, who last Spring talked about how health is everything and without it we are so confined and she was sad to lose her abilities due to illness. This really made me realize how lucky I am and I don't want to take my body for granted.

I'm grateful for Tyler. He's so much fun to be around and is always there for me when I need him around. This semester has been a tough one for me and some nights I get so tense and stressed and he shows up to help however he can. I think I'm pretty lucky. Sometimes I'm pretty sure I drive him nuts but he never admits it. He's always so thoughtful when I least expect it. Tyler's mom, sister, and sister-in-law all had tickets to the So You Think You Can Dance performance when it came to Utah this last month. His sister-in-law backed out (Thank you Sarah!)  and Tyler surprised me by buying her ticket for me! Such a nice thing to do for me for no reason other than to be nice. I was shocked when I called me...in fact, it was kinda funny. He called me during the day of and a BYU game was on so I knew his call MUST be important. I answered and he was more chatty than he ever is on the phone, he asked me if I had plans. I told him no and he said Good! Don't make any. I was then asked why, and he told me I was going to the performance with them. He didn't even tell me why, just left it at that and hung up. I had to text him to get the story. I probably told him thank you over a dozen times, but don't know if he had a clue how much this meant to me. The performance was amazing and it was fun to spend time with his mom and sis, Love you Ty!

I'm grateful to have a job! A year ago today I was my layed off from my previous job wondering what would come next. I wasn't really worried, because I have wonderful parents who are always willing to help me out when I need it and since I was living at home, money really wasn't an issue, but I obviously wasn't planning to sit at home and mooch off them. Luckily Century 21 wanted me back! I didn't even apply, I just have an AWESOME Aunt, who was willing to work me in. I love my Century 21 family, I work with so many fun, great people...this job might not pay the greatest but there are so many aspects of it, that make it great. Me being layed off was really an opportunity for me. I was having a hard time justifying quitting that job to go to school because I was being paid so well and HELLO...I've never been a fan of school, but once I was no longer needed there it allowed me to start going to school full time. Century 21 works really great around my school schedule and gives me just enough money to get by and in today's economy so many people are out of work that I'm just grateful to have something, because that is more than a lot of people can say right now.

I'm grateful to be in school...I can't believe I'm admitting this, especially with finals right around the corner, but it is true. School is hard, stressful, and a money eater, but it gives me purpose. I like knowing that I'm working towards something greater and love some of the things I am learning and new people I have met at school. It can be my worst nightmare at moments, but other times I feel that it is one of my greatest blessings!

I'm grateful for all of my friends! They're so much fun and supportive of me, I honestly don't see a lot of them very much anymore, because we're all doing our own things in life, but I'm still so glad for the relationships I have with all of them. One of my best friend's is getting married in just a few weeks and then eventually will be moving away from Utah. Jaynee's been such an awesome friend and support to me and I know I'm going to miss her tons!

Love you Jaynee!

I'm grateful for the gospel and the happiness it has brought me in my life, I would be in a whole other world I think without it. I'm grateful that my parents taught me well and the testimonies they have, which in turn strengthened mine. So many don't have what I have and I know I'm truly luckily to be a part of it!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Gobble. Gobble.

hApPy BiRtHdAy PiNkiE

My Great-Grandma Clyde is the coolest lady I know! Today she is celebrating her 95th birthday so I just wanted to wish her a very happy birthday. I love her so much and am glad she has been around so long. Not too many are fortunate to see their grandparents live to be as old as she is so I know I am lucky. She's no ordinary grandma either, she's one spunky, rockin', attitude-given grandma. She LOVES pink...she rubbed off on me. I think it is in my genes to love Pink. Who do you know who owns a Pink Cadillac, has/had Pink appliances (she cried when her Pink fridge stopped working.) Has had pink counters, and a FAMOUS pink couch? The only person I know with that much pink is her! She is a BYU fanatic. How many 95 year old ladies do you know that can get worked up and scream and yell just as much as all the guys? She's the only one I know! Our family jokes around how we have to love BYU or we'll be disowned and it is probably true. She gets WAY into Halloween...dressing up one year ALL in Pink...hair and all...another year as Michael Jackson and playing the part the ENTIRE night. Has your grandma ever gone around acting like Michael telling you how much she likes little boys? A moment I will never forget, that is for sure! Does your grandma dress up like a cowboy or a chicken? I didn't think so. The first time my grandma met my brother's wife, Page, she was wearing her chicken suit. Once again, she stayed in FULL character. She spoke chicken...bawk, bawk, bawk, bawk was all we heard for HOURS. We introduced Page to her and all she did was bawk at her. It was so funny...I don't know how she does it. It's amazing. We were laughing so hard and she was able to stay so serious. She even did the chicken dance for us. What a hoot!

Anyway, I love her and had to brag!
Happy Birthday Pinkie!
xoxo

I'm Thankful for...

My Sister

With Thanksgiving around the corner I have been thinking about many things I'm thankful for in my life and due to recent changes I can't help but recognize how grateful I am to have a sister. If you know us very well at all, you know that we can fight a pretty nasty fight with each other, and that in the past, we've done this on a regular basis...as in DAILY! It used to be quite the chore to get us to stop fighting. Most the time we wouldn't quit til one of us was in tears, and lets face it, that was NEVER me. Being the older, less sensitive one, I seem to always have the upper hand and much better war tactics. However, in the last 3 months, my sister and I have not fought even ONCE! Impressive, I know. I can't help but thank our new living situation for this one. We no longer live in the same house and life is great! We get along Soooo much better and when we are together we can enjoy each others company rather than nag at each other. Last week Natalie was my life saver when I had no one to go to a dance concert with me and I was so glad that she was able to go. It was not only fun to go to be in her company but also to see something we both love. My brother's have been fairly supportive when it has come to all my dancing, but they can't touch the support and the understanding Nattie has in this area. She and my mom were ALWAYS at my performances and competitions in high school and before that she too was competiting at all the same places as was I. She is now on drill team and it has been so fun coming and watching her dance so far and can't wait to watch her at all her competitions this year (sad though, I can't be at the first one next week.) I'm happy seeing her succeed especially in something I personally love so much.  Here are the top 10 things I love about Natalie.

1. She's no doubt a peace maker.

2. She is always bailing me out of trouble, tis true.

3. She's very giving, not just to me, but to everyone.

4. She's SUPER smiley & FULL of personality.

5. She doesn't like meat very much, which leaves more for me :)

6. She agrees that I have a big butt...this is a constant debate at our house. Random I know.

7. She can pull off headbands of all kinds, and I cannot. Lucky girl!

8. She is an awesome listener.

9. She idolizes me...but then again who doesn't? (totally kidding, i'm not THAT arrogant.)

10. She's willing to admit it. :)

Love you Nattie!

BFF BIRTHDAY.

It is my very best friend's birthday today!

She is the most amazing girl I know.

Talented, fun, and so supportive of me!

Sooo many of my greatest memories have her in it.

Whenever I need to VENT she is my girl I go to and I love her for it!

She is getting so old...Big 20 today!

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share some of my many memories with her.

There are so many that I'm not sure which to include. I thought about making a top 10 but realized I can't decide on a top ten so instead I'm going to post the 1st ten that come to mind.

Here it goes....

1. Learning to Snowboard together on MY birthday...and then afterword buying a cake and me clicking the Spanish button on the self check-out. Kevin freaked out, but thankfully you were there to get me through that experience. haha. thank you for taking Spanish. Who knew it would become useful at the checkout.

2. Waving at the lady while stuck in rush hour traffic in Phoenix, only to get in trouble and told to stop waving, because we might get shot.

3. Talking to the guy at the mall selling us dead sea products. Talk about a little flirter. {Tell me you love me....tell me... }Boy did he love us and we loved him back!

4. Getting thrown off my chair in Sunday School because a certain young man had a HUGE crush on you and just had to sit by you. I had never been thrown off my chair and church before that moment and never have since. I will never forget. haha.

5. Our first attempt shaving our legs. I'm not going to go into detail on this one, but YOU know how it went.

6. Hearing all about your first kiss! So funny to think about now.

7. Going to Swifts for Powerade and then to catch horny toads in Price.

8. Biting each other when we got mad. (I found it funny when everyone at the wedding shower said we never fought!)

9. Being the FIRST one to find out you were engaged!

10. Kidnapping you when you turned 16 with Brett only realizing I left all my cash at home. Thank goodness I had a LOT of change!!!

and what the heck...I just thought of one more so here is to one more!

11. Our first attempt to spray paint. I'm soo glad we shared this moment together. I was impressed by our skills!

 

Love you girl!

Have a very fabulous 20th birthday!

Enjoy your half-day break from work :)

What I COULD Be Doing Tonight

I was supposed to be going to the Dashboard Confessional concert tonight, but OF COURSE, it had to be cancelled. Apparently their tour has been a total flop so they just decided to cancel the entire thing. They didn't think of the disappointed Utah girl who was excited to be at their show So instead of having some FUN tonight, I will be dedicating my night to school. This is how it will go: I am going to be sitting in the UV Library wishing I was at Dashboard banging a book against my head because I am going to have no life away from school this next month. In a small way, I guess its a good thing, because I am SWAMPED with homework and I would which is why I have not blogged in sooo long.That & the internet at my apartment is down. I haven't even fixed my currently pathetic header. bah. Good post is coming soon!!! I had the world's greatest weekend last week and have yet to share it. But for now, I am out, until my life slows down just a little bit. Peace.

Before & After.

Before

this is to prove that my teeth were not completely hideous or anything before my nightmare began.

DURING

this is my nightmare. and yes. i was hideous, which is why I never posted pictures til now.

 

no i did not smile much.

thought i better not risk breakin any cameras.

tyler, chelsey, and brett all showed off their very best "Nicole face" 

how rude.

tyler is gonna kill me for postin his imitation. 

but too bad for him i like his a lot.

but for the record i NEVER did pull a face quite that hideous.

o, and a JABBAWOCKEE is a great costume. it does NOT require you to smile for pictures. =/

AFTER
mission accomplished:hideousness removed.

This is me & my awesome buddy Max, he had fun making faces with me.