The Busy Life of Nicole

This summer has so far been an interesting one for me. I feel like I gave up my life back in April and my whole life consists of work. Its not that I'm working a long amount of hours. I think I'm averaging about 42 a week, but whats killing me is the hours that I do work. Let me start by saying I actually really do love my job. I work with a fun group of girls, in a great office with great owners and staff, however being available to work between 8:30am and 10pm makes it really difficult to plan much of anything. I think Tyler and I will probably run out of friends soon considering how many people we've turned down for things like BBQ's, movies, and all things summer because of my hours and did I mention I get to work the 4th of July? Awesome. The one upside to it all, is that Tyler is available in the day so we still find plenty of time to go do stuff together and make it so I can still have a little taste of summer. So far we've spent a few hours at 7 peaks and last week we went to the home opener Owlz game and I'm hoping to do a lot more fun stuff this week, because I work not only 1 early day this week but 2 and have my day off to play on top of that. I can't wait. Working the hours I work sure make me grateful for whatever time I get!!! I basically live for Sunday's because its the one day a week I know I always have. Yesterday was a particularly good Sunday. We went over to Misty and Russ's and played with cute little Bryce and then went to a get together for my cousin Brett's birthday. We had lots of laughs and enjoyed time with family, as always!

A Day for Dad's

I'm a lucky girl, that's all I can say. I have the best dad in the world as far as anyone is concerned and Tyler can say the same thing about his own dad!
 Between the 2 of us we're blessed with some pretty darn great men in our lives.

Happy Fathers Day to my Wonderful Dad and Father-in-Law!

We sure love you both and are so blessed to have men like you as our dad's.

(...and to my own dad, I think I deserve favorite child status for A. Writing this post and B. Not abandoing you like a few other children on this special day!)

Shantel's Wedding Cap

One of my longest friends got married on Thursday. Shantel and I have been friends since I was in 1st grade and she, in Kindergarten. It was a sad day in 9th grade when I moved away and we were no longer only a few houses down but none-the-less we have stayed friends. It was so great to get to be in the temple and watch her and her now husband, Kyle, get sealed to one another. It was a great day and she looked so gorgeous. Her dress was beautiful (my pictures don't do it justice at all.) and all in all it was a perfect day.

Here are a few pics via Instagram.

Dancing Divas

For those of you who don't know my mother-in-law Kim runs a dance studio out of Lindon and Santaquin. All 3 of our nieces take from her and every year its so fun to see them dance at their year end recital. This year was especially great, because it was the first year all 3 of them were dancing. It was Brinley's first year and it was so fun to see her up on stage too. I was a proud auntie watching them dance. They were the best and cutest ones up there! We're so lucky to have such a cute nieces!

Bryce's Baby Blessing

Yesterday Misty & Russ blessed their baby Bryce. We were so glad we got to be there for it.

 Isn't he a cutie?

Bryce with all the Hunsaker men.

Just Had to Share :)

Vinyl. Vinyl. Vinyl.

Tyler and I recently purchased a professional vinyl cutting machine and are officially up to our ears in vinyl. It can cut anything and everything which is pretty exciting stuff. Just thought I'd get the word out in case anyone is interested :)

Congrats to Nat-Nat!

May has been a fun month but a month that has made me feel rather old. My little sister is 5 years younger than me and so after my own high school graduation I felt like it would be ages before it would be her turn, but low and behold "ages" has come. In ways it has flown right by and in other ways it has felt like more than 5 years, but either way I feel a little old. She's seriously going to be joining me at school next year. We're planning on taking a few classes together which seems so strange to me, because the last time we went to the same school, she was in Kindergarten and here she is, all grown up and graduated! I've been joking that she'll probably graduate college before me and it really is pretty possible. She's much smarter than me and got lots of college credits while she was in high school. I'm so proud of her for graduating and can't wait to see what the future holds for her. Today as I sat and watched her graduate I had to fight back emotions (another sign of my old age, as a youngster I had no emotions). I didn't feel the slightest bit emotional at my own graduation and certainly didn't think I'd want to get all emotional today, but knowing what it has taken Nattie to get to today brought up this overwhelming sense of pride. She has endured more in the last 2+ years than any high school student should ever have to. Her sophomore year went very well for her, but come junior year her health took a dive and she's really never recovered from it. She has struggled with quite a few different health issues for years (also something no young person should ever have to have) but last year they just simply got out of control and she had to miss a lot of school which meant for a lot of make up work for her...and by make up work, I mean entire terms of work. This year was slightly better but still a challenge and her health still made it really difficult for her to be at school and drag herself out of bed everyday, but after lots of sacrifices, tears, and hard work, she made it and I couldn't be more proud of her! Way to go Nat-Nat!

Seminary Graduation (last week)

Graduation Lunch at Riverside

A Few Pre-Graduation Pictures

Post Grad Pictures

Memorial Day Twenty.Twelve.

I had to work this memorial day, which is nothing new for me, but usually I am lucky enough to only have to work a few hours and still get most of the day to play. This year I wasn't so lucky, but I still made the best of it. Tyler and I woke up early and headed to Pleasant Grove to go to my Grandparents' graves. I still feel their loss daily and so I love memorial day and the chance it gives to reflect on their lives again. It makes me sad knowing that my kids and Tyler will never know how sweet my grandma was or hear her cute little giggle, but I'm sure grateful for what she taught me and that I knew her. I will forever cherish the moments I had with her just before she got sick. She told me all about the day she got the call that she was getting my dad and how neat it was to bring him home. They'll also never know my grandpa and how funny he could be or know his love of music and they may never know what happens when you say "Grandpa, I'm your friend." I'm glad though that even though it won't be the same, I can tell them stories about the wonderful people they were.

I also feel very lucky that I knew so many of my great grandparents. We didn't have enough to go to the Springville cemetary, but thankfully we did get to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Bullock's grave too (they're buried right next to my Grandma and Grandpa Schaefer). I don't have a lot of detailed memories of them being that they died when I was in the 1st grade, but I do remember going over there house frequently, after dance and on Sunday. They had the funnest closet to play in and a fun tree swing in the backyard. They were so kind and loving...its no question where my Grandma got it from. My grandpa was and still is, no doubt, my Dad's hero. We still hear stories from him about time he spent with his grandpa and how he never went over there and didn't work. He always said, "If you don't work, you don't eat." Its sure great to know where you come from and how lucky we are to have known such great people!

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day too!

Sharing the covers? No thanks.

Ever since Tyler started his new job I have secretly enjoyed our bed all to myself. I am not a deep sleeper at all and its basically impossible for me to make it through an entire night without waking up. I struggle falling asleep, I struggle to get comfortable, and my temperature is never what I want it to be. I am always burning up or freezing cold and therefore I wake up what seems like 100 times in the night (slight exaggeration of course). When you add another person to the bed to snore, steal the covers (I married a major blanket hog), and adjust constantly, it only makes matters worse although I never noticed all this until recently. Ever since Tyler started his job I have slept like a rock. It's been amazing. As soon as I am out...I am out cold. No waking up for me until around 7 as I am anticipating Tyler get home. I seriously can sleep however I want and no one is there to disturb me. Don't get me wrong I love it when he is home at night. I am much happier knowing that he is here with me. However my tossing turning body seriously misses the nights when I have the place all to myself. Seriously...how to get the best of both worlds?