Operation Ecuador...

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since we have posted anything, life has been pretty busy these last few months! In just about one month we are going on a mission trip to Ecuador with the high school youth from Mountain Life Church in Park City.

This is an amazing opportunity for us to serve people and at the same time grow. We are very excited about serving as husband and wife with the high schoolers! We will be helping with the construction of some buildings and running a Bible school for the kids there. There will be plenty of pictures that we will post on here and lots of stories to share.

There are two ways you can support us in our desire to serve. Prayer or a donation. Anything helps and we are praying for the people of Ecuador, so that we can help them and they can feel the love we have for people. If you are led to donate, here is a link to do so: paypal email is mrsnicholls7210@gmail.com

or you can send a check to our home address

1887 Sunpeak Dr. Park City, UT 84098

Thanks for you thoughts and prayers!! We are really looking forward to this and sharing the stories.

God bless!!

Saturdays :)

I love Saturdays, no where to be and all day with my family. Yesterday was spent with a bike ride and then down to the Gateway. We went to the children's museum and had an awesome time. We were even lucky enough to get all of us in for the price of 1 admission because the people in front of us had a 6 person pass and only used 3 and they gave the other ones to us. Score :) The kids spent the majority of the time in the grocery store, they loved pretending to be cashiers and stockers and bakers. It is always hard to get the kids to leave that place but luckily they were hungry and we got them leave for California Pizza Kitchen. Joe used to work there so we always get great deals from old coworkers. It was an awesome day spent with my favorite people. <3

(sorry the only pics are on my phone)

4 things..

FOUR PLACES I GO...

1. School - The University of Utah is my home Monday Wednesday and Friday.
2. Church - Sunday is the best day of the week
3. Home - It's boring but I love to just be home with Joe and the kids
4. The park - well not right now but as soon as all the snow is gone we might as well live there.

FOUR SMELLS I LOVE...

1. Joe's body wash and cologne -
2. Coffee - I need this everyday
3. Baby lotion - reminds me of my babies and rubbing them down after a bath
4. Banana bread - it makes my house smell great and reminds me of when I was little

FOUR FAVORITE TV SHOWS/MOVIES...

1. Bones - we are almost done watching all the seasons on Netflix
2. Survivor - Is it bad that I look forward to this every week?
3. The Amazing Race - I totally think Joe and I could win it haha
4. Whichever movie is Cadences favorite at the moment. We cuddle up during nap time and watch a movie everyday.

FOUR RECOMMENDATIONS...

1. Biking instead of running. Just got a bike and I actually look forward to working out and don't feel like my body is going to fall apart afterwards
2. Uncooked tortillas from Costco - one of the best finds ever, we use them all the time.
3. Toms - best shoes ever. One for One.
4. Netflix - They have so many movies and TV shows, it one of the best choices we have made and so worth the monthly fee

Thanks for tagging me Heather!

Now I am tagging Sam Baumann, Harmony Jensen, Jessica Christensen and Lauren Judkins.

=)

I was chatting with one of my cheerleaders (Jane) on facebook and she sent me this message:

jess seriously i look up to you. when im having a bad day i just think about what you would tell me and to calm down and that it will be okay and i just love you. you have helped me every step of the way and your like my roll model. im so glad i got the chance to make great memories with you and im so excited to make more

Absolutely made my day. It made all the drama and other crap I have to deal with so worth it.

Love these girls <3

(This is last years picture)

Update.. (boring title I know)

I haven't updated this in a really long time and life has been so busy that I feel like I should have things to post but I really don't. I finally have some down time this week (Spring Break!!) and thought that it was a good time to give a small update.

School is going well, classes are easy and I really don't have tons of homework. I am assisting with cheer again this year and tryouts are next week. I really love working with those girls even though I was never really a cheerleader. I've missed them in the month that we haven't been doing it.

Joe is keeping busy with youth group stuff. He really has a heart for teenagers and is a perfect fit there. We went rock-climbing with them on Sunday which was tons of fun.

Braxton is doing great in school, his teacher said he is always improving and she just loves him. He loves sports and is really getting into March Madness. He is getting spring fever and can't wait for all the snow to melt so he can get a bike.

Cadence is doing great also. She is growing like crazy, I can't believe how big she is and that she will be 4 soon. She had to have 2 teeth pulled because of infection from cavities, but is recovered and if you are looking for a pediatric dentist you should definitely check out Burg Pediatric Dentistry. They have a few locations and are amazing. They made Cadence (and us) feel cared for and that we were in good hands.

Hopefully our lives will be less boring soon and I will have something to post about.

Happy New Year!

2010 was such a great year for us! Here is a list of a few amazing things from the year:

We got married! (definitely the top of the list)

Honeymoon in Mexico.

I started school at the University of Utah.

Joe interning with the youth at church.

Braxton starting Kindergarten.

Lots of weddings attended.

Countless memories made with the kids.

Both of us coaching at the high school.

My first 4.0 in college.

I am looking forward to the new year and hope that everyone has an amazing year!

Christmas 2010

We had an awesome Christmas. I feel like December flew by, of course we ended up last minute shopping, I had most of the kids stuff already but just never had the time to shop til the semester was over. Braxton started to get really curious about Santa and asked me multiple times if he was real, I wasn't really prepared for this but one of the times he asked it Cadence said that he wasn't so we decided that if they were already curious and Cadence didn't believe that we would just tell them that he is just pretend. I thought it would be kind of sad to not have them believe but I feel better that they don't. I always felt like parents got the shaft when it came to Santa because he got all the credit for the cool stuff kids get but now my kids know that all the cool stuff actually comes from us. It also helped because we stayed at my parents house Christmas night and they already knew that Santa was pretend they weren't disappointed when the only presents that morning came from my parents. After our Christmas with my family we came back up to Park City to open presents with Joe's parents and have a nice Christmas dinner. Here are some pics of the kids opening their gifts from us.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Honeymoon!

Just realized I never did a honeymoon post. I'll make it short and sweet.

It was an amazing week! It was exactly what we needed, relaxing with each other.

We found a condo on HomeAway.com that was a great price and we just hung out there most of the time. It was their rainy season so every morning when we got up it was raining but by afternoon it was beautiful so we would make the 15 minute walk to the beach and wander around and hang out at the beach. We found an awesome local restaurant that we ate at almost everyday. Before it started to get dark we would head back to the condo and chill. Our condo had a dipping pool which we took full advantage of. And our view was absolutely amazing. I can't wait to go back! Here are some pictures we took during the week.

Cali Trip!

So over my fallbreak/UEA we chaperoned the Younglife trip to California. It was crazy/fun/exhausting, and so so worth it. Our friend Rob runs YoungLife in Park City and works out with Joe a few times a week. He told us to pray that more adults would step up to chaperone and we told him that we were free that weekend and would be glad to go. He was ecstatic and couldn't thank us enough for being willing to do it. There ended up being around 130 kids go. Here are the details of the trip

Wednesday:

Meet at 9 PM for Club. The speaker for the weekend was Joe Cole and he was absolutely amazing. He has a passion for Christ and for teenagers, I wish I could take just a little bit of it into my life. We also had the pleasure of hearing music from Josh Rosenthal, amazing singer/songwriter. Check him out here or iTunes. Then we finally loaded up the buses and hit the road around 10:30 and drove all night til we reached Cali!

Thursday:

We arrived in Cali and our hotel was right on the beach in Oxnard. So most of the day was spent on the beach even though it was cloudy and the water was freezing. We helped the kids set up for some beach volleyball and played a little football. That night we had some pizza then had our second club and a nice little concert from Josh. Joe and I slept in different rooms so that we could interact with the kids and my girls were kind of shy but a few opened up and shared things with me and I shared with them. I hope to keep up some of the relationships that were made on the trip.

Friday: We woke up and headed to Six Flags-Magic Mountain. It was my first time ever being there and it was so much fun. I am for sure an adrenaline junky and these roller coasters were right up my alley. I suggest anyone taking a trip to SoCal to make time to head here. Favorite rides of the day: X2, Goliath, Batman and Tatsu. We ended the day again with Club and discussion time with our groups.

Saturday: We packed up and did Club in the morning and had a new believers walk. 15 kids devoted their life to Christ! It was amazing! Normally kids go on this trip for the fun and they usually don't have anyone accept Christ so 15 is an amazing number. After this we made our way to Disneyland! I love Disneyland, but hate the crowds. I wanted to take the kids next summer but decided to wait til they are a little older. We had tons of fun hanging out with a new friends and enjoyed the rides. My only disappointment for the day was not riding Space Mountain because the line was way too long everytime we checked.

Disney closed at Midnight and we climbed onto the bus exhausted and headed home.

Puttin up our U's!

Splash Mountain!

Loved all the Halloween Decorations

Before Captain EO

It was a fast paced, never stopping, incredibly fun trip that I would for sure do again. Count us in for next year!

P.S. Love that fact that I got to sleep during the 13 hour drive there and back. Wish I could do this everytime. :)

God is Great!

On Sunday the 22nd Joe and I made a decision both personally and together to be baptized. Our church has an annual baptism for anyone who feels like it is the right time. The first Sunday they announced it I had a feeling that I should do it. I didn't say anything to Joe and prayed about it and just knew that it was right. When I told Joe he said he had the feeling that he should do it again too. He had been baptized as a teenager but after everything that he has been through since then he felt like it was more meaningful. It was one of the best experiences of my entire life especially to do it with my husband! The feeling of knowing that Christ is my savior and that he died for me and forgave me of my sins is something that I never want to lose. Our church has some amazing people in it, Sundays are my favorite day of the week. I love the message, the worship and the fellowship. Here are some photos of the day, taken by Carissa:

Wedding Part 3::The Reception and more

After the trampoline it was time to cut the cake, bouquet and garter toss. I need to give a big thanks to my mom because not only did she make our cake, she did everything else for the reception. All the food and decorating were done by her, she was amazing and I can never thank her enough for all she did that day.

We wanted to do a little dancing. Our first dance was great but no one else really got in on the dancing so we stopped and just started the fireworks orchestrated by Carl and Caleb.

After the fireworks we took off, but seeing as I didn't eat anything all day our day didn't end there. We decided to hit In N Out before going to the hotel and Joe, Steph and the Fine family tagged along. Carissa couldn't pass up and taking more photos, we got lots of stares and the In N Out people loved it.

And that was the happy ending to our perfect day ♥

(honeymoon post coming as soon as I have time)

Wedding Part 2::The Reception

Sorry for taking so long to post part 2. Life is busy as most of you already know.

So after the ceremony we were going to take more pictures of just us at the Utah State Hospital in Provo but traffic was awful because of it being a holiday weekend so we just ended up going to my grandparents and taking them there. It worked out great and I love all the pictures we got. Here are a few:

After we took pictures it was time for the reception to start. We were supposed to have chocolate fountains but it was so windy that as soon as they were turned on the chocolate blew everywhere so we ended up just having melted chocolate in bowls. Besides the wind the reception turned out perfectly. So many people came and supported us, it was incredible. In the months before the wedding I had been browsing KSL for different wedding things and came across an ad for a photobooth, I talked to my mom about and we decided to do it. I am so happy we did, it is one of my favorite things from the whole day. We used the photobooth strips for our guestbook. I didn't want a typical guestbook and this way was so much fun.

Our colors were black, hot pink and white. It was amazing how well we were able to find everything in the same pink. Here are a few photos from the line and some detail shots:

Carissa saw the trampoline and so during a break in the line we took some pictures on it. They were so much fun and so unique. I don't know many people who have wedding pictures on a trampoline.