. . . . JuSt A feW dETouRs On THe waY

So my wonderful husband finished taking his Barr Exam last Thursday and I was sooooo excited to be able to go see him!! I am so proud of him and want to tell him congratulations that it's over!!! Yeah!!!!

* * *

While my husband spent 3 days of testing I made my way to Nevada.... stopping just a few times along the way. My mom and I headed to Salt Lake on Tuesday and shopped all day long! We absolutely love shopping and we love spending money together!:) Wednesday was an exciting day because I got to spend all day with my nephew on his special day! He turned 4 years old and he is the cutest 4 year old I know(of coarse I'm a little biaste)!! I love that kid and his adorable little sister sooooo much! It was so fun to see him get so excited for his birthday! He is the sweetest, most energetic, funniest little kid! He got super spoiled with presents and stuff but he is worth every penny.:) He posed for every picture and made us laugh when he did a "gangster" pose with his new stylish jacket & skater shoes he got from his mom & dad. What a little stud that kid is!

He even said "arrrrgh" with his eye patch on!:)

* * *

On Thursday I headed up to Brigham city to see 3 of my bestest friends!! Two of them are friends from my college days at SUU. I love these girls! I hadn't seen Sarah for 3 years!!! That's way too long to go without seeing your friends and in that time she had a kid so I got to meet him for the first time too! We went to lunch and had such a great time catching up and talking about "the good ol' days". They have the cutest little boys and it's so good to get to see them as mommys and get to know their little ones better. I'm really glad we were able to get together! Conveniently Sarah lives in the same town as my BFF from Omaha so after lunch with the roomies I headed over to Kristin's house to see her and little Jaxson. We had tons of fun chit- chatting and shopping......yet again!:) We bought a few new clothing items in the only store in Utah without an air conditioner and then just about died when we got in the 130 degree car so we had to head to Sonic for a yummy drink. Well, little Jaxson decided that my drink was his favorite so I got about 5 sips of my very delicious lemon-berry slush! The kid is just too dang cute to say "no" to!:) I'm so glad that Kristin & I found each other all the way in Nebraska! She is an amazing friend, a great person and not to mention- -she completely cracks me up with her organizational insanity! If any of you ever need an idea for a birthday party....she's your woman. She's the one that threw the most amazing baseball themed 1st birthday for her little boy and she's already got his 2nd birthday planned out and it's not until March!:) Oh, but I love her anyway...... and I think that's because I totally understand the insanity.:)

Lawson & Sarah, Jack & Chelsea...... and me.

Yes, the huge scab on my bottom lip was still there for my whole trip! Lucky me!:)
* * *
Then wa-la, finally I made it to Nevada to see my very good-looking husband! We had such a great weekend! We went to Reno on Friday and ate lunch at the Claim Jumper which is soooo yummy! We then hit the movie theater for a little matinee............ The Dark Knight!!! Wow!! That movie is awesome!!! I loved it! Heath Ledger is the most amazing/evil Joker you could ever imagine, Christian Bale is freakin' HOT, and the whole movie just completely outdid itself! Loved it! After the movie we of coarse got a slurpee from 7-11 and headed up to Lake Tahoe.:) It was just as beautiful as I remember it!


* * *
Bryce and I were so excited to see each other that the whole weekend was great! I have my old unstressed Bryce back and really enjoyed spending time with him! He is definitely a little anxious for me to move home now that he's done studying so I will officially be leaving Blanding by the end of the month. I've got to go fishing with my dad one more time before I leave and have a "girls day" with my mom & her BFF Judy then I'll be ready to go home to my husband!:) But for now I've got to go finish reading Breaking Dawn!! Yeah!

Lesson Learned!!

Well, this picture honestly doesn't do it justice, believe me, but I would just like to share with everyone the hideous beast that's threatening to take over my entire face!!! I have never been one to get cold sores or anything like that but lucky me.... there's always a first time for everything! I had a few camping casualties last weekend, one of them including getting a little sunburned on my fishing trip with my dad & grandpa. I am a little obsessive compulsive when it comes to having dry lips so I always have chap stick or lip gloss with me. The fishing trip was no different.....except that I didn't realize my lip gloss didn't have SPF in it. So along with my knees, forehead and scalp getting burned as did my lips. I had a feeling that they may have gotten burned a few days after the camping trip cause they were a little sore and I had a hard time keeping them moisturized.

* * *

It all happened on Tuesday morning when I woke up and my bottom lip was really itchy on one corner and I thought to myself, "Oh crap, I think I'm getting a fever blister" and sure enough by the end of the day the whole right side of my bottom lip was covered in blisters!!! YUCK!!! I'm now convinced that I'm a huge wimp because I haven't stopped complaining about it since then and it just keeps getting more disgusting. Those of you that know me know that I'm not one to take medicine.... well, I have had to talk aspirin a few times this week because I thought I was going to pass-out from the pain that was radiating through my lip!! I am so self-conscious about it too!! I just know that when I'm talking to people they're staring at the living organism growing on my lip!!

* * *

HELP!!!

(Note to self: NEVER EVER let your lips get sunburned or you will indefinitely live to regret it!!)

COLORADO CAMPIN'

For the past few years my parents have pulled their camp trailer to this RV park in Colorado to camp for 2 weeks with my mom's parents and her Uncle Roy & Aunt Debbie. I haven't yet had the opportunity to go until this year! I drove up on Friday with my grandma & grandpa and was able to stay for the weekend. The only way I'll camp is if it's in a trailer or a cabin so this was perfect! We had no cell phone service up there which was a little rough but I survived!:)

* * *

We did a lot of relaxing!!:)

This is my Uncle Roy & Aunt Debbie who live in Texas. They're awesome people and tons of fun! I don't get to see them enough.

* * *
Some of us campers really love smores! We ate a few too many and really made an ooie gooey yummy mess!:)

This is the perfect picture of my mom stuffing a perfectly golden brown marshmallow into her mouth.:)

* * *
My dad loves to go fishing and has this cute little fishing boat so I decided that this was the year I'd learn how to fish! I bought myself a one day fishing license (and took a picture with it because I knew my husband would be proud) and ventured out very early Saturday morning with grandpa Larry & my dad. After I about froze to death then eventually warmed up when the sun came out, I had tons of fun!!! I love fishing......who woulda known!:) Beginners luck was with me that day too because I caught 5 fish while my grandpa caught 4 and dad 3. I'm convinced I need to buy a pink fishing pole and cute little tackle box and begin my career as a fisherman.:)

* * *

Sunday evening my mom, Aunt Debbie and I were feeling a little creative so we decided to add our own rock to the campsite rock garden. We borrowed the paint from the office and went to work! We think they turned out really cute too!

Three days of relaxing, playing cards, fishing, cooking in the great outdoors and smelling nature was perfect for me. They have already reserved their camp spots for next year and I'm hoping that I will be able to take Bryce up there to enjoy it with me!

The Odd Couple- -

For all you Twilight fans!!

This new magazine cover has me feeling all kinds of mixed emotions!:)

1) I am extremely excited to see the 1st Twilight movie!

2) Kristen Stewart looks beautiful!

and

3) Robert Pattinson doesn't even come close to being as drop dead gorgeous as the Edward in my head is!!:)

What do all of you Twilight fans think? I just can't believe they couldn't find someone more hot to play Edward! All I can say is that Robert & Kristen better have some really good on screen chemistry or I'll walk away from the movie a little disappointed! I was under the impression that Edward was supposed to be more beautiful than Bella....well, whoever picked the cast was way off the mark & probably has never even read Twilight!! So, I'm disappointed in Edward but still excited to see the movie!:)

HoMEtoWn FoUrtH oF jUly!!

Nothing says "Happy 4th of July" like a huge patriotic truck/diesel burning up $5.50/gallon gas!!:) I just had to take a picture of it! Isn't it cool?!

I had such a great 4th of July!! Nothing compares to spending this fun holiday in my good ol' hometown of Blanding! It's sure to be a good time!! I was surrounded by my wonderful family & friends and enjoyed every minute of it!

* * * *

The day started off with the parade down main street. I heard it was a great parade- -I was too busy collecting candy for the kiddos and reminiscing with friends that have had 2 kids since the last time I saw them! Following the parade we walked down to the "booths" and waited in very long lines in the 100 degree heat for a Navajo taco & a snow cone!! We had fun doing it though! I got to see a lot of friends that I haven't seen or talked to in a long time.

Later in the evening we got the family together for a BBQ at my parent's house. We had steak, potatoes & homemade ice cream......yummy!! My mom and I decided to start a new tradition of making homemade ice cream every 4th of July and this was year #1.:)
* * * *
Four generations of handsome Nielson men! They all share the same middle name- -Joseph.


While we were waiting to go down to the park for the fireworks we taught the kids how to do the Poppers. They loved them and when the poppers were all gone Jett kept asking me for more....well, I didn't have any and it broke my heart to have to tell him so. :)

Cori & Eli are basically part of the family so it was very fitting to have them over for the BBQ. Their little girl Indianna is just the cutest, most innocent thing ever! We were so happy they took us up on our invitation!

(Below: This is what happens by the end of the day when the men have had enough of the picture taking) :)

* * * *
The fireworks this year were awesome!! They were the best Blanding fireworks I've ever seen! Jett loved them & Tenli really wasn't too sure of what to think of the loud noise. I have so much fun playing with these two kids! I love them sooooo much!!!

It was so nice to "set up camp" on the grass, relax, listen to the live band & the kids playing and then enjoy the fireworks. It was the perfect ending to the day!. . . . . . well, it would have been more perfect had my husband been there with me.:(