Tulip Festival

Every year Thanksgiving Point holds the Tulip Festival. Shaun and I have never gone and thought we would check things out. It was our Date/FHE for the week.  As you can tell it was a beautiful day! Shaun took the pictures and we had a lot of fun enjoying the beautiful flowers! If you haven’t ever gone to the festival put it on your calendar for next year. Until then you can see a sneak preview. Ü 

  I am standing by one of the biggest man made waterfalls. It was incredible. There were a lot of people on this path so Shaun took this

picture when I wasn't ready. 

Look really closely at the top of this big hill. Can you see the kids rolling down? 

I told Shaun we would have to save that for another day. Ü

This is my favorite picture of all! Happy Spring!! 

Spring Break!

Spring break was a blast for me! I got to spend 4 days with my family in Sun Valley, Idaho. My dad was attending a conference so I thought I would take advantage of resort life! Poor Shaun had to do finals and Bio 100 grading so I had to leave him home. 

Sun Valley was absolutely beautiful! One of my favorite parts of the trip was swimming. You are probably thinking...swimming in ID in April. Well, this pool is amazing! It is outside but the water is usually about 100 Degrees. It is surrounded by a glass wall so you are at a perfect temperature and can still get a sun tan/ burn if you are not careful! Basically you can enjoy looking at the snow capped mountains and breathing the fresh air while floating in a warm pool. It was heaven!

I think one day we went swimming three different times! Spoiled!  

My other favorite part was hiking. Sun Valley has paved trails all over the area. We put my little brother in the stroller and headed out. My mom and I ended up going about 9 miles one day. It was just so beautiful outside! By the end I asked Joseph if I could ride in the stroller but he said I was too big. too bad...It was still great fun, though! 

one unique part of this resort is that a member of the hotel staff comes by every night about 8pm and gives you a fine piece of Sun Valley chocolate wrapped in a golden box. I don't think it gets much better than this! 

My spring break was absolutely perfect!  Thanks family for letting me tag along on your trip! We made some fun memories! 

sorry there are no pictures! We were too busy having fun! 

My Easter Lily

This year I had quite a special Easter experience. Last Friday at school we received an email from the secretary explaining that a lady from our school would be selling Easter lilies that day. The email went on to say that the children are attending our school and have been through a lot. The father was diagnosed with a brain tumor, had surgery, went into a coma and a year later is finally home but with no income and outrageous medical bills. My heart immediately went out to this family.  The second thought I had was from general conference two weeks ago. 

Elder Henry B. Eyring said: “…He and his wife were barely getting by on a tiny budget. But he saw another couple even poorer than they were. To the surprise of his wife, he gave help to them from their scanty finances. A promised blessing of peace came while they were still in their poverty.”

If you want to read Elder Eyring’s talk: "Adversity" it is right here: http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1032-7,00.html

I decided that I needed to help this family. Even though I was feeling a little stressed knowing that we still needed to pay Shaun’s tuition this month I knew that these people were much more in need and that Shaun and I could sacrifice going out to dinner or whatever we needed to help these people.

 I bought two Easter lilies, one for Shaun’s parents and one for us. Each time I walk in the kitchen and see this Easter lily it brings me im

mediately to that family. I felt so much love for them becase I know they are being watched over. Just like all of us are being watched over and how grateful I am for the chance to help even if it was only a small amount. 

Happy Easter!

p.s. I took these pictures myself! 

I did the unthinkable...

I did it! Believe it or not I actually surprised him! 

Shaun's birthday was Monday, April 6th. I decided that I wanted to throw him a surprise birthday party but I knew it would take some serious planning. I am horrible at keeping secrets with him! I am so used to just jabbering off things that are on my mind that it took a lot will power to keep so many secrets from him. 

The "plan" according to Shaun was that we were going to dinner and then playing games/eating cake with our friends, the Stauffers. 

Of course I had a slightly different plan in mind and got to work.  I did all the normal things like get into his email and find all of his friends, get in on his phone and get phone numbers, etc. The one mistake I made (that we found out later)...I thought I was emailing one of his lab buddies, but I accidentally email his professor! I about died when I found this out. Of course, his professor did not come, but I was still mortified. 

Then it came to preparing all of the food. The nice part was he knew I was making a cake so I didn't have to undercover that but everything else I seemed to make up really good excuses of why I bought it or what it was "for," but he never seemed to second guess it. YEA!  

The hardest part was that it was conference weekend. That equals no free time, and Shaun was around the entire time. I mean, seriously? 

Somehow in between the sleeping and non sleeping hours I managed to get things done...with lots of fibs along the way, of course! :) 

I gave my friend, Michelle and her husband Sterling, my key and a list of everything I needed set out, etc. and they put it all together for me while Shaun and I were at dinner. (THANKS MICHELLE and STERLING!) I had also arranged for all of his old roommates and lab buddies to be here ready to surprise him.  

Everything worked PERFECTLY! Everything was in place when we got home, his friends were all there quietly waiting, and the best part was he was COMPLETELY surprised. YEA! (some of you may not understand what an accomplishment this really was.) 

The best part that Shaun told me later was on the way home from dinner he thought to himself, "there is no way Nicolette will ever throw me a surprise party. She can't keep a secret." 

So, here is to a great day of celebrate and fun. Happy Birthday Honey! 

p.s. I don't want you to think I really can't keep secrets...I can...I just can't keep my secrets from Shaun. Ü

April Fools

Well, it's that day again. This is the only day of the year that I'm grateful my brother David lives far away in Texas. Traditionally he has found pleasure in torturing me on this day. I thought I'd just share some of his past "jokes."

When I was about 10 or so, I woke up one morning and went into our pantry to get something to eat. To my surprise, I saw a package of Oreos. First of all, I love Oreos and secondly, we never had "junk" food around when we were young. I opened the package and took out a perfectly formed cookie. The first bite seemed fine at first, but as the munching continued I found that the frosting had a strange minty aftertaste. Yes, he had swapped the delectable white frosting for detestable toothpaste. He always claimed that "it was meant for dad" but deep down I know that cookie had my name on it.

I'll share one more. We also grew up without a dishwasher for several years, and washing Sunday dishes by hand was expected. One year I turn on the faucet of the kitchen sink and was confused for a fraction of a second as the water didn't instantly come out. My confusion was quickly replaced by surprise when I was shot in the face with a stream of water. He placed a rubberband around the spray nozzle and angled it directly for someone's head. The next day I decided to get him back, so I aimed the nozzle a little to the right. Then I waited for my prey. David came into the kitchen to a snack and I pretended that I was getting a glass of water. When he was perfectly positioned I turned on the water. We ended up having a bit of a water fight in the kitchen. Who says revenge isn't sweet?

Happy April Fools.