Antelope Island

Saturday morning I wanted to get out of the house, so we decided to check out Antelope Island since we had never been there. Jeff said his dad has been wanting to go, too, so we invited his parents to come along. It wasn't quite what I was expecting (although I don't really know what I was expecting) , but we saw a lot of buffalo, or as Hudson calls them "bussalo", and a couple of antelope, so that was fun. Of course I didn't get any pictures with the real ones, but here are some pics of the fake ones we saw.

Checking out the sea monkeys (brine shrimp)

Hey cowboy!

Nichole's Favorites #3

I love watching Good Things Utah. Channel 4, 10 am.

This has been my favorite kind of gum for as long as I can remember. It really does last an extra long time.

I love Gwen Stefani. I love her original style.

I love getting a good haircut and I am LONG overdue.

Love ice cream sandwiches.

I love fonts. I get most of them from DaFont.com. I have a ridiculous amount of them saved in my computer. You never know what kind of font you're going to need.

I love little pygmy goats and I hope that someday we can have enough land that we can own a few. They are just so cute.

And if we have goats, we may as well have a dog, too, right? I love goldendoodles. Golden retriever/poodle mix. While I'm not in any way a poodle fan, it helps them be low-no shed which is a major plus.

Grape and lime. Grape limeade from Sonic, grape and lime snow cones, eating grape and lime Skittles together....I just love the grape and lime flavor combination.

Grilled pineapple. From Tucano's. It's what we're going to be eating in Heaven. And maybe Tucano's Brazilian lemonade to drink.

Dave and Murphy

Check out that sweet detailing! Awesome. LOL.

So for any of you who are familiar with Dave Ramsey, you know he teaches how to get out of debt and stay out of debt, or as he calls it, having financial peace. Jeff and I attended his course called Financial Peace University or FPU. I would highly recommend ANYONE to take this course... it's awesome and we learned so much.
Anyway, since taking the course we have been trying to get out of debt and be wise with our money. We kind of cheated and refinanced our home and threw a small credit card debt in there, which only left us with the debt of our car which we only owed about $1400. Because of refinancing, we were able to skip a couple of house payments so we were going to use that money to pay the car off.
Well, as Dave talks about, there is the Law of Murphy which basically says that anything bad that can happen WILL happen. And wouldn't you know, Murphy came knocking on our door and our car broke (not to mention Hudson's ear tubes happened at the same time, and we have a new insurance so we had to pay a $400 deductible, and that's just getting started with the bills I'm sure are coming). It was going to cost at least $1500 to repair. We decided it wasn't worth putting money into it anymore, so, trying to stay out of debt, we sold our camping trailer (sad), and paid cash for this little beauty. It's actually pretty nice for paying only $1300 for it. We think we got a screaming deal, actually. True, we no longer have power locks, leather seats, cd player, cruise control, etc., but I tell you, nothing feels better than not getting into another car payment. So, while it's green and has awesome decals, and doesn't have the lock/unlock button thingy for your key chain (I think that will be the hardest thing to give up), I love it because to me it means we are on our way to financial peace. We can save up the money we would normally be putting into a car payment and hopefully be able to pay cash for something we really want in the future. And really, I just think of how blessed we are to even have A car!
So if you don't know who Dave is or want to know where you can check him out, his website is just www.daveramsey.com

Ear Tubes

Because of frequent ear infections, we took Hudson to the hospital today and got ear tubes put in. The hospital gave him a red teddy bear, then he got some "bracelets" put on. Then he had to change into some tiger "jammies" and red socks. He wasn't too sure about that. Then he got offered a ride in a wagon to go back to the operating room, but he wanted daddy to carry him instead. Then they took him and mom and dad had to wait in the waiting room. Luckily it only took about 15 minutes. They put him under general anesthesia and got it done really fast! Then the nurses brought him out and we went to the recovery room for about 15 minutes and it was all over! Hudson did so good and he's such a good boy! We hope this helps him with his ear troubles. We are supposed to put 3 drops in his ears 3 times a day for 3 days, so we did that as soon as we got home, and he wasn't too happy about that. I think he's feeling pretty good, though. He wanted to ride his bike as soon as we got home, but I made him come in and watch The Incredibles for a little bit (trying to sneak in some snuggle time!).

Favorites Part 2

I love doodling. If I am talking to you on the phone, I am probably writing your name over and over, and writing what you say. If I have a pen and a piece of scratch paper, I am doodling.

I love fairs, but mostly I just love local events. I love fairs, art exhibits, rodeos, city celebrations...just community events that are fun (and usually have good food!).

You wouldn't know it by looking in my closet, but I love fashion. If I had my dream body I think I would dress completely differently. I would be a lot more daring and creative. To me it's an artistic expression....kind of like scrapbooking or interior design- mixing and matching different pieces until you find your style. I also like the picture above. It kind of shows how I draw (or would draw if I ever made time for it).

So I found a 2 for 1 in this picture. Originally I was just looking for campfire because I can just sit around one for hours. And if you were born in the 80's, there's no need to explain to you my love for Smurfs and all the cartoons from the good old days.

Flip Flops. Gotta have 'em. My favorite pair bit the dust this summer and I seriously went into a slight depression for a week or two!

Cold cereal. I could eat it morning, noon and night.

My Heavenly Father, my Savior, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They are such an important part of my life. I also love going to Temple Square and sitting in the room with the Christus. It really makes you reflect on what is most important in your life.

Color. Why do we have to have a favorite? I can never choose just one.

Dirt. Working in the yard, watering with a hose, pulling weeds, mowing the lawn, planting a garden or flowers...just being outside and getting my hands dirty.

Disney. I love the movies, especially the old classics. I miss the days when there was a Disney movie on every Sunday night. I love Disneyland and pretty much all things Disney.

FIRE!

It's been pretty exciting around here the past few days. The mountains behind our house were on fire and it was pretty interesting to watch. It got really windy the day it started so it spread super fast. The second picture down is one I took while Jeff and Hudson were at Father's and Sons. The top one is what it looked like by the time he got home. They were both taken just from our back porch. You could feel the heat of the fire just by stepping outside. Luckily the wind was blowing all the smoke in a different direction. We have had a ton of helicopters dropping water and planes dropping the red flame retardant and that's been fun to watch. People would follow the helicopters to watch them fill up at the local ponds and water supply areas. We tried to watch them fill up once, but they were done as soon as we got there. But we were able to watch this big thing get it's water bucket attached in the elementary school's field that is just by our house. We've also seen tons of fire fighters drive by our house, a lot of them from out of state such as the Houston HotShots. So it's just been exciting watching everything going on so close around us. The fire looks like it's out from our side, but I think it's still going on behind the mountain because there are still helicopters dropping water back there.

A-Z About Me

A-Z about me

A- Attached or Single? Attached for 7+ years
B-Best Friend?Jeff of course
C-Cake or pie? Cake. I don't really like fruit pies, but I like chocolate, banana, or pumpkin.
D-Day of choice? Saturday
E-Essential Item? Makeup
F-Favorite color? I hate choosing. I love all of them for different things.
G-Gummy bears or worms? Bears. I like bending them head to toe, then licking their back so it splits apart. Weird-I know.
H-Home town? LOL. Which one? Born in Sandy, but I usually claim Cedar Hills since that is where I lived the longest and attended high school.
I-Favorite indulgence? Anything with sugar.
J-January or July? July. Does any one who lives in Ut., like Jan.?
K-Kids? My favorite little Hudson guy. Wishing desperately for more.
L-Life isn't complete without: Family
M-Marriage date? June 1, 2001.
N-Number of brothers and sisters? 2 older sisters, 2 little brothers, and 2 little sisters.
O-Oranges or Apples? I eat more apples than oranges, probably because they are just less work. I like a good orange.
P-Phobias? Jeff driving us off a cliff...especially into water. It's a reoccurring nightmare...just had one last night, actually.
Q-Quote? We might not have it all together, but together we have it all.
R-Reasons to smile? How many blessings I have everyday of my life.
S-Season of choice? Summer/Sping/Fall...or in other words, NOT winter
T-Tag 3 people: Holly, Gina, Tami (What does this mean exactly?!)
U-Unknown fact about me? I'm freaking cool. LOL.
V-Vegetable? Fresh peas in the pod.
W-Worst habit? Not eating healthy.
X-Xray or Ultrasound? Ultrasound.
Y-Your favorite food? Just one? Uhhh......a good chicken roll up?
Z-Zodiac sign: Pices. It's SO me.