MOAB ROUND 4

This is our 4th annual girls moab trip and there was no better way

to hit it off than a night at the brewery getting wing' faced!

This is a picture from Suzette Baird's blog.

I LOVE MOAB!!

For sake of keeping up with my sisters on the blogging, I had to steal these two photos off Suzette Baird's blog since I never blog when I get home (hope you don't mind Sue!) This years adventure brought 7 of us down to Moab this time; Mel, Jules, Jen, Mady, Suzette, Terrin and I (and Jude...I guess that's 8). We rafted the river which was an adventure - rain, getting stuck in eddies, floating up stream, bailing half way down the river.. oh what fun! The food was good, the company was great and we even stopped at Goblin Valley on the way home, something I've always wanted to see! Mel, Jules, Jen, Jude and I hiked Little Wild Horse canyon. We didn't hike the whole 8 mile loop because of the dog and thing for fear of flash flooding. Anyone in for another weekend adventure let me know!!

Winter Fun!

Which of the following statements are not true:
A: Nichole loves to ski
B: Nichole loves birght colors
C: Nichole loves mustaches

If you answered C you are correct! Although it may appear in the picture above that I love mustaches... I really don't ;) But I have such a love for skiing and this season I've been fortunate enough, after using the same skis for the past 6 seasons, to finally updated my ski garb - Thanks to my great job working for the Rossignol Group. My choice of colors...very bright like the rainbow.

This winter has been fun-filled and very social. I just moved into a new house in Sugar House with three of my good friends and you can imagine, I don't get much sleep! Every Saturday has been mandatory Canyons ski/ride day due to the fact that I work M-F 8:30-5...yeah, I'm growing up big time! Skiing has definitely been just for me this winter and I don't cringe at the thought of being obligated to teach for the first time in 3 years. I have much to catch up on so stick around, there's more to come.

2009 DO IT RIGHT!

Hostess with the mostest!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I don't know why we felt the need to throw another party but this one about did me in! Jules, Mel, Jen and I threw another party at Rice Eccles Stadium (who are more than difficult to work with.) It was a lot of fun but very stressful and time consuming. I would not recommend using that venue to anyone! Now our DJ Matt Bell...whoa hold the phone! He did such a great job and I would recommend him to anyone. It was a fun way to ring in the new year. But nothing would top the first few days of the new year (most of which was spent in the car...but totally worth it!)

N*O*L*A

UTAH vs. ALABAMA 31-17

Destination: New Orleans
Travel time: 56 hrs
Total driving distance: 3600 miles
States traveled: 7
Days off work: 4
Trip total cost:$150

I found out a year ago from my good friend Chelsea Clouate from Louisiana, that New Orleans was also referred to by the acronym N.O.L.A. which is my first name. Little did I expect to visit the crazy city one year later. About 4 hours after our new years party, Jen and Mel dragged me out of bed and into the car headed for Louisiana. I was anything but bright eyed and bushy tailed at the thought of spending my four-day weekend in a car. But I have, what Mel refers to as FOMO (fear of missing out) and couldn't pass this up. We drove 28 hours on merely 3 hours of sleep, ran out of gas in Texas, (nice one mel!) and entertained each other with random gas station purchases... candy cigarettes and whoopie cushions to illustrate some. We detoured through Durango and Ouray which made for quite the scenic trip and made it to our ghetto hotel on Canal St. only a few hours before game time in time for some good ol' southern ribs and jambalaya.

GO UTES!!!

The game was incredible!

We scored tickets for $30 outside from a scalper. Of course we didn't sit where the seats were, we stole into the lower bowl near Jules and Covey who had flown down the day before and enjoyed the victorious win from the 20th row. We were only about 9,000 strong in the arena but out cheered Alabama. The sound of our fans cheering "UNDEFEATED" was enough to make me cry! Oh I love my Utes! After the game, we the fans flooded to Burbon street, where we met up with more friends, ate pizza and stayed out till 3 in the morning. Oh what a trip! Less than 10 hours later we would head back 28 more hours of driving to Utah. Oh what fun it is to be 24 in 2009!

Happy Holiday Cheer!

Christmas time! I know it's been a while, I thought I'd throw a few pics of the holiday cheer before I started into 2009. The whole family was here and we celebrated christmas in Park City at mom and dad's. The most exciting part was finding out the Darrick and Kellie are going to have a girl! Oh yeah...they're pregnant.. I forgot it's been a while. I'm going to be an aunty!!!

SNOW!!!

Prays were heard, the night was still,
A small shriek from my lips did spill.
Snow is falling all around,
Hearts unhappy cannot be found.
Christmas songs all in full play,
Words like "pow" and "gnar" we often say.
New skis, fresh snow, lift tickets and more,
Ski season is here and we're out the door!

If you can't tell, I'm cheesy and excited that winter finally showed up again! Some friends and I hit the Canyons yesterday with about 8-10 inches of new snow. Not much of a base underneath it, but enough for a good party on the mountain! I am unable to download pics right now, but as soon as I can, Ill post pictures from yesterday.
Happy Holidays!

CHANGE...

Change is the name of the game for me and I decided to blog about it today.

I start my new job at the Mountain Center up in Park City for the Quicksilver Rossignol Group tomorrow, so I am enjoying a day off inside away from the COLD! Due to the change of seasons, my days of being a Garden Girl came to an end Thursday. It was a fun day working with my boss Sarah and the whole gang. This job has been physically challenging but very rewarding. I will miss it!

With the change of the weather, the leaves and the length of daylight, I feel my life has taken a turn as well. Some days I'm excited about change, other days I wish I could step back in time. I didn't get my dream job earlier this summer, my parents no longer reside in Maui and I recently jumped back into the hideous scene of being single. Life is as spontaneous as ever and so unpredictable...

Amidst all this change, I found hope. The new job infects me with ski fever and I have every hope of finding my niche. My parents finally live close enough for Utah to feel like home again and despite the disappointment and heartache, I learned a lot and treasure the experiences I've had this summer. This past weekend of General Conference I found wisdom in a talk given by one of the General Authorities. He said, "hope has the power to fill our lives with happiness," and that "it is the foundation of our faith." Another one of my favorite talks was Joseph B. Wirthlin who quoted a phrase his mother used to say "Come what may and love it." The perfect motto to the rest of my year...come what may and love it! Between the two talks, I realized that there are certain things we can't control in our lives but with hope and faith, we can learn to love it and move on still loving life and hoping for the best.

More changes reflect in the fact that I recently became a big fan of the color pink. Not just because it's girly, more importantly because it signifies Breast Cancer Awareness. I don't know why I'm interested in being a dedicated supporter, but I have since collected quite a few pink ribbon items. My nalgene bottle, camera case, gardening gloves...even tic tacs.

Here are a few more pics...
My sis, my boss Sarah and me (garden girls gone wild my last day) Arden, the little gal I tend on Wednesdays and a sneak peak of some hard work this summer...Many of you may think I didn't do much this summer but play However, I did learn a few trades one of which happened to be rock work.

MY TRIP TO CHILE!

" AND TAKE YOUR MONEY..."
Some of you might think this irrelevant, but my theme song for the trip was paper planes by M.I.A. and this picture is in lieu of it. Oh this is Portillo by the way... The first shot is of me and the second is Cory at Valle Nevado (let's pretend it was a sweet landing ;) It needs to snow soon, I can't wait for the season!