Our Visit to the Great Northwest!

Adam and I booked some flights a couple of weeks ago to take a quick trip to go see some new sites. We were gone for a whole 36 hours. You know you can see a lot and get quite a bit done in 36 hours. We flew what I like to call the “cattle herder” You know the carrier, the one carrier that when your Letter and Numbers are called you rush to your stall and board the plan looking for the best seat possible. No matter what you number is, if you are not number one, you just don’t get a good seat. Adam and I were not able to sit together on the way out. I thought we had good number being that we were in the “A” group, but nope, it was 2 full planes and we were lucky to sit in middle seats for the flights. Here we are waiting in Denver to board our plane.

This is the plane that is taking us on our grand 36 hour adventure during midweek. You know I worked for the airline way back when, I remember the days when you would get a whole can of soda, not a watered down one, they would give you a choice of chicken or beef and now it is peanuts or nothing. Oh the days when you could sit in first class and have them bring a Sunday bar on a cart and ask you how you would like your ice cream. Sometime there was warm cookies baking. Oh those where the days. Do you remember when they had clean blankets and pillows to use? Now if you bring your own you are good or you just get off the plan with a stiff neck from trying so hard not to touch the passenger next to you while you take a cat nap. Oh the days of the flying are just not the same when you feel like cattle being herded to your destination. The flight was not as bad as it sounds; you adjust and take it as it comes.

We had a good two hour layover that we were able to walk around and get some exercise and find something to eat before catching our next flight. I made some calls and then before I knew it, it is time to board our next flight. It was awesome, mostly because it was so short and it seemed that as soon as we got our drink in hand it was time to gulp it down and put up the trays because we were landing. Here are some pictures taken from the window.

Yeah Adam was able to open the window and put the camera out to take these pictures. Just Kidding but it looks like it doesn’t it? It was a part of the country that we had never been to. It was so beautiful. There are so many lakes and mountains. Just plain beauty everywhere you looked. I can only imagine how it looks in Spring/Summer. Once we land we made our way to the car rental and we are on the road heading to our hotel to check in. You know I love when you are given a warm cookie when you arrive at a hotel. There is something that makes it so comforting when you arrive to be fed. So maybe when we have company who come to visit I will start feeding you a warm cookie when you arrive from your long travels. We quickly find our room and unload the car. I rush Adam to get settled because we still have 2 good hours of daylight and I want to go see the sites before it gets dark. We pull out the GPS and find our way to the next town to see what it was like. Little did we know how beautiful it was.

There was an awesome lake that we found just before sunset. We took a small walk through the park.

There we found a dock that had a plane that Adam just fell in love with. As you can see we took a picture. I think he may just need to take a ride on one of them sometime soon. They were closed otherwise I would have insisted on him taking a ride. We had to admire the plane for a good 15 mins before I could get him going to see something else. I am not sure what the deal is with the Moose, but we saw Moose statues everywhere. We even saw a few on balconies that were decorated.

Just before the sun went down we were able to drive and see most of the area. They had a charming downtown with lots of shops and restaurants with patio seating. We found the town to be a big spot for tourists. We were able to get our bearings of the town and headed back to our hotel. There we were able to prepare for the next day and the grand adventure we had in store.



I think we were both excited to start the next day that there really was no need for the alarm clock. We were both awake about a half hour before the clock was to go off. It is funny. I was laying there hoping not to wake him while he was doing the same thing. Then finally we both just looked at each other and there he was with a smile on his face. Then we took that half hour and just cuddled until it was time to get up. Breakfast at the hotel was very disappointing even though we both tried to eat something. Our stomachs were in knots. I rushed to get us checked out of the hotel. I didn’t want to be late for our appointment. We came all this way and the last thing I wanted was to be late. I was packed and ready to go. I had to take a deep breath and keep my mouth shut and just sit on the bed and let Adam get his things together. Watch him gather all his gadgets and gizmos. I have learned along time ago, if you rush him he goes slower. So even though my heart is pounding out of my chest, I just sit there and wait for him to give me the heads up it is time to go. We get to the building at 9am right on time!

We would have walked right in at 9am but as we are going to the doors Adam tells me he needs to use the restroom. Oh I am dying. My thoughts are “HOLD IT” but I don’t say anything and wait for him. In the mean time I have knots in my stomach and dying that we are going to be late. As we walk in we are greeted with warm smiles. They are expecting us and Brad pulls us into his office. We sit and talk for a bit and then he tells us that we are going to go into the next room. I think about what is waiting for us in the next room. I second guess myself about what to say, what to do. Now my stomach feels like it is going to explode and I have pain shooting everywhere. I am so nervous. Do I hug her? Do I shake her hand? What do I do? Then the thought comes to my mind. “Just be yourself” Hmmm. Now that is an idea?

I walk in first with Adam right behind me. Two seconds after entering the room, the knots in my stomach magically go away. There was a different spirit in the room. Something that is hard to describe. I see this beautiful woman with a warm smile stand up and reach out her arms to greet me. As I embrace her, I feel the spirit of love and joy in my heart. It was a beautiful experience. There was something so familiar about this woman, there was something so natural that it felt like we were suppose to meet and we had all been lead to each other. I won’t go into details of who we met or why we were there. But it was a life changing event in my life. It felt like God’s hand was involved in the whole process. This woman to me was beautiful both inside and out. She is just very special to me and will always be special in our family and in our hearts. The time flew by and before I knew it once again we were saying good bye. As I held her in my arms I pulled her tight and didn’t want to let her go. I wanted to give her all my love that I had inside.

We were done sooner than we had expected and had a good four hours before our flight.

We found the directions and headed to the temple and found it to be closed. Adam took a few pictures. Shortly after a women arrives and we ask her to take a picture with us and the temple. As she takes the picture she tells us that Moroni (the big gold man blowing the horn) is brand new, he was just put up there a few weeks ago. Apparently the other one was used as a shooting target and had bullet holes all over him. Then we decided to head back to the town we were in the night before and see the sites again. We were able to find all the things we were looking for and made some planes for our return. With all that being done so quickly and realizing how hungry we were we found a restaurant to get lunch. I realized that this day April 8^th was my birthday. It was the best birthday ever. To be able to be here and to be doing what we were doing. Adam mentioned to the server that it was my birthday and she told him I could have a free slice of pie. I choose the Strawberry Rhubarb Pie al a mode. When it was time to pay the bill the server asked me how old I was. I was shocked by her asking me and then I hesitated to respond. Since I hesitated Adam chimed in and says “She’s 29” Wow, I never would have thought that I would turn “29” and stay there from here on out. So I guess it is official. I will be forever “29”. On our way back to the airport. After a full belly and a long ride I was able to take a little nap while Adam drove us to the airport. We had a good 2 hours before our flight as we checked the car back in and there was no wait to get through security. I decided to hit the bookstore and found a book to read and when and found a comfy chair to sit and read while waiting for our flight. Adam made some calls and played on his I phone. Then he motioned me over to him were he had met a really nice women who we ended up talking to for quite along time. She happens to just be approved for adoption and was working with the same agency as we were. I guess you can say we are funny people, as we have been sitting and waiting for our flight and about 5 mins before we are about to board, Adam realizes that it will be a long time till we eat again and that we need to get some food to take with us because of the long flight and you know peanuts don’t fill you up. So we rush to get some sandwiches and make it to the cattle boarding just in time. I was so happy that we were able to sit together and have a middle seat open between us. It was a nice relaxing flight. I was not able to sleep because my mind was too active from the day’s adventures and so I read the book that I had picked up and fell into the wonderful mystery and imagination. When we hit Las Vegas, our connection city, Adam sees there is a flight leaving in 30 mins from the next terminal. I did wear my running shoes, but we rushed to the gate to see if we could stand by for the flight. I know I mentioned I used to work for an airline. I remember back in the day you could do this. But our carrier would not, we would have to pay $100 pp to change to that flight so we could get in 45 mins earlier. Yeah – I don’t think so. So we make it back to our gate and wait for our flight. It was awesome! There were 7 passengers aboard the flight. The flight crew made a joke out of it the whole time. Like you each have your own exit for the plane incase of an emergency landing, you each have your own flight attendant and they joked the whole flight. It was a fast and easy and very relaxing flight. I continued to read my book and couldn’t put it down. We arrive back home at 1:30am. It was a long day, and “the girls” were so glad to see us. They were so excited and it took a while after some cuddling with them before they settled down for the night. It was a wonderful 36 hours that I will never forget!

my new iPhone app finally approved!

Yeah,
My iPhone app is finally approved and in the app store. (Please tell people to check it out).

Search in the iphone store on "denver" or "denver traffic" It's only .99! (It's called "Denver Traffic Master")

I submitted it on March 4th, and so it took about a month to get approved (man, what a long wait).

Earth Hour - March 28, 2009 8:30 - 9:30pm

This is a global event created to symbolize that each one of us, working together, can make a positive impact on climate change. We call all do this by doing one simple task today and that is to turn your lights off for only one little hour.

Earth Hour was first celebrated in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million people and thousands of businesses turned out their lights, allowing the message about climate change to shine brightly. In March 2008 , Earth Hour went global.

Earth Hour 2009 will be the largest climate event in history. Already 250 cities in 74 countries have agreed to take part including Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami and Nashville Around the world cities like Moscow, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Shanghai and Mexico City will turn out their lights in support.

Earth Hour isn’t just for big cities—anyone can participate. To see what Earth Hour is all about, check out this video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CRs-7lRlPo

Be apart of history!

First Day of Spring!

I can't believe spring has sprung! Today is the first day of spring. I don't know how I can go about life and not notice the first buds on the trees. I saw a whole row of trees today with white blossoms. I love this time of year, my tulips are sprouting, my strawberry patch is green and my lilacs have buds that are ready to form. The grass which is yellow will eventually turn the dark green. We had our first treatment on the lawn this week, which tells me it is time to get out and pull the dead to help the new growth have a better chance. I want to hit the nursery and get some flowers for my pots on the front porch. I know, I know, it is too early just yet. But the planting bug has hit.

It has been a crazy month. I have leaned to make my own yogurt, so cool and very healthy. I will post my process later with pictures. I have got the bug in me this week to spring clean. I have taken on the task of cleaning carpets. Each night when I got home from work I took on a room. I still have some more to do, but had to take a break for a few nights. It was nice to sit on the couch and cuddle up with my honey and "the girls" to watch a movie.

Life is good and I am excited for the green to come back and for the roses that I will plant for my first ever rose garden.

Simply Sinful!

I have been introduced to the most Sinful treat this week. I was blessed to be intoduced to my new craving. It is a white chocolate with a crispy coconut it is similar to the Raffaello, but with out the nut and it to me is way more enjoyable to eat. It just melts in your mouth. My awesome sister who was just here this past week brought me a few treats that she packed from Germany. This has become my all time favorite so far, the Lions Mini's are a close second and the fruit tea falls in third. Mental note:Let me die with one of these in my coffin.

PS. T, E, F and O - your aunt nikki needs another care package it can be full of these, I wouldn't mind. :)

Share the Goodness!

Ok I got this off a real cool chick’s blog; I thought it sounded like fun so I am joining in on the fun. If you'd like to get a treat from ME, the first five to comment and follow the directions will be getting a giveaway from me. Here's the fine print...

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It will be done this year.

4- You will have no clue what it's going to be. As I am not sure what it will be at this time? It could be some craft I make, which by the way I am not crafty, it may be something yummy baked, it may be a really good gossip magazine with a treat so you can put your feet up and read and enjoy the quiet moment. It may be some kind of bargain that I find. It may be something really, really cool or not. But it will definitely be something.

5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? You know there is always a catch. The catch is that you must post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who follow the directions.

Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

Retract Sexy Comments for T & E

In hornor of my nephews Talbert and Ethan who reminded me that all ages read the blog.




I received an email today from my nephews who live in Germany. See their comments below.

Dear Aunt Nikki,

Your blog really grossed us out. All that (whispered) "sexy" food is really bad for kids to read.

Talbert: "You may be good on food, but you're blog grosssed us out w/all the sexy talk"

Love Talbert and Ethan

I realized today that I wil really try to keep my comments from "PG13" to "G" rating. Talbert and Ethan, thanks so much for keeping your Aunt Nikki on her toes.

Love your guts!

He Went to Jared's!

This day started out pretty good. We were able to sleep in and take a relaxing morning in. We decided to head to Mimi's for breakfast and found a huge rush there. We put our names in finding out that the wait would be 30 mins. With that I suggested we go next door to Jared and take a look. So that is what we did. We looked around the store and then decided to head back to the restaurant to see where we were on the list. As it turns out they called our name and we didn't answer so they moved on. We told the girl to add our name back to the list and we went and sat down and waited. About 30 mins again Adam goes up to talk to the girl and she said he never put our name on the list the 2nd time. At this point we were already waiting an hour for a table and realized we didn't have time to stay and eat. Adam had to get home to get ready for an appointment he had with the Stake. So we rushed home. Adam grabs something out of the fridge and I decided to make some eggs and pancakes for my breakfast which was noon at the time. With that said, I had a full tummy and didn't feel like going out so I went and took a nap on my big red couch. When I woke up I felt refreshed and decided to do my grocery shopping. I headed to the store with a list in hand. I was shocked how busy it was. The seafood area was crazy. I stood in line for 15 mins waiting my turn to get shrimp. I picked up the rest of my items and headed back home. I got the car unloaded and was waiting for Adam to come home from his appointment. When he arrived we talked about our option for the night, to go out to dinner and a movie, ot to stay home and make dinner with some items I picked up to make a nice dinner at hom. So after some debate about going out into the craziness of the night, we both pitched in and made a dinner at home.

I call it my Sexy Night Dinner. We ate asparagus, come on, when cooked properly this is a very sexy food. You can eat it with your fingers and feed eat other. We had Cheese Fondue. Another very sexy food. You dip bread into a wonder of cheese and it is a very interactive meal and fun to feed each other as well. Then we had Shrimp. Once again a sexy food item. You eat with your finger and suck. You know when you can bring attention to your mouth, it's all good! Like I said Sexy Night Dinner.

Before Dinner Adam showered me with a few gifts that he picked up on his way home from his appointment. I love that he knows me so well and listens to the hints here and there. He gave me a box of Godiva Truffles. Oh baby you can't go wrong with Godiva. I am a chocoholic as well, I know my chocolate. But the goodness didn't end there. I have always wanted to say this. "HE WENT TO JARED'S, he went to jared’s? YES HE WENT TO JARED'S." Adam gave me a beautiful pair of Diamond Stud earrings. My first pair ever. I love them and wearing them as I right this. Which that, of course I had to jump him and give him a huge hug and kiss. Thank you my sweetheart for spoiling me today. I love you with all my young girl heart!

Yes, I do think V-day is a cheesy day, but if you can feel spoiled at least one day in the year go for the chance.

Shopoholic - Me No!

I have to say I had a great time last night going out with the girls to go see the newest make you feel good chick flick. "Confessions of a Shopoholic" As I sat back in the plush seats at Movie Theater with popcorn and milk duds in hand I found myself lost in the humor and fashion that the movie brought. You know it does all start with the magic card that we all want in our youth that will pay for everything we buy. I loved how she described the high you get when you find that perfect something and the joy that fills your heart. When the high has subsided, you are the left with that empty feeling and searching for the next high. Oh how can I relate. I have to admit it, I love to shop. I do get the high she is talking about in the movie, it may not be from the Prada or Dolce & Gabbana but the same high comes when I spend at Costco, Target and Nordstroms Rack. It's the same high when you find that perfect item.

Oh once again, I need to remember to simplify my life with only the most beautiful things. Like my Versace Sunglasses. LOL

I have to go now, I need to go shopping!

PS - Happy Valentine's Day!

To Love V-Day, or Not to Love V-day that is the question?

I have mixed feelings about Valentine’s Day. For many years it was one of those days that you felt like if you didn’t have that some one special in your life you were all alone. But then almost 9 years ago the day changed for me. It was the day that Adam proposed to me. He did it in a very special way, and because of that it has changed from a day about commercial love to a day that changed my life forever. It started out as a normal day. When I got home from work I got ready for a date with a guy that I knew I had fallen in love with. I was curious as to what our date would be. I never thought he would have taken that night to propose to me. Seriously, how cheesy can you get, a thousand other couples doing the same thing? Adam showed up at my place with two dozen red roses in his hand, a teddy bear, balloons and chocolates. He was loaded down with all this stuff on my doorstep. What a surprise to find so many treats for me. I was a little overwhelmed with all the stuff. It was as if he didn’t know what to get so he just got it all. Then he took me to this beautiful restaurant in downtown SLC. We had a table next to a large window that overlooked the temple. I am not sure if he planned the view or not. But as we sat there eating our dinner I could see this handsome man sitting in front of me with the temple as his back drop. When dinner was over we were waiting for our desert to come to the table. He seemed so calm and like nothing was planned. Our server brings a plate to the table holding a red heart shape container. In the container I found it full of red M&N’s (my favorite) and a fortune cookie inside. Adam encouraged me to open the cookie. I broke open the cookie and found a note that read “Answer what your heart desires” at that moment a ring fell out of the cookie and I found Adam down on one knee next to me asking me if I would marry him. He could not have planed it better. You know what my answer was, since we are coming up soon on our 9 years of marriage. So February 14^th will have a special place in my heart. Even though I still think it is a cheesy commercial holiday. We like to go out for dinner and it has to be Italian food, because our first date was Italian food and that date was the one that I had butterfly’s and I like to remember the butterfly’s I felt with him. I don’t like to get roses for Valentine ’s Day. I think they are over priced and have no smell. I like to receive roses any other time of the year when they have a beautiful aroma to them. I love chocolates and you can’t go wrong with just a sample box of Godiva, and of course jewelry is always a hit with me. I love anything that sparkles. I am a girl and love her bling!. None of that is important, their just things, what is important is remembering those you love and make the effort on that day to tell them you love them and appreciate them in your life. If you can do it with a little sparkle then “it’s all good”.