Sun Valley, IDAHO

Ok ok, it's a new year, I promise to blog more often. I know I have been extremely boring with my lack of blogs. SO SORRY!

Over MLK weekend we went to Sun Valley, ID with some friends. We left when I got off work Friday at 6 PM and drove the 5 hours there. We had a bright and early morning the next day, waking up at 7 AM so we could leave early to start our snowmobiling day.

I have only been snowmobiling a few times in my life, and they were all when I was still pretty young. Kory has never been.  It was so much fun renting snowmobiles for the whole day and just roaming the beautiful winter wonderland in the greater Sun Valley area.

We didn't get pictures of everyone, sad! But here are a few.

 Sammy accidentally threw Chase off the back of the snowmobile. This is her guilty face :).

 Kory was enjoying the thigh deep snow new Redfish Lake. He made the hike all the way to the picnic table where we decided NOT to eat our lunch.

Kory and I had such a great time! I love this picture.

During our day of snowmobiling we had some funny things happen. In addition to Sammy throwing Chase off the back, Kory accidentally got his snowmobile stuck in some powder. Cassidy, Joe and I were waiting forever wondering where everyone was (I was the leader of the pack at the time, and mid-pack lost the spotting of the people behind them).  Finally, about 15 minutes later they caught up. Kory had been having fun and the deep powder got the best of him.  Later in the day, Kory and I accidentally tipped on the of the double snowmobiles. He didn't believe me when I said they were top heavy and squirly and you really had to lean into the turns (I was driving at the time), haha.  We laughed a lot.

We spent the rest of the night playing games, and watching a movie. We were all pretty wiped out!  Kory and I had to leave after church on Sunday so that I could make it back to work on Monday. All in all it was a pretty short weekend, but we had a great time!! Thank you Ficklins for the invitation!!

Girls Trip South

This is my 3rd post today, be sure to read the two below!

This week I didn't have too much going on so I was able to sneak down to St. George for a couple of days to spend time with my best friend.  It was so fun to just hang out and catch up.  She is pregnant, and looking so beautiful.  I got to go to her doctors appointment with her and see her baby boy on the ultra sound!  It was SO neat.  Later that day we went to the St. George Temple together, and it was beautiful.  I always love having time with my girl.  I'm so glad she lives closer now!

 

Overview of the Last Two Months!

My goodness, I have had SO much happen in the last two months. It has probably been some of the most exciting two months I have ever had in my entire life. Let me give you an overview of what I have been up to since my last blog. (By the way, I deeply apologize to each of you who have been patiently waiting for it to no longer be "Sunday" ha!).

June
25: Flew to Virginia to be with Kory!
26: I went to the Matt Nathanson concert Oceanside at Virginia Beach while Kory worked.
29: We made Sunday dinner with friends and played games then went to the beach!
30: Kory and I went on a very nice date to PF Changs (one of our favorites).

July
1: I hated saying goodbye to Kory then had to catch my international flight.
2: I arrived to Edinburgh, Scotland.
4: Missed America, and the 4th of July, and Kory... a lot.
5: We did baptisms at the Preston, England temple.
6: Saw Liverpool, England for a few hours.
7: Arrived in London, England.
10: Saw TWO shows for cheap! CHICAGO and Jersey Boys.
11: Day trip to Stone Henge and Bath.
12: Flew to Amsterdam.
13: Held our own testimony meeting then toured Amsterdam.
14: Drove through Belgium, stopped to visit EU Council in Brussels (and eat waffles).
15: First full day in Paris, France.
17: Day trip to Normandy.
19: Toured the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
20: Attended church at Geneva ward where they spoke french, then met ex-patriots.
21: International Business Presentation by Nestle.
22: Full day in Zermatt, Switzerland where we saw the famous Matterhorn.
23: First full day in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland one of the most beautiful places.
25: Travel to Salzburg, Austria.
26: The Sound of Music tour.
27: Matthousen Concentration Camp.
28: Day trip to the BMW factory in Munich, Germany.
29: Tour of the Neuschwanstein Castle (the one Disney's was based off of).
30: First full day in Milan, Italy saw The Last Supper.
31: Venice! We saw a phenomenal Vivaldi concert.

August
1: Spent the day shopping in Venice.
2: Florence, Italy where we saw Michaelangelo's David.
3: Bore my English testimony to the Italians. Then day tripped to Cortona Tuscany.
4: Rome, Italy!
5: Day trip to Pompeii (the preserved city) and the Italian beach.
6: Saw the sites and enjoyed making our last few memories.
7: Put a package together for my cousin Jonathan serving his mission in Rome.
8: A LONG flight back to the USA then a WONDERFUL REUNION with Kory!
9: I knocked door to door with Kory and watched him make a sale, so fun.
10: Kory and I sang as parts of a quartet in his branch sacrament meeting.
11: Kory finished his last day of work! We celebrated with PF Changs.
12: We got in the car and left Virginia Beach and headed for DC.
12: My first time to Washington DC! Played tourist, visited my good friend Kylee.
13: Drove to Cleveland, OH to see Carissa then Toledo, OH to see Kelli and their fams!
14: After checking to make sure the car was ok, Kory and I started driving again.
15: Kory and I made it back to Provo, UT!
16: Kory and I had lunch at my cousins Jon and Gina Cheney's.
18: We jumped back in the car and drove home to Boise, ID!
19: Kory flew home to Washington to chill with his family.
22: I flew up to Seattle to see Kory again! He picked me up with beautiful flowers!
22: Kory and I had a blast spending the day in Seattle and a the Mariner's game!
23: I met Celeste! Then visited my cousins in Puyallup (Don and Jodie Fowles' family).
24: So much fun enjoying the sabbath with Kory and his family.
25: Kory and I flew back to Boise.
29: HAPPY 6 MONTHS to ANA LEE and KORY! We had a cute picnic by the Boise River.
29: Somehow Kory and I squeeze in ANOTHER road trip this summer...Priest River, ID.
30: Kory, Mom and I do yard work at grandma's house and attend graveside service.
31: Attended church in Priest River then went to Lind, WA for Sunday dinner and drove home. Kory got to meet a lot more of the family! We loved seeing the Fowles.

September
1: Kory leaves for Provo after spending the day with me. School starts tomorrow. I will join him next week. But I am missing him loads already!


So as you can see I have a LOT to write about and a lot of pictures to share too. I don't even know where to begin? At least you have the overview now? haha. It is late so I am going to go to bed. But I hope you enjoy my little calendar of events!

Love you all!

The Skinny on the Last Few Weeks

I have not blogged in forever, I'm sorry. Things are going really well for me! I am back home in Boise now. The call center job was fun for the last couple of weeks that I was in Provo. After that I went on a really fun road trip with Kory. Then I moved to Nor Cal for a week to do summer door to door sales with AT&T which was fun, but didn't pay me as well as I needed it to. So then I moved back home! And here I am!

After school got out on a Wednesday, Kory and I both packed up and moved out of our rooms. Lucky for me I had Mom in town to hang out and help me. By Friday afternoon Kory and I had the car packed up and were on the road starting our adventure across the country to Virginia Beach, VA. That is where Kory is now, working for the summer selling security. Our road trip was a blast. We went to Grand Junction, CO, Salina, KS, Grove, OK, Owensboro, KY, Cleveland, OH and then finally back down to Virginia Beach. It was the round-about way to drive across the country but we stopped to visit people along the way. Well I visited one person for 10 minutes everyone else was connected to Kory. I got to see Mari my really good friend from Kauai that I met last summer when I interned there. We saw Kory's grandparents and sister, Carissa, which was really fun. Everyone else was from Kory's mission, he served in Kentucky.

We were grateful to have our phones, because both of them have mapping capabilities which really were a huge blessing on the trip. We were also grateful for our new toys that we had gotten at the beginning of the trip, a cigarette lighter splitter (so we could power more than one thing) and the Harmon|Kardon Drive and Play (which allows you to play your iPod through the FM frequency using a remote to navigate and see the songs playing on a screen sitting on the dashboard, its cool). They really helped us stay entertained! If we weren't listening to music then a couple of times we watched movies on my laptop. We were also extremely grateful for all of the goodies that people sent with us to snack on during the drive. I love road trips, the car actually doesn't bother me that much especially when the drive is beautiful. I loved driving through Oklahoma and Kentucky especially.

Can you believe that after being stuck in the car for 6 days straight Kory and I still weren't sick of each other? haha. I stayed in Virginia Beach to help Kory get settled and enjoy a little vaca for 5 more days before I flew to Nor Cal. It was fun to be able to go for walks on the beach and the boardwalk. It was the first time seeing the Atlantic ocean for both Kory and I (other than from planes). Kory even made me run and jump in the water even though it was freezing! haha. I wish I had pictures of that. Over the weekend we just enjoyed hanging out and relaxing. Virginia Beach is kind of a fun little beach town. There isn't too much to do but the atmosphere is fun.




I flew to Northern California from Virginia Beach. I had never been to Nor Cal before so it was exciting for me. I flew into Oakland and my friend Jared Hess picked me up. We have been friends since our very first semester at BYU. He is from there, so it was really nice to have him help me out. I lived in Vallejo with my best friend Karly but we worked in Santa Rosa for the week. It was exciting, and I loved having the new experience. I loved going to San Francisco for the first time! That was cool! I LOVE cities, they give me energy.



On Mother's Day not only did I get to talk to my brother Stephen (Elder Nelson), I flew back home to Boise. Mom said it was a good Mother's Day gift, hehe. Stephen is doing really well. He is training Elder Gunnel and he is still District leader. I think he is really enjoying it. He is such a hard worker, and everyone tells us he's the most amazing missionary. It was fun to talk to him on the phone just like old times. Our relationships haven't changed at all. I sure love him, he is my best friend. I have really enjoyed being home with Mom and Dad too. It is nice to have our little family together, haha.

My cousin Katie Moser was able to come to Boise to play tennis in the state tournament! She is only a Freshman in High School too so that was really exciting! It was fun to be able to see her. We went and got lunch and just chatted while we ran errands. I love her, she is so cute.



After being home for just a few days I was able to take a road trip down to Arizona for one of my good study abroad friend's wedding! It was at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix and was absolutely beautiful. I drove to Provo then picked up some girlfriends and the four of us drove down to Phoenix from there. Two of them are engaged so all we did the whole time was talk about weddings! It was like an overdose on wedding business, haha. Talking about weddings for 10 hours in the car and then going to two receptions! But it was way fun. You can't blame them for wanting to talk about their plans so much since we were on our way to a wedding.







Well, that is pretty much the update on me for the last few weeks! I'll try to be better about keeping in touch!