Aspen Grove

Now that I'm done working, I'm really starting to miss Aspen Grove. It was basically my entire life for the past three months. So here's a little glimpse of what my summer was like.

First day of work! These people ended up being my cleaning group, meaning we cleaned cabins together... every week... for the whole summer. Not going to miss that.

We started off the week on Saturday night with orientation and then our opening show!

Singing "The Banana Song"

Throughout the week we had lots of smiles...

...plenty of tears...

...and lots and LOTS of naps.

As well as having kids every day we had plenty of other fun activities to keep us busy...

Frontier Night...

and our weekly dance....

...as well as some not-so-fun Glen projects. Glen stands for: Grinding Labor Especially for Nicole

(Glen is actually the name of my boss.... but they were still really annoying projects)

Digging a Trench

Even though I was really ready to get out of there...

... I really did love working at Aspen Grove. I am convinced that I will never have an experience like this ever again, most especially in a working environment. I had so much fun working with these kids, I loved my co-workers, and I really grew to appreciate Aspen Grove itself....

... it really is the most beautiful place to work and live, and I was so blessed to have worked there.

Oh yeah, did I mention we had an Aspen Grove flash mob?!? And it was AWESOME!

Cheerio!

This lovely lady here is Danielle de Barbarac


ok.... maybe her name is Danielle Self, but that's not important.
What is important is that she is going to ENGLAND!!!!!!!! Really soon! Which means I won't be seeing her for a while.... which makes me very sad.


This lady and I have way too much fun...



...so not having her around is CRAP!

BUT...... I've embraced the fact that she is going and I'm trying to get excited for her. So I've decided to make a list of 5 of the greatest things Great Britiain has to offer:

#1: Sexy British Men

...honestly I think that is enough of a reason to love England.... but I do have a few more.

#2: Pride and Prejudice came from there! Let's take a minute to watch my favorite scene:

Mmmmmm..... Mr. Darcy.....

#3: Harry Potter came from there! Let's take another minute to watch some Harry Potter goodness:

Also I feel like this needs to be shown as well:

As does this:

So I super love Harry Potter, but time to move on to.....

#4: The Music: England gave us The Beatles, Queen, The Spice Girls, Elton John, as well as some more modern musicians such as Adele, One Direction, Amy Winehouse, etc. Oh, so good.

Want to hear a joke? How do five gay guys walk? In One Direction! hehehehehehe

#5: Robert Pattinson

I'M KIDDING!!!!!!!!!! He's kind of a slime ball

Really though #5 is: The country itself! I personally think England is beautiful.

I also think that it is a place full of so much life and history, and it's one of the only places that I actually want to travel to. So basically I'm crazy jealous of Ms. Dani, BUT..... I love her tons and TONS so mostly I'm just crazy excited that she gets to go and experience all of these amazing things!

P.S. Another great thing to come from England: Downtown Abbey. I may have watched two seasons of it in two days and everyone in the world should watch it. It's amazing and I can't wait for the next season.

P.P.S. Other things: Julie Andrews, "Rubbish", Kate and William, Shakespeare, Les Miserables, The Office, James Bond, etc.

P.P.P.S. Danielle, if you don't find some sexy British man while you're there I will be sorely disappointed. I'm living vicariously through you so you'd better find one. Also, buy me something good!

I cut my hair and it has tormented me for over a year, so I thought I would blog about it since I'm kind of bored...

Once upon a time my hair grew long and beautiful.....

Notice how long and lovely it looks

Then for some stupid reason I chopped off thirteen inches.... 

Idiot

And ever since then I've been (slowly, but surely) growing it out...

Short

Longer!

Even Longer!!!

And this past week FOUR different people commented on how much longer it looks!!!!!!!!!

Dancing for Joy

 Basically I'm super excited because, as most people know, I did NOT like my short hair.

Long, luscious locks: I'm coming for you!

You Probably Don't Want to Read This

You know those days where nothing really bad happens but a bunch of little annoying things keep happening therefore making you super irritable and downright angry. That is today. And because I currently live up in the mountains with no one to talk to I am venting my frustrations to my blog. So maybe don't read this because none of it is good.

Things annoying me:
1) Money. Anytime I talk or think about money I end up frustrated. And I've been talking and thinking about it a lot.
2) My job. I love my job! A lot! But it is stressful. Having 10-20 one year olds for 6+ hours a day is tiring. And then after I finish my actual job I have other responsibilities around camp. Basically I am working from 8 in the morning till 8 at night. It's exhausting.
3) He-who-must-not-be-named. Not Voldemort, just this idiot I work with who will not be named, just in case my fellow employees stumble across this. However, currently Voldemort sounds like better company than this "person". But I only have two more months left before I never have to see You-know-who again!
4) I never get to see my friends.... I miss being with people who already know and love me instead of being constantly surrounded by new people.
5) I got this message today on Facebook

Hey Nicole, so I just have a huge favor/question to ask you. So me and 2 of my friends have contracts to live in Regency in the fall, but weren't picked at the raffle so we got accepted one by one off the waiting list and are all in separate apartments. One of my friends is one of your roommates so I wanted to see if maybe you wanted to switch spots with me so I could be with her! Right now I'm in building 3 room 301.

So my options are stay in my current apartment with girls I have already learned are nice and risk them hating me before we even meet, or moving to a new apartment with new girls that I know nothing about and having to deal with signing a new contract. Honestly, everything about housing this fall has been very unnecessarily difficult.


Basically it has not been my favorite day. But good things happened too....

Things that make the annoying things less annoying:
1) I'm in love. Well, with one of my little kids. His name is Logan and for the past four days all he's done is sleep on my lap and play with me. He is adorable and I love him.
2) I've been laying out by the pool in my short amount of time off in the afternoon and it is so nice to just lay in the sun. It's how summer should be.
3) I really do like most of the people I work with. While I would like to see my loved ones more often, I am glad to work with the people I do.
4) Today the one year olds had a dance party to the High School Musical soundtrack. Basically it was unbelievably adorable and I loved it!
5) Less than 24 hours and I can go home! And see my family and sleep in my house and see my puppy and not work!!!!! Oh I'm excited.

So, I'm ok. Even though today was not the best, I know it wasn't as hard as other days. And I know tomorrow will be better!

YES!!!!!!!!!

I am very excited for this and it had better be good!

Anne (with an 'e')

A few years ago I tried blogging and.... well it didn't last long. I think I only made it to two posts: one about me and one about Annie Fitt.

Annie Fitt and I have known each other for over seven years now. We had the exact same schedule in ninth grade along with an extra hour together for student council. With all that time spent together it was impossible not to become friends.

Annie and me at Orem Jr. a LONG time ago

After getting through junior high and high school together we became roommates for our freshman year at BYU.

In the past seven years there are very few people who have had such a large impact on me as Annie has. She has been there for me and stood by me, and she's really shown me, by example, how to be a true friend. Where I may be blunt, sarcastic, and sometimes abrasive, Annie is one of the kindest people I have ever met. She is charming and considerate and immediately wins the love of anyone who meets her. And like that isn't enough for one person, she is also crazy smart. She managed a 4.0 all through high school and is planning on going into the nursing program at BYU. Along with being so lovable and intelligent she also possesses a remarkable testimony of the Gospel, and I love to hear her bear it, as it never fails to strengthen my own.

Annie has been one of the most important people in my life for a long time now, and as we grow older and head in different directions I find that although we may spend less time together, the friendship we have continues to grow. 

So Annie, I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks for putting up with me and sticking up for me. Thanks for teaching me to be a better person through your example. Thanks for sitting and talking in my car for hours in the middle of the night. Thanks for playing tennis and singing "The Olive Tree" and taking my shoes when I die. Thanks for rapping at Wal-mart and for letting me help with all of those posters. Thanks for curling my hair for my birthday and for writing notes with me (even when it was sophomoric). Thanks for dealing with all of my teasing through the years and for never hating me for it. Thank you for loving me, even when I know I was difficult to love. Thank you for being my best friend. I love you lots, and although we may change, that never will.

Enjoying Life

What I've done since I last wrote on my blog:

1) Finished my freshman year!!!!! It was so great to be done with classes for the year, but it was really hard saying goodbye to everyone.

227 & 226!!!

My FHE group just doing what we do

Party Rockers!

2) I went to Disneyland! For three days! It was really fun, however I never want to go for three days again; it was way too long. But it was great spending the week with Brittany, Stephanie, Rochelle, and Becca, getting to go to the beach, and getting to see my family and friends in CA.

The storm troopers LOVED us!

We rode the rides so many times we knew where ALL the cameras were 

THE BEACH!!!!!!

Tower of Terror = my absolute favorite

   

3) I saw the Avengers (twice) and I LOVED it! Seriously SO good!

As a family we decided I am Ironman, Rochelle's  Thor, Carly is the Hulk, Maddie is Captain America and my parents are Hawkeye and the Black Widow.... since Richie is gone he got cast as Loki :p

4) Went to Ben's farewell with Katherine, Sam, and Annie. And then afterwards we got lost, almost died, hit a bunch of dead ends, and accidentally ate moldy bread. It was an interesting day.

5) I got the T.H. Bell scholarship for another year!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I can pay for college in the fall! Hooray!

6) I moved to Aspen Grove and started my job! I'm a counselor for the Rompers, who are 0-3 years old!!! It's been a lot of fun and a lot of work, and I'm super excited about it! It should be a really fun summer!

This is my morning view

And that's about it!