I am trying to enjoy winter...Skiing and Snowboarding

Last night Jeff and Sarah somehow talked me into going to the slopes with them...

I went snowboarding for the first time about a year and a half ago. It was HORRIBLE. I hated it. I fell like every five feet. It took me the ENTIRE time we were there just to get down the "bunny" hill once!!!! (Sarah said it's a pretty long bunny hill...we rode a chair lift up to the top of it).
Pic from March 2007...I atleast got a good picture out of it hahaha...



















Anyways, last night they convinced me to try again, but try skiing instead...
And I LOVED it!!!!!!!!! It was so much fun! I didn't fall at all on the bunny hills...(which were pretty big and we also took a chair lift to). Jeff and Sarah even brought me down some regular ones but I kinda freaked out and took my skiis off at this mandatory jump. All in all it was a lot of fun though and towards the end I was finally getting a better hang of it. I can't wait to go again!

The three of us at the end of the night...














I don't own snow pants or a "REAL" winter coat, so I'm wearing one of Jeff's coats and wind pants hahaha!
















Sarah and I stopped mid-hill for a picture...
















It was really a fun night. I'm so glad they talked me into going. So glad I gave this skiing/snowboarding thing another chance! Well, I won't be giving snowboarding another chance...but the skiing thing, that was fun!!!

cruising the curvy mountainous coast again

one of jeff's treats to me was a convertible...it has been really fun having it...
if I could figure out a way to upload video on here from my phone that'd be cool...
ok jeff is getting annoyed at me for being on my phone. going to the beach now!

Maui, Hawaii Here we come!!!

Photos of Maui, Hawaii...
















Jeff and I leave for the gorgeous island of Maui, Hawaii in exactly 34 hours!!!

That is, this Saturday the 8th in the morning! We return on Sunday afternoon, November 16th! We'll be gone for about 9 days and we are very excited! It's going to be like a 2nd honeymoon because we are going all by ourselves and without Ethan. I can't wait for some amazing quality time together and with the Lord.

This is where we'll be staying...
This is the only pic I could find online of it...it's a condo stay so it'll be more like a house or apartment than a hotel room so we can do some of our own gourmet cooking (a hobbie of ours) and things like that which will be nice. :)
It's called Maui Beach Vacation Club. I'm just excited for some beautiful weather! It was kinda cold today and very rainy. Tomorrow it's supposed to snow...yes! Perfect timing!













We're going to have a complimentary luau dinner that came with our booking...and that will be held here: (follow link...I couldn't save the pic)
Lei Greeting and Luau

Ethan was sick last week and then I was sick tuesday night and yesterday and then Jeff wasn't feeling well yesterday either. Needless to say, I'm glad we got that out of the way and are feeling a lot better now. We have a lot to do in the next 34 hours...we both work tomorrow and haven't even begun to pack!

Sarah is going to be house-sitting for us (staying here) and also watching Ethan 5 1/2 of the days we'll be gone while Suzanne and Don are going to be watching Ethan the first 3 days we're gone. I think he'll do just fine. Maybe we'll get Sarah to do some skype with us! (Thanks, Jake for the info on that...)

Well, I probably won't be going online again from here on (unless it's from the airport) so pray for a safe flight!!! (I'm a little bit nervous about flying over the ocean for such a long period of time!) Jeff's already been to Hawaii 3 times so he'll hold my hand on the plane I guess!

And, today, was a good day at the flower shoppe. 5 of my arrangements are on display in the coolers right now (a pivotal moment for me!) and 2 of my arrangements went out for delivery today (another pivotal moment!) The owner said that one of my bouquets was very beautiful (which made me smile) and also said that I'm in charge of the rosedale arrangements (they're more discountish flowers) she said I do the best ones for that and that I should act as the boss over that project kinda when she's not there...which was also cool, but anyways. I am beginning to like working there. I am learning more than I thought I would. I'm getting a lot of practice. Not always what I want to learn, but seeing different ways of doing things (not always my preferred way or the way I'll do it in the future but it's cool to see different ways).

I also am going to be a substitute teacher at Maranatha which I am extremely excited about as well and will also be coaching the 5th & 6th grade cheerleaders this year. I was told I was getting a raise this year...and today I found out what that was...a whole 15 bucks! hahaha I just laughed. $15 is better than nothing. It's not for the money anyway. It's my way of giving back and serving others.

How was that for a life update all in one post, Jake??? Hahaha

Life Update

Last week was rough. Ethan was sick, then I got sick, then Jeff got sick. And all on different days...and it lingered about 2 days each. So we all didn't get much good quality time together. Anyways, I'm glad we're all feeling better now!

Last week was also one of those weeks where Jeff and I were just both kind of struggling with where to go from here. What to do in life, what jobs to have, wanting to be in God's will, but not knowing how to get there...
Ever have one of those days where you just don't know what you should be doing in life and you start looking at your circumstances and the job you have and just feel like there's gotta be more to life than this? That was like our week last week. The devil was just really putting depressing thoughts in our heads and it was really a tough battle. Thursday when Jeff stayed home from work because he wasn't feeling good, we just had a long worship session and just had to THANK God for all He HAS DONE and WILL DO. It seemed like all hope in things was failing, but when we turned our eyes on God, the burden was lifted. Even in the natural it just seems like things aren't going good, but when we completely give it to God and stop giving thought to it, that's when we feel free. That's what I've been doing this whole month it seems (just keep on giving any thoughts to God), but last week I started taking those thoughts back into my own hands. Just wondering what God has for me. I just want to be in His perfect will and it's so hard to know what that is sometimes. I feel like I just need to take steps of faith and just ask Him to close doors where they need to be closed and open them where they should be open. That's the other thing, I haven't been working much (only at the flower shoppe which cancels out Ethan's daycare) and so I've gotten worried about money so much that I have been tempted to go back to Eagle Street. I know I am not supposed to go back there and it was like I kept getting this image in my mind or sentence in my mind (probably Holy Spirit led) that kept saying "It's like a dog going back to its own vomit"
Enough said. I'm not going back as tempting as it is sometimes. It was such good money. Man!

All this to say, sometimes the devil tries to sidetrack us with thoughts and situations happening in the natural, but we have to keep our eyes focused on God and how HE cares for us and how He takes care of the birds and He'll take care of us too. Somehow we always seem to make it. And it's because of God's provision. I just have to keep focus on that. Our God is supernatural and He will always provide.


Here's a little story...some may say it's a coincidence, some may say it's favor!

Jeff wanted to go get some beans for coffee from Starbuck's...so we went there to get it and if you pay with a Starbuck's registered gift card, you get a free drink. So, we decided to load a card and then pay for it and get our free drink.
I guess you could say it wasn't really planned and the money would come out of our grocery fund...we decided we'd put $20 on the Starbuck's card. Don't know why $20 since beans cost $10-$12. I pulled $20 out to put on the card. After giving the cashier the money, I looked on the floor and said, "Jeff, I think you dropped this" and he said "I didn't drop that, I didn't even have a $20 bill in my wallet" The $20 bill was folded so I knew it wasn't in my wallet either (I keep my cash straight). After talking a little bit about it, we realized it was a random $20 and that paid for the $20 re-load on the starbuck's card. After finding it, it was like God was saying to me that He'll always make a way to provide. Even for the little enjoyable things in life. Some would say it was a coincidence that we found $20 on the floor and decided to put $20 on the Starbuck's card all at the same time, but some of us (me) would say that is just one way our supernatural God works and one way that we get favor in small situations like that. (Thanks, God for the coffee money...haha)

I hope whoever reads this finds some encouragement in it, and if no one reads it, that's ok too because I really just enjoy journaling about life. Let GOD be your source of provision today!!!!

6 Random Things...(Well, kind of random, not super random)

Evan tagged me a little while back and I just read it! So I'm gonna do it!

-Write 6 random things about yourself.
-Tag 6 people at the end of your post
-If you were tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag.

6 Random things about myself...

1. I'm weird and crazy and spontaneous. Especially when it gets late at night...I start saying things like, "I crack myself up like an egg ahahahahahaha!" and then laugh uncontrollably...or laugh about the bird pooping on my head story even though no one else gets it. I just love being weird and crazy and meeting weird and crazy spontaneous people!

2. I can eat a whole jar of green olives in one sitting.

3.In high school, I went to the dentist after not going for a while and found out I had 14 cavities! 7 on each side!

4. I like unique things...anything that is different from the average thing...and I LOVE giving unique or hand made gifts.

5. I save wrapping paper. That's right. Well, maybe not the actual paper, but the ribbons, bows, and bags...I save them...and then I reuse them. That's right re-use. Because I'd rather spend more money on a gift than part of the money on the wrapping paper!

6. Not sure if this is something random or not, but I can't think of anything else...
I LOVE and THRIVE on deep conversation! I love being transparent and I love it when people are transparent with me! I love just being real.

7. Nate's made me think of this...I was the only one in my family (of my siblings) that was not born in Minnesota...I was born in Colorado! My brothers always teased me and said that the altitude affected me (in a negative way). Aren't they nice?


I don't know what else...If I think of something better, I'll edit this!

What's Five Bucks to Ya?

It's a pint of organic strawberries to me...

Tonight Jeff and I were at the store picking up a few things for the week and organic strawberries were on sale 2/$7 so we grabbed one. That's right. One. Not two. At the lovely Cub Foods they always have these signs that say 2/$5, 3/$4 etc etc... but, it's all just marketing. You really don't have to buy 2,3, or 10 to get the deal. You can grab one 2/$5 item and it'll be $2.50. Good to know, right? (although last week we fell for the 10 for $10 avocadoes deal...)

Anyways, I always read over my receipt when we're leaving and tonight I noticed they charged us $4.99 for the strawberries instead of $3.50. Only a $1.50, right? (In a normal world maybe...) but, we were still in the store grabbing a free redbox dvd (free because we get free codes to rent free movies and it's great) so I went to the customer service counter and asked them about it...
The guy apologized and said, "Here's Five Bucks (not $4.99) for a refund" He refunded the strawberries completely!!! He said, "It's part of our right price scan guarantee...if it scans wrong, we'll refund your money on the first one and charge you the right price on the 2nd one."

Awesome, huh? It seems that many times probably 1 out of every 3 shopping trips we find some sort of mistake on the receipt...which brings me to my next point...be aware! Don't just sit back and expect everyone to do everything for you...be proactive and save five bucks once in a while!

And, another thing, if you're not on a budget five bucks doesn't really seem like any sort of a big deal, but when you actually watch where your money is going, five bucks can be a dealbreaker. That's all.

And, today Pastor Peter Haas' sermon was awesome. He talked about just being smart with your finances and even gave a plug for Dave Ramsey. He showed a little video that they made that you should watch when they post it this Tuesday. I think it'd be great for anyone who has purchased and financed a new car.

That's all.

P.S.
Jeff and I have for the first time in our lives been on a "budget" or "spending plan" for more than 3 weeks at a time! In fact, this Tuesday, October 7th will be our 3 MONTH MARK!!! And, this is the first month that it has actually caught up to us where there is actually extra money in the bank at the end of the month!! Big Shock!!! It's great. We're slowly but surely going to become debt free!!!!!!!!!!

It feels good to fit!!! And other life updates...

I must say that our move to Substance Church has been nothing short of perfect. It's so amazing when you find where you fit in the body of Christ. Yesterday, in church, I just kept thinking, I am soooo glad God brought us here. This feels so amazing. I feel like we are FINALLY on track and heading in the right direction! We're finally doing something right! Haha, but seriously, I am so thankful for finding Substance. It's really not about "church". At ALL. "...it's not about church services that make you feel good, where you have an ooey gooey worship experience with God..." (Pastor Peter Haas) "...it's about having fellowship with other Christian believers that can pray with you, lift you up, and hold you accountable...that's true church" (Sorry if I didn't quote that right) But, I agree.
The stats about having close Christian friends to do life with show how much more of a chance you'll have to stay on track with God, than someone who doesn't have close fellowship with believers (we're still in the process of finding some really close Christian married friends). Jeff met a lot of married guys at the Men's Retreat and I'm excited to go to the Women's Retreat at the end of October.
God is finally ACTUALLY a part of our life instead of just being some religious legalistic ritual that we take part in because it's what we've always done. That makes me excited! I just wanna jump and run around!
I highly recommend downloading the substance church podcast! I think the new one comes out every TUESDAY! Yesterday's message was awesome, and I just feel like we're finally getting fed spiritually! With stuff that is relevant to doing life!!! I hope it's the 2nd service podcast, that's the one we were at and it was really good. Subscribe to it. Listen to it.

Substance Church Podcast Page

Another AWESOME podcast is Renee Burt's homemaker's podcast!!! I still think her teachings at homemaker's are WONDERFUL (even though we don't physically attend LWCC anymore) for ANY girl, mother, or wife!!! You can download those from LWCC's website under small groups. I think one of my favorites from last fall is called: "Complain Train" It's great! You should listen to it!

What else in life is happening...
We just found out that the guy that "installed" our floral cooler did it completely wrong. In fact, DANGEROUSLY wrong! So wrong that if a city inspector came out, they'd give us 10 days to get it fixed or get out and condemn our house! Is that scary or what? So we need some prayer with that situation because it was one of our NEIGHBORS that tried to install it for us and he's become really rude in the process and has already been paid $2100 in full. He did everything wrong and might have even ruined the compressor. Talk about a headache! Nothing God can't help us with. We really don't want to become enemies with our neighbor, but paying that much money to possibly have ruined the cooler is not a good thing...I'm pretty frustrated about it! Which brings me to my next point...
GOD LEADS WITH PEACE!!! Over the last month or so Jeff and I have had a few experiences where we felt uneasy about a situation, like the cooler, and went with it anyway, it has not turned out good. I've definitely learned my lesson! We need to listen to the peace even when in the natural everything seems like it'd be fine, and then stuff happens. So, this just prepares us for things later in life. Listen to the peace in your heart, because the Holy Spirit leads with that peace and then it can prevent situations like the cooler one from happening!

What else is new...

I got a part time job in a flower shop as well as working on my business, (Prestigious Petals) the flower shop is called, "The Flower Shoppe" creative name, right? Haha, it'll be good experience though and I'm already learning new things. Some that are a little old fashioned and 80's looking, but some that will help me in my business. I'm excited for the Holiday season because I haven't done a lot of Holiday designs.

We all 3 started going to a Chiropractor...we all have spines that are not in line in the right way and Jeff's is actually starting to form arthritis (shown on x-rays) so we all 3 will be getting adjusted 3 times a week for the next 3 months to get it fixed and then once a week after that...(we setup a family plan) It's actually really amazing how when your spine is completely in line and none of the nerves are being crushed how much quicker your body can heal itself. People think that getting adjusted once a month or even once a year is enough, but it's not because it's like getting braces...you can't put braces on one day and then take them off the next day and expect your teeth to be straightened. It takes time. Then after you have braces, you get a retainer to retain the shape. Same thing with the spine. You need to retain the alignment by getting regular, maintaining adjustments...that's another story though.

I have a wedding this weekend...fall colors: orange, champagne, and hints of blue...that'll be really pretty.

We had a bbq last night and it was a great turnout! 14 people came! (8 of which were married couples! yay!) It was funny because as people left last night, the only people left were the married ones and we all sat around the bon fire and talked...we had...Jeff & I, Ryan & Alisha, Brian & Michelle, and Joseph & Moriah. It was really fun. I thought it was so cool that we finally have some married friends after 3 1/2 years of being married!!! But, we're going to get even more married friends from going to Substance and going to the married subgroup and all that. Yay!

Now I'm just having a nice Monday...Jeff and I found ourselves waking up at 9:30a.m. to Ethan talking in his room...either the alarm didn't go off or Jeff turned it off in his sleep! So, we had a late start to the day, but sometimes you just need a little rest.

Sometimes these update posts are a little boring, but I really just like to journal about life and look back to see where God is taking us...I recently had someone write on my "Wall" on facebook this, and it completely touched me, it was about one of my former posts. It inspired me to post.

"Hi Nicole, I think I told you about the upcoming book on Jeff's family. Today Candice sent me his birthday. But not where he was born. From about 3 this afternoon I have been updating material and looking at verious family si... Read Moretes to try to get a grasp on their lives. Having said that I went and looked at some of your blogs and started to cry. You really need to keep doing the blog thing it will touch people. Here is what I read. Last week I prayed with a girl in my group to receive the evidence of speaking in tongues and then this week I prayed with ANOTHER girl in my group to receive the gift of speaking in tongues! Last week was the FIRST time I'd ever prayed with anyone to receive tongues...I've done the salvation prayer with people, but never for speaking in tongues. If that doesn't get you excited, I don't know what will! I'm so excited for these young girls to experience what tongues is all about!!!!!!!! That's when I realized how on fire for Christ you are. I truely was touched!"

It's just cool to hear comments like that from other people.

We had one of our last boat charters of the season on Saturday night...and we might not work on the boats next summer...so we took some fun pics...enjoy!

I love working with Jeff. Do you like our uniforms?
Who knew you could make $30 an hour while being with your best friend?!?!?














We're having so much fun















Can you find Jeff in this picture???














Today is the first day of Autumn! I love the Fall! I say that Summer is my favorite season and then Fall is my 2nd favorite! I love it. I love sweater weather and the cool air and the changing of the tree leaf colors. It's so wonderful. I hope everyone has a perfect Autumn day!

(Ethan and I outside today on the first day of Autumn)
He's reaching for his nuk! (It's hard to get rid of that thing!)