Why did I take 6 classes again???

So 5pm marked the end of my mad rush of exams. I have just wrote 4 exams in the last 48 hrs....man was I going crazy!!! Today after I wrote my cost accounting exam I actually contemplated quitting school and just working as a receptionist or something. My brain is completely shot at this point in time and I still have 2 more exams to write!!!!! I continue to keep in mind that on friday I am having a super fun crafts night with my girlfriends and that friday afternoon I am going out to buy another season of Greys to relax my brain during Christmas holidays. I don't really have anything exciting to write seeing as all I have done in the past week is study, eat and sleep. Christmas will be full of me laying around so if you want to do something then call me up :) Oh and does anyone have any good gift ideas for a 25 year old male??

ARG

I hate finals week. Especially this finals week. I am pretty sure that if you go into it with a negative attitude you won't succeed but I just needed to blow off some steam. I have 6 finals this year, 4 of which are on monday and tuesday. I have International and Law on Monday and Cost accounting and Tax on Tuesday. I have a day break then I write corporate finance and then Intermediate financial accounting...oh what a joyful day it will be next friday afternoon when I am at Michael's buying craft supplies for my girls craft night! Yesterday I was totally in the zone and I studied for about 12 hrs...today I just haven't been able to get into it. I ate a good breakfast, I am chewing gum, keeping hydrated but I just can't concentrate...I guess there is just too much on my mind!! gah. So if any of you studiers read this, comment on study habits that help you when you just can't get into the zone. On the bright side, Andrew has the day off so he is going to pick up our new couches..maybe I will study in those tonight because my back is just killing me from these dang chairs haha! Also, I wanted to rant about people who come to the library to study and then just talk to their friends the whole time...oh yeah and they are sitting in the quiet section...with people all around...getting more and more frustrated. I totally get wanting a break to quietly whisper with your friend but talking for like an hour is so ridiculous!! The library made a loud zone for a REASON. Anyways I don't have much else to rant about....I'm thinking I better go read a scripture or something to calm me down and get me in the zone haha...yesterday I read the ensign article about being grateful and it was awesome!!

Well wishing everyone good luck with studying and exams..... :)

Oh this week has been eventful!

So many things happened this week...they aren't actually too crazy but one of them was really crazy. So the other day I was walking to the school from the institute building( if you have never walked from the institute building to the Uof L then you won't know that you walk across a little patch of road till you get to an island thing where you then wait for it to be your turn to walk across University Drive). To go across the little strip of road you have to walk down a little hill thing and most drivers will yield to the pedestrian even when we are at the top of this little hill thing. In all my time walking from the institute building to the UofL I have always been surprised at how good drivers are around this intersection. This is probably because it is a super busy intersection and there are students walking everywhere. Anyways, because most days I have vehicles that stop when I'm on the top of the hill, instead of right before I cross, usually I can see them and I don't have to check if someone has stopped for me. This has caused me to have quite a bad habit of not even looking before I cross because usually they have stopped for me. On this particular day, I think it was Tuesday, I was just about to cross this patch of road when instead of checking I almost felt someone physically stop my body from walking across the road and right as I was wondering what the heck I was doing frozen in place a purple van zoomed past me. He was not only driving super fast around this bend but he was also really close to the curb. If I would have stepped out...which I usually do...wait make that ALWAYS do...I would have been squished like a pancake...i honestly don't think I would have had any chance of survival he was going so fast. So I was somewhat in shock and my heart was pounding like crazy as I walked to the school thinking " I almost just died... I'm not even being dramatic..I almost just got smushed....Andrew could have come home to a dead wife tonight...oh that would have been horrible". Mom and I went out for lunch that day and I was telling her my story and she said "don't tell your dad" and I was like "why not?" and she said " this morning your dads friend had a son that got killed because a girl didn't yield to him....and his wife just had a baby this summer"...so yeah it was a pretty crazy day. I obviously have so much more to do on this earth and I always hear stories like this but never has it actually been me that has been so close to getting killed, I am so grateful I still get the chance to do all the things I plan to on this earth and this experience has really made me appreciate my life.

Onto a lighter topic....hahah I almost done school!!! The next couple weeks are going to be....hard...I am thinking of another H-word but I won't say it lol!! I have 4 exams in two days...which means I have to be prepared for all 4 of them next Sunday. Then I have 2 more exams that week but I should have enough time to be prepared for them. I am done on the 16th so I get 3 whole weeks of Christmas holidays which is muchly needed. My girlfriends and I are going to do some crafts and I plan to read all the books I have been waiting to read all semester!! I am also getting quite good at making stew....I am making stew tonight for Andrew..hope he doesn't read this...but we are going to have a nice dinner date tonight with candlelight...and I hope he brings me some flowers home :). The 20th of November was our 2 year anniversary and exactly 1 year from when he proposed...I cannot believe how fast time has flown but we are super excited to hit our 1 year of marriage mark. Anyways I need to do my homework now but I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season!

Fire Fire Fire!

So this is just going to be a short post but I couldn't stand to NOT record the happenings of the evening. I get home from church this afternoon and start watching some Grey's Anatomy before going over to my parents house. At about 430 my dad texts me and asks if I'm okay....I thought that was kinda weird because nothing had happened to make me not okay. He then tells me that there is some fires around town and that Brock was crying and begging him to text me and make sure I was ok. So I finished my episode and went over to my parents. As I walked out of the apartment I looked over and a whole wall of the parking garage was fallen over and huge branches were all over the back yard thing. Then as I drove across town I saw the huge billowy dark sky. Anyways I am making this longer then it needs to be but I got to my parents and they acted like it was just another normal day. I asked if they were thinking about evacuating and they were like nah...not till we can actually see the fire. As I drove over I saw a bazillion cars driving over to the south side and I was wondering how close the fire was. Needless to say we have just been chilling out at home all night, playing some games, watching some TV ..no bags packed...haven't done a THING. I don't want to offend anyone because I am sure some people were closer to the fire and had more reason to pack but my dad walked into the bedroom after about a billion people had called and he was like ...I guess this kinda thing separates the normal from the crazy HAHHA I couldn't believe my ears..but oh well! I guess that just makes us one of a kind. Everything seems under control though and I hope not too much damage was done!!!

NEW truck=GOOD luck

So a couple posts ago I told you guys about this truck that Andrew had bought. Well we ended up selling it and we made a profit of $2100 !! Way to go babe!! Anyways so we thought on what we should do with this money for a couple days. We wanted to put it in savings but we also haven't really bought anything yet our whole marriage. Andrew got a job drilling out in Taber and lets just say he is making good money...plus he banked so many hours at his last job that we still have lots of money coming in from there. Needless to say it is Christmas time and we decided that we would save all our money from now on but we were going to spend that $2100 on ANYTHING we wanted. We looked around our house and definitely both saw what we were so obviously missing....good seating. If you haven't been to our apartment then I will tell you that we have this wicked old love seat from my parents house that I put a slipcover on and bought matching pillows for...it meets a need but sure isn't very comfortable. My cousin Lacey also let us buy this huge sectional from her for $100 and it is wicked comfortable.....BUT our apartment is set up so bad that we could only fit the one side in....and lets just say that couch is a little awkward to sit on. So we went to Ashley furniture...found the most beautiful leather couches with reclining seats...and BOUGHT them! They are brown and the "love seat" if that is what you would call it...is two recliners with pop holders and remote holders in the middle. PLUS Ashley furniture sets up all their furniture so that you can take the frame off and put them into your place in different pieces. The whole time we were looking at this couch Andrew kept saying " this is our couch babe...this is our couch"...... he is so funny. They actually came to almost exactly what we got off the truck..just a little less AND they will probably get here a week or so before Christmas. My husband really wants a dirt bike/truck/quad/toy....but he was super supportive of buying something that we can both enjoy....and most of what we do together is watching movies so we felt it was somewhat a need. Anyways I should probably get back to my homework....I will be stuck in this library for the next 18 days....

Date Night!!

More like Date week! Tonight is the last day of not studying haha...all I have been doing is playing all week with Andy poo. Tonight we are going to Breaking Dawn and I am so so so EXCITED!!! I LOVE Jacob...ahhhh 6 pack! I have been waiting for this movie to come out forever, I am also excited about the Hunger Games. I'm suppose to screen this movie before Ciara is allowed to see it but just based on the trailer I am guessing she WON'T be allowed to see it haha. This week has been great so far. Andrew and I have got almost all our errands done, we spent time at my parents house yesterday and watched the new harry potter and we went and saw Andrew's parents today. We are so lucky to live so close to family but we are kinda feeling like going on a little adventure. Andrew is still unsure where he wants to go for school but I wouldn't mind living in Edmonton for a couple years. I hear there are lots of young families and couple which would be nice. I have lots of friends down here but our ward is not compatible with newlyweds...or maybe I am just making up excuses. We live by the hospital so you can make your own assumptions about our ward haha. Funny moment of the week is definitely Andrew cleaning the bathroom. He was such a good sport to do it but I blamed him for the poopy ring around the bathtub and therefore made it HIS turn to clean the bathroom. Anyways he started it in the morning and finished it later on in the day....I was wondering what was taking him so long. So I pretended I was on the computer and kept looking into the bathroom to see what was taking him so long. Every so often I was catch him checking himself out and flexing his muscles. HAHAHAH he cracks me up some days. Anyways T-1 hr till BREAKING DAWN WOO!!

Finally Done!!!

So today was officially Andrew's last day of work. He had to work from 5am yesterday morning till noon today! What a crazy boy he is. Yesterday I had two huge exams and I basically spent the whole weekend from Thursday till Sunday studying for them. I also had class all day...from 8 till 9 at night with just a short break in the middle. I found out that I got 90% on my law midterm which was worth 45% of my grade so I was pretty happy about that! Plus our prof is a wicked hard marker....maybe I should become a lawyer ;). Anyways what I was trying to get at, is that I decided to make today my weekend per say. I got home from institute at noon and Andrew and I went out to the Cheesecake for lunch. We treated our selves to a delicious meal and then a piece of chocolate peppermint cheesecake to follow which I would definitely recommend! Then my wonderful husband...seriously though...decided to take me out to the mall!!!! For the past couple months I have been talking about getting another pair of long yoga pants because they are just so dang comfortable. I only have one pair but they were originally my moms and they are a little too short for my legs. So we go to onetooth and everything is pretty picked over so I say to Andrew that we should just go home and have a nap because he hasn't slept in like 30 some odd hours. He doesn't really like that plan so much. He says to me lets go to the mall and walk around for a bit...I'm not tired right now. So we go to the mall and in a very loving way he basically tells me that wearing yoga pants with my nice "going out" jacket doesn't match so well. I love my husband but he isn't too observant...so if he thinks yoga pants and my jacket look bad together...then everyone else must as well hahahaah! I thought he just wanted to get another more casual jacket but he was talking about getting me a real nice winter jacket. After a bit of looking I realized that he wanted me to get a snow boarding type jacket...well everyone knows how much those are!!! We looked at all the big stores but I just didn't want to part with that much money!! My other coat is fine....but he insisted...so we came out with a grey Burton jacket that is absolutely adorable...and now my husband can rest assured that people will stop thinking that I am incapable of dressing myself hahah. So now I'm pretty happy and I'm thinking that were going to leave...when we walk past LuLu Lemon....I didn't know we had one of these in Lethbridge...but we do! I think just for the Christmas holidays but we just went in to browse and sure enough and I walked out of there with a new pair of exercise pants.......and it doesn't end there! We proceed to below the belt where Andrew insists I buy a new pair of jeans....I keep saying no that we don't need them....and then he brings up that I only have one pair of jeans and I wear them everyday....which is true....but I'm a poor student and these are the kind of sacrifices you make. He then says...well Nick...you've got a hot butt...people notice it....so people notice you wear the same pants everyday. OVERALL a somewhat INTERVENTION took place today. For one, my Husband helped me realize that I can't dress myself...or that I just don't put a lot of time into realizing what I go out in...hahaha but MOST IMPORTANTLY I have the most selfless husband ever. He literally works soooo hard for his money and he decided that he wanted to take me out and use his hard earned money to let me enjoy being a not so poor student for a day. I absolutely love me husband...and not because of the wonderful gifts he bought me today...I love him because he puts me first in everything. He is such an amazing guy and I am so lucky to have found him. Now I just have to find a special way to show him how much I appreciate it!! Our 2 year anniversary is coming up on the 20th so maybe I will think of a great idea.

Blessings Galore!!!

This week Andrew and I have been sooo blessed. We try to count our blessings everyday but this week we had really obvious blessings. I don't want to get into too much detail but Andrew and I didn't start off in a really great financial position. We have been working..welll Andrew has been working so hard to get us out of it and prepare us to feel more secure and start saving money for a house. This week Andrew went to pay his taxes...don't even ask why he is paying taxes in November lol...Anyways the guy told him that it was going to be $160 for doing the taxes...and Andrew was like...I only paid 50 last year...then the guy said were you a student last year? Anyways long story short, the lady forgot to deduct his schooling from his taxes and lets just say that saved us A LOT of money. Then Andrew has this mobile home out in Coutts that he bought to get a better knowledge of how to buy and sell a house, without it being an actual house. The guy he has got in there is renting to own but he was sooo bad at paying rent on time and he kept losing his job and just kinda scummy I guess. So one day he offered to just buy the house, he tried to skrew us over..but me being the business woman I am wouldn't take no for an answer even though softy Andrew was willing to settle. Again, long story short, he ended up giving us the money that he still owed on the house and now we don't have to worry about him trashing the house if we kicked him out or anything... it is ALL his now...and we have a big addition to our savings account!! WOO HOO! Then we had a $30 electricity bill and we only pay $525 for rent so that was pretty much a ridiculous amount for a month of bills haha. Andrew also found a truck on Kijiji that he really likes and thought it was a great find. He bought it and brought it home today...I don't really like it at all...I think part of the reason is because it has a flat deck on the back and so to me it is super ugly...but Andrew loves it. He came to the school to take me for a ride and I couldn't find my seatbelt so he pulled up in the parking lot over by the dariyqueen on the westside. He put the e-brake on and pulled the seat down to find my seatbelt...we were both looking for it and felt NOTHING...but for some reason I just looked up and I realized we were literally like 20 inches from hitting this van in the DQ drive thru. Andrew slammed on the brakes and we just couldn't believe our eyes that we DIDN'T hit this guy. We both HONESTLY did not feel a thing as we were rolling down the incline in the parking lot. I know it was because of the spirit that we didn't hit that van. Turns out the e-brake doesn't work in the truck...almost learned that the hard way...but the guy we almost hit was so NICE...I would have been peeved but he just made sure we were O.K. There were lots of other blessings this week but those were the big ones and I am so grateful we were blessed with them. I know that we can be blessed when we show the Lord our works. Andrew has been so willing to do this big new calling of his and I know MANY people would not want a calling like Andrew's. I also know it is because we pay our tithing and because of our fast on Sunday. Sometimes the Lord is just waiting to bless us if we show him our faithfulness. :)
Anyways GREAT WEEK...a lot of studying to do this weekend and I am going straight into final exams in full force!!!

Andrew's Career

So today Andrew and I got to spend some time together because it was too cold for him to go to work. I got off school at 1:30 and so we decided to go grocery shopping at Costco. When we got there we had lots of fun looking at all the Christmas decorations and fun books. It was really funny because when we got to actually grocery shopping Andrew kept asking for things and I would say "no we can't afford that" and this one time I said "Andrew, put that back!" and this old guy pushing a cart started laughing at us because I'm SURE he has been in Andrew's place before and his wife has told him to put things back. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. We did other various errands whilst discussing what Andrew should do with his life...we have gone through ideas such as a machinery salesman, biomedical engineer, real estate agent, mechanic, welder, any trade really.....we have no idea! I told Andrew he should be a stay at home Dad and I should just work but he didn't go for that lol!! Anyways this blog post is short but oh well, leave your thoughts and comments about what you think Andrew would be good at. Please?? :) Either on FB or here

Sunday!!

Today was so great!! Andrew woke up way earlier then me because he had to plan he lesson...for gospel doctrine class!! Yup, Andrew got called as gospel doctrine teacher in our ward and he did such an awesome job today. I slept in till what I thought was 10:30 but it really was only 9:30 so I went back and just cuddled in my bed for a while..sometimes I just like to lay there and think about life. We went to church and fast and testimony meeting was sooo great...we have a lot of old people in our ward so we get a lot of people who really know the saviour when they bear their testimony. Our Bishop has cancer so we had a lot of people get up and share their testimony and appreciation for our Bishop. I fasted today and it was the longest fast of my life hahah we got home for church and I made some pumpkin bread with chocolate cream cheese icing to take over to my parents house for dessert. I was adding the chocolate and I didn't want to add too much and over power the cream cheese taste so I tested to see if it was good enough and then all of a sudden I saw the milk sitting out and thought "wow I am really thirsty" so I grab the jug and drink right out of it...then 30 seconds later when I was wondering why that milk tasted so good I realized I had accidentally broke my fast haha. Needless to say I went into my room said a prayer and Andrew laughed that I didn't realize I had broke my fast. We went to my parents for dinner and had roast, mashes potatoes, peas, yorkshire puddings. I am so GRATEFUL we have family that lives so close and it is cool to have family dinners now that I am married... I am really starting to appreciate good meals like that....I can't cook that good! My pumpkin bread turned out good and everyone claimed they liked it...so I will believe them..I thought it was good. Anyways now we are just preparing our lunches and stuff for tomorrow! Have a happy monday!:)

You Can Never Win With This World!!!

Man is this post going to be a rant!!!!

You can never win with this world I tell ya!

This is not the first time I have experienced this...just the first time I have blogged about it lol

So today someone basically told me I am fat....and no I am not exaggerating.

All my life I have been teased for being too skinny,

in high school it was because I didn't have any boobs

or much of a butt.

I was teased for having big fat square yellow teeth.

I was teased for not wearing the most stylish clothes.

I was teased because I don't have the best come-backs.

I was teased because I am a dumb blonde.

I was teased for being clumsy.

I was teased for not being as smart as my friends in school.

I was teased for a lot more then that but I think that is sufficient.

My whole life I have been criticized and I have never felt good enough for anyone.

These past couple years ..yes I can say past couple years now!!

I have been with an AMAZING guy who makes me feel like I am such a catch!

He always tells me how smart, beautiful, thoughtful, amazing and wonderful I am.

So for once in my life I have NOT been stressing so much about what I look like,

if I am good enough, if I am smart enough and it feels freaking GREAT!

This might be a newsflash for some but....when I was skinny...I hadn't fully hit puberty yet! DUH!

Right now I may be a couple pounds heavier then I should be but SOO WHAT!

Did some people just think that I was never going to grow boobs and hips?!?!?!

I go from too skinny in my opinion to a healthy weight and all of a sudden I am fat?!?

or sorry...I should quote it directly from the person who said it right to my face..

"holy cow....no literally holy cow"

Well that sure makes a girl feel great....

Anyways I am really starting to realize why girls have eating disorders or on the flip side

are quite heavy. IF people would focus more on what is on the inside us ladies wouldn't have to be so self conscious of whats on the outside...

Some of us have more important things to do then count calories...

I am in 6 classes at the university and doing well in all of them,

I work a part time job of about 15 hrs a week,

I have church duties such as visiting teaching, institute class, scripture studying,

I do the laundry every week,

I hand wash all of our dishes,

I clean the rest of our house,

I take time out to go grocery shopping weekly,

I have a never ending list of homework,

I have group meetings,

I watch my little brother,

I occasionally run my sister to dance,

I hang out with my friends,

I spend every second I can with my husband

so maybe before you open your mouth you should realize that going to the gym is

LAST on my list of things to do.

I am making it my new life goal to compliment every person I have a chat with.

I am so fed up with the stupid standards that the world has said have to be met.

I am a freaking babe!!!!

Not trying to be conceded....but I get A LOT of attention from boys.

I am SMART

I am HELPFUL

I am a GOOD LISTENER

I am FUN

I am constantly LEARNING NEW THINGS

I am going to be a GREAT MOM

I am a CHILD OF GOD

I am RIGHTEOUS

I have a TESTIMONY

I have lots of room for GROWTH

but best of all I am HAPPY.

Misery loves company so please all of you who might be letting others get you down,

DON'T.

They are so NOT worth your time (I promise this blog post is not hypocritical I am just trying to make a point lol)

You are beautiful in your own way.

Love yourself and you will be happy.

I love my husband.....I am so glad I chose you babe!!!!

For the rest of my life I will be with a man who absolutely

thinks the world of me...and I am so happy about that.

LOVE NICOLE MACLEAN

Blah

Today is a blah day....or atleast I am making it a blah day. I always hate when it gets to be about a month before finals...because then I have to actually start studying even if I don't have a test the next day. I am publicly making a goal to study really well for all my classes so I can get awesome grades!!! School is really starting to drag...I have been going to school non-stop since last september....and I'm in my fourth year. I do not know what to do with my life still!!!! Decisions were so much easier when I was just worrying about myself. Now I have to worry about my husband and future family ( an no that does not illude to the fact that we are pregnant because we are most definitely not). But once you get married you have to start thinking about that kind of stuff. I am so use to just going to school...doing my thing ahha and now I have to start figuring out a life plan. Andrew says not to worry about it but I'm just a stress ball...it is who I am. Anyways, the other day I desperatly needed to do laundry...Andrew was out of everything and our room was starting to smell of his cow poo smell. Our laundry day is friday afternoon but some slots are still open so I thought I would see if there was anything going on tuesday afternoon. No one was on the schedule so I ran upstairs and got our laundry. I quickly sorted it into colors and whites and then I grabbed the soap and booked it to the elavator.. you never know who would get down there before us!!! Plus our land lady is kinda a nazi and doesn't want you to have more then 10 items in a load at one time....and yes these are full size washers and dryers....crazy lady. Anyways I had stacked the too baskets one on top of the other and the soap was in the top basket...I set them down to click the elavator button....and yes....whatever your thinking in your mind....you are probably right......the baskets were so full that the top one fell off the bottom one and all the laundry detergent powder fell allllll over the floor...GREAT. So I am still paranoid that someone might stick their clothes in before me and I know Andrew REALLY needs laundry so I just scoop up enough to put in the laundry and I run downstairs. I put the stuff in the washer and run back upstairs so scoop the rest up...after scooping as much as I could and inhaling waaaay too much I went and got our vacuum. I plugged it in and starting vacuuming...I would not recommend this....I breathed in so much laundry detergent!!! I tasted laundry detergent the rest of the day...so yeah just wanted to share that little moment with you.
Then my land lady got mad at me for not holding the door while closing it..kinda like in sacrament meeting when you hold the door till it closes....except as she is telling me this there is a construction worker down the hall using a drill or something loud....our land lady says that people on our floor like to have naps........yeah well I'm pretty sure me not holding the door isn't keeping them from having naps.....as I hear a BANG BANG BANG VRMMMMM BANG BANG .
Overall it was NOT my day but they are fun to look back at and just laugh!!!

Lady Bugs

So my goal is to start blogging more often. I realize this sounds like a silly goal but I really want to get into the habit of recording funny moments and have a cool online journal type thing!!

The reason my blog is titled "Lady Bugs" is because they are all over my floor!!! There must be cracks in the windows or something but I just started noticing that even when I vacuumed every couple days, there was still specks on the floor. At first I thought it was because Andrew brings dirt into the house everyday but upon futher inspection I realized that these little specks were dead lady bugs. I looked at the windows and there was some Lady Bugs that were still alive but closer to the center of the room they had all died. They must come in to get warm and die.....so unfortunately for me I have to vacuum like a crazy!

This weekend was so much fun! Andrew got Saturday and Sunday off and I was so dang excited..I havn't been able to do anything with my husband forever...Heavenly Father must have read my last post and decided it wasn't time for snow yet!! On Friday night it was pretty late when Andrew got home so I made him spaghetti and we just watched some T.V. . On Saturday I decided to skip out on work and hang out with my babe all day. We started out doing some errands such as a Costco run and we went and got my ring back... I will leave that for another post. Then we picked up Brock and went to The Smurfs... the movie was alright.. I had more fun watching Brock laugh then anything haha he is getting so big..my baby is growing up :(. After the movie was over we took Brock home and visited with my parents and then when to Andrew's mom and dads to visit with them. We then headed to Miriam and Barry's to make them some pumpkin bread. It was soooo good... you can get it at Costco and it makes bread or muffins or cake with cream cheese. I got to help Miriam bath Emma and it was sooo fun, Emma has her own little shower thing for her bath and it just melted my heart to see Miriam sprinkle little Emma. Miriam is such a good mom it is crazy! I am so excited that she gets to be my kids Auntie. Barry is also such a good daddy and we love spending time with them. Andrew and I were just talking about how blessed we are to have such good families.

On Sunday we went to church and someone in our marriage got a calling..not saying who yet...but it is super exciting and I will post about it next Sunday. Then we went to Brittany and Mikail's house for dinner and pumpkin carving. It was all the old roomates and really nice to see everyone. Then we went home and crashed, read some scriptures and had a good talk about how lucky we each are. It is always nice to start a week with such a great hubby. Anyways he just walked in the door so I'm going to go play with him!!

Love Nikki!!!

Cow Poo

Sooo Andrew has this super crappy job...no..literally...it is a crappy job. He basically sucks up farm animal poop and spreads it onto farmers fields with his tractor to fertilize the land. It is really good pay but he works all day..no...literally... he works from 5 am till 1130pm. So this year and ONLY this year...I am praying for snow. I really hate the cold snowy part about winter but this year Andrew's job ends when the snow starts. Now I never wanted to be one of those needy wifes but I am really getting there lol!!!! This summer Andrew had a job where I hardly got to see him and he was always out till late and now this fall he has had this job where I also don't get to see him till really late. He has even fallen asleep as I was trying to tell him about my day on multiple occasions haha which I always think is super cute because I hope our boys are cute like him when he sleeps but at the same time enough is enough!!!! I would like to get really dressed up, do my hair all nice, put on nice makeup and go out to a fancy restaraunt with my husband, followed by a theatre show or something of that nature. So pray for snow!!!!!!

Anyways life is pretty good this month. I am about 6 weeks from being done school and this semester is the first semester EVER that I am out during the first week of exams. I have a 21 day winter break...Andrew and I are toying with the idea of going somewhere hot before life gets busy and you end up with three kids and no vacations. If anyone has any ideas of where to get cheap cruises we would really appreciate it! I'm already counting down the days till I am basically done school. The sucky thing about transferring programs two years into University is that the pre reqs don't always line up and you are forced to go back for another semester with only one class left. So yeah...that will be me next fall...and what exactly do you tell people..haha yeah I'm graduating minus once class in the spring...??? Anyways I should just be grateful that I made it through the four years!! I am really excited to start working, I have decided that I just want to work with my degree for a little while before deciding where I want to go with it. I may just enjoy being a regular old accountant without the bells and whistles for a while. If you know of anyone looking for a regular old accountant in the Spring let me know :)

I don't really know what else to blog about. My life is so not interesting anymore haha!!!! I do enjoy spending time with my married friends though, Andrew and I really enjoy being able to play games and have people over on Sunday evenings and think we are finally settling into married life quite comfortably. I can already see the changes in the past 8 months. We have both really learned the lesson of looking inwards when there are issues instead of looking outwards. It is always easier to look inside yourself and recognize what you could be doing better to benefit the relationship and your spouse. I love how much I have grown up in the past 8 months. If you talked to me during the first couple months of marriage I probably would have told you it was hard but now I am absolutely loving it! Andrew and I have both grown so much and we feel like our relationship is so strong because of all the trials we have faced together. I am so grateful to be able to go through life with a partner, someone I can rely on when things are tough and someone who will hold the priesthood in our home. I am getting really excited for all the fun times that are ahead...especially for our first christmas together as a married couple...I find that experience will be so special for both of us.

Well I hope everyone is doing well and I enjoy reading all of your blogs so even though I am not good at commenting I still love reading!!!

LIFE gets BUSY...SO listen UP

Well, I can actually be considered one of the worst bloggers ever. Some people blog everyday and I wish I did because I am missing out on capturing so many good moments in a place where I can remember them. So here it is.....we have moved back to Lethbridge from Calgary which has been SUCH a blessing. We have been back for about a month now and it feels like longer. School got started on the 7th of September and I have just been flying through it since then...I even have my first midterm next week on wednesday which is a little scary seeing as my prof is rated as one of the hardest/worst markers at the UofL...never comforting when the comments about him read " AVOID AT ALL COSTS" .."WORST PROF EVVER" and "TESTS ON STUFF HE DOESNT TEACH" .....so a little nervous over that but oh well!

For the past couple weeks I have been wrapped up in a ton of information sessions about accounting firms all over Alberta. The first couple weeks I was going every night to learn about them, we also had a huge career fair where I got to meet some more HR people and CA's. For anyone who doesn't know how it works this is the basic run down....you get a degree...apply to a firm...hopefully get on...then work all day and go to school all night for another 2 years. SO at first I was super pumped and started working on my sweet resume and cover letters and then I was approached about possibly doing a co-op beforehand to make sure what designation I would like to get. So I completely stopped writing graduate position cover letters and started writing a new type of resume for co-op positions and some more cover letters. To say the least I was a busy busy bee and even though I was still reading my scriptures and saying my prayers I wasn't really asking about what decision was the right one..I was just praying that I would be successful...WRONG ANSWER NICOLE.

Of course my Heavenly Father loves me and knows that even though I SHOULD be listening..sometimes he has to make things VERY clear for me to get them. This brings me to institute ....hahah doesn't it feel like institute always brings answers. I'm taking institute with Brother Wood this semester because I really wanted to do a deep study of the Book of Mormon. Whenever I go to institute my mind is always focused and I can really feel the promptings of the spirit. This week I went to institute and we talked about Moroni...and how in the last chapters of Mormon he is talking about how he has seen our day and how he knows what our struggles will be..and how if we liken the scriptures to ourselves that we can be guided in the direction we should go. Moroni talks about how people in this day and age will be wrapped up in riches, titles, pride, fine apparel etc etc. At that very moment I realized that at this point in my life the only reason I want to get a designation in the accounting field is because of the title...and to show off to others that I can do it and for the money and basically for ALL the WRONG reasons. So that left me pondering....what do I do now...I know that the Lord wants me to finish my degree because President Hinckley made sure that us girls get ourselves a good education but do I get it and start to work or try to start going for the designation for the right reasons or what!!! anyways I have a lot more praying to do to figure that one out and I won't bore you with the thoughts in my mind but I just thought it would be interesting to share that cool experience.

I love when you have moments like that to solidify your testimony of the spirit and that God knows all things. I am so grateful that I get so much help in my life..I am pretty prideful and stubborn so it is nice to have some guidance when I need it. I don't really know what else to say but life is great! Andrew works a lot so I miss him but overall we have settled back into our cute little apartment and we are excited to be back in a ward that will give us callings!!!! Anyways now I am tired and I should go to bed!

Love the Macleans!

My Owie

So Andrew told me that this story was soo funny that I had to blog about it. I doubt anyone else will laugh very hard since it was kind of a "had to be there" moment. Yesterday I asked Andrew if he wanted me to make him a sub sandwich and he said yeah can you make me two please. So I grab the buns and was cutting them so we could stick the ham and cheese in them. When I got to the third bun I got distracted talking to Andrew and sliced one to many times and went right through to my finger. Keep in mind that even if I get a papercut I get faint and I hate blood plus I have never cut myself with a knife before. So the first thing I say is "oowww" and then I start freaking myself out more and say "ooooowwwwww" kinda with the "on the verge of crying voice" and then Andrew says " oh no hunny..." and starts coming towards the kitchen and so I started freaking out even more and just burst out crying...and then Andrew grabs me in kind of a hug to try to calm me down and by that time I am already squeezing my eyes shut imagining that blood is spurting out of my finger....HAHAH so funny to think about it now. So anyways Andrew runs and grabs a kleenex and he comes back and says "let me see it sweetheart" and I say "nooooooooo I don't want to show it to you" and he says "just let me see how deep it is" and then I start crying even harder imagining how deep this cut could possibly be....I mean I went through it with one of those big bread knives so I thought it was prolly right to the bone. Anyways by this time I am just sobbing and so andrew forces me to open my finger so he can look at it and he basically says "you are going to live"...imagine that!!!

So he gets me to the bedroom and lays me on the bed so that he can start calming me down ( I'm such a freak show!). He says to just lay there for a few minutes and calm down and then we can clean it up. So as I'm laying there I feel faint and my body is shaking and I just can't believe that I have cut myself. I am still bawling at full force but I get kinda brave and open the kleenex to have a look...after all I'm laying down and the blood hasn't soaked through the kleenex yet...how bad could it be. I open the kleenex and there is a teensy weensy spot of blood on there and so I start laugh crying because I feel like such a fool for freaking out so bad. So Andrew comes in and there I am hysterically laughing and crying at the same time...he comes and sits on the edge of the bed and he is hysterically laughing......I say to him " So I kinda freaked out a bit" and he says "yeah you kinda did, you remind me so much of a kid sometimes! This is why I married you! because you do cute things like this". Anyways Andrew doesn't really know the extent of my freak-ness and doesn't even know if we have bandaids in the house....so the girl who never injures herself tells him that she has bandaids and polysporin in the bathroom ....just being prepared for a situation like this, the cut was actually decently deep but I am hoping to have a full recovery. SOOOO now Andrew has a new story to tell everyone about...you could even ask him about when I got scared because of the movie trailers of paranormal activity 3 and freaked out all night too if your in the mood for embarassing stories involving me...anyways that is all for today! I will try to post more often lol!

My Birthday!!

I am SO excited!! as many of you know...cough my few followers cough...it is my birthday this weekend and I am getting pretty excited! I havn't had a day off on my birthday in 6 years! So this year I am all about livin' it up and having a really fun birthday. My freakin awesome husband suprised me with wicked tickets and I cannot believe it! I have seen Wicked in San Fran but it will be cool to share the experience with Andrew. For our honeymoon we went and saw Phantom of the Opera in Vegas and it was Unbelievable! I think the best part about it was that Andrew enjoyed it more then I did. I am so excited that he is so open minded about things that I enjoy...I hope he loves Wicked just as much as he loved Phantom....plus I have been making him listen to the CD for like 2 months now so he is pretty familiar with the songs...hehe. Wicked is on the 15th so it will be the week after my birthday but I couldn't have asked for a better present. As for this week I am planning on spending the whole day at Henderson with my siblings...laying in the sun..reading my book and enjoying time with my family. A couple days ago my mom mentioned something about having a birthday BBQ which hadn't even crossed my mind. Being married and all sometimes not being able to go YSA activities anymore and living in Calgary has made it hard for me to see my friends regularly. SO BBQ it is!! I am actually so excited! Even if just one friend shows up it will be worth it...plus I'm hoping Andy can sneak outta work and come down a little bit early to enjoy a saturday evening with his wife and all our friends.

This week has been flying by...I finished a book yesterday and started a new one called The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks. I started my new class tonight and I finally have a teacher that speaks english as their first language....it is nice not having to concentrate on what they are saying and just relax and understand the concepts they are getting at. I actually quite enjoy the class...it is called managing responsibly in a global environment but it is basically just business ethics which really gets you thinking. I am so blessed to have found accounting...my brain is definitely wired in that area and I love the number crunching and problem solving aspect....though I did love learning about all the different compounds, elements and how they react with each other it is nice to know that I am no longer struggling with keeping up with the pace and that I can enjoy all the A's I am getting...it feels good. Anyways that is the update of the week....oh and Scott joined us in Calgary South which is nice that I will get to see him and Stace!

Love you all!

Summer 2011

Well it has been a good 2 months since my last blog and I figured I would update everyone on the Maclean Family Summer. Andrew and I made the big move up to Calgary for the summer in order to sell and although it is such a blessing that my husband is such a good salesman...it has been somewhat of a trial for me. Most days Andrew and I enjoy the luxury of sleeping in and slowly getting ready for the day, we head off to the office at 12:30 and I do my office work and he attends his morning meeting and then he goes off selling for the day and I come home. For the past two months I have been taking two summer classes (finance and human resource management) and I will be starting up my Managing in a global environment class next while taking two classes through Athabasca university ( Financial Accouting I and II) ..... Usually I wouldn't be taking summer classes but due to the fact I was doing the pre-requisites for pharmacy for a year and a half ....I was a little behind. No worries though! I fought the UofL and they are letting me take extra classes so I can graduate in the spring after my 4 years of hard time in university. I cannot tell you how excited I am to started making money instead of forking it out in $3000.00 chunks every semester!! I hope to be able to get on with a firm in lethbridge to do my articaling but perhaps I will have to move to Calgary permanently because of a large pool of firms. If not I will just find a job that uses a degree in accounting and start making some moolah! Andrew has decided he wants to go back to school to become a geomatic engineer...or something like that. His brother in law Barry loves it and it looks like he was the salesman in this deal because Andrew now has a vision for his life. Anyways, even with all these classes I am still so BORED. My house is always clean..I think I vacuum more then once a week hahah and I have seen way to many TV series' then I am willing to admit in the past 2 months...all I have to say is One Tree Hill is amazing and 90210 is possibly the stupidest show ever haha! I have read some pretty good books though so if you want a good read try... Lincoln Lawyer, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Water for Elephants (some not so great language), The Pact, The Heart of the Matter and I have just begun reading The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks so it should also be good! Anyways I have a lot of time on my hands and I don't know anyone but Kylie up here in Calgary so if you are ever up here TEXT ME 403-715-3388.

This past weekend Andrew and I were driving down from Calgary at about 8pm and we noticed that Miriam and Barry were camping....we thought it would be nice to go have a fire with them that night but ended up camping with them! It was such a spur of the moment thing but we had so much fun and it was just what we needed to get us away from all the summer stress and loneliness in my case haha. We played cards...didn't fall asleep till 3 AM because we were scared of bears ( Andrew and I watch a lot of Bear Clips on YouTube) and got Big Scoop Icecream. We went to church on sunday and there were such good talks given! They were about marriage so it was kinda cool that we were there that day. Anyways I better publish before the internet goes out on me! Hope I will get on here more often!

My Favourite Man

SOOOOO ...apparently my last post could have been seen as not having the most positive things being spoken of my husband. As that was not my intention I want to write a blog completely about how much I love him!! I thought that a blog uncovering some of the humorous situations of having a husband that does things completely differently than me...I think mostly due to gender ...but from a woman's perspective might be fun but I also have lots of wonderful moments with my husband. From the very beginning I knew that Andrew was perfect for me because he is such a chatterbox! Being one myself you can see how we could just talk for hours and hours. Andrew is SO unique...i remember on our first date he played a question game and asked me all different sorts of questions...not the awkward where are you from? how many people in your family? types of questions but questions such as what do you see yourself doing and who do you see yourself being in 5 years? I knew from that moment that he was something special. One of Andrews most coveted traits is his generosity, he is always offering to pay or offering to share what he has... I cannot believe how much I am going to change over the course of our marriage...I am not a sharer. Andrew loves being in nature! While I like it in the hot sun he likes it any way it comes. He loves Waterton especially ..he wants to live there one day. Andrew LOVES spending time with me...it is my love language so I oblige completely! Sometimes we get stuck watching 24 for hours because we just love being in each others presence...one night we played angry birds for so long that a little message came up saying...devoted player you have been on for 3 hrs. Andrew is so complimentary of me..he is always telling me how nice I look even when I look gross. He always brags about me to other people and I secretly love it. I don't care so much that the other people think I am great but I love that I have a man that is confident enough to say how lucky he is...that is rare...definitely. As much as this could be taken as negative..I say it in the most positive way...Andrew is a little bit girlie... he loves heart to hearts and he is so sensitive to me. I have definitely seen my husband cry more then he has seen me cry... also a rarity...who doesn't love a manly man that wears his emotions on his sleeve! Andrew is great with fixing things! He is always over at someone's house helping them fix something. He is such a great new member of the Hendry family... though it took him a while to warm up to us he sure has got comfortable with the crazyness of my family. Andrew always tries to fulfill my needs...he is such a great provider and I know he just wants what is best for us. He is so ambitious and has so many wonderful dreams. I am such a pessimist and Andrew is always there to point out the bright side and I love that about him. He is such a good priesthood holder and I love that comfort. He always makes sure we have prayer before bed and I'm so glad that he has such initiative. I think the best thing about Andrew is that he is SO much like my Grandpa Lyons. It is actually crazy how similar they are...My mother and I were just discussing it. They have SUCH hearts of GOLD. My husband is all I could have asked for and more :) Babe... this post is for you! I hope you always know that I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. I would do anything for you and I want the world to know that too! Our biggest lesson we have learned being married is...don't judge another till you have walked in their shoes and I know that is so true!

I love you Andrew Maclean <3

Exam Week

Well, whether my posts be few and far between...you can bet on one thing....procrastinating exam study will remind me of my long lost blog. Since last year around this time I have blogged a good 5 times! Hopefully this year it won't be so bad. My husband...YES ..husband! I got hitched during my absence from blogging ...scored me a sweet summer job. I am an office assistant for Vivint and therefore get to work a couple hours a day and enjoy the perks of summer. Of course workaholic Nicole came through and I signed up for 3 summer classes. I am taking human resource management, finance and another one. In my spare time I hope to read a billion books that are interesting!! So if you have any suggestions let me know. My husband already got an ear full from me and will most likely be out working all the time in order to stay away from my wrath..he wants to buy a house and I am just...pushing and supporting him ( well that is what I like to tell myself I am doing). Anyways, I promised in my description of my redesigned blog that I would tell a couple funny stories about married life/men that make a lot of people laugh. So Andrew and I had been married for a whole week, we had just got back from our honeymoon and the house was a mess. I started doing the dishes, sweeping the floors, making the bed, cleaning the bathroom...etc etc. When I come to find Andrew sitting on the couch....not even with the T.V. on. I asked him what he was doing and told me he was doing the laundry.........you don't look like you are doing the laundry I say.....well he says....I am WAITING for the laundry.... OK so let me get this straight...while you sit here and wait for the laundry you are going to watch me do everything else......he looks at me.....I look at him.....he gets up to help....yeah thats what I thought!! It may not be easy to live with me but my husband sure is a trooper! He makes me laugh so hard sometimes but is also very frustrating ! Since when do boys leave more clothes on the bedroom floor then girls....since when does a boy not know the difference between a facecloth and a dish rag....and since when did men become so STINKY...I guess when your dating you see mostly the best of one another...marriage is a different story..but we are both learning! For better or for worse I always say.... maybe I should go study before I say too much!

LOVE

Nicole Maclean!

1 Month

Well....it always seems that I remember about this blog at very random and rare occasions..you know it has been to long when you have to go through the trouble of trying to find out what your username is...and then trying to figure out what your password is lol... I have too MANY! Anyways the reason why my title is one month..is because I am getting married in exactly one month! I AM SO EXCITED! I am so glad to be over with driving home when it is freezing cold or going to pick my car up when we have decided to drive in one vehicle. I am so glad to be over awkward dating and hanging out with boys who don't interest me at all lol..YSA can be interesting sometimes! Anyways most exciting part is being sealed to my best friend forever! but the worst thing...is having to change the name of my blog lol no longer a young single adult...how about old married woman??? welll now it is late and I must go but hope to get some name suggestions! peace out!