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!