First Christmas Letter!

Merry Christmas!! (tomorrow)

This year I realized that I'm to the age where my parents no longer consider me part enough of their family to warrant more than 2 sentences in their Christmas letter--which means it's probably time I start doing my own like a big girl! So here goes:

Merry Christmas!!

This year has been filled with all sorts of awesomeness and blessings and such... blah blah blah. In February of this year, I went through a lot of training and became a CASA volunteer.  CASA stands for "Court Appointed Special Advocate" and my job is basically to be nice and play with kids... kind of. Really what I do is work for the Guardian Ad Litem (the children's lawyer in child abuse/neglect cases) and help him with a specific case. My GAL has about 200 cases that he's supposed to get to know the children on a personal level to try and determine what is in the child's best interest while also appearing in court cases--so you can imagine how appreciated I am as a volunteer member! I received a case with 2 wonderful little girls who I'd go see and take out for lunches, and check up on their school progress. Their case closed this September which happy and sad. Happy because it was a happy ending for everyone involved, but sad because now I don't see them anymore! I got to see them once in October for one of my girl's birthdays and they are doing very well. Now I'm waiting for another case to be assigned to me.

 During the summer I received an acceptance letter for the Social Work Bachelor's program at Utah State University and I've started into that. I really enjoy going to school for something I'm passionate about and my attendance and grades reflect that. I'm at the magical spot in my education where I don't have to take any more classes that I think are pointless or boring! Next semester I get to pick my practicum for the next year which is my year-long internship in my chosen area. Right now I'm thinking medical social work at a hospital, or possibly 10 other areas... it changes a lot day to day but that's the benefit of being a social worker--I can change my mind whenever I want! 

Something else that is new with me is I've started a new job.  I work at Youthtrack which is a residential treatment facility for juvenile sex-offenders.  It's all boy facility and I really enjoy my work there--I get to work with the younger group of boys, there are 8 of them all around 13 years old and they are my joy...usually! It's a very emotionally taxing job and I feel as though I've inherited 8 teenage boys with extreme behavioral problems at times.  Other times I feel like I'm making a huge difference and I'm very fond and protective of my boys.  We had a leaf fight once and I like to play Just Dance videos on YouTube for them to dance along to and that always gets pretty funny! It's tough at times as they sometimes lash out at my when they get frustrated with their treatment, but overall I find it very rewarding and I usually look forward to going to work and hanging out with my boys! 

Brooks and I have now officially been dating for 2 years as of yesterday (12/23) and I couldn't be happier.  He works at Youthtrack with me and really enjoys it (for the most part) as well.  He does well there and it has helped influence his decision to possibly change his major to psychology and start into that. He would ideally like to work at a college level counseling and doing research or he thinks he may enjoy teaching as well at a college.  I'm happy he's found something that he says feels really right and I'm excited for our debates on psychology vs social work (Social work is obviously the best!). He does very well in school and has been participating in the school's improv club/team and has on occasion taught their weekly improv class and has really enjoyed that.  

My family is doing well and I'm expecting 2 new baby nephews in the next couple months. (Probably not the correct way to phrase that, but oh well!!) I'm looking forward to 2 more babies Aunt Nikki can spoil! Hope this finds you well... blah blah... the magic of Christmas!

Nicole

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Wuv, Twue Wuv!

I took this picture!! :)

Hey! So I have not done anything with this forever and I’m going to blame it on the amazingly wonderful Brooks Lindberg who stole all my free time by his manly charm! Speaking of Brooks, I think I shall dedicate a post to the boy who ended all posts for such a long time!

So I’ve been dating Brooks for 2 years, but I’ve totally been head over heels for him for 3 :/ Yep! The whole “love at first sight” thing is pretty much the story of how I met Brooks.  It was my first audition for a production at Snow College and I was extremely nervous so that nervous energy chose to channel itself into fixing the cow lick of the cute boy in front of me… yeah… touching random guy’s heads is something I did back then I guess!  This really attractive guy would be Brooks which it was also his first audition at Snow.  

American Gothic... our take.

 We were auditioning for Arsenic and Old Lace (a personal favorite!) and Brooks and I kept getting called up to read together for the part of Nathan and Elaine the lovers of the play which I was REALLY okay with!  Brooks got the part, I on the other hand came close but lost out to another girl.  But from that day Brooks was definitely cemented in my head as THE guy. The perfect guy that everyone dreams about but never actually exists. 

Well the semester went by and little by little I got to know Brooks better and start to like him for his personality; he was so funny, intelligent, talented and interesting… unlucky for me I was not the only one to notice and for the rest of the year Brooks was in and out of different relationships.  Always my ideal guy and always out of reach.  

Before we were dating... so cute!

So when I graduated from Snow I figured all chances were dead and gone as I’d be off to USU and Brooks would have his 2^nd year at Snow ahead of him.  Over the summer to my great pleasure and delight, Brooks started texting me, *cue texts of ridiculous amounts of over the top flirting*.  During fall semester Brooks and I kept in contact pretty regularly and I made the decision to go see him in Taming of the Shrew at Snow where he was playing the lead character whose name I can’t even begin to spell.  I told everyone I was going back to see all my old friends, but it was definitely just Brooks. When I arrived I called him and made up some story about me needing to put air in my tires but not knowing how (lies!).  Brooks came to the rescue and we ended up spending the whole day together: perfection!  This happened a 2^nd time during November for their other school play, this time though Brooks told me he liked me which was pretty amazing (even if he did call me a Buffalo in the process)!  Well we worked hard and made it work long distance (3 hours away) we saw each other roughly 4 days out of a month but talked 2 or so hours on the phone every night.  I’m so happy that now we live in the same apartment complex and I can see him whenever I feel like it.

I’m so lucky to have Brooks and so happy to be with him. He writes me notes with the perfect blend between ridiculous and loving, has the enthusiasm of a 5 year old at times, and to top it all off he is my best friend. I feel as though I am constantly growing with him, thinking more than I’ve ever thought and truly discovering myself in the process. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life and I always want to spend every last second I have with him.  I mean, I love him enough to listen to a 30 minute discussion on the book he’s currently reading when he’s only like 10 pages in. Sorry for the sappy post! Just have to let everyone know!!

Now if only I could get him to ACTUALLY smile in pictures he'd be perfect!!