incrediblility.

if we're friends on facebook, you probably know that i'm in slave lake for a bit. my dad is working to help rebuild the city, after it was ravaged by a wild fire, and then a flood. (read this article for details.)

anyways, slave lake has definitely been on the radar since may. i've heard so many things about the fires and the floods and i had this image in my mind of a broken city, sad people, a feeling of loss.

the houses to the right and the left of this lot were completely untouched by the fire.

trees - or what's left of them - along the highway.

remains of a quad.

bbq.

a truck.

what's left of a gas station.

but now i'm realizing how terribly wrong i was. the residents of slave lake did not let the fire - or the flood - break them. they are growing. they are rebuilding. they still have hope. 

we went to church here yesterday. my family, heather, justin and their baby, kevin, sheena, their two kids, and mark joined the ranks of the branch. in total, there were 42 of us. it was fast and testimony meeting, as many of you know. and through the testimonies of the members of the branch, i realized that hope is not gone. tragedies to not define us.

slave lake is a beautiful city. the citizens are so faithful and brave. seriously, if you ever have the opportunity to come to slave lake.. do it. i plan on spending a lot of time up here, getting to know the city and the lake and the people. 

there is hope. there is always hope.

ps, sidenote.. i am loving instagr.am !!! :)

check it.

we got some sweet sunburns.

aren't we gorgeous?

this is exactly what it looks like.
unless you don't know what you're looking at.
he was pretending to drop me. so i was pretending to scream. ha ha ha.

:)

it was a fabulous heritage monday. thanks for asking.

ps. the answers to the questions in the previous post?

- park lake.

- egg salad.

- swimsuits.

- neither. we played with a boomerang.

- neither. we drank kool-aid and ate peas.

either or.

waterton?

park lake?

egg salad sandwiches?

mangoes?

swimsuits? 

hiking shoes?

canoes?

horses?

ice cream?

subway?

happy heritage monday! :)

hummingbird heartbeat

i've had a crazy trash weekend.

first, adrian totes got his mission call!

second, it was thunder in the valley! supes awesome.

me and boyfriend drove up saturday morning/afternoon and hung out with my famdamily at the downtown fair/show&shine all day.

then we went and sat in the field at six thirty.

wanna know what time the fireworks start at?

eleven.

yup. we were there for 4.5 hours. just sitting.

maybe we took some pictures?

anddd we got rained on.

no. rained is an understatement.

we got POURED on.

the clouds opened up and blessed the farmers.

some more.

damn farmers.

but we stuck it out, and saw some great fireworks.

also, we were supposed to go to the mountains after the show and camp out with my grandparents.

but because of the rain, they left early to go to bed.

so we opted out of camping and decided to drive home.

bad idea.

but such a good one.

you see, if we had ended up driving to the mountains, we would have got half way there and then had a bad car incident.

if you've never been to thunder in the valley, you can't possibly understand the traffic.

basically what happened was, in the hustle and bustle (not! it was a stand still!) of blairmore, of people trying to drive out onto the highway, my car overheated.

we're not just talking that the temperature gauge got to the H.

but when we shut the car off...

we could hear it boiling and bubbling.

talk about stress!!

luckily, aunt dianne was there to come rescue us. again.

i swear, she always always always comes to my aid.

such a great lady.

we finally got home at 3:14 on the dot. but we were too wired up on energy drinks to sleep. so we popped in a movie, and cuddled up for a long night.

[secretly, i ended up falling asleep and carter woke me up at 11:52. i dunno if he slept at all!]

we decided that, instead of being good little mormon kids (oops) and going to church

we would go on a date.

so we drove to lethbridge, ate at denny's 

(so good!!),

and went to

and it was amazing.

i, like every other hardcore potter fan, shed a few tears.

but even carter - who has himself admitted that he has never read the books, and never really got into the movies - said it was "so freaking good! can we go to it again?"

but i, unlike every other hardcore potter fan, disagree when they say

because these movies, like so many before, are so incredible that the hogwarts love spell will never end.

the end is near for our generation..

but i, for one, plan on reading the books to my children (or letting them read on their own), one at a time, and showing them the movies, one at a time. same as it was for us.

we will dress up and have harry potter parties.

there will always be harry potter halloween costumes.

HARRY POTTER WILL NEVER END.

this occurred to me at the end of the movie, when they showed *** and *********, ***** and *****, *****, and their ******* in the ******

*edited as to not ruin the end of the movie for those of you wieners who have never read the books, and have yet to see the movie. but when you see it, this is my favorite part!!

and it's not over! they are passing on the magic of hogwarts! just like i will, and i'm sure many of you will! 

anyways, that was my weekend.

how was yours?

...

i would love some cheesecake right about now.
i would also love some pink lemonade.
i want the wind to stop blowing.
i want blonde hair.
i want long hair.
i'm excited that my whole family is going to be home today and tomorrow.
i'm excited to start my new job today.

i can't wait until thunder in the valley.

i love fireworks.

ps. check out this picture. isn't it fabulous?

wowsa.

wanna know what i did?

i went camping.

but not really. i only went up for the day.

but it was awesome. i love my grandparents. 

they've been camping in the exact same spot since i was 2 years old. it's safe to say that i grew up in the mountains. 

it's about a 2 and a half hour drive up there. but so worth every painful minute.

i got ANOTHER sunburn. i fell in love with campfire smoke all over again. i realized that not having a cell phone isn't a bad thing. i came to find out that carter is the best boyfriend ever (cause he drove up all the way to the campsite after work. just to come pick me up). i ate way too many giant marshmallows. i forgot that there's a stereo in my car. i walked my dogs around a parking lot. i got home way too late, and fell straight asleep.

and i'm gonna go up again next weekend. :)

(ps - i got another job. yay!)

new loves.

i have a couple mew passions.


first? - suntanning. i've spent the last 5 days LOVING the great summer weather. it's been like at least 28º every day for the last week almost, i think. and the UV index is reading 'high'. amazing.


second? - bug spray. because we had so much rain in april and may and even in june, there is standing water everywhere! and guess where stupid mosquitos breed? yep, that's right. in standing water. luckily, the lame old town of raymond has sprayed for skeeters a few times, but not enough to kill the ones that are already living! ahhhh. so before i go outside tanning? i soak up the bug spray. yum. *note to self - do not lick your fingers or lips after applying bug spray. 


third? - motorcycles (refer back to this post). riskaay? naw. carter is a great motorcyclist. i love going for rides with him. legit, i don't do anything. just throw on some pants and a jacket, climb on behind him, and chillax. he's super careful. especially with me on the bike with him. his dad and earl taught him well. plus, it's something he loves. so it's something i need to love. and i do! (however, i would love this, this (goes along with this post), this, and these to go with the hobby.)


fourth? - being in love. i sometimes forget how lucky i am. i know so many girls that just chase their tails trying to find a boy to love like them. they're so willing to change their appearance, their attitudes, and their hobbies to suit the boys. i am so glad that i was able to find carter, who loves me because of who i am, what i look like, and what i do; not who i changed to be, what i could look like, and what i don't do. 

fifth? - twitter. 


sixth? - this music. follow the playlist. love it. [did the link work? lemme know.]

apologies.

happy independence day to my american friends.


enjoy this.


i just thought i'd apologize for your lack of health care. yeah, that sucks.


also, your anthem is really really long. sorry about that too.


and i know you guys have 9.2 times more people than we do.. but we're over it. we live 3.8% longer!


sorry about all the protestants down there.


and looks like the USA is 91 years older than canada. just means you'll die sooner.
source



ps! i'm totally kidding. although i do love living in canada, i also love the united states of america. i love the shopping and the beaches and the people and i love utah and hawaii and california. i have nothing against the american anthem, or protestants. i know a lot of canadians that spend july 4th moaning and groaning about how much they hate americans and the states and blah blah blah. but me and carter were trying super hard to figure out a way to get to great falls tonight to celebrate with other us of a citizens. 

i hope you all had a great weekend with family, friends, sunshine, bbqs, swimming, camping, and fireworks!

oh my goodness!

oh my goodness!

i've missed www.blogger.com !!

in fact, i just spent the last 40 minutes reading posts that i've missed over the last 6 days.

see, my internet was down.

except for about 10 minutes, in which i was able to post a picture of me and carter beside a motorcycle!

we took that baby to grad.

and it was so sweet.

let's see.. what else have i been up to..

well, like i said.. grad. carter graduated!

YAY for boyfriend!

and i had matching hair with his sister..

and i made a new friend!

L-R : me, boyfriend, boyfriend's best friend (nathan), and new friend (shauna)

yesterday was CANADA DAY! :)

i love canada day.

basically, in my little town of raymond, canada day means a number of things.

1 - family reunions. 

2 - lame parades.

3 - loads of bbqs.

                 seriously, if you don't have a bbq, you have no friends.

4 - no rules. go ahead, ride your quad with no helmet. go jump off a bridge. no one cares.

5 - fireworks.

6 - sunburns.

pre sunburn.

post sunburn.
even boyfriend got sunburned!

that's about it.

Hello, sun.

It's the first day of summer.

ask for source.

I think I'll go hit a ball with a racket, then jump off a bridge and relish in the fact that I don't have to shower, cause obvs the canal water is plenty sanitized!

ask for source.

**Note to self - remember mosquito repellant!  'Cause West nile = crap.

:)

don't be hatin.

i might have been a bit naive today.

i assumed that since it was only 23º, it'd be great suntanning weather. TANNING.

but i forgot that the UV index was 7+/high. 

this is a result of sleeping for legit like 45 minutes.

but then we went to st. mary's reservoir. and i wore the same thing.

uh oh.

oh well, i love it. :)

YES!

summer is here.

i have proof.

exhibit a - carter and i spent 34 consecutive hours together. all nighter? i love that.

exhibit b - carter and i did 3 hours of yard work today. in the sun. 26º of sun to be precise.

exhibit c - carter and i spent 2 hours on the trampoline. from 10 until 12. and we weren't even cold. score!

exhibit d - we had a bbq. just the two of us. jealous? you should be. he is a dang good grill master.

my feet are stained green from mowing the grass.

my eyes are drooping from the lack of sleep.

my legs are shaved.

my hair is as up as it's gonna get.


this is the first time i've been on the computer all day.

summer is here. and it's in full force.

HAPPY SABBATH! <3

do you believe in magic?

oh my!!

it's june 1!!

yipee!

i stole this!

10. Favorite places to be:

Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Carter's house.

My bedroom.

In Carter's car.

Henderson Lake Park.

On an airplane to anywhere.

Laying on lush green grass in the sunshine. 

Swimming pools. With Carter. Obvs.

Ice skating.

David's house.

9. Weird things about me:

I despise shaving. Sometimes - more often than not - I just don't.

I love Harry Potter. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

One of the most relaxing things for me to do is get my eyebrows waxed.

I have a 'thing' for gingers. Not like I'd want to date one. But I just love red hair.

I love the smell of campfire. 

I check the mailbox at least once a week for mail for me!

I don't save money. It's a disease.

I crave normalcy. Unfortunately, it's something I'll continue striving for. Not gonna happen.

If I could eliminate one thing from the planet.. It would be diabetes.

8. Things I am going to do this summer:

Get a job.

Legit, save money.

Get a sweet freaking tan.

Move out!

[Maybe] buy a new car.

Get in a hot shape!

NOT dye my hair.

Plan out the next year of my life.

7. Things I am thinking of:

Draco Malfoy.

Popcorn.

My sore back.

The Sacrament, and how amazing the Gospel really is.

Carter Mitchell Peterson. Always.

Lip chap. Where would we be without it?

Facebook.

6. Things I am always wearing:

Brasier.

Underwear.

Pants/shorts.

Shirt.

Insulin pump. We wouldn't want Nicole to die now, would we?
Homemade bracelets.

5.  Things I am worried about:

My best friend's family.
Decisions that affect not only me, but my immediate family, my future family, and my extended family.
Money.
Finding a job.
Not being able to sleep.

4. Things on my floor:

Clothes. Clean, dirty, folded, rumpled..
Letters. Speaking of which, David is waiting for a letter from moi..
My brush.
A glass full of water.

3. Things I want to do today:

Laundry.
Take a nap in the sun.
Watch Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets with my darling boyfriend.

2. Things I will reveal:

I'm scared. Of the present, of the future, of the past. Of things that are happening, things that will happen, things that have happened.
I'm also very excited. For the future. For life to start happening.

1. Secret:

There is no one more important to me than my future children.

Day 18 - A song you wish you heard on the radio

Cyclone - Baby Bash

it's coming

i can smell it in the freshly dumped manure in the fields surrounding this little rural town.
i can feel it in the mosquitos that viciously attack my unsuspecting body.
i can hear it in the rumble of the street cleaner.
i can taste it in the frozen ice particles of slurpees, and in the thick creamy deliciousness that is ice cream.
i can see it in the soccer fields, now bubbling with children and their parents.

yup. it's coming.

it's in the sunburn on my cheeks and my nose.

it's in the green of the grass.

it's in the first bike ride of the season.

it's in learning how to golf.

it's in sweating all the ding dong day.

it's in swimming pools and bridge jumping.

it's in late night walks.

it's in flip flops.

it's in barbecues.

it's in sunday afternoon picnics.

it's in photo shoots.

it's in anklets and skirts.

it's in tennis and baseball.

it's in flowers and lemonade.

it's in rain.

it's in mud.

it's in thunder in the valley.

it's in wicked.

it's in turning 19.

I


CAN'T


WAIT!!

Day 15 - A song that describes you
Who Says - Selena Gomez

let the sun shine..

[Today] - I miss the sun. A lot. My best friends and family are basically all basking in the sunshine. I'm freezing in the wind. HATE.

[Today] - I want to go swimming with my boyfriend, whom I've been dating for 10 months. Impressed? Don't be. This is only the beginning. :)

[Today] - I love Dollar Drink Days at McDonald's! Can you say "Diet Coke"??!

[Today] - I am excited for tomorrow (aka, last day as a nanny) to be here.

[Today] - I am glad I went to bed at 9:30 last night. Old maid? It's possible. It's also possible that Carter had a boys' night out. Good for him, bad for me.

[Today] - I wish I had socks on.

OH MY GOODNESS! LOOK AT THIS! I WANT ONE! SO SO SO BAD!! Serious. If you ever wanna buy me a present, just for fun.. That's what I want.

[Today] - I am playing Candyland with Madi.

I also really want my mommy to come home. :( Or I want to go to Utah right now! Pronto!! Because today she got a pedicure with her sister and mom.. And I want a pedicure! I'm really very sad. 

Day 5 - A song that reminds you of someone.

Amazed - Lonestar

Silly boyfriend. :)

PS! Happy 10 months to me and Carter!! 

...rrrrretsae

wanna know what i did this weekend?

well, let me warn you.

it was FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!

on saturday - i guess that was only yesterday! - me and carter went to great falls with his dad and shawna and the girls (brooklyn and rylee) to spend some money that we both didn't have. :P

then we played with tori and adrian. love them.

then! today!

we had a PICNIC!

mm mm mm..

egg salad sandwiches, chips, cookies, crackers, lemonade, toblerone.. 

but what picnic at henderson would be complete without the presence of seagulls? sunshine? and, of course, crawdad claws. :(

now, the crawdad claws.. we didn't even notice them until we were done eating. then we realized there were literally hundreds of them. and if you stepped on them, or kneeled on them, or touched them at all they would crack and make a terrible sound. :( if you wanna know what i'm talking about, head out to henderson.. go over the little bridge to the little island.. and all the way at the end. by poop rock. you'll see what i'm talking about.

anyways..

look at our pretty pictures!

pre sunburn. i'm fried!!! <3

oh, and just so y'all know.. me and carter have "matching" shirts. according to everyone. see that green nike shirt he's wearing up there? mmhm. well the purple one i'm wearing says.. "every damn day. just do it." yeah, we represent. i wanted to get a picture of the two of us, but it was way too hot to be posing, and we were way too comfortable just laying around doing nothing!

Day 2 - least favorite song

My Jeans - Jenna Rose

A big ol' thanks to Juhee@Pages of Me

for introducing this horror.