Family Pictures

My brother, Collin, took these amazing photos of the entire Nichols family. We weren't missing a single person, which is an awesome feat considering we live in Washington, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado. 

 This is four generations, ranging from 85 years old to 1 years young!

 Grandma and Grandpa Nichols with their three children, Ginger, Doug, and Dallas.

 And their spouses.

(Ginger and Kevin; Doug and Sally; Dallas and Jan)

 All my cousins and spouses

 All the great-grandchildren!

 We have a runner!

 I just adore this picture!

 This is my favorite picture of the day. While we were taking pictures, Grandpa leaned over to kiss Grandma. They couldn't quite reach, so Grandpa got her nose instead. You can see the entire progression of the kiss in the following pictures. 

 What fabulous pictures Collin captured of the entire family. How blessed we are!

(We did take a family picture of my parents, siblings, spouses, and children, but I will save that for a later date since it's our family Christmas photo.)

Family Reunion

In late August, the entire Nichols' clan headed to Cozad, NE for a family reunion and 65th Wedding Anniversary Party for my Grandma Reva and Grandpa Leon Nichols. My cousin from Washington came with his entire family, and we haven't seen him in over five years. My cousin from Wyoming came with his family, and we haven't seen him in years. From near and far, over 50 family members and close friends came to celebrate the weekend. 

My Aunt Jan was in charge of the party planning, and man, can she throw a party!!! Friday night, the entire group went to a Winery where Jan supplied wine and chocolate for over 80 people. There was even a live band! On Saturday, we took family pictures (coming up in my next blog) and then spent the day at Camp Comeca swimming, playing games, shooting archery, and sweating a whole lot! (Have I mentioned it was HOT and HUMID the entire weekend. Josh, who isn't used to the humidity, nearly died).

Saturday night, Jan outdid herself again! She hired a gaming bus to come to Cozad, and cousins young and old enjoyed this fun, fun event. 

Kye and Carson competing against one another. 

Kye is definitely mesmerized.

Case is loving his game!

Corinne is into this game, and even Siahna got involved in the games.

Carson loved playing games with his cousin, Braden.

 

The adults even got into the Dance Party outside the bus (see Josh on the far left?).

 Those Nichols/Anderson girls sure do have the moves!

 Josh became BFF's with my cousin from Washington, Chad. They were inseparable throughout the entire weekend, so much so that they had to have a dance together (this is my favorite picture of the weekend).

 I love this picture so much!

 My cousin Brandee and I were dance partners on this one.

 At the end of the night, Jan had 65 red hot air balloons we attempted to light and set off at 9 p.m., but it was too windy and dangerous. We sent three up in the air, but the wind was whipping them around too much (and there was a flame in the balloon), so we weren't able to set off all 65 of them. It was a great idea, though!

Here are four of my favorite people in the world. On the left and in green are my mom's parents, Grandpa Bill and Grandma Van. They celebrated 69 years of marriage last week. Grandma Reva is in white and Grandpa Leon is in blue. We were in Cozad celebrating their 65th Anniversary. 

Both grandparents are great examples of a godly marriage and both pairs have survived so, so much in 65 years plus, but they are still madly in love. 

It was one of my favorite weekends of the year, and I am so glad Josh and I were able to spend the weekend with my fabulous family. 

Small Font

I was telling my students, "Your short story that you write can only be 2-3 pages. I don't want it any longer than that, so you really need to condense your work if your story is longer. I want to see clear and concise writing."

A student raised her hand. "Ms. Nichols, my story is at 10 pages right now, and I'm only halfway done. Is that okay?"

"No, that's no okay. I want you to edit and cut it down to 3 pages. Please do not turn in a 15 page story."

"Ok, I can do that. I'll just make the font really small so that my story is only 3 pages."

Nope, not even what I meant. Not even a little bit.

Anticipation

I love the anticipation of looking forward to something.

I am like a little kid when it comes to Christmas. I love opening gifts, but I love giving gifts even more. I always want people to open MY gift first because I can hardly stand waiting for them to gasp in surprise and admiration.

I get so excited on Fridays that I can hardly focus on my work because that's the day I get to see Josh.

When my parents come for the weekend (like this weekend), I get so eager for them to arrive that I sometimes can't sleep.

When I think about moving to an apartment or house that will be Josh and my first home, I get goosebumps. I start to dream of decorating and creating the perfect place for just the two of us.

When I think about our honeymoon, I get lost in thought and get butterflies in my tummy. I'm not entirely sure I can wait nine more months to fly to Mexico; I might just burst with excitement before even arriving.

With eight months until my wedding, I have already bought my bridesmaids their gifts, and I honestly don't know if I can keep it a secret. I may or may not have already told one of them what she is getting.... or two of them. But whatever. I can hardly wait.

In order not to fly away into dream world and never come back, I have to make myself NOT think about my upcoming wedding. When I think about it, I become giddy. I lose all focus. I stop working. I squeal in anticipation. I tell anyone and everyone who will listen ALL my plans.

Today as the bell rang and students filed out of my room, I got lost in wedding planning in my head. I was staring off into space thinking about how to make a specific decoration stand up on the table when my friend, Liz walked into my room. I didn't even notice she was present because I was in decoration mode. She thought something was wrong, and I quickly came back to planet teaching earth to tell her I was perfectly fine but was doing some planning my head. That happens a lot.

Eight months is much too far away for me to accomplish anything between now and then. I think I just might burst with excitement before I even make it to June 7.

That is why I try to keep busy, so my mind doesn't wander into wedding and honeymoon thoughts.

In the next eight months, I must:
1. Find an apartment/house for Josh and me to live
2. Pack
3. Move in February (when my lease is up)
4. Coach Lacrosse in March, April, and May
5. Finish planning my wedding
6. Finish all my decorations (homemade, all of them!)
7. Create our songlist for the wedding reception
8. Organize the entire wedding
9. Plan food for 40 people for three days prior to the wedding
10. Plan a wedding reception
11. Sit with Josh and Jeff to plan our wedding ceremony
12. Write the family Christmas letter
13. Move Josh to Denver in June
14. Plan a reception for our friends in Kearney who can't make the wedding
15. Book our honeymoon

And there's more, but those are the major things on my mind. I just might explode.

Can you imagine how I feel today knowing Josh will be at my place in three hours, my parents will be here in 12 hours, I get to hang with Case and Siahna tonight, Kye is coming with my parents for the weekend, mom and I are going veil shopping, and we're celebrating my birthday? That is just too much excitement and anticipation for one girl to handle.