So do you miss Provo?

Since moving back to the bay area my days are filled with my sweet husband, perfect weather, Luke, Ambyr, my brother (who is probably the most helpful person I know), my parents and grandparents being close by, the Nielsen's, a beautiful house to stay in, Sam's brother and sister-in-law, 2 adorable dogs that I love, going to see the trains with Luke, plenty of awesome job opportunities, interviews with well established companies, cooking, a tiny bit of cleaning since this house is always immaculate, nice neighbors, a very diverse ward. I am definitely what can only be described as blissful and yet I must admit there are a few things I do miss about Provo.
I guess what I miss most is not having my things in boxes. Being able to go to the bedroom and choose something to wear without rummaging through suitcases. Or finding our fennel in the spice cabinet rather than digging through the stacks to boxes in the garage. Sam's brother and sister-in-law have been so generous in allowing us to stay with them until we find permanent employment and a nice place in Burlingame, but I do miss having my own apartment.
The thing I miss next are my friends. I hate thinking that I have no clue when the next time Christie and I will see each other again is. Or realizing that Brittney and I never got to say goodbye. Or how I should have just gone to Jo's to see her instead of trying to call time and again (turns out her phone was broken) so I didn't get to have one last trip to the pool or hear about her trip to Southern California. It makes me so sad because I love my friends very much and I need them in my life.
This one goes without saying but I miss Graham Canyon Ice Cream!!! Okay so this is the thing I miss the very most. If I could choose between having my things unpacked or this Ice Cream, the ice cream would win. The Creamery needs to go nation wide with this stuff. It would be an instant success. For those of you unlucky souls who have no idea what I am talking about let me try to put into words how amazing this ice cream really is. It is made fresh in the BYU Creamery, it is vanilla, with ribbons of brown sugar, and chunks of malted graham cracker covered in chocolate. In a word it is heaven.
I miss going on walks in the middle of the night to the temple.
I miss Maria, Will, and Cadence; our neighbors who lived so close to us we could be in our individual apartments but having dinner together. And even though we never got to go camping, we still had a lot of fun with them.
I miss the Helaman Halls pool. Wymount tenants, such as we were, get unlimited pool access to the Helaman Halls pool and I took full advantage this summer. I would get a little color, chat with the moms from my ward, and have so much fun.
I miss visiting Sam's parents on Sunday afternoons. Sam's mother showing me the flourishing garden and the newest tree additions to the orchard. Sam's dad cracking us up with his jokes and listening to him play the piano. Chatting and cooking with Sam's sisters. Tre (their dog) terrorizing everyone in the house.
I miss visiting with my cousins who are in Utah, namely the Tingey's. It was so nice reconnecting with them and playing with their kids. I love having extended family around.
I miss cooking in my own kitchen. Candace's kitchen is much bigger and a LOT nicer, but I miss knowing where all of my things are and knowing what food is around and cooking dinner for Sam every night.
You may be thinking to yourself, all Heather has talked about for the last two years is getting the heck out of Utah and moving back to San Francisco and now she is complaining about missing Provo?!?! Well what I have come to realize is there are always going to be things I miss but I need to be happy about where I am at the time. I feel like I need to make it known that I did like Utah, but as great as it was it could never be home to me. SO I am happy I can say that I definitely made the best of Utah but I am SOOOO happy to be back in the Bay Area and I plan on living it up while Sam and I are here.

Happy happy birthday sister dear...

Today is Ambyr Jo Nielsen's 28th birthday!! For those of you who know my sister Ambyr, you know just how great she really is. She makes you feel comfortable, she is very easy to be around, and she has the best dimple you'll ever see! Case in point:
Ambyr has always been there for me. I talk to her every single day, most days more than once. She has always understood me best, believed in me, and helped me in any way possible. I asked my father (he said to tell Am hi and he loves her on this post) if he could think of any funny Am stories and he told me when she was about one, she and Kenny (who was three) were playing in their room and all of the sudden Ambyr started screaming bloody murder, and then Kenny ran into the living room and said, "mommy daddy, Ambyr just bit herself on the cheek!!" Now that was more of a Kenny story but it still made me laugh.
Ambyr is a great mother (she may kill me for posting this photo):

She was the cutest pregnant woman I have ever seen, there was definitely a glow about her. And she never complained about being pregnant. It may have been the second happiest I have ever seen her. The first being when Luke was born. The first thing she said as soon as she gave birth to Luke was, "that's it?!? I could do that again easily!" She was definitely born to be a mommy.
One of my favorite memories of Ambyr was when we were in high school together. Ambyr was a senior and I was a sophomore. We'd recently returned from spring break. Ambyr was an office assistant and answered the phones for the school. One morning she answered, "Irvington High School student speaking" and the voice at the other end said, "there is a bomb in your school and it will go off in 2 hours." To which Ambyr replied, "What!?!!? But there are so many good kids here!!!" Needless to say that was a frightening time, but Ambyr still said exactly what she thought. She defended our high school to a terrorist. She then ran to the area of campus where I had class and started to yell my name. I found her in the hallway and she took me home so we could be out of the line of danger. Ambyr has always taken care of me. For all she knew there was a bomb in our school, but she made sure to find me before she left. (Turns out, the call was just a prank, and terrible prank, and I believe the kid ended up in juvenile hall.) I just can't put into words how much my sister means to me. Thinking about what my life would be without her literally brings tears to my eyes. I love her more than anything and I am SOOOO excited to move home to spend more time with her!! One more week yeayyyyyyyy!!!










Love you sister!! I wish the Happiest Birthday to you xoxoxo