Muffin Man

This post is for a mommy who may be missing her muffin.

Gram-Gram came to visit today, we had so much fun.
Thanks for the help Gram-Gram!

I love this little man.
He's the best nephew an auntie could ask for.
It's just us this week.
We're having so much fun, but he definitely misses his mama!

Tagged

So I have been tagged, but this is a fun one because it's about my sweet husband.

Where did you meet? We first met at a youth dance when I was eighteen and Sam was seventeen. I was dropping my sister off and she introduced me to Sam. We met again four years later in the library at BYU while I was visiting Hannah and Ben.

(actual location)

How long did you date before you were married? Well we dated for a year, broke up for a year, dated again for four months, and then we were engaged for almost three months.

How long have you been married? A little over 4 months.

What does he do that surprises you? He still cracks me up constantly, I'm surprised that I never get tired of his jokes. He's hilarious!

What is your favorite feature about him? His height, I'm a height snob as most of you know.

What's your favorite quality about him? I have two, his desire to always improve himself and our relationship and his lighthearted nature.

Does he have a nickname for you? What is it? He used to call me Head like everyone one else but now he calls me beebee or babe.

What's his favorite color? Blue.

What's his favorite food? Steak and mashed potatoes or Mexican food.

What's his favorite sport? He likes to watch College Basketball but play tennis.

Who said "I love you" first? I tricked Sam into saying it first. I asked him if he'd ever been in love and he said, if I ever loved someone I guess it would have to be you. That's right ladies a real romantic.

When and where was your first kiss? On Hannah's doorstep in Provo. We had met a month earlier but I lived in California and he lived in Utah so we'd talked on the phone a bit but hadn't really seen each other very much. Sam had JUST gotten home from his mission and hadn't kissed anyone yet. I remember asking him why he looked so nervous. He walked me to the door which was up a few stairs, then he walked down the stairs and stood there staring at me. Then he came back up the stairs and kissed me three times. I promise it was the most amazing first kiss, and I've loved all of his kisses ever since!

(actual location)

What's your favorite thing to do as a couple? Go to Costco.

Do you have kids? Don't I wish! We have Luke and he tides me over... For now.

What's a hidden talent that he has? His short court in tennis, you can't stop that reach.

How old is he? 24 ALMOST 25, yep I'm a 26 year old cradle robber.

What's his favorite type of music? Rock n Roll baby!

What do you most admire about him? His desire to do good, and to always do what is right.

What's his favorite pastime? You might think this sounds corny but he really just likes to spend one on one time with me. Well that or Warcraft III ha ha.

Do you think he is going to read this? I'm sure he will.

I have to tag people, so KC Grey, Christie Palmer, Jo Vest, and Kim Schaffer.

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

Coming Attractions:

Packing, packing, and more packing (box collecting is my new hobbie all of the sudden). This is our spare room, and believe it or not this is the best it's looked since we moved in.

Natalie comes to Utah on Saturday. Yes that is me in the photo, during darker times.

Hannah is coming for graduation in a week and a half. The bus was full of an all boys Jewish school, hilarious.

My Mom is coming to visit me. Okay so she is actually coming for graduation but I can pretend it's for me.

Adam is coming to town a couple days after Hannah.

Sam, Hannah, and Adam will all be graduating!!

Ambyr's Birthday!! Right now I am 26 and Ambyr is 27. These 3 weeks were our favorite growing up because we'd only have a year between our ages.

Sam and I will be moving back to the Bay Area. We don't know where we'll live, and neither of us have secured jobs just yet, but we are VERY excited to be near our families and where we grew up.

My best friend Kerri Avery, becomes Kerri Avery-Le.

Darlene comes to visit.

Ken starts UCDavis, I am so excited for him. He is majoring in Chemical Engineering so he can solve our oil crisis ;)








Lots of fun things happening I can hardly stand it.

Picture this!

So I figured I would update our blog on our fun summer in Utah with a photo summary, which is much more fun than reading about it.

Me and Sam in Park City

The Grey-Walls and The Ashbys riding the crazy coaster in Park City

We went to the Art Festival with Sam's sister Mara

My cousin Dana came to visit with her cute boys

We went to the Pioneer Day Parade

We ran around Salt Lake with Sam's parents in search of Pecan Pie and stopped in the Joseph Smith Memorial building.

Sam and his Dad went on an 8 hour fishing excursion.

You can't keep a good man down!

So I was pretty disappointed on Wednesday night after so you think you can dance. Mark was partnered with Comfort, which couldn't be good. And then they chose Hip hop (good news) and the quick step (the kiss of death!!). The hip hop routine was awesome, but the quick step was a mess, as I suspected it would be. So first they put him with Kherington and then Comfort, two of the worst girl dancers if you ask me. It seemed a little fishy. I called Natalie to complain and she informed me she had talked to Mark who informed her the partners are not random at all. They give you a hat with one name in it, so it is pre-selected. LUCKILY for Mark, America loves him and he was not voted out this week PHEW! I was really surprised that Twitch was in the bottom. He is Sam's favorite. I didn't think Will would be leaving, he is an amazing dancer... But I am still pulling for Mark and Chelsea, here is why: