Stone Mountain

Let's get one thing straight:

Pictures never do it justice.

 But I'm sure grateful for them!

Shaun had training all week up in Stone Mountain and guess who got to come along?! Even though most of my days were spent by the pool, netflix, and exploring by myself..SJ & I got to do some fun stuff! Right outside our room was this amazing lake and trees that I was obsessed with. 

 all you could hear was the water & the birds. I felt really nature-istic while I was there. They had a small board walk thing that I would sit and do my scripture study on some days.

the last night there we went with some of Shaun's co-workers to the big laser show that they do there. the mountain acts like a big screen and they project some Southern pride on there. It was pretty cool and I enjoyed more than I thought.

 after we checked out of the hotel we took the sky tram up to the top of the mountain. It was waaay too hot to hike and there was thunder storms as you can tell from the gray clouds. It was UNREAL on the top. With the clouds so close to you, you felt like you could touch them.

 It was super cool to see GREEN for miles. And it was a great way to end the day. Here I am looking at this piece of stone (which actually is the biggest/only landmark made out of total stone...or something like that. I wasn't totally listening to the tour guide) all week long and finally I was able to go to it.

Super fun trip but SO HAPPY to be home. (wow. I think I just called my apartment in Georgia home. Progress!)

Leather Ladies

The other day I lost my eye mask that I sleep with (yes I sleep with an eye mask. The sun decides to say hi in the earliesssst of hours so it's a must). I was trying to explain to Shaun that I needed to find it because it is now a security thing in order to sleep. He laughed at me saying that I have only had it for 2 weeks. I argued saying it was at least a month. Then he said the words that hit me so hard that I didn't even know it hit me...until the now. 

"we have only been out here in GA for a month"

No way. At least 2!  right??

I can't believe it has been only 1 month because of how hard I'm missing people. But I guess at the same time it has gone fast (by the look of my apartment that isn't even all the way moved into yet).

I am learning more about the Georgia scene though, such as:

-never shower until you are completely done going outside for the day. Even just a walk down to the main office requires one. HUMIDITY IS MY ENEMY

-have your 2 quarters ready to pay at the toll if you are going into atlanta

-from the people I have talked to, at least in the area that I am at, non-members don't hate the Church. You are just another believer that believes kind of along the same lines as them. So very open to talk about christianity, even at the pool. I like it that way. 

-back to the sun, it hits you hard here (ash, no wonder you were always black). There are always the same 2 older women at the pool that I call "the leathered ladies." Their black skin might come off soon. 

-i have a new love for ceiling fans.

-when it rains, it pours. therefore do not drive in it.

-i understand country music a lot more being down here. (funny, but true)

-GREEN is (or should be) the state color. 

-FIREFLIES ARE REAL! 

stay tuned for more obvious Georgia findings.

ps, we are in Stone MT this week for one of Shaun's trainings.

It is fun going on a little vacation that's free!

at the end of the day, I know this is where we are supposed to be. . 

even if it has only been ONE MONTH

I

love

frog

legs

(my nephew Clark)

Sawnee Mt Preserve

Last Saturday Shaun & I wanted to get out and explore a bit. Sadly the past couple weeks have been so stormy but we still took a chance on the weather and decided to go for it. 

We started out on the Sawnee trail up to the lookout. This is me & Sawnee himself. 

It was so beautiful! Green is my new favorite color out here. I felt like I was in the Sacred grove -slash- in the Jurassic Park movie (if those 2 could go together). There was just thunder when we started and if there was rain, we were pretty covered with the trees. Unless of course it decided to be a monsoon. 

Georgia loves those sick rain storms.

Sadly, I had the Nikon camera with me which I didn't want to go further into the enchanted raining forest with. So we headed back, but we will make it back soon when the sun is out!

Great day!

Lovely SJ put together some footage from our special day. It's a bit long but loveee it. So grateful for everyone that put time into that day. It was incredible!

 Also, this is Shaun's amazing song that he sang to me at the reception with his brothers & Dad.

birthday in the Philippines

i have had a best friend since the 8th grade.

one of those friends that isn't even a best friend because she's a sister.

you can go months (even sometimes years) and come back and INSTANTLY reconnect.

That's my Chandler Anne. and she is a birthday today on this Friday the 13th.

chan is the person i feel at home with. with the move to Utah County we kept in touch our best expecting to room together for college. well i had a change of heart which made me stay in provo. we were able to become close to a lot of people but always had each other to come back to and talk and play as sisters. 

our friendship requires effort. which sounds bad but ends up not really being bad because if a friendship requires effort for me, i usually drop it (whoops). but never with chandler. we manage to stay connected always and usually saw each other every few months when our busy lives allowed it. 

chan's laugh is outrageous and contagious. she's beautiful and always got the dates in high school while i played the role as the fairy god mother or one of the mice. she always had a new boy and a hilarious story to go along with each one. 

her family is my second family. when i was little i wasn't really allowed to go on trips with friends nor was i a fan, but i always could with the Wellings. countless weeks and memories are held with them. i say this with a lot of people but i know chan to be a life long friend because of our relationship. 

ever since high school i have talked to chan about my desire to serve a mission. she would express her support to me but also her concerns that she could never leave her life and family. school was important to her. soon the trio left high school. leaving, Linds & I thought Chandler would be first to be married off. little did we know life had something else in store for her.

chan & i were able to be bridesmaids at Lindsey's wedding and we dreamed and talked about our own. ironically enough, chandler put her papers in to serve a full time mission for the church. it was the biggest joke of our lives because we totally switched places. Shaun and i were becoming more serious and i was so grateful for chandler to be able to meet and spend time with him. she left about 5 months too early but don't worry we still found a way to be able to have chandler be a bridesmaid with Lindsey at MY wedding.

on that day you absolutely have no time to think about anything but i surprisingly had chandler in my thoughts throughout. i was so disappointed she couldn't be there up until the day before my wedding. she is doing some pretty amazing things out in the Philippines and i was so proud of her that i didn't even feel that need for my second sister to be there. 

SHE'S LOVING IT, despite hand washing your clothes and nothing too grand to eat. She is probably the most beautiful missionary I have seen and touching a lot of hearts with her bubbly/contagious personality. Happy 22nd birthday to my sister Chandler Anne Welling! See you in April

C.J (just kidding it's not CJ & his mother would probably kill me for calling him that)

Clark

Ryan

Johnson

was born

July

third

two-thousand-twelve

If there is only one thing pulling me to be in Utah it would be this baby. I will 100% admit that I despise those annoying people that brag about their offspring that isn't even their offspring. AKA all those sappy aunts (except you Brit). But guess what I sure joined that crowd. I can't get enough of him. Margaret promised me that she would send me a picture everyday and she gladly has held up her side of the bargain. Tears were shed on that Skype session. I'll see you soon!

Monsoon & BBQ sauce.

I am almost done with painting my frames which is the most exciting lately. I need to go choose the pictures now and hang them up to brighten our dull living room.

I think I should be a hunter. My hearing is incredible! All night I can hear the fan make a ticking noise and we even sleep with white noise to block out the sounds. Well that means that I have to go turn off the fan so I can go to sleep. Oh whoops, that means SJ wakes up an hour later of heat and turns it back on. I will never get used to sleeping here.

On the road to eating healthier, when I asked Shaun to go pick out a cereal he came back with real granola. Not the sugar downed type. I was shocked that he would try it. Just had a lovely bowl and it was delicious! Too bad eating healthy doesn't consist of only eating 100% granola.

One day I will be a cook like a real wife and Mom. The common phrase in our house that Shaun says is "you'll learn." I would be punching him in the face if it weren't for the giant stupid mistakes that I am making. *note to self: check that you have BBQ sauce before you cook the chicken and shred it up like you are making BBQ sandwiches. Also, even if the package says "high heat" that doesn't mean for you to put your stove on the highest notch and walk away.

Well all of a sudden flights around Christmas sky rocketed. I hate playing flight lottery.

EFY playlist played today on my iTunes-shuffle. I had a strange feeling come over me like..I could possibly be..over it? (scary thought)

We decided to join the southerns and attend a Rascal Flatts concert while we are here.

October will probably be the highlight of the year. Disneyland with the Johnson's, holding Clark, and an Elder Johnson making his way out of here.

Did we have people "house-sit" our houses back in UT? I couldn't remember. I think that rarely happened but here it's almost a must. Dorothy we're not in Kansas.

Last night in Walmart you could hear a horrifying rumbling sound get louder and louder. I was on the verge of ducking behind my cart when I look around seeing nobody react. I couldn't believe it, it was just a monsoon POUNDING on the roof of Walmart. It gets a little out of control when the highest level of your windshield wipers can't even push away the water fast enough for you to see.

enfermo

Why do they say the term under the weather? I did not know so I googled it. This was the response that I got:

This expression means you are not feeling very well. It suggests you're not exactly sure why you feel like this and it is also associated with feeling depressed. We have other expressions like: feel down. It is connected with the weather as some people feel depressed when the sky is dark and dull and it is raining.

Interesting. Although I look outside and I have never seen such bluer skies. What a shame, because I am currently under the weather.

I have done all of my scramble turns, my reading, slept, and watched all the law & order I can handle for one day. So I resorted to blogging. Because it is basically the only thing I can do on my back that I have not already done. 

I was thinking today that it is funny how we take advantage of our health until it's gone. That was all that was going through my head as I was up last night laying on the bathroom floor . Which actually usually happens. Either when I am sick or have a stuffed up nose I think:

"oh my goodness when I get better I am going to appreciate it so much." 

"the moment I can breathe out of my nose will be the best moment I will never forget."

Yes these are real thoughts that I have. But they usually last about an hour after I am feeling better and I forget them until the next time. I need to be more appreciative to myself. Another thought that I was having last night was how I am always able to go home to be sick whether I was living at home or not. It was weird being sick in a foreign place. Where's mother? (yeah, I know, time to grow up Nicole) I woke up Shaun a couple hours into my sick-sick night and I don't know why because there wasn't really much he could do. Wait, then was there really much Mom could do? Other than hand me the water bottle and check on me..there wasn't. Why are we so dependent on having our Mom's take care of us while we are sick? 

Well at about 3:30 AM last night during a small break for my esophagus, it hit me. SUPPORT. I didn't need Shaun to do anything. I just needed him there for support. I couldn't believe how much better I felt being sick with someone there rather than alone. And bless Shaun's heart for going to work the next day on no sleep. Support is great and we should surround ourselves with people who WE can support and who can support us. 

sup·port/səˈpôrt/

Verb:	Bear all or part of the weight of; hold up.
Noun:	A thing that bears the weight of something or keeps it upright: "the best support for a camera is a tripod".
Synonyms:	verb.  sustain - maintain - uphold - bear - back - favour noun.  prop - backing - help - assistance - aid - rest So somewhere we went from the meaning behind under the weather to taking advantage of our health and now to my support system. I can never find family and friends like the ones I have and will always have. Not to mention one of my best supports of all. . .

America's Birthday

nobody blogs anymore.
which makes me not want to, but I know I'll regret that so I'll continue doing it. 


July 4th is always so much fun so I wasn't too worried. We joined the Sant's and a few other families for Spider Man in the afternoon and then had a big BBQ and firework party at the most amazing house I've ever seen.

We also were able to go to the Lake a day or two after the 4th festivities which was also a blast. Utah Lake is dry & muddy surrounded by desert compared to Lake Linear out here. I couldn't believe the tall gorgeous green trees that surrounded the lake. It made the experience that much more enjoyable.

Like always here are some pictures to document.

the fourth:

(this woman is my Georgia mother. So grateful for her!)

Lake Linear:

just some GA festivities for y'all

I hate that these big pictures covers up the side pictures of Shaun & I as babes.

But I want these pictures to be big. 

I'll investigate it and see if I can change it.

 Well one whole week down. We haven't done a ton of stuff but I would say quite a lot for 7 days I guess. Those 7 days consisted of: 

-Shaun buying and putting together a million piece entertainment center for 4 hours

-a trip to the city to look at furniture. THE CITY IS SO BEAUTIFUL!

-swim swim swimming everyday. I'll be golden in no time.

-our backyard has an incredible pond and woods type thing {did i just say woods type thing?}

-spending a lot of time with our Sant family the lifesavers. Including birthday parties, card games, volleyball games, cooking galore, playing with the celebrity dog named Becker and much more. {Ash, come quicker!}

sayonara

As I mentioned, Shaun & his Dad took the trek across country to GA while I stayed in Utah and finished my summer semester out. My parents went on a cruise so it worked out perfectly to stay at their house and use their car while staying and spending time with my brother. Kristine moved out but was good about coming back to hang with us. Looking back it actually was a good last two weeks {even though at the time I was super stressed with school & thought it was the worst}.

Highlights: Avengers with the siblings, Brit's art history night, Grocery shopping with Corn, KC's fathers day celebration, slurpee runs, Kristine the hair stylist, Din with Park & Pat, Trampoline sesh. 

It was a short time but a good one. Dad had meetings but Mom & the kids drove us to the airport and said our last goodbyes! It was a big moment leaving the nest for reals. {But I'll be back...right Shaun? :) just kidding we like it here}