{ Colorado + UT cabin + lovies = Holiday }

(this photo was taken at my ward Christmas party the week before I left for the holiday. Can't resist capturing festive footwear. Nicki=green vans, Janelle=red vans)

In this instance, lovies=loved ones. And my holiday was awesome.

The vacation started with 6 days in Colorado with my family (only my brother, his wife and their children excluded since they were in Seattle) and ended with approximately 24 fun-packed hours at my friend Douglas' cabin right outside of Oakley, UT (it northeast of Park City ish I think).

Holiday One: Christmas in Colorado
Normally, 6 days with my family would be a lot. I don't think I'd spent a contiguous 6 days with them for at least three years previous to this holiday. But can I just tell you, it was wonderful? 144 hours filled with Christmas-package deliveries, singing in the church choir, having/making family dinner and treats, watching movies with my mom, snowboarding with my niece, playing games, having Christmas and doing puzzles. Just good, old-fashioned family fun.

This Christmas in Colorado came with two unexpected discoveries.

Unexpected discovery #1:
My family has A LOT of fun without me. I didn't know it was possible, but it's true. I think it has something to do with them all living within 20 miles of each other. Things like family dinners and game nights and outings all take place without me on a regular basis. So sad. But, in all fairness, they do occasionally call to invite me, and I get messages like this "Hey Nicki! Dad's making chili for family dinner! Come on over at 6." Tender of them. Impossible, but tender.

Unexpected discovery #2:
My 15-year-old niece, Megan, can choose presents for me incredibly well. Maybe even the best in my family. Awesome present no.1 was a delightful dish towel from Anthropologie, which I can't seem to find online, but trust me, it was charming. Awesome present no.2 was a snap-closure wallet with a playful floraly print. Perfect. Thanks Megany :)


This is my sweet, honestly-the-most-selfless-person-I-know mom getting some Christmas packages ready to deliver to friends of hers. She is one very organized lady.


Me and my dad playing with my niece Honor after I sliced a pineapple. The first time I put the topper on her head she didn't like it, but I got her to smile the second time.


Me and my niece Honor watching while waiting for her mom to come pick her up after work. I really like this pic. Quality time at the front door.


Me and my niece Jena driving on our way to go boarding (too bad I left my camera in the car so I didn't get any pictures on the mountain).
Road conditions on the way up=treacherous.
Nicki&Jena's steely will and perseverance through said shady road conditions=flawless.


This was my favorite gift I gave this year -- a homemade CD (Original Nicki music with me singing and playing guitar) with a homemade CD sleeve. The process of making the sleeve is shown above. I gave it to my dad. I think I enjoyed making and giving it more than he actually enjoyed receiving it, but my favorite gift nonetheless. Probably because I liked the packaging best.

Holiday Two: 24 hours at Douglas' cabin
The morning after I got back from Colorado, I made my way out to Douglas' cabin. The cabin itself lies about 5 miles in from the nearest plowed road, so in the winter you can:
a) ride in on their sweet, fire-engine red snow cat
b) take a snowmobile in, or
c) use an alternative method that requires man power (snowshoeing, cross-country ski, etc)

In my instance, I had all intentions of cross-country skiing all 5 miles in to the cabin (the rest of the group had treked in the night before), but about three miles into it I got sick of cross country skiing and hitched a ride with a very nice man on a snowmobile. Best of both worlds huh?

The cabin was wonderfully cabiny. Snow shoeing, snow angel making, guitar playing, oragami, fireplace fireing, jumping off the cabin balcony into large amounts of powder and relaxing was enjoyed by all.


View during my drive to the cabin Saturday morning. It was way more pink than pictured, but, sadly, the camera couldn't correctly capture the color (yeah alliteration!)


Another view on the drive. Little red barn in a small town. cute. NOTE: Have you ever seen large windows and curtains on a barn before?


Natalie, Megan and Brenna running downhill during our snowshoeing adventure. (this and the rest of photos courtesy of the awesome Matt Cobabe)


The rest of the snow shoeing group.
(from left to right: Steve, Nicki, Katie, Douglas (and stickly tree) and Lisa)


Taking a break to make snow angels on the trek.


Me and Katie on Douglas' cabin balcony -- we jumped off of it into about 6 feet of powder.


The jump.


And the aftermath, including a face full of snow and a couple minutes of wiggling myself to the surface. My legs are definitely straight below me in this photo.

{ Kaiizen a-hoy }

Last weekend I went on a humanitarian trip down to Mexico with a charity group called Kaiizen. We brought Christmas to an orphanage down there (santa and presents included), and brought rice, beans, hygiene kits and tons of other miscellaneous goods to a local neighborhood in Ensenada. It was totally rad. I never ceased to be amazed by how beautiful the Mexican people were. Old and young. Beautiful skin. Deep brown eyes. And elderly people with wrinkles that could tell a thousand stories. Just so beautiful.

My only regret for the trip is that I didn't spend enough time with the kids at the orphanage. I organized presents, put together charity packages, painted beds, served food, did crafts, handed out charity packages, participated in a variety show...but just didn't get enough chill face time. Next time I'll definitely be making that more of a priority rather than just hanging out behind the scenes. Overall, though, It was an incredible experience filled with smiles, fun, hard work, a cold community shower, a near collision with a cement barrier, awesome new friends and chilly sleeping-bag feet :)

SIDE NOTE: I developed a new love during this trip: Sleeping on the beach under the stars. Seriously, no experience like it. While in Ensenada, we slept two nights on a private beach, and I fell in love with waking up to an ocean-front view. I would open my eyes to the sight of the clear sky, with the smell of the salt water and sound of the waves. And then just sit up while still snuggled into my cozy little sleeping bag and just stare out onto the ocean, watching the pelicans glide over the top of the water. So amazing. Pleasing for all senses. And the best part was I was surrounded by people I loved. I don't know if it gets better than that. Just so idyllic.


Ugly Christmas sweater contest on the drive down? check.


Nicki and Robyn eating shakes at In-N-Out? check.


This was the back of the Soob just before we crossed the border. You would never guess there were like 17 presents hidden under all our luggage, huh? I was so proud of our sneekiness. I guess you're not supposed to let the border patrol know you're bringing presents to the orphanage. We were good at that.


This is the taco stand we ate dinner at after we got to Ensenada. The cooks may not have been wearing gloves, but the tacos were delish.


Here's our camp on the beach. See what I'm saying?! SO RAD!


The hilly drive to the orphanage had this charming little vineyard on the way. So pretty.



Here are some of the kids giving us high-fives on the way to lunch when we got there. Just before this, they had been standing in lines singing songs (lines pictured above) waiting to go into the dining hall for lunch -- I think they do it before every meal.


We seriously brought MOUNDS of presents for the kids. The generosity of the people donating the presents was amazing.


Me and my bum bum organizing kits to hand out to the community, and Tim scratching his back.


This is Jesus. HE WAS SO GOOD AT THE TOP! It was so impressive. He would whip it behind his back and catch it in his hands and then transfer it to other people's hands and work it on his string like a yoyo. What a babe.


It may not look like it, but I could totally balance the spinning top on my hand -- quite the personal accomplishment.


Me and Jesus. Just after we took this pic he showed us where we could purchase tops a the local tienda.


Part of the variety show we put on for the kids. Nothing says fun like unsuspecting pies in the face. (photo courtesy of Dan Dixon -- one of the trip photographers)


Dinner on the last night in Ensenada. Yum, and only $1.40 each (plus all the free chips, salsa and guacamole you could ever hope for).


On our way out of Mexico we had to cross through a toll booth. Notice that the toll booth arm has been secured by duct tape after it had apparently sustained an injury.


We stopped at a gas station on the way out of Mexico, and one of the groups in our caravan locked their keys in the trunk of their car. We took advantage of the 45-minute set-back by taking some memory-saving photos.
(From left: Ci Ci, Tashina, Luke, Michelle, Matt, Nicki, Jen, Robyn)


This beautiful old man was selling something on the side of the road next to the border -- a prime location seeing as the cars trying to get across are stuck in line for at least half an hour on their way out. I just thought he was incredible looking. My friend Allison had me take this picture so her brother could paint him.

{ The (Un)Traditional Seattle Thanksgiving }

My brother and his awesome wife Chele (Chay-lee) didn't disappoint in providing an excellent Holiday, once again, this year. Seattle Thanksgiving came about as I was debating where I would spend the holiday. My brother called amid my vacillating and won me over with the line "You'll break tradition if you don't come, dude!" As it has it, spending Thanksgiving in Seattle the previous year had started a tradition, so, not to disrupt the long-standing behavior, I went to Seattle for the holiday. It was an excellent choice.

I selected two themes that adjectify the three-day trip...

#1: nontraditional.
#2: awesomely family-erific

Trip highlights included a drive along Lake Washington, a visit to Kite park, Thanksgiving breakfast at the TV-acclaimed and sister-recommended Top Pot Donuts (it's a palindrome just in case you didn't notice), guitar time with my brother Andy, an enchilada feast for Thanksgiving dinner, bonding with my sweet niece and nephew, and a delightful lunch with my dear friend Bonnie who's living in Seattle right now.

Here's the recap/representation in picture form:

This is the view from inside the Seattle airport. My first glance out the window yielded a view of no less than 150 ever green trees at the same time. So rich.


My brother and niece at a small bridge over Lake Washington the morning I drove in. Not the best picture of my niece or my brother, but it captures the moment. We had stopped for a second on our way home to walk around and take in the fresh, Seattle air.


Thanksgiving breakfast at Top Pot donuts. This place came highly recommended from my sister Tracey (despite her never having gone there), and it didn't disappoint. This photo is of my brother ordering a dozen. It's a pretty poshy place, I'll tell you what. It feels like a high-end coffee shop inside; stacked with book shelves, dark-wood floors and beautiful-looking donuts.


My niece Anza admiring said beautiful Top Pot donuts.


Me, Chele and Anza in front of Top Pot. The family that eats donuts together stays together.


They weren't so beautiful after we cut them into pieces so we could try each one, but they were still delicious :)


The non-traditional, but definitely yummy Thanksgiving-dinner enchiladas. Low hassle, high enjoyment -- thanks Che :)


My cute niece Anza eating a pear. The photo is blurry (as were a lot from this trip -- sad), but check out those blue eyes, huh?


My nephew Mojave. Again, the photo is admittedly blurry, but I couldn't bring myself to post any of the more-clear ones; this one just captured his happiness so well, in or out of focus. (He looks kind of like a baby drone in the other ones I took, and that's just simply not a fair representation of this happy little guy.)


Hanging Christmas lights in matching hats with my brother. Another tradition continued -- we did this last year too, but I'm not 100% positive the matching hats were involved last year.


Mojave and my niece's doll, Daisy, playing with the blocks together.


My nephew Mojave licking my brother's eye -- Andy could not stop laughing. Slobbery eye. ick :)


My brother Andy during our evening of guitar (I tried to upload a video, but the format is wrong. lame.) We played his electric for the night. My brother rocks it at guitar, no doubt about it, but can I just tell you that my playing the electric guitar made me feel automatically 100% better at the guitar than I actually am? I'm not sure why, but man...electrics just have something to them that sounds great...


During lunch time with my friend Bonnie, we stopped into Anthropologie (over in the University Village in Downtown Seattle) only to discover the SADDEST succulent I have seen in my entire life. This was Bonnie trying to make a sad face to match the plant's attitude.


My parting look right before my brother and family dropped me off at the airport for my morning flight home on Saturday. This is my cute little niece, Anza, in her pink, footsy leopard pajamas eating a morning nectarine. Priceless.

{ The great penny squish }

The company I work for just moved into a brand new building that is located conveniently close to (within throwing distance of) the railroad tracks that run through Utah Valley. While I would usually think being located near railroad tracks would not be counted as a good thing, it is DEFINITELY a bonus when your fun co-worker, Natalie, suggests that you take a ten-minute work break to go squish pennies on the railroad tracks :)

We made our way out to the tracks a little after lunch today with four pennies and a nickel for squishing. The escapade included four trips through the soggy, gross marsh that separates our building from the tracks (ick), balancing on the train tracks while enjoying the fresh afternoon sun, and hunting for our coins when we returned to collect them once the afternoon train passed (the wheels/vibration of the train toss the coins off the tracks). Who knew work breaks could be so adventurous in American Fork?


Natalie and Jen making their way through the reeded bog to get to the tracks.


Natalie placing coins a little ways down the track from me.


Jen taking time out to admire the railroad ties. I think she was saying something like "You guys...check out how old these look! These things are amazing!"


Our smooshed pennies on the tracks after the train passed (we put them back on after we found them to see how they fit flush with the metal). If you look close, you can still see the Lincoln Memorial printed on the backside of all the pennies even though they were totally flat and smooth once the train was done with them -- super cool and unexpected. (note: Sadly, the nickel was nowhere to be found when we went to collect our treasures).


The coins left circular marks on the tracks where they had been between the wheels and the tracks during the flattening process. They looked like little, scattered polka dots :)


The view from the tracks looking away from our office. We're kind of out in the middle of nowhere, but it's really beautiful.


Me, Natalie and Jen with the tracks