Long Time No Post

I have not done a very good job keeping up with this blog so I apologize for the multiple posts but I believe I am finally all caught up and hopefully I stay on top of this better in the coming weeks.

21st Birthday and Other Happenings

On March 30, 2010 Nate and I started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University being offered by our Ward. It runs for thirteen weeks and tomorrow is our last class. We have learned a lot about investing money, saving money, and different ways to handle money to set your self up for a financially sound life. The only bad thing about the class is I know feel even more guilty anytime I want to spend money on anything but groceries. Nate thinks this is great so he can be responsible for spending all the money :) The class is really great and I would recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to take it.

On May 4, 2010 I started a job at Ann Taylor Loft. Where I learn to Live, Love, Loft.....I don't exactly LOVE my job but it works for now and I get a pretty awesome employee discount on all their cute clothes. It is funny because some weeks I work crazy hours and other weeks I hardly work at all.

June 5, 2010 was my 21st Birthday. Nate was so sweet and planned an awesome day of surprises. I woke up on Saturday morning with a note under my bed telling me the plans for the day. We went to breakfast with Matt, Angeline, Emma, and Tal at Bob Evans, and then I got to spend the morning at the spa getting a full body massage and facial. When I got home from the spa we opened presents and Nate got Adobe Photoshop for my Mac and these awesome red St. Louis Cardinal's sweat pants. We then went to the Cardinals baseball game where my favorite player, Colby Rasmus hit a home run. Dennis and Julie, Nate's parents, went to the game with us and then out to dinner at Hacienda, this Mexican Restaurant that Nate had a reservation at. It was such a fantastic day!!!! Nate spoils me so much!!

Memorial Day Weekend

Over Memorial Day weekend Nate and I went boating with our friend's Andrew and Katie Nothum down at Mark Twain Lake. We had such a great time chatting, eating good food, tubbing, swimming, and cruising on the boat. Here are a few picture from the trip.

Andrew and Katie

Silly me trying to tube

Nate driving the boat

Nate teaching me to drive the boat, I was really nervous but I think I have it figured out.

Best Friend's Wedding and Quick Trip to Utah

May 6 - 9, 2010

When I found out my best friend from high school, Kylee, was getting married I told Nate I couldn't miss it so I bought a ticket to fly home for the wedding and Mother's day. Flying these days stresses me out because I refuse to pay money to check a bag. This leaves me cramming everything into one little bag that I have to get through security and some how get into the over head bin all my self.

Well, the flight from Missouri to Arizona was uneventful but upon arriving in Arizona I had thirty minutes until my flight to Salt Lake departed. We had landed a little late, we had to wait a few minutes until we taxied to the gate, and I was at the very back of the plane....I got off and had 15 minutes to get to my next gate. Well, first off I needed a bathroom break, and second of all the gate my flight was departing at was at the entirely opposite end of the airport then my arriving flight. So, I stopped for a bathroom break and then proceeded to run through the concourse towards my gate......well at this point Nate and my mom were calling to see if I had made my close flight......I was sprinting through the airport and out of breath from dragging my big suitcase and carrying my huge purse........while I was on the phone with Nate while running I was paged over the airport intercom......."Will Jasmine Coleman please report to gate B15, Jasmine Coleman your flight is getting ready to leave from gate B15." Well at that point I hung up with Nate and continued to run full speed ahead towards by gate.....to make a long story short I made it in time and made it to Salt Lake in one piece.

Friday was the big day for my friend Kylee and her fiance Nate, (that is right we both married Nates). They were married in the Salt Lake Temple and it was beautiful, it was little hard for me to be back at the Salt Lake Temple for a sealing without Nate there but what can you do......the joys of living out of state. Kylee has known Nate since the summer before our Junior year after they met down at EFY, all of us were just so happy that after all the years they finally got together and decided to get married. They go so well together and I am just so happy for them!!

I was able to go to dinner with my Grandma and Grandpa Christensen, have dessert with Grandma and Grandpa Thornley on Friday night. It was great to get to see them while I was out on my quick trip.

On Saturday I got to spend the day with my mom, shopping for pots and running errands and getting Camille ready for prom. While on our errands my mom and I decided to run past our old house. Well, thank goodness Nate wasn't there and in all honesty I shouldn't have gone by.....the yard was a disaster......weeds, unmowed lawn, and a duck hunting boat and RV parked on the sod that Nate and I had spent days laying with my dad. Oh, it was awful....I about started crying. It was hard to see all our hard work go out the window....I couldn't even begin to comprehend what the inside could possibly look like. UG!!!!

It was great to visit home and spend time with my family but it always makes leaving harder. However, the trip home was good in a sense that it didn't feel like home any more.....it was really weird, obviously everything was familiar but Utah just wasn't home any more. Missouri is really my home now, were I live, and where my life is. It is comforting to know that I am finally adjusted to living here and that I feel at home here.

This trip home just made me really excited to come back for a week at the end of July with Nate.

Chicago

April 14-17, 2010 NFSA Conference

Late Wednesday morning we packed up Angeline's Denali and the six of us (Matt, Angeline, Emma, Tal, Nate, and I) headed north east to Chicago for the National Fire Sprinkler Association Conference. The drive was not bad at all, we stopped for Pizza at Imo's and watched Toy Story 1 & 2.

Chicago is such a beautiful city with great architecture and anything you could possibly want to do, eat, or see at your finger tips. Since the boys were in meetings most of the time the girls and kids had fun shopping, going to the park, and having brunch at the American Girl Doll Store. I had not been to the American Girl Doll store since I was very little so it was so fun to be back there. I felt like I little kid in a candy store. My niece, Emma got to pick out a doll for here birthday and she ended up getting Molly, the doll from the 1940's. While at the store I learned that my doll had been retired which was sad but now I am determined to bring my doll out to Missouri when I drive back to Utah for a week in July so Emma and I can get our play on.

The trip was pretty quick but we all had a blast eating deep dish pizza, going to Navy Pier, and enjoying the sites of the city.

Since Nate and I rode up with his brother's family we had to strap some luggage to the roof. As we began to head down the road on our way home some of the straps tying the luggage down started banging on the roof. Matt and Nate were not going to have that sound annoying them all they way home and heaven forbid we pull over and delay our journey home, so Nate crawled out the sunroof and proceeded to tie down the straps better. Safety first and isn't Uncle Nate setting a great example :)

New Toy

Nate and I decided to get a new toy, granted I cannot drive it or even care to but I enjoy holding on and riding on back. There is something about the wind in your face and being together just us and the bike that is so fun. We live in a town that is right on the edge of the Missouri River so it is so fun to ride down the the shore, across the bridge, and around the old historic parts of town. I must say too that Missouri is like motorcycle country..... winding, tree lined country roads at slow speeds, perfect for cruising (I don't really like going fast, it makes me nervous).

Welcome Spring

It has been the most beautiful weather here in Missouri the last two weeks. We have been in the 70's and low 80's. The blossoms have been on all the trees and bushes and we finally had to turn the AC on. I must say my first few days of muggy/humid weather were a little tough but now that the house is cool I am doing just fine. I also love that I can work in my yard, walk the dog, and BBQ without being cold.

Here are a few pictures I took of the pretty blossoms.