The Engagement and More

So as most of you know I am now engaged to the most wonderful man in the WHOLE world, Frank Clayton. This all happened on October 30, 2010. The story is so us and so perfect. It was the night before Halloween and we were supposed to go to his friend Cade's house so we could go to a pumpkin patch and carve pumpkins. Well that morning he said he wanted to spend the whole day with me. ( of course I was expecting him to pop the question that day) He took me to Ihop and then we went to a chocolate factory and tasted chocolate and went and visited with his mom. After that we left for Cade's, but it was raining and so we couldn't go. So we were just hanging out and carving the pumpkins that were at his house. As I was carving an AMAZING pumpkin, I used seeds as the teeth and everything, Cade's mom said that she needed the boys to bring some boxes to some lady in the hospital or something. They told me that if any trick-or-treaters came to answer the door. So here I am, thinking that I'm not getting proposed to any more, SUPER upset, carving a pumpkin all alone. A few minutes later the door bell rings. I get up to answer the door and I see a bunch of kids in costumes ready for some candy. I also see some odd Gorilla man standing behind the kids..just standing. I give the kids their candy, they walk away, but the Gorilla is still standing there...just standing. I hold out the bowl of candy and say do you want some? Then I see Gumby and Poky walk out holding a sign that says 'Will You Marry Me?' The Gorilla takes of his mask, gets down on one knee, pulls out a ring and says "Nikki Coats, will you marry me?" of course I freak out and start crying, I don't know whether to kiss him on get that ring on my finger. So I do both.

Of course as soon as I get the ring on my finger I want to start planning our wedding. We set a date for April 16,2011. We get our venue at Chateau Fair art & antique gallery, which is the most beautiful place we found after some long and hard searching. Next step was colors. The colors we've chosen are lime green, mango orange, and eggplant purple. I've got my dress, which is the most beautiful thing I have ever put on my body. That took a lot of searching too. I've picked the flowers which are, black callas, green button poms, and orange dahlias. I've got the most beautiful bridesmaids and bridesmaids dresses. Everything is going perfectly. Engagement pictures are happening tomorrow so then we can get out our announcements. After that pretty much all that needs to happen is the wedding :).

Wedding planning can get pretty overwhelming. So other things also need to go into this post. Like other things that are happening in my life. I was picking up a child at work and hurt my shoulder. I've had to go through a bunch of crap trying to get workmans comp. It's just a bunch of bologna. They pretty much try proving you wrong instead of helping you. So I just gave up on people trying to help me. Two days before we went back to Virginia Frank totaled his car. Poor guy. He was pretty shaken up and got a few cuts and bruises, but I'm just happy he's alive. A car is a car. My fiance' is important :)

Frank and I went home to Virginia for Christmas and had a wonderful vacation! Nothing is better than spending time with my family. We went to Cary Town, Virginia Beach, D.C and had the most amazing bridal shower. It was so good seeing all of my friends and I got a rockin cake! The theme was fifties house wife. The prizes were aprons and it was just the cutest thing. We had little slider burgers, mac'n'cheese and salad. It was wonderful. The girls all got to make veils out of crazy random things and they turned out gorgeous! I got so many wonderful things from so many wonderful people! I got to meet some of Franks converts and that was really cool. Then I had to come back to real life. Utah.

As usual I come home and workmans comp is no help. Franks car is still totaled. Then good things start happening. Frank gets another car, my shoulder heals and I can work with babies again, Frank gets a new job as a manager. And we are just as happy as can be.

Big news. I'm not going to school this semester because in August we are moving back to Virginia! Frank and I decided Virginia will be the best thing for us, so after the wedding well...a few months after we are heading back to the 804. Frank is going to go to school for law enforcement and I am going to school for nursing. Which is really cute because when I was younger I had an imaginary boyfriend named "police officer". And now I'm marrying one :)

That is our life in a nut shell :) Everything else is peachy.

Engagement

So as most of you know I got engaged last night on October 30th, 2010 to the most amazing man, Frank Clayton! This is how it happened. Frank told me that we were going to spend all day together so he picked me up in the morning and we went out to breakfast and then we went to a chocolate factory and saw chocolate get dipped and got some delicious free chocolate from his best friends mother. Then I wasn't feeling too good so we went back to his house and helped his mom out for a little bit and he said that we were going to go to a pumpkin patch and get pumpkins and carve them with his friends. So I was pretty sure it was going to happen at the pumpkin patch (because I knew it had to be coming), but when we were at his friends house they already had pumpkins and it was raining so we didnt go to the pumpkin patch. I was devistated. I was sure it was going to happen there. So I just let the fact go that I was getting a ring quite yet. We started carving pumpkins and I started getting really into it when Cade (Frank's best friend)'s mom came in and told the boys that she needed some boxes for something tomorrow. So they went and got some boxes and were gone for a little bit, but I wasnt suspicious at all I was just carving my pumpkin. Then Cade's mom said she had to go pick up something from someones house and if any trick'or'treaters came to answer the door and give them candy. A few minutes went by and someone knocked at the door. I went and saw a bunch of little trick'or'treaters and didnt even acknowledge the big gorilla standing behind them. They started walking away, but the gorilla was still standing there. I looked at him for a second and held out the bowl of candy to offer him some, when I see Gumby and Poky come out with a sign that said "Will you marry me?". The gorilla dropped to one knee, took off his mask and said "Nikki Coats will you marry me?" I dont even remember what I did with the candy bowl, but I immediately kissed him, then looked at the ring when everyone started screaming "WHAT'S YOUR ANSWER!?" I started crying and said YESSS!!!! and he slipped the most beautiful ring onto my well manicured finger :)

It was the most amazing night of my life. So soon enough I will be Nicole Michelle Clayton and be the luckiest woman in the world.

I love you Frank Clayton.

Life in Utah

Okay so I haven't updated this in a long while and there has been A LOT going on. Okay So I have been absolutely loving where I am living. Two of my roommates have been awesome! My roommate Katie is like my best friend and we clicked right when I got here and we've pretty much spent every day together since. But..there is always one roommate. Yes, I roomed with a crazy.. and when I say crazy I mean legit crazy. She would clog the toilet and leave it there, she didnt want to pay rent, she would turn the lights on when I was sleeping so she could read a wedding magaizine (because she was getting married after 2 weeks of knowing the guy), she would take away the bed she let me borrow, she'd even have her mom call me and cuss me out, she'd get us in trouble with the landlord (or atleast try). Just a bunch of crap. Well finally she decided to move out, thank goodness, but that wasnt the end of it. She wouldnt find someone to take her place on the lease. She'd come over every day and move my things out of her space (even though she didnt live there anymore) and she accused us of stealing the mail key to our landlord. So we took the liberty of finding someone to move in in her place. Hopefully she's a keeper.

A lot of other things have been going on too. Frank and I got back together like 2 months ago. And we're doing fantastic!! We've spent every day together and he's just an amazing guy. No one has ever treated me like he has. I'm so excited for my family to get to know him:) .

I also got a car and a job. The car is a piece, but that is okay. Starting on the 16th I will be working at La Petite Academy. I'll be a toddler teacher. I am so excited to start! I need the money too. I've been so poor lately all I eat is Ramen, Mac'n'Cheese, Marshmellow Mateys and Pop Tarts. and Now my body hates me.

School is going good. My classes seem to bore me now, but that okay. I'm still getting good grades. Next semester is going to be jam packed. I'll be working from 7:30-4 and then going to school until 9 every night but Friday's. I'll be taking Sociology of Marriage and Family, Personal Finance, Doctrine and Covenants, Psychology and Music History. So I'll be so busy with everything. I'm not looking forward to it.

There are 2 choices Frank and I have coming our way. Either moving back to Virginia, or staying here and me do nursing school and him go to Aveda School. So We'll see how that goes. I'm just excited for my future and to see what happens. I miss my family and would love to be with them again, but I know that I have to do what is best for me first. So we'll see where life takes me.

Miss everyone :)

Back to School

So I just started school! It's so awesome!!! I'm only taking 4 classes. I'm taking IT 102 (a computer class) that is totally lame and the teacher is weird and does weird things with her mouth. I'm taking Nutrition and Health, where I have to record everything I eat, which is embarassing. I have English 201, which my teacher is awesome and I know I'm going to love that class. And then I have intro to Drawing. That class is amazing! and I cant wait to start drawing again. Thats pretty much my update. Nothing exciting. No car. No job. I'm poor. The end :)

Past Year of Life

Okay so here goes my first blog entry. It's weird because I haven't done this since Xanga when I was 11. I guess this is a little more sophisticated and not so dramatic. So to kick off my blog I'm going to start out with the past year of my life.

So I graduated from Matoaca High School in June 2009. I decided I go to community college in Virginia for a little bit and see how I liked it. Well.. I hated it, but I didn't have money to go away to school. So I decided to work. It was a little rough finding a job. I had just had random jobs in high school like working for Tropical Smoothie and a real estate office. So I didn't actually have experience in anything. I tried getting a job with an oral surgeon, but after one day I got Tonsillitis and they fired me because I missed one day of work. So I was out looking for a job again. Finally I found Primrose Schools where I was hired as a teacher. I loved that job!! So I took off of school for a semester and just worked at Primrose. I loved the kids and the people I worked with. I probably got a little too attached. All I did was work and go to the gym. Then I'd go home, wake up and do it all over again. So life got pretty boring for a while. Then I met Elder Clayton (Frank). He was a missionary in my ward, but he got sent home early because of his knee. Well when he got home we found each other on facebook and talked non-stop. Needless to say, I had a crush on him. So what did I do? I decided to go visit him in Utah. So I went to Utah an LOVED it there. While I was in Utah I found out I got accepted to BYU-Idaho for winter 2011. Well I didn't want to wait that long to go to school and I loved everything about Utah and I felt like that was where I needed to be. So kind of on a whim, I decided to move to Utah and go to LDS Business College.

So three months later, here I am in Salt Lake City. I've been here for about fifteen days and I absolutely love it here! Of course it was sad packing up my room, saying goodbye to my family, friends and coworkers (and the kids I worked with). But I did it. I walked out of my house for the last time, drove down Tooley drive for the last time and got on a plane with my mom heading to Utah. When we got here Frank picked us up from the airport and took us to Erin's house where we stayed for a few days. I spent Friday and Saturday shopping non-stop for my new apartment, which I love, and spending the last few days with my mom. Saying good-bye to my mom was like stabbing myself in the eye with a rusty nail, but I'm doing okay. I love my apartment so much. Everything about it is awesome. Me and my roommates are like best friends now! I have the cutest room. And guess what? I actually like to cook and clean. WHAT? I know. I never thought I'd say it. But my first meal I made was beef enchilada casserole. and it was beautiful. I like cooking for other people more. So I cook for my roommates. Nothing really interesting. Oh, but I did find out about WinCo. Groceries for $34.00! Yeah that's right. But anyways, so things were going great, and then I decided things weren't working out between me and Frank. So I had to end things. That has been pretty rough. I'm hanging in there though. My roommates keep me busy!

School starts on Wednesday. I'm so excited!! I love school and learning. I'm taking an English class, Personal Financing, Intro to Drawing, and some other class they made me take in order to take my English class. So I'm pretty excited. I don't have a job yet, I'm still looking. But I can't really get a job without a car, and I can't get a car without selling my old car first. So I'm in a bit of a pickle! haha. So lets pray my car gets sold soon. I'm going to apply at Inn N Out (that's to make my brother jealous). So maybe I'll get a job there? It's kind of a step down from Primrose, but I'll be making more. haha.

I think that's all I have to update on life right now. So here's to having a blog. haha!