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I'm just unsure about it. I've looked to a lot of different sources and I haven't found a clear cut answer. I'm curious as to your folks' perspective.

Both philosophical schools of thought deal with the meaning of life. A simply summary as I understand it:

Objective meaning

Nihilism presupposes that there is no ultimate, objective meaning to life as far as human beings are concerned. This can either imply that the universe is utterly devoid of meaning, period, or that it is devoid of meaning to humans due to our mental, physical, or even "spiritual" inability to comprehend it.

Absurdism tends to reject the former argument (that there is absolutely no meaning). It is, however, essentially built upon the latter argument, and hence naturally embraces it. It argues that objective meaning perhaps exists (the agnostic to nihilism's atheist, if you will), but that reality is so vast in every way that it would be a waste of effort to try and discover this meaning, let alone know it for sure.

Nihilism believes that we should not look for objective meaning because it does not exist. Absurdism believes that we should not look for objective meaning because even if it does exist, we would never find it.

Subjective meaning

Nihilism rejects the concept of making your own meaning in life, because it sees all human experience as a fleeting, meaningless delusion. Beauty, reason, knowledge, etc. – all are seen as tools. A nihilist can reason, learn, and enjoy pleasure; they simply believe that these things hold no inherent greater value, and hence that anyone who tries to derive their life meaning from such things is indulging in delusion.

Absurdism accepts that we will never find objective meaning, but leaves room for the possibility of rebellion against this premise through the creation of subjective meaning. It recognizes that an individual can attempt to find their own personal meaning, and does not deride this meaning as being delusion or fanciful thinking on the part of the individual – it simply asserts that this meaning is utterly worthless outside of that particular person's consciousness.

Nihilism argues that there is no meaning and we cannot create any, so we should not try. As there is no meaning, there is no purpose to life or morality. It is absolute pessimism. Absurdism agrees that there is no meaning that matters to us, but believes that as long as we're here, we may as well enjoy the ride instead of bothering ourselves with inherent value.

This xkcd comic sums it up reasonably well:

Cueball is the nihilist, Beret Guy is the absurdist.