Christmas Break 2012

Christmas break came with perfect timing like it always does at the end of a hectic and stressful semester!  Of which, I ended with four solid A's and one B+.  This last semester was the best yet in terms of grades for me!  I'm finishing my senior year at WSU strong!

Although Christmas Break is a break from school, it is far from being easy going and calm.  My family and I have kept plenty busy with baking, having people visit, riding horses, decorating, sewing, cleaning, and going places.

Here are images that sum up the business, craziness, and happiness of the holiday season!

Sledding behind Chuck horse the morning after the first holiday snow.  It was a blast.  Before long Chuck was giving rides to the whole family!  He is such a good, strong, and easy going young horse!

My ginger bread village.  I powered through building this by cheating just a bit and using a hot glue gun to attach the house pieces together.  Thanks to Erin for her brilliant idea of using the glue gun!

 

As a Christmas tradition, I make cinnamon rolls Christmas Eve and let them rise overnight in the fridge so that my family can have fresh baked cinnamon rolls while opening gifts Christmas morning.  This year I did things a little differently...I made them as cupcakes using Paula Dean's Apple Cinnamon Roll Cupcake recipe.  They turned out to be pretty good and yummy!

 

My favorite Christmas gift this year was this purple and specially designed bronc halter Erin had made for Daisy.  Erin chose purple to match the other purple things I have gotten for Daisy.  She also choose to have the purple daisies on the halter be hand painted on and she chose purple and AB crystals for the conchos.  It is very pretty and Daisy looks so proud when we put it on her.  I love it!

 

Christmas break has been a good one, and I am so happy I have a few more days left to finish up projects and rest before starting my last undergrad semester at WSU. 

 

Merry Christmas and Happy 2013!!

 

Crafting with Josie

I decided before I came home for Christmas Break to invite little Josie over for a Craft/Slumber Party with Erin and I.  Josie is 7 and in first grade.  She just loves and adores Erin and I.  I sent her an invite in the mail because she loves getting mail, and she called me right away to say she wanted to "accept the invitation."  She is so cute!

Erin and I picked Josie up the Friday before Christmas at two and when we got home we crafted, baked, and ate non stop!  We made little stain glass images with markers, decoupaged fabric and glass plates, made chocolate covered and candy dipped pretzels, ate pulled pork, played dolls and trains, read a couple books, and watched Elf.  That was just Friday.

While making the pretzels, Josie said so many cute things.  The two that stand out and that are now being used by our family on a regular basis are "Ooo la la" and "Fancy Nancy".  Jojo kept saying these as she mixed sprinkles and candy cane bits for the pretzels she was dipping.  It was pretty darn cute because she was doing her own thing with the supplies I had set up for her.

Decoupaging plates!

Slumber party in the family room!

On Saturday morning, we got up, started watching another movie, made glitter light bulbs, ate waffles, played dolls and trains, beaded necklaces, and gathered up treats to make treat plates. 

Josie modeling her button and sequin necklace she made, Beaver PJs, and Christmas hair flower I made her.

We had Josie for a busy, fun, and entertaining 24 hours (well almost 24 hours)!  We look forward to more fun with Josie in the future!

Thanksgiving and Thankful for a Cougar Win!!

Thanksgiving Break was such a good break.  It was a break from everything, and a good way to get refreshed for the final stretch of the semester and finals.  However, it was another break that wasn't long enough.  I did a lot and kept so busy but at the same time wish I could have done so much more. 

There were three best parts to break:  seeing my whole big family at Thanksgiving and helping Erin with rodeo queen stuff, hanging out with Brain, and the Cougars winning the Apple Cup.

 Yes, that would be Buzz on the table.  (Don't tell Dad...let him find out by reading the blog.)  The flowers had been on the table ten minutes and we were all outside, and I ran back into the house and found this.  Buzz is bad but I love him.  I also know what he is thankful for.  He is thankful for Cara bringing home pretty flowers...that's why he was on the table when I came into the house and why he started purring when I took my camera out!

 

Trigger went out with Brian and I to shoot guns one afternoon.  He is such a cutie and such a good pup.  Shooting a pistol was a whole new thing for me.  Thank goodness Brian is such a good teacher.

Erin and I after the Apple Cup.  It was so much fun when the Cougars were hyped up and playing well.  I'm thankful to have witnessed and experienced a Cougar Apple Cup win during my time at WSU.  The excitement and feeling of beating the Huskies is great!  (Sorry to my sad Huskie routing family members.)

If you've never been to a football game in Pullman or experienced the RVers and tailgaters...it is a sight to see.  These people are hard core fans to the core!  This inflated Butch the Cougar was just too cute next to one of the RVs.

I enjoyed Buzz's company sooooo much when I studied over break.  He is so smart and such a good study buddy.  He never questions what I know or don't know.  It's nice.



Erin the 18 year old birthday girl!  That's right...my little sister is 18 now and too grown up as usual.  Where did the time go?  All I know is that I was so happy I got to be home and spend time celebrating her birhtday with family and friends!

 

Break was wonderful and I can't wait for the next...finals finish soon so I can go home for Christmas!!

 

(Sorry for spelling errors. I'm a terrible speller, it was late, and spell check was being finiky.)