Family Pictures!

This Christmas was the first time in over three years that our entire family has been together at one time! To celebrate the holiday season we took family photos! 

(However be warned-- there was no escaping my flash induced lazy eye. I used to worry about facial paralysis on my left side, because every picture I ever took showed a droop from left eyelid-- however I've found that this only happens when there a considerable amount of flash I've put that worry away for awhile -- which comes back to bite me when we take family pictures and my lurking droop pops out again -- but I digress.. )

Check out these cool photos: 

Everyone being together was certainly something to celebrate! Having two nieces and a third niece or (hopefully) nephew on the way has certainly changed our family dynamic. We now spend a majority of our time together doting on these cuties!

Aubrey particularly likes playing on the "puter's" so I indulged her! I just love this little girl she is so smart and fun -- when she's not annoyed by me! :) 

Little Camilla is at that age where if you put in some effort she'll smile at you for just a brief moment! 

Her smile is so cute so any effort you put in is totally worth it. It was so fun to see her and Aubrey together. Aubrey thought 'Baby Milla' was so cute and she would stroke her head and arms. Baby Milla thought that Aubrey was a riot. One evening I had Aubrey and Camilla in the living room while everyone else got their dinner. Camilla was laughing so hard at Aubrey and all Aubrey was doing was running around. It was so sweet! I'm so grateful to have these babies in my life! 

With this post, I have met my blogging goal for the year - which was to double my posts from last year! This is number 48! I love this time of year and the feeling that you can start over and do better! I hope you all are still enjoying your holidays and I can't wait to update you on my adventures in 2012 (and my brand new camera will help to better document all of those adventures!) Until next time -- 

Happy New Year!!!

Winter in Wyoming!

WARNING THIS IS A GRAPHIC POST. 

PLEASE DO NOT PRECEDE IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE ANIMAL SUFFERING AND BLOOD. 

I have had the wonderful opportunity to be home at the exact right time to be involved in the true Wyoming experience.  In my younger years, I grudgingly participated in these events and tried to stay as far removed as possible in participation. Now that I can't be here for all of these things and my moments at home are becoming more and more limited I pursue these activities with gusto. So here's a look at some of my holiday activities -- Wyomin' style! :)

So at Thanksgiving my grandpa had four cows that needed branding because they were too small in the spring when they did branding the first time.  However, these calves were HUGE after the six months wait! There were just four of them, but they were four cows possessed by some real unholy spirits.  They were crazy! They each escaped at least once, and one cow escaped more than once. Thankfully my grandpa jumped onto his iron horse (his four wheeler) and rounded up one calf that not only escaped but jumped into the next field. So annoying.. anyway you may remember a previous post that details the entire process of branding, so I'm going to hit the highlights or rather highlight!

I BRANDED A COW! I didn't do it prettily or even well, but I DID IT! Check it out (I would apologize for the nastiness that is my brandin' attire, but I really didn't care about anything at the time expect being warm...):

And of course I had to try to do round two of this picture -- The Branding Crew: 

Another regular part of my growing up that I have rarely participated in before was processing the meat from the animals my father has hunted and shot. This time around I not only got to be there, but dug in with both hands! So the days leading up to Christmas (including Christmas Eve) were spent with various elk limbs splayed out on my mom's counter (my poor mother is such a trooper)!



Here's the a picture of the big pieces of meat that I cut down so that it would fit in our meat grinder!

And here I am actually doing the work! It may look from my hand placement that I was a hesitant participant, but I can assure you that I was really getting into it by the time this picture was taken! All the blood and gore was a little bit more than I was used to, but the worst part was how cold the meat was -- my hands were frozen by the end the night!

What a great couple of holidays! 

I hope all of your holiday activities were just as productive and just as adventurous! 

Interesting Happenings

      I approached this week of finals a little different than I ever have before.  I had a final in every class, but most of them were schedule this time.  Maybe it was my mastery of my classes, or maybe it was my jaded upperclassmen attitude, but I didn't stress as much about my finals -- although I did feel the pressure of trying to get everything done and working more hours (22 total) than I ever have before during finals week! Despite this I had a great week and I'll use this post to report some of the more exciting events, since the verdict on finals is still out!

So on Tuesday night, I had a final that consisted of a presentation and turning in a paper.  My professor who has been a joy and trial all semester long told us that it would be a great time and that she would be bringing some food.  We assumed by food she meant a batch of cookies.  However Sister Petrie meant it when she said she would bring food! She walked in with a few bags, which I didn't think much of. Then she pulled out the table cloth. We knew she meant business! Ha ha.. Many people pulled out their phones, it was just too funny. She was like a walking Relief Society -- relieving the poor in sleep. :)  

Getting the feast ready

The food.....

After I realized I wouldn't be able to finish all my finals in time to leave with my best friends on Thursday morning, I decided to take time to recreate. So Sarah and I used a buy-one-get-one-free coupon at the Creamery. My ward gave us the coupons as an encouragement to date.. so I went on a girl date with Sarah! It was a great way to relax so I could refocus and study for Susan's class (my last and one of the most difficult finals).  On the way there Miss Sarah Jones wore a backpack! This is the first time I have EVER seen Sarah in a backpack - despite knowing her for the entire summer and seeing her weekly (although never on campus).  She's a satchel/purse girl through and through so I took the time to document this momentous occasion.  

Miss Sarah Jones

Sarah is great friend and I was glad to have a chance to see her before we left for the break!

I can't remember what day this happened but it was one of the eventful parts of finals none the less! I walked into work and one of my coworkers gave me this box of chocolates.  My coworkers in general aren't the gift giving type, so this was quite the surprise! I thought it was so fun! He had little mini boxes of chocolates for everyone all decorated in this cute way! How festive! 

Just to clarity the size- it held 3 delicious chocolates

After traveling home on Sunday, I have been enjoying the comforts of home.  My one goal in coming home was trying to remain productive and fight off idleness, but as I write this blog post while watching my North and South on Netflix while Ty enjoys his own BBC series... it seems this might be challenge! 

Blessings of going to school with Ty..

 Ty and me! 

       Of the many great things about going to school at the same time with your older brother, one of the greatest is that when he tells you where he's studying at, and you stalk him down, and you can't focus on studying because he chose one of the only places on campus that has oldies music blaring constantly -- he doesn't ever get angry at you for starting conversations every 5 minutes.  -- Hopefully I'll stop annoying him and start studying soon, because this final is TODAY!

Reading Days

So readers -- Reading Days has arrived, meaning finals start Monday. I've got a lot to do before I go home, including four tests, 1 paper, 1 presentation, 1 cleaning check, and 13.5 hours of work. So I've tried really hard to be productive today. I thought I did pretty well. I got up at 8 and have been working on a study guide all morning! Then just when I was doing so well my roommate showed me this video:

And productivity went out the window. It was sweet! I have never been one to cry during movies, until last year in my accessible recreation class where we watched tons of short clips on inspiring people.  Now I amend my never crying in movies statement to I only cry during inspirational Youtube clips.  Anyway.. this clip brought joy into my soul and led me to this clip

which brought tears to my eyes.  I suggest if you ever need a pick me up, head over to this blog which is also very great and inspirational! 

I couldn't resist...

I know I said I didn't want to post a picture, but it's just too cute not to share!

Stacey and I sat in front of this for a half hour -- just enjoying the scenery. 

The stockings should be up on the mantle soon! :)