Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas was so much fun! We woke up a little before 8 in the morning ( I didn't care for that too much haha), but we had a great time. Ian is obsessed with trains and snoopy so he got trains and snoopy. Sydney, well since she's only a year, it's obviously difficult to buy for, but she got things like dolls, dolls, and more dolls. After all, what little girl doesn't like dolls? I sure did :) But now, it's clothes and chocolate for me :) The perfect combination...how I am going to get it all back to Idaho is beyond my comprehension! The second picture was our attempt at a Christmas morning picture with Santa (our neighbor from across the street). After bummin; around the house till one-ish, we went to grandma's house to exchange gifts there and then to Uncle Ed's catering center to prepare ourselves for dinner :) We had chicken, roast beef, etc...YUM! And I just forgot until now that Christmas Eve I had a fever and could not get to sleep, so I didn't even feel that well on Christmas which was a bummer, but talk about good timing. It was nice to be home and sick then at school and sick because I don't know about you, but I have found that it's hard to concentrate with a severely runny nose :(

A Night out With Mom and Dad!

My parents and I had a blast a couple of nights ago. We dropped Ian and Sydney off with Grandma for a night of fun. We went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner! That place is always so delicious! I always get a dish called Chicken Madeira and you can't go wrong with it! Then, for dessert we get a cheesecake called Dulce de Leche.....mmmmm yum!!! Then after that, we went downtown Cleveland to the Playhouse Square to see A Christmas Carol. It was really fun. We used to do it every year, but since Ian and Sydney came around, it's been harder and harder to do. It's really fun though. It's nice to enjoy live entertainment every once in a while, a nice change from TV.

 So, if you ever get the chance, go and see a live play, they are definitely a bunch of fun! :) Hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

Home at Last :) :)

So, for family home evening tonight, we made this gingerbread train. It was so much fun because Ian was so excited because he absolutely LOVES trains. The only difficult part about it though is that there were so many tiny candies that were falling all over the floor..DON'T SLIP! I have had so much fun being back. I opened the fridge and I almost fainted because there was so much food! I'm in heaven! And to top it all off, my mom made me one of my favorite dinners tonight...MEATLOAF! Yum! Tomorrow my parents and I are going out to dinner to The Cheesecake Factory and then to see A Christmas Carol downtown at the Playhouse Square. It is going to be so much fun; I am so excited! It is so good to be home, but I am missing Rexburg a ton! Not schoolwork, I am not missing that, that's for sure. I am missing my friends though...I won't see all of them for a really long time, probably not until next September. :(

Snow Fun!

As I was walking home the other night, I ran into this. Oh how I love seeing snow men. These were so cute though! They were watching TV. You cannot see the TV, but that's what they are all looking at. It's so funny to go to school with a bunch of people who have never seen snow before because they all get really excited and make snowmen, so as you are walking around campus, you tend to see them everywhere :) My roommate Camila, who is from Peru, had never seen snow before this winter, so that was really super neat to see her. Tomorrow is the day. I am going home at 6:50 am and I won't be back in Idaho for 2 weeks. I am really excited to get a break from school and see my family and Michellie!!! :)

White Glove.

Today stinks. Since I live in the dorms, we are required to have our apartment SQUEAKY CLEAN a week before we check out for Christmas break. I think Brooklyn and I seriously cleaned for 200000000 hours...It was that painful. Not that our house was particularly dirty, but when we get checked, they will look at every nook and cranny. This woman above did not do white glove, she still looks decent and clean. I will spare your eyes and NOT take a picture of myself right now, especially since I only got 3 hours of sleep last night. I really wish I looked like this woman, both clean and happy. Alright, I am not mad or anything, but I would just love to go back to bed right about now, but we are waiting for Shannon (our HR) to get here to check out our apartment. Brooklyn and I are the only ones in the apartment because Jessica and Camila are in Utah for the weekend. oh! It's official!! I will be home in ONE week and I am so excited. I miss my family like crazy! Lucky for me, I get to board a plane at 6 in the morning next Saturday! Oh I miss my family, there really are no words to describe how much I miss them.

Well, the HR should be here soon...so I am going to go! Wish me luck!

Thanksgiving :)

I had an entire week off of school for Thanksgiving Break and it was a lot of fun. I went to Utah to spend time with my family (my Father's side). Everyone was there which was so neat because I haven't seen them for a very long time. My grandparents reside in a little town called Richfield about 2 hours away from Salt Lake. When I was there I got to ride their four wheeler, spend time with family, and eat some great food. Above are my cousins Mikenzi and Parker. They were eating whipped cream (I think). We had a lot of fun and we ate a lot of really yummy food. We had Ham, Turkey, Potatoes (both sweet and regular), we had a fruit tray, vegetables, and my very favorite part...Stuffing!! It was excellent. I tend to not care very much for stuffing with meat in it, so I was pretty happy that my grandma did not put any meat in there :) My grandma gave me this really yummy recipe for an orange sauce that goes really well with Ham.

Orange Sauce

1 cup Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoon Cornstarch
1 Tablespoon Flour
Stir in 1 1/4 cups Orange Juice
Add
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup water
Cook over low heat, cook until boils
Cook 3 min.
Remove from heat add:
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Teaspoon grated orange rind
1 Teaspoon grated lemon rind
(works well without rind as well)
ENJOY!