Festivities

Merry Christmas Eve :)

Last night, my family had our annual gift exchange.

Tonight, we went to our Christmas Eve dinner.

Tomorrow we go to my grandparents' house for more celebrations.

Have I mentioned I love this time of year? ;)

This is the family!

Chloe wasn't very happy with me...

My Christmas snowflake nails :)

(That I did myself!!)

My gift from Austin :)

Now we can Face Time!

She's tired after opening gifts!

She "helps" us open by biting the wrapping paper and pulling,

then she tears it up when it's all opened.

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Presents :)

It is November 21 and I got Austin's Christmas package all ready!

I'm saving this as a draft until he gets and opens it so it doesn't ruin the surprise!

I really wanted to make him feel like home was with him since he's so far away.

But here's what I sent him :)

Every year, I leave out my red stocking with my name on it

on Christmas Eve and wake up and it's full.

I got a stocking and a silver "A" and decided to fill it.

Every Christmas Eve, I get to open one gift.

It's always pajamas to wear to bed, then open

gifts in on Christmas morning.

I got Austin these pants with a grey shirt.

All the goodies for the stocking!

His favorite candy is Reese's, he loves trail mix,

I am the giraffe (don't ask) and candy canes of course!

The rest is just candy and toys, like it should be :)

Candy canes are always scattered around my presents

and living room on Christmas morning.

Here it is all nice and full!

The pajamas are in a separate bag so he can open

them on Christmas Eve and wear them to bed :)

I hope he feels that home is with him,

even if he's half way across the world. ♥

Planes, Trains and Kayaks?

So I looked up directions from my house to Okinawa (where Austin is stationed) and step 42 is "Kayak across the Pacific Ocean. Distance 2756 mi." Step 55 is "Kayak across the Pacific Ocean. Distance 3879 mi." And step 105 is "Take Ferry. Distance 420 mi." No thanks, I'll fly.

Busy, busy, busy

I've been so busy lately! Work is ridiculous as I've taken on lots more responsibilities, school is finally over (YAY) but finals week was hell, and I've been getting ready for Christmas! Can you believe it's in four days?! Because I can't! I love Christmas so much! Family, food, and of course presents ;) Then it's new years! My cousins and I are semi planning to go up north to Pinetop for new years! Which would be super fun. I could drive my new car! :D AND it would probably snow! I hope we go.

Anyway, I'm done rambling for now. Have a fabulous day/week!

December

Ten days into the month and this is my first blog post.

My excuses are as follows: finals, work, and stress.

Now that I'm on winter break (YES!!) and it's the weekend, I can post :)

Since my car is pretty much worthless, I test drove a Chevy Blazer over one weekend.

It's not exactly what I had in mind, but it is a very nice car and in great condition.

Now I'm just waiting for the dealership to change the odometer because

it's from Canada so everything is in the metric system!

After that is done, it's mine :)

Here's the car! It still had the dealership stickers and stuff which was fun to drive around in.

And her's the odometer!

I'm really excited to get a new car!

Every December 1st, my cousin Chelsea and I go to Starbucks

for some Christmas drinks. We've been doing it for four years now.

Family Christmas party!

One thing I love to do every winter is make hot chocolate

with whipped cream and sprinkles.

It's pretty serious.

Ten years ago this Christmas, this 4 foot tree was our tree.

We were moving on December 26 so everything was packed.

Now, this tree is in our entry way in addition to our regular Christmas tree.

I decorated it this year.

I like that all the ornaments on it are crystal :)

Out front, there are extension cords that have to cross the entry way for the

outdoor Christmas lights. We duct tape them down to the concrete

so nobody trips. This year I decided to be festive

and get candy cane patterned tape!

I love it

I finally found a black coat!

I got this at JC Penney.

It was originally $200, but I got it on sale for $66!!

And this was after I sold back my textbooks for $78, soo it was free :)

Overall, December has been great so far. I can't wait until

the family parties start and we all come together on Christmas.

I absolutely love winter, both for the weather and the holidays.

I miss my boy though. Last Christmas, he was in boot camp.

He got to leave for one day through a special program and I got to Skype him.

It was the best Christmas present ever ♥

I hope your December is going awesome!!

Better Late Than Never

Happy Thanksgiving :)

My mom and my grandma

Me and my grandma

From the top of Camelback Mountain

My uncle likes to steal the shot sometimes!

There aren't many photos, but it was a good time with family.

I hope you had a great holiday!

The Usual Sunday Madness

It's Sunday again!

I'm doing the usual Sunday festivities: studying and homework!

Here are some photos from this week:

Got my Christmas sweater for this year!

Whoops ;)

Pretty little peek of a sunset last night

Free Sprinkles Cupcakes for wearing ASU gear

to their Scottsdale store last night.

It was for the rivalry game against U of A which...

WE LOST :(

It was a very good game though. It went down to the very last play.

I also got a pumpkin cupcake with cinnamon

cream cheese frosting. It's got a turkey candy on top! So cute.

I almost died, it was so delicious!

Thanksgiving is this week! I am so very excited.

Not only for the feast, but for family time.

I love my family dearly and am so glad we are so close.

This year, we're planning a tacky Christmas sweater surprise.

I got my sweater (above) and on Thanksgiving all the cousins are hammering out the details.

We plan to bring them on Christmas and go change all at once then just come out in them.

I'm stoked! We're all about a year apart so we tend to get along very well.

It goes my brother Josh (22), cousin Mike (21), me (20),

cousin Sarah (19), cousin Chelsea (18), cousin Jessica (15)

who will be 16 on the day after Thanksgiving, cousin Connor (15),

and last but not least, cousin Sophia (11).

This is us last year (missing Sarah).

Mike, Connor, Jessica, Chelsea, Josh, me,

and Sophia in the front.

Looking at this picture, I realize we all look completely different now!

I'll try to get a photo this year to post later :)

Have a good Sunday!

Procrastination

So this is what I'm doing instead of writing my paper.

HELP ME

It's Wednesday!

Hello! How is your week going? Mine's going alright, thanks for asking ;) Today is my day off, thank goodness. I will be working on a research paper all day. Yippee!

I went to the store the other day and got some Greek yogurt and granola for a yummy and healthy breakfast. But I accidentally got plain yogurt instead of vanilla, so it's super tart and weird tasting. For breakfast today, I thought I'd try adding brown sugar and some cinnamon. It turned out delicious! I recommend trying it.

Greek yogurt with brown sugar and cinnamon with

oats and honey granola cereal

After breakfast I went outside and played with the dogs for a little bit.

(You'll have to excuse the dead grass!)

Koda's foot and tail

 Koda and Chloe :)

 Model pose!

Grrr

Her nails still have polish from when

I painted them forever ago!

And now, paper time! Have a good Wednesday!

PS In case you were ever wondering, YES Nutella and
peanut butter toast sandwiches are the best thing ever!

'Tis the Season...?

Could it be? Holiday season is upon us? For me, I think it is. I just got back from the store and couldn't help but get some winter essentials.

White hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles

Cider scented candle

Peppermint M&Ms

And some silly little snowflake earrings

(PLEASE EXCUSE MY FEEBLE ATTEMPT AT HAVING COOL PHOTOS)

Jumping the holiday gun?

Maybe, but who cares!

Winter time is my favorite time of year!

What's yours? :)

Relaxing Sunday

Overall it's been a pretty good week! School was a little crazy for a few days, but I'm lucky and a couple of my teachers extended project due dates :) I was able to focus on school without being stressed about it (for once)! I could get used to this. Anyway, I've had a good weekend with true friends and I couldn't be happier :)

Just look at those faces!

Friday was Veterans Day and I proudly sported my American flag pin :)

And just because I feel like sharing how adorable we are ;)

This was taken October 1, 2011 at Austin's FMTB graduation.

I miss him so much lately and it's only been 5 weeks since he left for Japan.

Two years is going to go by so slow.

Enough complaining!

I'm so proud of him and excited that he gets the opportunities he does.

And I can't imagine my life without him.

Love you babe ♥

You can find me relaxing on a lazy Sunday watching some football and hoping for more rain!

Have a good Sunday!

A Piece of History

Tonight in my Children's Lit class, we had a special guest. Ninety-two year old Mas Inoshita is a World War 2 veteran. He was a part of the 442nd regiment, a group of Japanese-American soldiers who left Japanese internment camps to fight for the United States Army. They are one of the most decorated groups in US history. It was truly a memorable experience meeting and visiting with him. I feel very fortunate to have had this opportunity. Time to share with these heroes is dwindling down and I am so very lucky to have met him. Here is a photo of him with my class!

There's a First Time for Everything

Today marked a first. I'm not happy about this first but it had to happen sometime. I got my first bad haircut. I can't really call it that though, because it's not like my hair dresser did something wrong. I just thought I wanted it way short, but it turns out...I HATE it. Everyone's saying it looks fine and I shouldn't be worried but I just don't like it! I know it's silly, but I was so excited to get my hair looking like usual instead of super long and roots grown out like crazy. Then I have to go and overdo it! I guess it will just take some getting used to. But I can't lie, I can't wait until it grows out in about a month or so!!

Here's what I was aiming for.

And here's what I got.

I know it doesn't look like that much of a difference, but an inch or two is a lot when hair is as short as mine! Anywho, time to stop being a baby and enjoy a night out with people who don't care if I got a "bad" haircut! :)

Red Velvet Pancakes

This morning, I decided to be Betty Crocker and make red velvet pancakes! I found the recipe on Pinterest and went to the store to get the necessary ingredients and get started!

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 large eggs

1-1/2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons red food coloring (I only used 1 teaspoon)

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup chocolate chips (doesn’t matter what kind you use)

Directions

Combine all dry ingredients in large bowl and set aside.

(Egg, buttermilk, sour cream, food coloring, vanilla)

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, sour cream, food coloring and vanilla.

Add wet ingredients to dry, and mix just until combined. Add chocolate chips and fold in batter.

Pour about 1/3 cup onto medium/high griddle and lightly brown on both sides.

Sprinkle powdered sugar on top and serve with maple syrup.

These pancakes were pretty delicious! Like I said above, I only used half the amount of food coloring. I also had to add some regular milk in there because the batter was so thick it wouldn't even fall off the spoon! Besides that, everything worked out pretty good. I couldn't even finish my plate because they were so richly delicious. Throw in a glass of milk and you've got yourself a great weekend treat!