Christmas Break- the First Half

I have been home for almost 2 weeks now. I've had a lot of fun with the nieces and nephews. The weekend I got home my brother Bryan and his family came into town so that everyone was home. We decided to go bowling. This is me with the nieces watching someone else bowl. I think the younger girls outscored all of the adults. Of course they had bumpers and some help with a ramp to put the ball on.

This is Wilson, Whitney and Hannah. The two girls usually play so well together. Here they are sharing a bike.

These are the boys right before we took family pictures. They are the binky boys. The hat Wilson is wearing was made by Nicole. She has been a crafting freak.

The past two weeks has gone by so quickly. I have been sick for a lot of it, so I really haven't had time to do the projects that I need to get done before next semester comes. I'll get on those right away. ;) On Wednesday I got to spend some time with my brother Kirk. Those who usually take care of him went up to Billings. It was great to spend a few hours with him. He's getting so much better with his vocabulary. He usually just says one word when he wants to communicate. While I was over there he was using sentances in asking to go see mom. I felt so bad having to turn him down, but it was crazy at home. So we listened to music and I tickled his feet; he was in 7th heaven. It was nice to spend some quiet time with him.

Sicker Than a Boo-Boo

As my Uncle Lloyd would say, I have been "sicker than a boo-boo" this past week. I'm not exactly how sick that is, but I'm guessing that's how I've felt this past week. When I got home last weekend my niece and nephew had a few sniffles. I didn't think much of it until I started getting a REALLY sore throat. I think I would rather have the stomach flu than a sore throat. It makes life miserable. On top of that I couldn't breathe through my nose, making it necessary to breathe through my mouth...drying out my throat even more. Makes sleeping difficult. I finally went to the doctor on Thursday and got some antibiotics. It really hasn't helped, but I'm hoping.

Being at home has been great. Since my brother and his family currently live with my mom (he's building a house), I get to see Whitney and Wilson, my niece and nephew, every day. Wilson is learning to walk/waddle. He's getting more sure of himself every day. Whitney keeps me entertained with dancing and singing. I wish I had even 1 percent of her energy. She amazes me.

I've been very lazy so far. I'm supposed to get ready for next semester and finish a project from this last semester, but that hasn't really happened yet. I need to get on that this week. I hate having to work over a break, but it must be done.

Family Photos

We had family photos taken last weekend. Catherine did a great job...especially at photo shopping the background so it looked good. It was a crazy 20 minutes with screaming kids and adults trying to get their attention. I think they turned out for how crazy it really was.

Kirk, Me, Mom

Me and my cute mommy

The girls (Chelsey, Shawnee, Mom, Sandy, Nicole, Sariah, Bekah, Hannah, Whitney)

A few of us girls

The grandchildren (Hayden, Hannah, Whitney, Sariah, Wilson, Bekah)

Mike's Family (Mike, Whitney, Nicole, Wilson)

Erik's Family (Sandy, Erik, Bekah, Sariah)

Bryan's Family (Chelsey, Hannah, Hayden, Bryan)

The whole gang.

Taco Bell Birthday

The other night my friend Jess and I went through the drive-thru at Taco Bell, one of our favorite eateries. The guy who took our order was hillarious, and very patient with us. (We tend to be a bit hyper when we are together). When we pulled up to the window, he happened to mention it was his birthday. One of us (I think it was Jess, she thinks it was me) had the bright idea to make him a card since he had to work on his birthday. So, we ran around the corner back to my apartment. This is us thinking we are so creative in writing a poem to him.


The following is the card. It uploaded upside down. We wrote a poem to him.

We also decided to give him some cake. It's one of those microwave brownie things. Very yummy.

This is Jess making an order for some tap water and hot sauce. Since we had already been through about 20 minutes before that, we really didn't want anything.

This is Jason. He was nice enough to offer the water and hot sauce free of charge. We gave him his cake and card. I think he was very surprised by the whole thing. He probably thought we were psycho. (Which we really are, we just try not to let on about that part).

All in all it was a great evening. One of the best nights of our lives. (Earlier that night we saw "The Blind Side", which is an amazing move.)