Visitors.....

After being down in Laramie for a couple weeks, I was lucky to have some visitors at my house. Kara, Jason, and the kids came down Friday the 13th to stay with me for a couple days before heading to Denver on their family vacation.

To say the kids were excited would be the understatement of the year. After I got off of work and cleaned the house in a quick hurry, the troops arrived. Luckily I had iPads, Movies, Nerf Guns, and Stuffed Animals to keep them entertained or I'm pretty sure my house would have been a little boring. After getting some energy out from the long car ride, we went to Applebee's to eat dinner then finished off the night watching Home Alone 3 and eating popcorn. 

The next morning we all woke up bright & early. After getting the house picked up, everyone else went out to eat breakfast while I got ready. We spent the day at the Rec Center swimming, playing basketball, and ended the adventure at the play area. After a few hours, we'd had all the fun we could handle, so we headed to Walmart to get some ice cream before heading home. 

My room became the dedicated TV room since it was right next to the living room and kitchen so we were able to keep an eye on the wild bunch.

Katelyn & I had a nail party, and I helped her paint her toe nails because both of our old nail polish needed a touch up! Luckily, Katelyn is easy to please because my technique is not the greatest :)

Kara, Jason, and Kinlee went out to eat at Corona Village for dinner while the kids and I sat at home watched Surfs Up and ate Little Caesars for dinner. It was a fun night and I loved spending time with my crazy kiddos!

To finish off the weekend, we went to church on Sunday and then Kara cooked a big lunch since it was Father's Day before everyone left for Denver to go to the Zoo and spend a few days in Colorado. I had to stay in Laramie because I had to go to my rotation on Monday. 

It was nice to get to see everyone and have a good break from school work. It was a great weekend, full of lots of activities and fun (it's about time they came back here to see their old home, hopefully it was everything they ever dreamed of). Kara & Jase sure did a lot and I'm thankful they brought the kids down to spend some time with their Aunt Bethy!

The Next Great Baker.....

I love Pinterest! There are so many great ideas on there. Most are just wishful thinking because I don't feel like truly creative or talented enough to make it look as good as it does with the pictures. A majority of the items I pin, I haven't even attempted. I'm not brave enough :) Now, Dani on the other hand is willing to try new things. We both love to watch baking shows, and one of our favorites is Cupcake Wars. She wants to try and do the different piping techniques that can be used to frost cupcakes & cakes.

The other day as she was searching for new ideas, and she found a recipe for Snickerdoodle Cupcakes. They looked really good, the recipe looked fairly easy, and she wanted to try them out. I love Snickerdoodle cookies, so I was excited she was feeling ambitious.

 Here's the recipe. It says at the bottom of it, but this came from Deliciously Sprinkled.

I'm so glad that she made these because they were excellent. The frosting reminds me of the frosting from Cinnabon. I'd definitely recommend these to anyone. Dani's a pretty good cook and can make me these cupcakes whenever she wants. I think she could be The Next Great Baker if she's going to make delicious things like this!

A Good Day to be a Cowboy.....

Tuesday night our Cowboy basketball team played San Diego State. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go tonight because it didn't start until 9:00, and I had an early class the next day. I decided I better go because our boys are known for playing well again ranked opponents in the AA, and well they definitely didn't disappoint! They dominated and lead by about 10 points for a majority of the game. Our crowd was awesome and cheered like crazy the entire game.The second the buzzer rang, the students stormed the court, I guess we were pretty excited about beating the 5th ranked team in the nation! It's the best game I've seen our boys play all season. It was a great day to be Cowboy fan that's for sure! I'm glad we decided to go, I would have been disappointed if I had missed out on this one. Watching the different Cowboy/Cowgirl games is going to be one of the things I miss the most when I'm done with school. It's my favorite thing to do while I'm here!

On a different note, I'm starting into my exams, which means my semester is finally starting. I have an exam pretty much every week for the rest of the semester. I just had an exam yesterday in Pharm Administration, put in my preferences for rotations today, have an exam in Therapeutics on Monday, a presentation Friday, an exam in Sterile Products the next Monday, then I'll head to Regional Basketball, have my Economics midterm the Wednesday after I get back, then it's State Basketball, and the week after that is Spring Break. It seems like this semester is flying by in some ways, but going slow in others. With the anticipation of being done with classes forever makes the time seem like it will never end, hopefully that's not the case.

We didn't do anything special for Valentines Day today. All we did was sit at home, watched movies, and ordered pizza for dinner. The best part of our day was getting some beautiful flowers, thanks to our sweet parents. It definitely made our day :)

Fun-Filled Weekend.....

Instead of sitting around all weekend, Dani & I actually did some fun things! Steph came down on Thursday so she could get her hair done on Friday. After I got out of my Rotation Advising, we headed to The Library to grab some lunch. After we ate, we went to the Brown & Gold store and the Bookstore to see if there was any new shirts in that we could wear to the Cowboy game the next day. We made a quick trip to Maurices and the chocolate store before heading home to watch the Lovell vs. Rocky game. It was weird to watch & cheer for the girls without Emi being out on the floor. It definitely wasn't the same, but I'm glad that she's on her way to recovery for her knee! We spent the rest of the night being lazy & bumming around the house.

Saturday we went to the Cowboy Basketball game. The boys play Utah State and we played really well. The game was the Gold Out, it was cool to see our student section all wearing the same color for once. :) It was a pretty eventful game with some questionable calls, our obnoxious crowd, & one of our players getting ejected, it was good that we came out with a win!

Steph headed home pretty early this morning so she could be home for work tomorrow and be home to watch the Super Bowl. Our Super Bowl "Party" was pretty exciting, since it was just me & Dani. It wasn't the most exciting game & definitely didn't end the way we wanted it to. The half-time show was awesome, I absolutely love Bruno Mars, & it was the highlight of the game! We made some homemade pizza to eat while we watched the game. It took me a couple times to make the dough because the first time I got the water too hot & killed the yeast in the first batch. We were going to have the pizza done by the middle of the first half but ended up having to wait until the middle of half-time to eat. It turned out really good and was totally worth the wait!

When reading about our weekend, it doesn't seem all the exciting, but compared to what it usually consists of, it really was pretty eventful! I had a good time and was happy to have something to fill our time!

Christmas & the Rest of Break.....

Christmas morning didn't start too early this year, around 8 or 9. I'm so grateful for my parents and everything they do for us. They try to make sure we all have a great holiday and get us lots of amazing gifts. I really wanted to get my parents something special for Christmas but was really struggling with what to get them. We ordered a mounted wall art picture from Shutterfly of the Salt Lake Temple, which is where they were sealed when they got married. It turned out really nice, and I was pleased with it.

We spent the rest of the day being lazy and playing with our new presents. Later that night, we went to Kara's to see what the kids got for Christmas from Santa & their parents. It was a low key day, but was great to spend the day with family.

The next week it was time for Emi's birthday. I can't believe my baby sister is already 17. The favorite gifts we got for her were displays for all her sports awards. She amazes me with how she excels in everything she does. She's so talented. I'm proud to be her sister and can't brag enough about her. She's one of my best friends and couldn't imagine our family without her. We spent the night with Kara & her family again for some homemade pizza, cupcakes, & a night filled with games. I'm pretty boring, I rang in the New Year in my bed watching a movie in the dark (pretty sure that's a sign that I'm getting old).

The rest of break I spent hanging out at home, making some blankets on my new sewing machine, playing my guitar, and spending time with my family. Of course we had to make a trip down to the drug store for some of the famous Lovell Drug ice cream, which is definitely the best in town. We also spent lots of time out at Kara's house playing games and watching tv with the kiddos.

Christmas Break went by way too quick. It was a nice break and I enjoyed all the time I got to spend with my family. I'm so grateful for everything that they do for me. I can't believe I'm already back at school with my first week already under my belt. Only 15 weeks to go until I'm done with school work forever!

Down to the Wire.....

I can't believe that this semester is almost over! It is flying by. I'm leaving for Thanksgiving break in a week and after I get back, there's only 2 weeks left until I'm on Christmas break. At the end of this year, I'll be all done with schoolwork and starting in June it's time for me to start rotations. My official graduation date has been set: May 16, 2015!! It's so surreal that in a year and a half I'll be done with school forever. Graduation has been a long time coming, and it can't get here soon enough. I knew this time was coming, but I got an email from my professor about my schedule and it made it feel so real.

As exciting as it is, it also scares me. The transition and change is going to take awhile to get use to. Once I start rotations, the preceptors are going expect me to not only remember but apply those things that I've been learning for years now. It's intimidating because right now I don't feel like I know anything. I can't even remember all the things that I've learned this semester, let alone recall things from the past 5 years! Obviously, I know more then I think I do (hopefully), and I guess I'll find out when the time comes.

With the start of the new school year, also means the start of sports season. Football & Volleyball are close to being over. My favorite time of year started a few weeks ago, which means it's time for basketball! I love going to watch our team play. It's such a cool atmosphere to be in (even if our student section is obnoxious and don't have much sportsmanship)!! Dani & I have been going to as many games as we could this year, as long as we didn't have homework or exams to study for. We love our Pokes & are proud to be from Wyoming!!

Superwoman For a Day.....

I always knew that mom's were superheroes, but it wasn't until yesterday that I truly appreciated everything a mom has to do.

Kara & Jason needed to go to Billings to pick out some stuff for their addition on their house. To make the decision process a little easier, I babysat the kids. It was one of the longest, most stressful 7 hours of my life. But I loved it and couldn't think of a better way then spending it with those sweet kids that I'm lucky enough to call my nieces & nephews. We played games, watched movies, ate dinner & popcorn, Just Dance'd, and completed everything on Katelyn's bucket list she made before I got there. We were even able to clean up our mess so the house looked good when Kara & Jase got home.

I must have done an okay job because they asked if I could do it again next time their mom & dad needed to go to Billings. I was even invited to stay the night and eventually left with tears of goodbye because they didn't want to me to go. I'm so lucky to be so loved by those kids.

After just 7 hours I was worn out. My parents and sisters even came to help for awhile, but I was still ready for bed by the time I got home. Mom's are definitely all like Superwoman. They do their job each & every day without a break, vacation, pay, sick days, or most of the time gratitude or notice for what they do. I have the best mother in the entire world, who does all she can for our family. She works herself to the bone for us. After yesterday, I'm doubly amazed that she's done this for over 30 years! With all the hard work and sacrifices you make, you really have to be a selfless person to be a mother.

This gave me a little insight to what a mom does every day. There's no harder job in the world, but also no more rewarding job. I can't imagine a better feeling in the world then to feel how loved you are by those little kids. My mom & sisters are the best examples of how mom's should be and act. I hope that I will be just like them when the time comes for me. Thanks Kara for letting my watch your sweet kiddos!

It's Been Awhile.....

It's been awhile since I've cooked a full-course meal while I'm in Laramie going to school. We usually make something quick or go get something to eat for dinner because it takes too much time or we don't want to go to the store. :) Tonight, though it's been long enough since we've had a fancy meal like my mom makes us at home.

Dani and I wanted to make dinner so we could eat while we watched WWE, which is our Monday night tradition since last summer vacation. For dinner we made some barbecue steak, baked potatoes, corn, and homemade rolls. I attempted to make the rolls, they turned out pretty good, but still not as good as Mom's and definitely not as pretty! It'll take some practice, and hopefully one day I'll be as good of a cook as my mom. I need to do it more often then I do so I can get better!

I'm so thankful for a great mom who is such a talented cook and has taught us those same skills! I would be eating frozen dinners for the rest of my life if it wasn't for her (Either that or I'd be a regular dinner guest at her house)!!

Slacker.....

It's been awhile since I've blogged, but not a lot has been going on. All I've been doing lately is going to school and hanging out at home. Nothing too exciting to talk about on here. This semester is going by really quickly. I can't believe Spring Break & Easter Break have come and gone. There's only about a month of school left, and I'll have another year under my belt. 

Spring Break was pretty laid back and nothing too exciting happened. I spent most of my time hanging out at home with my sisters. The last day of break before heading back, I got to spend the day with Kristen. It was a good day and was nice catching up with my best friend!

I headed back to Laramie, and was only there for a couple days because I came back Wednesday because Melissa, Darius, & Draya came down for the Easter weekend. It was so good to see them, and we had a lot of fun times. 

I got my hair cut, colored, and my eyebrows waxed while Melissa was home. She always does such an awesome job, and I love having a hairstylist in the family :)

We made a trip down to the drug store to get some ice cream and had some fun looking at all the merchandise around the store. 

We also spent lots of time with Kara and the kids. I love watching all the kids playing together and love on the babies. They're so cute. I may be a little biased, but I think I have the cutest nieces & nephews in the entire world.

It was nice weather, and my mom has been itching to plant some flowers. This weekend, she finally got to. Darius got to help and he loved it! I'm so excited for Spring and all the beautiful flowers, and seeing them planting made me even more anxious.

We were also able to spend time outside playing. Darius loves sports and so we spent lots of time playing basketball. These kids sure do love their grandparents and aunts! 

The only thing that would have made this weekend better was if Emi could have been here with us. At least she was off having a fun time in Hawaii with the Swing Choir.