Winter Wonderland

Yup! I was walkin' in a winter wonderland today. The snow started early this morning and did not stop till later this afternoon. I opened at work this morning and then just had to get out into the beautiful snow for a bit so I went for a walk along the creek. It was soooo beautiful I just had to take my camera along. I walked for over and hour and it was amazing outside. There were not many people out and I kinda went off the trail a bit and got to walk on fresh, no footprint snow. It's the best!

The whole time I walked the snow was falling and it was that beautiful soft sounds where everything is muffled and you just feel like you are in a fairy tale. And the smell of the air is so fresh and cool you take deep breaths hoping to taste it! The sky was still white from the storm and everything looked like a black and white picture. It was a perfect snowy walk.

Then like every good Texan, who still gets excited about snow and cannot resist playing like a child in it every time, I looked both ways to make sure no one saw me and I fell to the ground and made a snow angel. It is kinda hard to see in the picture but I did the best I could. Pretty soon after the snow angel I began the trek back home because one, I had to potty, Two, my face was cold, and three you should not make snow angels in non-waterproof pants. The snow soaks in pretty fast! Oops! The rest of the day I have spent inside being warm and making mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

First Down

First downs are what we cheer for at Texans games, not touchdowns because those don't happen very often (but are occurring more and more frequently). Ha! It really is funny. At the games when the Texans get a first down the announcer yells "And its another Texans..." and the crowd does the first down sign with their hand and yells "FIRST DOWN!" And this game they gave us these fun foamy sticks so we used those to help out! So fun and so funny!

As said in the last post I went home for our annual Texans NFL game with our family. While I was home we had our family pictures made, ate a lot of yummy food, did a little shopping, took some walks, saw our new church building, and just hung out with each other. It was a blast as always. I was kinda sad to leave because my brother and sister-in-law were staying for the week for Thanksgiving but I had to come back. Luckily I will be back home soon.

The Texans game was awesome. Probably one of the best we have ever been to. We were playing the New Orleans Saints and there were a lot of Saints fans there because there are a lot of people from NO who live in Houston. So we had a rowdy bunch but we sure showed them! My favorite player, Andre Johnson, was back after being injured for a while and he scored an awesome touchdown from an awesome pass by Schaub. Also, finally our first round draft pick from last year made some plays (even taking out Reggie Bush who could have been our first pick).

Our family also had an amazing time because we had amazing seats. They were lower than our usual "nose bleed, by the air conditioner, so far in the corner you have to stretch your neck to see the in zone" seats. There were waitresses to bring your food (that we did not use), carpets and couches in the hallways and bathroom monitors that handed you paper towels and offered complimentary mints, gum, perfume, and other girly stuff. Who knew! I felt very well to do which is not a normal occurrence. Although, the best part of the game was cheering for our favorite team with my family!

Here I am at the game with the foam sticks they gave out. I'm a Texan!!!!

Fun Weekend Ahead

I'm going home tomorrow! Hooray! Think I'm going home for Thanksgiving? Nope! NFL GAME!! Our family has tickets to the Houston Texans vs. New Orleans Saints game on Sunday. We go to Texans games every year and they are so much fun. I am so excited! I have not been home or seen any of my family in about 4 months so I am ready.

Another fun highlight of the weekend is....family photos!!! Ha! Silly I know right but kinda fun too. We are going all out. Dressing similar and even bringing the dog. We did this once before in Texans clothing but that was before the addition of Shannon (my sister-in-law) which means it was a few years ago and it is time for an update. Other than these two activities I have no idea what we will do but I love visiting home and hanging out with the fam so I very excited. Sadly I have to come back on Monday so I can work Thanksgiving but I get time and a half and Turkey Day in the mts. with my friends!

PS-Check out Wes and Ellen's blog and see that I am GENIUS!

Thoughts From My Bed Today

I am laying in my bed feeling tired this morning. I worked at 4am today and am getting a cold. I want to lay here all day but I cant. I am excited to go home on Friday but I do not want to be sick. Boo!

This morning at work people were grouchy. Not the baristas but the customers. We got quite a few dirty looks and some very impatient people. I just wanted to yell if you are in a hurry and the line is out the door DON'T COME IN! I usually can put up with the rude people that come in but this morning it was just one after another. When they would leave the store us baristas would look at each other in shock. Sometimes I feel like people think that because I work in a service/food industry that I am stupid. I want to let them know that I have a degree and I choose to work here because I put enjoying my job over money!

I do enjoy my job but I am glad it will be over soon. I am tired of waking up at 4am to serve grouchy customers. I am tired of smiling and pretending like everything is ok when it isn't. Not like I have that many bad days but when I do and someone asks how I am I want to say "I'm not good! How are you?" I am tired of smelling like coffee and being addicted to caffeine.

When I get back to Abilene and am back in school I have a few things about my lifestyle I would like to change that are too hard to change right now. First, I am going to get off caffeine for a while. Hopefully I can quit over Christmas when I have time to have headaches. I like coffee and cokes but I do not like that I have to have something each day.

Second, I am going to get some form of exercise 5 days a week. Whether this is walking around campus or going for a bike ride. I have gained a little weight since working at SB and I do not like that. I do not have to be a stick to be happy but I do not like tight clothes. I know, it seems like living in CO it would be easy to be fit but its not always. For one thing when I get home from work my body is tired and needs to just sit. Plus I cant just go climb a mt. by myself for fear of getting lost or mauled by a mt. lion! I do not run anymore so that limits my outdoor activity. Plus it is getting cold and that hurts my lungs and it seems like it is always dark outside with this crazy time change!!

My third change (or more of a continuation) is that wherever possible I am going to ride my bike. Whether this is to my friends house, class or the grocery store. Living in a little town it is silly to drive everywhere. Obviously sometimes it is not possible because of too much to carry or too far, but I am going to try! Colorado has turned me slightly green and I want to stay that way!

Forth, eat less crap! I love sweets and cokes and junk food. I will have none of that in my house with the exception of some ice cream. It will be easier to eat less crap when not working at SB, but after the holidays it is a little hard to stop.

If I can keep these things I will be so happy. No they are not New Years resolutions. They are my "life is changing so might as well go all out" goals!!

Check out this website if you have not already. I heard about it on the news but did not know the site until looking at Cris's blog this morning. No clue how true it is but it is worth a shot!

Snowshoeing and Devil's Causeway

I went on possibly my last Colorado adventure on Friday. Me and Jeremy and our friend Kelsie drove 3 hours north to Yampa, Co and began our hike to the Devil's Causeway. It was a 7 hour hike that about half way into it we got to put on our snowshoes rented from REI.

I LOVE SNOWSHOEING!!! This was my first time and actually I had never heard of it until moving here but it was amazing and so much fun. It is my new favorite winter sport. It has all the amazing parts of skiing like being outside in the mountains and in the snow but none of the ACL tearing possibilities. Plus you can go so many different places where skiing you are kinda limited.

So we continued our hike up the mountain which in some parts was pretty steep and I tried not to think about coming down. We made it to the top and got to see an AMAZING view of the Flat Top Range. Everything was covered in snow and we could see miles of snow covered mountains and valleys.


The Devil's Causeway is part of the ridge of the mountains that is very dangerous and we warned multiple times by the ranger not to cross it. Usually I like to make my own decisions on dangerous stuff but this time she was right. This part of the ridge is about 100 feet long and the widest part is 3 feet. On each side of the ridge is definite death. 1500 drop. Part of me really wanted to try but since there was snow on it I decided to save my stupid choice for another time. But man was it pretty up there. We hung around and took some great pictures and then headed down so we could make it out before dark.

On the way down Kelsie and I slid on our butts because it was so steep I was sure I would just tumble down the whole mountain. It was a little bit colder this way and my hands got so numb the were pounding with pain but at least I made it safe and it was even fun sometimes.


Our adventure was amazing and I hope I can snowshoe in Chile. I am very tempted to buy a pair before leaving here but I need to think about that long and hard before I drop $200 bucks!

putting the star on the tree

they do not have my favorite scene about the ginormous toilets, but this one is great too!

Santa

Get into the Christmas spirit. Favorite line: I just like to smile, smiling's my favorite!

Goodbye Buddy

So weird but so funny. I think this is Jeremy's favorite!

Did you hear that?

And while I am showing funny movie scenes here are a few favs from Elf!

HE HATES THESE CANS!

I watched The Jerk tonight and man that is a funny movie. This is my favorite scene! I laugh so hard every time! If you have not seen this movie it's a must!