17. It's Almost Christmas!

So coming back from Thanksgiving break was actually more difficult then I originally imagined that it would be. It was so nice to just be surrounded by family who loved and cared about me. Even when I was driving back I had the urge to just turn the car around and go back. I know that getting an education is really important which is why I am at school. So as hard as the next couple weeks of school will be (11 days to be exact, but who is counting) I know that I can endure and finish strong!

I am super blessed to have some pretty great roommates. I came home and my roommate Malia about tackled me she was so excited to see me! We both started unpacking our Christmas decorations and before we knew it we were both feeling better about being back! Our apartment looks a little bit Christmas Crazy, but I think it is good for us especially with finals so soon! I just hope that we can laugh our way through finals and find joy in our journey!

16. Pinterest Pie

Thanksgiving is all about pie! This year I made my very first pie. I wanted it to be something different though. I did not want to make the average apple pie . . .  so of course I went and looked on Pinterest:) I found an apple pie that looked delicious and there was a tree carved into it on the top. Yes it was kind of adventurous for a first time pie maker, but I was pretty excited to try it out!

My dad this past fall made bottles of homemade apple pie filling and it is delicious so I figured I would try it out with my lovely idea for a pie.

So this is what the pie looked like with the leaves all made and my tree trunk cut out before it was cooked. Not too bad right :)

So then I had to figure out how to color each of the leaves. I took a toothpick and some food coloring and then textured each of them to look like leaves. 

This is what the pie looked like after it was cooked. I'm not really sure why the crust split, but it still tasted pretty great! I wish I would have spread the food coloring a little bit more so that more of the leaves were colored, but overall I think it ended up looking okay for my first time! I was pretty proud of it and my family admired it before they sliced into it :)

15. Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving is always a time of family, fun, and food. However, it has also been one of my favorite family traditions as well. For as long as I can remember every year after Thanksgiving my sister and my two aunts would stay the night at my grandmas house. We would stay up late, eat leftovers, and just enjoy each others company. The next morning we would wake up to the smell of my grandma's homemade waffles. After devouring several each, we would begin the giant project of decorating my grandma's house for Christmas. We first would start by crawling into her crawl space in the basement and grab totes upon totes of Christmas decorations. By the time we unloaded all of them and placed each layer upon layer around the house it looked like Christmas threw up everywhere!

This year unfortunately I missed that. One of my aunts is on a mission to Michigan so it just was not the same to do it without her.

14. Cooks like to COOK!

One of the things that I was most excited to come home and do this week was to cook in my kitchen! I have a kitchen at BYU, but it just isn't the same as cooking in MY kitchen! I looked up tons of creative recipes on Pinterest (yes they have some good ones) and I finally decided on a few that I wanted to try. I showed them to my mom who just rolled her eyes and told me that I could cook whatever I wanted! My mom makes really good food don't get me wrong, but I really gained my love of cooking from my dad and both of my grandmothers. Over the years I have learned lots of neat tricks from them...and I cook all the time! The one rule in my house is that if you're cooking you have to clean up after yourself...needless to say after cleaning up after myself at college for the past few months it was going to be a piece of cake! I was so excited!

I decided to make a pound cake with a pumpkin bread shape within it.(pictured below courtesy of Pinterest)

As you can see I didn't have a pumpkin shape which was sad, but I managed to make a heart and it turned out pretty great so I was satisfied! Overall it was a very successful Pinterest pin and it was even more fun to make 1) because I was making it at home in MY kitchen 2) because I let both of my brothers help me make it! I love family . . . and food of course!

13. Home again!

It is Monday and I'm sitting at home on my coach writing this lovely post. Did you catch that? AT HOME!!! I am so excited to be home! What are the chances that all of my Friday classes would get cancelled apparently pretty good because it happened!!! Not only did I get to go home, but I got to travel with two of my best college friends from Idaho as well! Talk about an adventure!

The fun part about driving in the car for multiple hours is that there is a lot of time to talk. I know most people don't like to talk about high school and such, but with these girls we know all the same people and it is so fun to catch up on how everyone is doing! Especially hearing about all of our missionary friends!

We are starting to make it a tradition that every time that we come home we are going to take a picture next to the "Welcome to Idaho" sign. It is a perfect stretching spot for our legs plus we get to make super crazy poses on the side of the highway so why not? Caitlyn wore an interesting outfit to travel in this time! Basketball shorts and goulashes! I think she is trying to be a trend setter...we will see how that works out!

We all saw the sign for our exit after driving for about 4 hours! We were so excited to be home! We all love lots of things about school, but we also love where we live and our families! It was so fun to travel with them and also to grow up with them! We truly bond on these trips and I'm sure we will be forever friends because of it!

12. Christmas?!? But We Haven't Had Thanksgiving YET

After a brutal week of homework and studying my friend, Leticia(she goes by Tish) asked me if I wanted to go to the Lighting of the River Woods. She is from Utah so she knows about tons of cool things to do so of course I said YES! Let me tell you it was so fun! Everything was lit up with Christmas lights and we even got free hot cider!

It really was like a winter wonderland...minus the snow. There were so many people there. They started it off with Fireworks which we saw as we were attempting to find a parking spot. There were cool ice sculptures, live music, carriage rides, and.......wait for it.....drum roll please Santa Claus was there! Yes we had to wait in line to get a picture because why not! This would definitely be a fantastic date idea for any guys reading this I'm pretty sure they still have the lights up.

Overall it was the perfect stress reliever for me for the week plus it got me in the holiday mood and ready to go home for Thanksgiving! I can't wait for more adventures in the future with Tish because I'm sure we will have TONS!!!

11. Basketball Bliss

Basketball was always a part of my life in high school. Summer ball and school ball. It never had an off season. I never though I would miss it...Do I miss it now? That is a very good question.

"Basketball is not just a sport, it's a lifestyle."

I had the opportunity to watch my sister play in her first game of her Junior season of basketball. It was the first high school game she had not played with me on the court. Was it so fun for me to watch? Absolutely. I wouldn't change it for the world. Did it make me miss playing more than I can express in words? Absolutely.

My sister and I are two years apart. Play the same sports. Are relatively the same height. Needless to say we were always competing with each other. I'm not going to lie it was often a hard situation to be in. However since I've been away at college, I've truly begun to realize how much I enjoyed the opportunities we had together. They were some good times. Coming home to watch her and my old team play was such a blessing and an eye opening experience for me. I truly realized what I am missing in my life and now I guess I will just get to see where that will take me.