Trial and Error

For the first time ever I tried making Candy Cane Bread. (This is a special bread with filling that my mom usually makes every year around Christmas). Um...

...better luck next year. They didn't turn out too pretty, good thing I wasn't submitting them in the fair or some contest. All I could think when they were cooking was "these are such a joke". Luckily, after taking them out of the oven I was able to put them all very close together on the pan and that helped to close them up a little. The good news, they tasted good! I gave them to people at work and those that ate theirs at work liked them a lot. Now, I just have to get the look down.

C-O-W-B-OY-S

Yea for the Cowboys and their New Mexico Bowl win yesterday against Fresno State! I was cheering and singing (the fight song of coarse) and texting Beth (so it could be like I was watching the game with her) while I watched the game. The end of the game drive, the 1st overtime goalline stops and the 2nd overtime were all very exciting, but my favorite part of the game was probably when I got a phone call from my neice Caitlin.

Her: Hi Annie. Are you watching the game?
Me: Yes. I'm watching the game.
Her: What are you doing? (because she cannot have a phone converstation without asking this most important question)
Me: I am watching the Wyoming football game. Are you watching the football game?
Her: Yes...Dad, are we watching football?
Him: Yes.
Her: Yes, we're watching football too.

Then the rest of the conversation was mixed with a lot of things I couldn't quite understand, but I was glad that she called :)

Winter trip to Wyoming

In November, my mom and I found a killer deal that Southwest Airlines was having, so we decided to take an early December trip up to Wyoming to visit Beth and fam. It was definately a winter trip, as the weather was bitter cold. However, since we left (last weekend) it has only gotten more cold in Wyoming. I guess they pulled out the warmer weather while we were there :) In explaining the fun trip, I will talk about each of the pictures above (in order as if you were reading a book).

1. I felt like I needed to show proof that it was so cold...on Sunday night (and Thursday night) it was below zero. All I can say is Brrrrrr.
2. Ashlee loves climbing on things, including my mom's, Grandma's, suitcase. She was also checking out what she can buy her mom for Christmas.
3. Caitlin and Ashlee like to dance so they were having a little dancing party with Beth.
4. We had a nice dinner on Sunday night. In case we can't tell in the picture, we were famished.
5. Chris and Caitlin pulling a cracker. They are doing '12 Days to Christmas' this year and making and pulling crackers was one of the activities. A cracker is a Scottish present that you pull and the winner gets the gift inside. We each had our own cracker, filled with candy and awesome Christmas rings.
6. Making Scottish shortbread was another of the 12 Days to Christmas activity; which Ashlee was helping to make.
7. Mom, Ashlee, Beth and Caitlin making gingerbread men ornaments (another 12 Day activity).
8. When Beth and Chris lived in Scotland they got some plaid fabric. My mom made jumpers out of the fabric for Caitlin and Ashlee and they were posing in them before we left for church. They are super cute jumpers.
9. Me and Ashlee. She liked me and mom being there because we would hold her a lot.
10. Caitlin concentrating on making her gingerbread man.
11. Caitlin taking her turn at helping with the shortbread.

It was a fun trip. I am thankful that there are such convient (and sometimes quite cheap) ways of traveling now so it is much easier to visit family and friends all over the country.

Houston and the Blue Bell Factory

Hurray for vacation so I can take annual trips to Houston (this was my 3rd year in a row visiting Houston in November). David, Julie and Bailey were kind enough to let me come for 5 days. There was plenty of fun with hiking - rather nature walking, shopping on Harwin Street, playing games, watching football and Dancing with the Stars, taking walks, and going to the Blue Bell Factory. Blue Bell ice cream originated in Brenham, TX, which is only about 30 minutes from Houston so one afternoon we headed there for a tour. It was really interesting to learn the history and see how they make the ice cream, however the best part was the free scoop at the end! Since only 19 states have Blue Bell ice cream, not everyone can enjoy it's goodness. So I'll tell you, it is really good ice cream (although not as good as Baskin Robbins). Although Bailey doesn't look to enthused in the pictures, she liked the tour as well and she loved her small vanilla scoop.

I did it!

I stayed home this year and handed out candy to trick-or-treaters. This may not seem too shocking of a task unless you are familiar with the insanity of my subdivision on Halloween. A newish subdivision, sidewalks, and houses which are fairly close together = ideal situation for trick-or-treating. Each Halloween it seems that 1/2 the valley takes advantage (1/2 is probably an exaggeration). Usually there are students from the college criminal justice department who stand on the corners amidst flares and direct traffic. This year there were no traffic directors, however still plenty of people, cars, and chaos. From about 6:00-7:00 I had a pretty steady stream of kids coming to my door...344 to be exact...until I ran out of candy and had to turn people away. It was actually a much more pleasant experience then I was anticipating and I enjoyed seeing all of the kids in their costumes. I also got tons of compliments on my pumpkin. I'm not sure how much they count coming from kids under the age of 10, but I was glad they liked it.

Last weekend

my mom and I took a trip to Phoenix for Time Out for Women. This is a 2 day conference put on by Desert Book to help lift and rejuvenate women. It was really good, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I especially enjoyed Jenny Oaks Baker who plays the violin, she is superb. Also the talks by Emily Freeman and Kris Belcher were excellent. Time Out for Women is definitely something I would take time out to go to again.

Since we were heading to Phoenix, we decided to get a hike in. We love hiking and try to hit new trails when we can. It was a fun hike, but not without some lessons learned.

• The second week of October in the middle of the day is not a good time to hike in Phoenix, it is still PRETTY WARM.
• When hiking in the desert, watch your step so you don't step on a 2 1/2 foot snake in the middle of the path. (Unfortunately I didn't have my camera out yet to capture the snake. I know Chris is really disappointed).
• Don't step on the small pieces that fall off of the fluffy (they only look fluffy) white cactus. It is quite a chore picking it out of the bottom of your shoe.
• The desert is dry, but it has it's own beauty.

The Bags and Wyoming

Beth and I decided back in the summer that we wanted to make some bags, Birdie Sling's to be more specific. This was an idea we got from our friend Michelle who has made several bags and they look awesome. With Beth coming in September and me taking vacation it was the perfect time for the project. We got the pattern and material and got started. After the first day we had succeeded in cutting out the fabric...this was maybe going to be a bigger task then we first anticipated. After about 4 days of working on the bags (working for several hours each day) we finally finished. Yeah! They turned out very good. We are proud of our accomplishments. The worst part of making the bag was having to pick-out stitches. When I was almost finished I had to unpick the entire thing I had just sewn and I was frustrated, to say the least. Beth, being a nice sister, helped me piece it together again so I wouldn't have to unpick it again. Before this I was thinking of making another bag, but after the last step I thought no way! However, I'm encouraged after finding out that even Michelle (the inspiration for the bags and a seasoned sewer) has to unpick things. I think maybe I'll make another bag or some other creation this fall :)

On a different subject, last weekend I flew up to Wyoming. David, Julie, Bailey and I met in Denver and drove up to Laramie to meet Beth, Chris and their girls for a Cowboys football game. It was a great game; perfect weather, great company, tons of Pokes fans, lots of "Cowboy Joe" and a win. Tons of fun. After the game we walked around campus seeing what was the same and different; it sure brought back great memories. After dinner at an awesome Mexican restaurant in Laramie, we drove to Beth and Chris's house in Rock Springs. It was fun staying with them for the next 1 1/2 days before we had to fly home.