Sugar High Holidays

There are way too many sweets in this house. Mom and I spent all this past week baking...I don't even want to know how many pounds of sugar we've used.

So the whirlwind Christmas weekend is finally coming to a close. After Kari's family came in Thursday, we went to pick up Amy at the airport Friday morning. We met some friends from Denver for lunch at the Chili's with the worst service ever....I could list everything that went wrong, but I won't. Needless to say, we won't go to that Chili's again. We're one of those families that opens family presents all on Christmas Eve, so when we got home, Amy spent the rest of the afternoon wrapping presents, and Kari and I did some last minute shopping. By the end of the night, Kari and I had gotten the exact same or very similar presents for nearly every member of the family. She got Kaedyn the same toy I did (it was exchanged before presents were opened), we got the same book for my mom, we both got my dad slippers (at least they weren't the same ones), and we got the same stuffed dog for Amy, and she got me the same giraffe I got for Lisa. That aspect made opening presents pretty entertaining. On the receiving end, I was pretty well satisfied. The biggest and most exciting present I got is that I get to go to Oxford for Maymester!! Super excited about that one. Got a new coat, a printer, couple other little things. Good Christmas. Santa came Christmas morning for Kaybre and Kaedyn and most of Christmas day was spent eating food, watching the Broncos finally win (we knew they would because of the pretty blue and orange Bronco sunset), and hangin out with the family. Church this morning, followed by an always interesting brunch with my girls. Spent the afternoon decorating what seemed like thousands of cookies...it got a little chaotic, especially when Amy launched the frosting covered egg beaters at me. And finally, tonight was the extended family Christmas with my dad's side of the family. More good food, Kari and I got Grandma the same pair of socks, more presents, etc. Kaybre got a Chicken Dance Cookie Monster...she enjoyed watching it dance and wobble around....as long as it wasn't walking towards her...then she was terrified. The best toy of the night was of course the simplest...stacking boxes. Kaedyn made the tower, Kaybre knocked it down...hours of fun.
And that's Christmas. It's been tons of fun having the nieces running around the house, it's hours of free entertainment. Every time I come home, I cherish family time more and more, and sometimes, it makes it pretty hard to leave. It's hard to believe that I have to head back to Abilene in a little over a week...but hey, I can't wait to get back and see everybody.

Christmas Sunset 

So it's official. The first of my ex-boyfriend's (that I know of) is engaged...and to a girl that I was pretty good friends with in high school. I'm actually very excited for them.

Tonight was my high school's Christmas concert, and of course, being the music nerd that I am, I went. I was pretty impressed...it looks like the music program has grown quite a bit, especially considering that a new high school just opened this year, so they probably lost some people that way. And to continue my nerdiness, I talked to my band director afterwards, and I'm gonna go watch the band rehearse tomorrow...bright and early...7:38AM.

And since I'll be up, my goal of tomorrow is to finish my Christmas shopping. I want to be done...shopping has been giving me a headache.

k, bedtime.

Home

I am Home.
It's a good feeling.
Finals are over.
I made it through another semester.
I contributed my time to the 24-hour-Smat-a-thon.
I am officially a senior!?!
I miss my friends.

The last _____ of the semester

There have been a lot of those statements in the past couple weeks. The last Kai-O meeting, the last micro class, the last band rehearsel, etc, etc, etc. Today consisted of a couple of those: the last day off, the last trip to the mall (or at least I sure hope so, I've been such a mall rat lately), the last greasy pizza hut pizza, the last HIP.
I guess this shows how life can become so routine. Every day we expect the same things...and yet, every day is a day of firsts. These may be the little things, but they are always there. Like today:
It was the first time I've ever seen a man pull over on the side of the road just to throw a six-pack of empty beer bottles into the creek...what goes through people's minds when they do stuff like that. It probably took so much more effort to do that than to throw them in a trash can.
It was also the first time I've ever seen (pictures of) a dishwasher overflowing with soap suds. Here's a tip, don't use liquid dish soap.

So I'm not exactly sure if there is much of a point to this...I guess it's just one way of saying that I am blessed...or that every ending has a new beginning, or maybe that you should always look for the little experiences in life that keep things interesting...I dunno...take it how you please, and there it is.

So, I figure a month is a long enough break from updating. It's not so much that I didn't want to...just that I didn't want to take the time to do it.

Some hi-lites of the month of November:

• God is amazing, and when you least expect it, He gives you exactly what you need.
• Band retreat: The Juniors may not be able to catch a frisbee, block a spike, or win a relay (without cheating), but we can lay down some great lyrics. --- I am dating Napoleon Dynamite. --- Dustin and Chris Brannan...dangerous combination...watch out for flying tennis balls. --- If you're not careful, a hooded sweatshirt can easily become a straightjacket. --- West Texas really does have Fall! ---
• Thanksgiving: Hooray for obscure relatives and shopping in small town Oklahoma. The nieces get cuter every time I see them. Kaboose and Kabooli (the puppies) have joined the Wright family.
• Tests, projects, papers, practicum...finals are upon us.
• I finished all of the devotionals from the OT in my devotional Bible. This is super exciting for me, because I've actually kept up with my daily Bible reading for six months. It has definitely been a blessing. On to the New Testament.

A good month, I would say. Now, it's December, and even in the first week, it has been far from dull. This weekend was jam packed with festivities from movies to gingerbread to firecrackers to mistletoe to Oplin to Elmer "phd". Good times.

Now two finals are done, three are left. I have a day off to recoop before the other three. Today was odd, Micro final wasn't too bad, strangely, like 5 of the questions were on the test twice. Kinda weird, but I'm okay with that cuz those questions were all pretty easy. One more science class finished. Hooray.

There, I am no longer a slacker.