No Pain No Gain

Tonight on our way home from Idaho Noelle brought up waxing our legs. Of course I'm always down to do something that happens at a spa, so I agreed. We got home and went straight to work. As you can see from the picture it was all fun and games in the beginning. It actually didn't hurt that bad, but I probably wont give up shaving as my number one hair removal technique.

Second Stage

I worked a little more on my painting and figured I would show you all my progress. I have only worked on the mountains and water so far. I am really proud because I did it all by myself. Noelle gave me no help or tips. It was a blast! Hope you like. Noelle was working on a painting of the San Diego Temple that she gave to her friend that just got married. She finished it in two days...impressive!

Idaho Adventures with Cindy, Noelle, and Michelle

This weekend, Cindy, Noelle, and I headed off to Pocatello, Idaho. Just another one of our wild adventures. Noelle's mother lives there in a house of fun. Theater room, hot tub, tons of food...what more could a girl ask for? We headed out on Friday and when we went to pick up Cindy, we found her like this... This was my reaction...
This was Noelles...
Cindy showed pure bliss...
One place we always go in Poky is Geraldine's. They have wonderful baked good. Here are our cookies...mmmm...I ate them all up.Noelle and I have this long going joke about the advertisements on Yellowstone street in Pocatello. There are a lot of animals and American idols. We went on a scavenger for all the silly advertisments we could find. Here we are with Uncle Sam. Excuse the bad photography and squinty eyes...I don't do well looking into the sun.

Here is the gorilla (my personal fav). He represents a vacuum store.


The pony is for a western pawn shop.

The flamingo helps people remember they want a beer and is therefore in front of a bar.

Lady Liberty was walking down the street listening to her ipod. We were happy about it.

I am a little distraught to be home. I will have to get back to doing my hair and putting on make-up...drat! I love those girls!

Picasso? Monet? Nah, it's just me

Here is my newest endeavor. I didn't think that going to college and student teaching was enough so I thought...Hey, why not painting? Actually, Noelle has been trying to get me painting for a couple years now and I finally said yes (why not when you've got your own real live Bob Ross). It's just that way with her and I. She tried to get me running for quite some time, and finally I just said yes and the next thing I knew, I was running a half marathon. Maybe that's how it will turn out with painting. Anyway, here is my baby in her first stage. I know its not much, but man did it feel like it when I was doing it. I gotta work on proportions a little bit. And did you know that all the colors have to be mixed...I thought you just picked up a brush and went. Well I will try to keep y'all posted on my progress.

My Best Friend

While I am feeling a surge of love for Noellie, I thought I would pay tribute to her and our friendship. After being best friends for ten years, we are successfully rounding up our third year of living together. People told us we couldn't do it because we were best friends, but we have done it and loved it. I am so sad that these next couple months will be the last that we get to live together. Come April we will be graduating and going our separate ways. I am grateful for all the great, crazy, exciting, challenging, and odd times that we have had together.

First Week Happenings

Because this is my last semester of college, I think it wise to live it to the fullest. I have recruited my roommates as running partners; we'll see how it works out. Even if I can get them to come now and again, it is better than never. Here we are before our first excursion as a trio. Don't we look strong?
This Friday, we went to a birthday party for our friends Jason and Matt. Noelle's sister was in town and she was so excited to go to a college party again. We had fun getting all dolled up. I did Noelle and Nicole's make-up (hope you like my work).

Niece Love

This is my favorite picture of my nieces together. I love that they love each other. Nothings better than little people kisses.

3 Cheers for 3 Hot Sisters

My mom thinks that it is so fun that we three sisters were all cheerleaders. This Christmas she thought it would be a good idea if we all put on our old uniforms and took pictures. It was fun to slip into my uniform and be reminded of years past. We are three hott mamas if I say so myself.

Jump for Joy!

This Christmas, Santa brought Julie a trampoline (the lucky bugger). It just so happened that the rest of the family was also able to enjoy Julie's gift. Santa must really love us. Again my mother and Andy decided this was a perfect opportunity to try out their photography skills. Andy's are probably better, but I only had access to my mother's photographs. We had so much fun on the tramp and we spent forever on there. The only bummer was that I seemed to never get the bounce. Julie just so happened to always get it. Coincidence...I think not. Julie and I made up a little routine that made us weak from laughter. Too bad the reason we were laughing was due to all of her imitating me. Apparently I look funny when I jump. Dre was a little shy to get on the tramp and it took a little while for her to warm up, but she got it. My favorite is when all us sisters are on it together.
I still got it!
I just think this picture is hilarious...

Chesnuts Roasting on an Open Fire...

After the last crazy semester that I had - teaching in the schools and taking classes - it was definitely time for a break. I LOVED being home! I think the best part was being able to see my family. I hadn't seen Melissa, Andy, and Stella since August, and I sure missed them. I think that was the best gift of all. It was almost hard to believe that Stella was real. I still feel the slobber on my face from Stella's open mouth kisses (I got a lot of those and oh how I loved them). It was so fun to see Tyler, Anna, and Grace too. Tyler is looking good, Anna's belly is getting big (in a good way), and I can't believe how much Grace is talking. Grace cracks me up. Oh how I miss them. Maybe I will jet down for the weekend soon. The fam always waits for me to come home before they decorate the tree. For some reason Julie just doesn't want to do it by herself. My mom and Andy took this as a photo op. I'm pretty used to living my life for the cameras when I am home or with the Smiths. Here are but a few from the session.

Here are our family pics from Tylers birthday.


We also got to have girls night with the Christiansen girls. It has been such a long time since we were all able to get together. Whenever we are together, we laugh our heads off. We need to do it more often.Becaue Dre wasn't able to stay long for Christmas, she suggested that I go out to Arizona for New Years. I jumped all over that opportunity. She showed me the rounds - church, boys, local restaurants. I fell in love with Arizona; there is no snow there and that is reason enough to love a place. Dre has so many friends and she was able to show me a good time.

This is at an ice skating rink for a singles New Years Eve party. It goes me, James, Annie, Margie, and Dre.

This was at a game night with some gentlemen friends of Dre's. So fun.