No place like home

I'm home on Thanksgiving break. It's such a weird feeling. I'm in the town I grew up in and yet everything feels different. 

But, I'm excited to be home with my family for the next 5 days! We have full days ahead. 

I love being home because:

-I don't have to pay for laundry

-My own bed. Enough said

-Edible food such as eggs that taste normal, milk that's not in a nasty bag, and fresh fruits and veggies. It's the little things

-My own bathroom and shower. Peace

-I can wash dishes in a normal sized sink and wash things down the drain and not the toilet. 

-Coffee already made for me when I wake up

-Late night chats with my parents

-Dance parties with the sibs

-I get to work at the ziplines on Friday! so pumped! 


On a different note, I totally surprised my family last night. I was supposed to drive down tonight, but I showed up at 11:30 last night at the front door. My mom was shocked and just stood there haha. It's good to be home :) 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Emily 

Thanksgiving 2011 Recap

Thanksgiving 2011

This recap post is a little bit overdue. I apologize. These past couple weeks have been crazy! anybody else?? Now onto the post...

I LOVE Thanksgiving! Every year our family hosts Thanksgiving at our house. We have been hosting it since we moved to Missouri in 2003. We have at least 20 people, if not more. This usually includes college students, cousins, extended family, and friends. It is definitely a highlight of my year. Our celebration begins Wednesday night and lasts till Saturday afternoon. Everybody begins to roll into town on Wednesday. Wednesday is our baking/prep day for things like pies, and casseroles etc. Thursday morning we cook everything including the Turkey. We t-r-y- to eat by 2pm. Thanksgiving is a fun time for hanging out, laughing, big breakfasts, lots of coffee, late nights, and memories. Enjoy the pictures :)

If the noodle sticks to the wall,

it's ready to be drained.

Tip learned :)

Noodle Girls!!

Wednesday night tradition!

Italian night complete with Eggplant Parm!

This year we had 21 for lunch.

I feel like the Duggars ha!!

Music. Hanging Out. Talking. Singing.

We kinda started a tradition in 2003 when we moved here! That we would shoot guns after we ate lunch and before we ate pie. Can you tell we live in the Ozarks? :) We live on 5 acres of wooded property. Every year since then we go out back, and shoot milk-jugs, cans, etc.

Annie Oakley :)

Celia!

Aaron! Look at those guns :)

This is a scary picture.

Reasons i should NOT have a gun :)

Cousin Love!

:)

25 Things about Me

My friend Cait, over at Fit, Fierce and Fabulous is doing 25 things about me. I thought I'd join the bandwagon so ya'll can get to know me. I feel like I've been a little bit out of the blogging loop between Thanksgiving and working a TON over Black Friday. I apologize!

Feel free to write 25 things about you on your blog, and leave me with the link.

1-I LOVE Starbucks!

2-I love everything about summer time. no school, shorts, Chacos, work, it's perfect.

3-I can't handle scary movies, like barely even Star Wars. It's bad.

4-I say like ALOT, especially when I get excited.

5- I've had 3 surgeries on my mouth alone. That's about 3 too many.

6- I've lived in 6 different states. West and East Coast.

7- I wear my heart on my sleeve. I'm realizing the consequences of that.

8-I have a freakishly weird memory. Like little, small details. Don't judge.

9-I have no food allergies.

10-I won't leave the house without my purse, chapstick, iPod, and my phone.

11-I'm addicted to Target. I spend way to much money there. Our Target also has a Starbucks which is double trouble.

12- I tweet all the time, but I'm awful at #hashtagging. Truth.

13- I don't like mustard, cottage cheese, miracle whip, or pickle relish. I will only eat a little bit of mayo.

14- I would love to be a famous blogger. We'll see how that works out because I have 39 followers right now. ha!

15- I can be very sarcastic. fluent actually.

16- I'm very honest.

17- I'm scared of clowns and mascots at football/basketball games. I will scream and run away.

18- I'm also scared when people jump out and scare me. I will scream bloody murder, and start running.

19- I love music! all kinds, artists and genres. I love finding new music and having my own personal jam sesh in the car.

20- I don't like frosting on my cake or cheese on my pizza. un-American?! sure.

21- I love my Chacos and wear them all the time, or I did in the summer. I still have a Chaco tan and it's almost December. I love it.

22- I love to dance, but I can't do "it". I look like a mad women, or a fool.

23- I'm not athletic at all. I don't run. But I am very competitive, so if somebody challenges me, I will take them! win or lose.

24- I'm a night owl. I would rather stay up late and work than have to get up early anyday.

25- I love to travel. I want to go to Europe, and do the Italy, France, England, Scotland tour. I'd really love to go to London next summer for the 2012 summer olympics. wishful thinking...

Wordless Wednesday- Thanksgiving with Cousins

awkward prom pictures

love Cousin Jon!

I'm Thankful For....

Days of Thankfulness for 2011

1- I'm thankful for my Savior.

2- I'm thankful for my friends.

3- I'm thankful for my church.

4- I'm thankful for my family.

5- I'm thankful for my car.

6- I'm thankful for my warm house.

7- I'm thankful for my trip to Israel in 2012

8- I'm thankful for my acceptance to Evangel University

9- I'm thankful for my two amazing jobs.

10- I'm thankful for my great bosses.

11- I'm thankful for my smallgroup.

12- I'm thankful for beautiful weather.

13- I'm thankful for lessons learned this year.

14- I'm thankful for godly mentors and influences in my life.

15- I'm thankful for music.

16- I'm thankful for girls' nights.

17- I'm thankful for my pastors.

18- I'm thankful for coffee.

19- I'm thankful for snow.

20- I'm thankful for fresh starts.

21- I'm thankful for forgiveness.

22- I'm thankful for Starbucks.

23- I'm thankful that I'm almost done my Senior year of High School.

24- I'm thankful that my graduation is planned.

25- I'm thankful for each new day.

Now it's your turn! What are you thankful for? We are so, so blessed.

Happy Tuesday!

Have a wonderful week celebrating and being thankful!

Love,

Monday Randoms

~My big news of the week: I am going to Israel!!!!!!!!!! I am SO excited! I will be going for 10 days in March of 2012. God continues to provide and open the most amazing doors for me. Simply Blessed. I'll be doing a full post soon!

~My other big news: I colored my hair! See full post here!! I LOVE it :) shout out to Addie!!

~ I got rid of all of my "bad music" this week. I'll explain in full detail soon. Addie challenged me to start praying in the car instead of listening to music. So not only did I stop listening to music, I got rid of alot too. I'm s-l-o-w-l-y starting to see some change.... Thankful for a Savior who doesn't give up on me. Relentless I'd say.

~It's been raining here. alot. Fall is leaving. Winter is coming.

~Saturday I worked at the Ziplines. We are opening our 2nd location, Moto Zip this week!!! I'm SO excited. I get to work a little on Wednesday to get the feel for the new location. Maybe I'll get to try it out :)

~Thanksgiving is coming!! Holla!! I'm also excited about this! College kids coming down, family, friends, cousins, late nights, coffee, FOOD, laughing, shopping, ooo it's going to be SO fun!!!

~I work 20 hours in a day and a half! Black Friday!! I'm showing severe self control and not shopping. Heaven help me!

~I finished sending in all of my paperwork to CofO today!! Now I wait and wait.

I'm so excited for this week! I will try and write and post pictures! One more day of school, then break!!! SO happy :) sleeping in will be oh so wonderful!

Happy Monday Ya'll!

Love,

Thursday: Thankful Day 1-3

The past couple years have started a trend on facebook and on blogs. The 24 days of thankfulness, prior to Thanksgiving. Each day you list something or blog something that you are thankful for. I missed Tuesday, and Wednesday. I'm catching up today :)

For 2011:

Day 1: I'm thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. Without Him, I.am.nothing. I'm thankful for his relentless pursuit of me, regardless of how I act.

Day 2: I'm thankful for my friends! I have some of the best friend that a girl could ask for. I mean really! They are there with me whenever I need them. They laugh with me, they cry with me, we are awkward, random, silly, loud, and fun! I LOVE them :)

Day 3: I'm thankful for my family. They are there for me, day in and day out.

What about you? What are your first 3 things you are thankful for? Link up with me at the bottom of this post and do tell :)

Happy Thursday!

Love,