Grandmas, Grandmas, and the Lonestar State

What a crazy week!

Christmas was great. Spent Christmas Eve at the Bass side, opened gifts in the afternoon, ate good food, and took naps. I got a new iPod dock/alarm clock, a crockpot, and some new boots. We headed to the other side of the family in the evening just in time for church.

Their priest has been sick in the hospital and they had this awesome little (like less than 5'0'') priest from Uganda. He had only been in the US for a week. I can only imagine the culture shock he had in central Missouri. We woke up early Sunday morning and opened presents before heading to Grandma Hart's to spend the day with that crazy family!

Monday morning, we left for Dallas (well Plano) to spend the week with Aaron's family. His brother Neal and Jessica have a beautiful home and we had a great week spending time there. I wish I had taken more pictures, but all we really did was eat and shop! The malls there are something else though. Nothing like Battlefield Mall.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow and spending my last New Year's Eve in Missouri with some dear friends. I only wish Aaron could be part of it too, sucks that it falls on the weekend so he has to work.

Happy New Year!

Somedays I Just Wish I Could Find the Missing Puzzle Piece

So Aaron has a big table in his kitchen that has never been used for anything more than piling junk on. So I decided it was the perfect table to put together a big fat 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle (of Alice in Wonderland). I have been working on it for a week or so because Christmas festivities have limited my free time to sit around and do nothing, but last night Brody and Aaron were deeply engrossed in Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto or one of those games where you kill people and whatnot, so I took some time, and I finally finished the puzzle.

looks pretty good from this distance right...but look closer at that upper left corner...

 ONE missing piece! ONE!!!

 I'm guessing this seemingly innocent fluffy kitty had something to do with it!

Now, my 1000 piece puzzle has become a 999 piece puzzle. And I'm pretty sure the culprit is someone black, fluffy, and licks her own butt. She often sat on the table while I worked, and one of her favorite pastimes is knocking small items off of tables, the bathroom sink, a chair, anywhere that a small item is sitting, it gets knocked on the floor.

If this was the first time this had happened, I may be more likely to be forgiving of this feline. But, the same thing happened around this same time the last two years. (I only do puzzles in the winter it seems) So I think she is definitely guilty of hiding that last puzzle piece, just to be a pain in the neck!

In other news, I was in the middle of giving Whistles a bath when my parents showed up to pick Brody and I up to head to my grandparents, so he got to ride in the car looking somewhat like this.

Luckily he dried all sweet and fluffy and smelling of his cherry blossom shampoo. Now hopefully he can behave for the next two days!

Merry Eve of Christmas Eve!

Full Tummies

Since Brody is out of school, and we're heading to my grandparents tomorrow, he came back to Springfield with us today. We ran to the mall to exchange a few things for my mom, and try and find Brod some new shoes.

We then headed over to Buffalo Wild Wings (per request of Brody since he never usually gets to eat there). Super packed tonight which seemed weird because there weren't any major sports games on tv. (Colts v. Texans is all) but it is boneless Thursday. I guess that's why it was so busy. We ordered a variety of 32 wings, but 2/3 of them were Asian Zing (the best, duh!) Now we're all nauseous and not in the mood for the Andy's we were discussing earlier.

Brody is killing prostitutes and kinds of guys on PS3 now, while Aaron and I sit around and be lazy. Pretty uneventful day I suppose!

Tomorrow: off to Sedalia to see Grandma and Grandpa Bass!!

Christmas #1!

Wellll, Santa made an early stop to this house. Weird, it happened during a dinner outing to the country club! After we got home from dinner we all sat around and opened presents. I actually knew what almost everyone was getting, because I picked almost everything out, including my own presents. I was, nonetheless, very happy about my presents, even though I knew what they were.

 it wasn't blurry on my phone, don't know how it got that way!

I think everyone liked their presents. Brody mostly got clothes, but he did get a new TV for his room. Mom got a new video camera (which she'll probably return) Dad got his very own X-Box live headset for those intense COD battles he and Brody get into, and a Missouri State t-shirt he's been wanting. Aaron got mostly clothes and a new wallet and some new cologne. And I got lots of goodies! 2 new pairs of shoes, the Steve Jobs book, a new Vera Bradley makeup bag, a new purse and matching phone holder, and a fresh pack of multi-colored sharpies! 

the pets even got a new house to play in!

Overall it was a fantastic start to Christmas, and despite the constant pet shenanigans (why can't they just get along????) 

 Old Man Pepper even got in on the holiday festivities and played like a kitten for about 2 minutes!

Thats about all for today!

Riley

A Tale of Two Kitties (and another kitty, and a dog)

We packed up the car this morning and made the 96 mile drive to the booming metropolis of West Plains.

The gifts had to be packed very carefully so as not to damage any of my expertly placed bows. We made it to West Plains with no trouble, and Trexie was even somewhat tolerable in her cat carrier in the back of the car covered with blankets. Whistles slept the whole trip and didn't really do anything at all.

Once we got to my house though, all bets were off. Pepper is 14 years old and the meanest, biggest, crankiest old man cat you'll ever meet. (at least when it concerns other animals) His portly 17 lb self doesn't particularly care for anyone new in the house. BabyBob is still fragile from the stupid a**hole that thought it would be funny to shoot our cat. So its been a growling hissing cranky fest around here.. All except for Whistles who doesn't seem to know why everyone is so mad at him. Even Trexie was growling at him, and she sees him every day. I guess she just wanted to be like the other cats?

So it was kind of rough around the house breaking up the fights and whatnot. But I did manage to get my hair cut and colored today.

Thats about the excitement for my day. Nothing too rowdy today! I heard a little rumor that Santa might come to our house tonight and bring the presents early since we won't be here on the actual Christmas, so I'm pretty excited for tomorrow!!

Riley

Ready for Holiday Madness!!

So I love having 6 living grandparents, but sometimes that makes things a little cramped on the holidays whenever EVERYONE wants to spend as much time you as possible. When I was younger and we lived 5 minutes from one set of grandparents, and about 45 minutes from the other. We would go to the Goodwill United Methodist (my grandparents church) for their annual Christmas program, go back to my house and have dinner (always chili) and then go to midnight mass. After that it was bedtime so Santa could come!

In the mornings we would wake up at my house, open those presents, go to grandma #1's and open presents and have breakfast. We would then travel to my other grandparents for even more presents and then go to my great-grandma Hart's house for a HUGE family gathering. It was the perfect way to spend Christmas in my mind.

Once we moved to West Plains, things got difficult. In the last 11 years, I have not woken up in my own bed on Christmas once, usually let alone a bed at all. (somehow I always get stuck on the couch) We try to take turns on which grandparents we stay on Christmas eve and day, but its always hard, and we never feel like we get enough time at either place.

This year, the Christmas activities start for me tomorrow. Heading to West Plains (with Aaron) to celebrate my family Christmas. Coming back to Springfield on Thurs or Fri and then heading to Sedalia to celebrate with my dad's parents. They're heading to Florida on Christmas day, so it made it easy to decide who goes where this year. Christmas day will be at my mom's parents.

Monday, Aaron and I are headed to the Lonestar State to spend a few days with his family in Dallas. Both of his older brothers live there, so its just the easiest place for everyone to meet. I have done TONS of shopping and wrapping to get all of mine and Aaron's presents ready.

I think there's about 50-60 presents there! 

So even though its going to be 2 weeks of living out of a suitcase, I am very excited to spend the holidays with my family, and I'm lucky to have them in my life! If anyone is lonely this season, let me know, I have PLENTY of family to share!!

Hope you had a great Monday!!

Welcome to My New Blog!

So I anonymously follow a lot of blogs, and always kind of wanted to start my own, but never got around to it. Now I know that the middle of December isn't logically the best time to start (shouldn't I wait until January 1??) but its a cold cloudy day here in southern Missouri and there's nothing else to do so I figure I might as well. To update you on where I am in my life now, I'll give you a quick summary of my 2011!

I am STILL in school, however the end is now in sight! I finished up my second year, summer, and began my third year in 2011. I am looking forward to moving on and actually having a paycheck, but I have really grown attached to my friends, and I am truly going to miss these girls next year!

The summer was spend largely at the lake, if at all possible to get there. Seeing as I don't currently own my own boat, I had to be somewhat of a mooch and try to make friends with boats. Luckily around this part of the state thats not too hard to do. Through some of the crazy drama that ensued this summer, we managed to make some great friendships that lasted past boating season and now we all sit around wishing we were still at the lake.

A momentous event happened this last May. The first of my absolute best friends in the world said the big "I Do" I remember when she first met this guy and we all said it was just a phase and it wasn't going to last..well we were wrong and on an unusually cold spring afternoon, we watched Elizabeth walk down the aisle and gain not just a husband but the two cutest, rambunctious stepsons. It was bittersweet to know that those silly college girls are growing up, but nice to know that we are capable of being wifey material. Next June the next of these best friends is celebrating with a big, rowdy Catholic wedding, and I cannot wait to see Michelle and Nick say those 2 magical words.

July brought a big stamp on my to-do list. I finally got to leave the country, by way of boat. The Bass family loaded up and set sail to paradise on the Carnival Elation. It was a fantastic week in every way, except that we almost didn't make our debarkation time and got left in Alabama. Luckily we wheeled in and "Home Aloned" it through the terminal and checkin and walked in with even a few minutes to spare. Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Cozumel, Mexico were some of the most beautiful places I've ever seen and we got to do all kinds of awesome stuff.

 August brought these really awesome things called comps. Or comprehensive exams in EVERY grad class we've had so far. 13 classes worth of tests in 1 1/2 days. It was the worst week of all of our lives getting through studying and taking those tests, but we did it. We all survived. I was one of the lucky ones that passed all of them on the first try, which is good, because I don't think I would have had it in me to taken any again! The fall was spent applying for externship/residencies for next year, and I was thrilled to be offered one in Phoenix, Az at the Carl T. Hayden Veterans Hospital. I am SO excited to move to Arizona and be a "big girl"

I guess I should also mention this one guy I met this year named Aaron. I met him at the lovely Springfield establishment of Trolleys back in the spring. Nothing really happened, until June when he kept pestering me to hang out again. I finally gave him a chance, and low and behold, he turned out to be a pretty good catch. I got him hooked on cardinals baseball, and we've had lots of fun adventures together already. I can't wait to see what the future holds for us, and I sincerely hope he finds a job in Phoenix and we can be together for dessert adventures! oh and I got a cardinals tattoo on October 28, which just happens to be the day they won the world series!

and it late September, this little guy wandered into our life, and while neither of us had any intention of adopting a dog, we couldn't stand to give him away to anyone else. so Whistles became our puppy. He's sweet as pie and always makes up for his misbehavings by being adorable! (and Trexie is still around too!)

Alright, well this seems kind of long, but its really a pretty short version of my year. I am truly a blessed and thankful girl for all the wonderful things in my life. I'm gonna try hard to be a good blogger and I hope you want to read about my life!