2013...yes it's been a while.....

So, I realize I haven't been keeping up with my blog for a LONG time. Like a year.....

I kinda lost interest since I was so busy with school and everything. Now that I am just about done with student teaching (only 5 days left) I have more time to do things, like keep up with a blog. 

I will try to catch you up on what has happened in the year of 2013. 

P.S-this might be a really long post....

Let's start with the end of February:

I had two ewes (Sprinkles and Crumbles) expecting to have a baby. Crumbles had her babies (that's right, it was twins!) on Feb. 26. 

The first one she had in the wood pile.

 Crumbles went to have her second baby and forgot about the first one, and because it was February and still so cold, mom brought him inside to warm up. 

Ric Rac the cat was curious about having a lamb in the house. 

We brought the boy lamb back outside to his mom when he got warmed up, but Crumbles wouldn't let him nurse. The only way we could get Crumbles to nurse him was if the girl was nursing too, otherwise she wouldn't stand still long enough. We separated the lambs from Crumbles so that the babies would have to nurse at the same time. We had to go out there once every 3 hours to hold Crumbles still while the babies nursed. 

Crumbles and her twins. 

 Crumbles didn't really like the boy, we don't know why, but at least she didn't try to kill him by head butting him into the fence. Not letting him nurse was pretty mild compared to what some ewes do to their babies. 

The next morning Sprinkles had twins! 

Sprinkles is a very good mother. She is very protective of them and she has never disowned of of her lambs. 

Sprinkles and her 4th set of twins. 

This all happened when I was up in Logan at school, so sadly I didn't get to watch them have their lambs as I have in previous years.  But mom sent me pictures to keep me updated. 

When I came home for spring break, I was very excited to see these new lambs. 

A family that lives nearby does 4-H and was interested in buying some of my lambs for the stock show at the fair. They often came over to see the lambs and to help hold Crumbles. 

Now onto May:

School ended the first week in May and I started my 4-H internship (3rd year) the week after. I took a couple days off to work on my cousin Christy's wedding cake. She was getting married on May 19 and she asked me to make her wedding cake! 

She wanted carrot cake and white cake for 150 people. 

We went to the 4-H office to bake them because they have 2 ovens. It took 5 hours to bake all of them!!!

Supplies: 4 dozen eggs, 16 cake mixes, 1 bottle of oil

We had to make room in the freezer for all of them! 

And I had to make tons of chocolate trees! Good thing they were easy to make!

When we got to Colorado we had to make 15 batches of frosting! 

Half of it was buttercream frosting and the other half was cream cheese frosting. 

Making the frosting in Jeremy and Amanda's kitchen

 Then came time to put it together! 

Putting the cake together at Derrek's house. 

 This is the finished product! 

It didn't turn out as good as I pictured in my mind, but it got done. I was nervous because the reception center was pretty warm and it would be a while before they would cut the cake. Luckily, the frosting and chocolate didn't melt too bad. The cake was also pretty soft and the bottom layer of cake did crack a little because it couldn't take the weight. 

It may not have looked like my best cake decorating work, but at least I got compliments on the moistness and good flavor of all the cakes! 

Here are some of the highlights from the wedding: 

Christy's bridal shower

John Michael was the ring bearer

My favorite part of the night was dancing with John Michael! His mommy and daddy wanted to dance, so I got to babysit. It was so fun to dance with my nephew! 

Congrats to Christy and Michael Rose!

While in Colorado, we also visited the Great Sand Dunes in southern Colorado. It was so neat! It was the first I ever did barefoot (and with socks when the sand became too hot). 

We also attended Derrek's graduation from UCCS with a master's degree in business. 

 

Now on to June:
The end of June found my family and I at the VanHorssen family reunion.

 

The reunion was lots of fun: 

We had a pie making contest. 

We raced on some Co-op-o-walks

We played some yard size Bananagrams (it was a good workout)

We did some Klompen dancing

We had a 5-K race
(the oldest and the youngest coming through the finish line)

We had a visitor.....

....that did some line dancing with us

We visited a sheep herder

And ate LOTS of food, including these birthday cupcakes.

It was a great reunion full of food, family, fun, and lots and lots of laughter! 

I can't wait for the next reunion!  

After the reunion, Derrek and I climbed to the top of Desert Peak! 

Then we went camping at Smith and Morehouse with Joan and Kathleen.

July:
Mom, Pedro (68years old), the Sheffields, and I went backpacking to Blanche Lake. 

At Blanche Lake

  

I got to try out my new UV water purifier.
It's SO easy to use!

Mom and I at the base of Sunset Peak

In August I went backpacking again, this time with my friend Katherine

At Lake Mary

We went backpacking up by Brighton to Catherine Lake. 

On top of Mount Wolverine

Katherine overlooking Lake Catherine

Then I went camping in Wyoming with mom, dad, Derrek, Fred and Rose. 

We ate some lunch by a big tree  root, 

did some boating, 

caught some fish, 

and found some natural water beads. 

While we were camping we got a call from Jeremy that Hannah Grace Long had been born! 

Hannah Grace Long

Congrats Jeremy, Amanda, and big brother John Michael! 

End of August-October:

This summer I went to a water park for the first time ever. My mom, Pedro, and I went to Seven Peaks and Pedro and I did the tallest slides! They were SO scary, but fun at the same time. 

While I was packing to move up to Odgen with Ang, Ric Rac climbed in my box I was packing because she wanted to come with me. Too bad she couldn't :(

 I can't believe I am already on my 5th year of college! It has gone by so fast, but I am glad for all the experiences I have had and great friends I have had while attending college. 

Now I am doing my student teaching at Discovery Elementary in Brigham City. 

I did half of my student teaching in kindergarten and the other half in 5th grade. I was nervous about teaching 5th graders, but I turned out liking them more than I thought I would. 

 

This is what my kindergartners gave me on my last day. 

While I've been living in Odgen, I have met some neat people. It's a different dynamic here than what I have been used to being around college students in Logan. These people have unique jobs, have moved to Utah from different areas of the country, and are at a different stage of life than my college friends. But, I am blessed to have met them and made friends with them. 

Hiking in Ogden 

I took this photo while visiting Logan and submitted it to the Tooele Transcript and it won the photo of the month contest! 

Well, now you are pretty much caught up on basically what has happened in 2013. Lots of fun, excitement, and changes. 

Fall College Adventures

I know it's been a while since I have blogged. 

This is because I have started my 4th year of college (crazy, I don't feel like I've been here that long...) and I have been really busy keeping up with assignments and practicum in the preschool and 1st grade classroom. It's a good thing I LOVE my major! 

So to catch you all up, I will start with where I am living this year. 

I am renting a house with 4 other girls. I am SO blessed to live in this awesome house with even more awesome roommates! 

These are my incredibly awesome roommates! Sadly, Marleah moved out mid-October to go to New Mexico for an internship. We will get another roommate in January. 

This is my room; complete with party lights and my roommate Jessica! I did not know Jessica before I moved in, but we have gotten along really well and it is such a blessing to know her! 

Angelynn came up to Logan one Friday afternoon for a quick visit. We went on a little hike on the river trail in Logan canyon. The fall colors were gorgeous! 

This is the view from our house! Isn't it a gorgeous view?? 

This is the first snow we got this year. 

I made a thankfulness tree for our house. You can see that we are thankful for lots of things! ;)

Paint Chip Calendar

This is my version of the paint chip calendar that I found on Pinterest. 

I bought an old frame at the thrift store and repainted it to match the color of  the paint chips I picked out. 
I cut the chips in 2 1/2 squares and glued them on a poster board. 
I wrote the days of the week on the scraps. 
I wanted to fill in the empty space, so I used my punchy things to punch shapes out of the scraps. 

This was my calendar before I made adjustments so that the dates didn't have to share a square...

 ...this is my calendar now! So much better, now there is more room to write! 

Here is my calendar in my new room up at college. Looks nice doesn't it?

Fabric Dyed with Ice Cubes

First, I mixed some fabric paint with water and froze it in an ice cube tray.

I found some white cotton fabric in the basement and decided to dye that.

When the ice cubes were frozen, I put the fabric in a plastic container and put the ice cubes in various places within the fabric.

I placed the container outside in the sun so the ice paint cubes would melt the quickly.

This is how the fabric turned out! Not too bad!

I made a skirt out of this fabric and I get SO many compliments on it! 

I was surprised that it worked because I had never heard of anyone doing this, so I didn't know if it was going to work. The paint even stays in when it is washed and doesn't melt when ironed! 

I think I will be trying this again. 

Crayon Melting

This is my version of the crayon melting craft from Pinterest. 

I made it for mom for Mother's Day. 

I used foam letters to act as a resist for the melted crayon. 

This is what it looked like before the melting...

...after melting and before peeling off the letters. 

Ta-da! The finished product! 

It didn't work as well as I would have liked. The crayon melted under the foam letters so I had to outline the letters with a black Sharpie. The next crayon melt will turn out better! 

(Yes, I know I messed up writing the reference of the verse too. It's really Proverbs 31, not Psalms) 

A cake wreck...

Well, every cake decorator has one at some point. Mine was for a cake for Fred and Rose's wedding reception in Erda. 

Apparently margarine isn't a substitute for butter in frosting recipes! 

Especially on hot summer days!

Yeah, we didn't stack the cakes like a real wedding cake. I was too embarrassed to show my wreck to everyone. However, we did serve the cake still so it didn't go to waste!