Tuesday, December 28, 2010

3 Time Zones in 3 Days

Today we left San Diego at 6:27 am to head to Tempe, Arizona for the Mizzou bowl game. We were all very excited about the six hour road trip we had to Tempe. It has been a very interesting drive as we have seen many different types of agriculture in the desert of California and Arizona. We also got to see lots of sand dunes. People will pull campers into these flat desert areas and camp and ride their dune buggies all day. We are anxiously awaiting our arrival to Tempe to get to do some tailgating with all of the Tiger fans!
Yesterday Mom, Dad, and I went and toured the USS Midway. It was built and completed ten days after World War II ended. It was a self guided tour and you could spend as much time as you would like on board the ship. The three of us spent two and a half hours and probably could have spent another hour and a half because we never even went on the lowest level of the ship. After the ship tour we met back up with my favorite Aunt Jean and ate some fresh sea food. In the afternoon we walked around downtown San Diego and did a little shopping. The weather in San Diego was amazing yesterday. If I had brought shorts I would have been wearing them! I am envious of Aunt Jean and the weather she gets to encounter every day!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

A Busy Holiday Season

Today I left for San Diego with my parents today. I am so blessed to be able to travel so much over the holiday season and to have people who want me to travel with them. We are going to San Diego to visit my mom's cousin Jean and while we are out West we will travel to Tempe, Arizona to watch the Mizzou tigers bowl game.


We are only in Las Vegas and I have one funny story. Mom, Dad and I were boarding the plane in St. Louis this morning and Mom was behind Dad and me. Dad and I went to the back so we could all sit together and Mom was no where to be found. Eventually she got up to go to the bathroom and we was in the front seat on the plane. I told Dad before we got off I bet she would be at a slot machine when we got off the plane and sure enough she was putting her dollar into a slot machine as we were walking off the plane!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Road Trip

This morning at 4:24 am I started out on my yearly skiing adventure with Abbie, David, and Peter, David’s brother. We rented a vehicle to get us to Colorado this year. We have tried flying and driving and we all decided that driving was the way to go. The car that we got from the rental place was a Mercedes GLX. It is very nice and pretty comfortable!


I feel like I am part of the Griswold family Christmas minus a tree strapped to the top of our car. Although we do have the vehicle loaded to the max. Two years ago when we drove we secured our skies to the top of the car we drove. This year we put them stretched from the back of the truck to them middle console. We have had many funny moments on our trip so far and we are only half way at this point. One of the funnier moments was when Abbie started to drive and was not used to the breaks and violently slammed them on when a gradual stop would have done. Then as she veered onto the highway she jerked the car into the lane on the highway and said “I’m not used to such a fancy car” and David’s response was “what a car with brakes and power steering?” We all got a good kick out of that.

Another comical story was as we were driving along the Kansas flats Abbie made the comment that she thought she could probably see for fifty miles out here. David then informed us that if you are standing up on flat ground the horizon is roughly 2.5 away. We have laughed the whole way to Breckenridge joking with Abbie asking if she could see the mountains when we were at least two hours away from them.

The last funny story I have is from when we stopped for lunch. We all decided that we would eat at Arby’s. Abbie ordered a sandwich and fries while David was contemplating what to order. After David ordered and got the total amount he noticed Abbie had gotten a $3.00 sandwich and shouted out in the restaurant “A $3.00 sandwich!” We all burst into laughter including the lady that was taking orders. David was shocked because he had ordered from the junior menu and he sandwich was only $1.18. We have had a lot of laughs along the way and we are really enjoying ourselves.

Roughly eleven hours after leaving Kansas City we arrived in Breckenridge. It was a successful road trip and our condo is in prime location. We are able to ski right into the back door of our condominium building which is great.


Thursday, December 9, 2010

Friends

Being in college at Northwest has been some of the best days of my short life. One of the main reasons it has been such a great experience for me is because of the people I  have met. I really feel that I have met lifelong friends. In high school you are forced to be around people, some who you may not have wanted to be around, for eight hours a day. In college if you don't see eye to eye with someone you simply go on with you life and don't worry about it. The friends I have met at college would do a lot for me and I would do the same for them. I have a group of friends that have been there for me through thick and thin while at Northwest. I was thinking about all the friends I have made and we all come from similar backgrounds which fascinated me. Most of us come from small towns in Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa. We all have a lot of the same core values. I found it interesting that out of 7,000 students at Northwest that my group of friends are so similar. I have the best friends in the world and wouldn't trade them for anything!

Finals Week

Tomorrow marks the end to another semester at Northwest for me. After, tomorrow I will only have finals remaining for the semester. It is a huge relief to be done with classes for this semester. My classes have been challenging,  but yet fun this semester and I am getting deeper and deeper into my major classes. I will be doing a lot of studying the next week or so to prepare for my finals. I will be done with my finals on Tuesday of next week. It will be a great feeling to be done with all my tests for a while. This semester really seemed to fly by. It was a good semester for me overall. I will have some time to relax this weekend because Northwest is in the semi-finals of the division 2 football championships. They have been in the semi-finals the last six years now and have never lost in the semi's. They are matched up against the number one team in division 2 though so hopefully that record stands after this weekend. It is on TV so I will be able to watch it from the comfort of my home. I am looking forward to getting to come home again for a bit to spend some time the the family!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Turkey Trot and Stuffing Strut

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I made it back to Farber Tuesday evening for the first time since August 16th. It has been great being home and getting to relax some. One of the best things about being home is sleeping in my own bed!

This morning I woke up early to run the Mexico YMCA Turkey Trot and Stuffing Strut. I ran it with my mom, sister, and brother-in-law. It was only my second 5k ever and it was a huge success. Mom won her age division and her prize was a pumpkin pie. David won his age division and also got a pumpkin pie. I got third in my age division, which David won. My prize was a box of stuffing. It was funny that I won a prize because technically Abbie beat me and she did not place within her age group. We had a great time running the 5k and it felt awesome to run another race.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Arrowhead

This weekend Northwest played Pittsburg State at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. A bunch of my friends and I went down for the day to tailgate and go to the game. We had a lot of fun. We grilled ribs, hot dogs, burgers and potatoes. Leftovers were plentiful because we had about five deserts as well. Northwest ended up winning the game. It was a lot closer than anyone thought the game would be because Pitt State was not very good this year. We now play Missouri Western next Saturday in the Division II playoffs.