a quick update and single digits...

Life's been going well the last few weeks. We have finally settled down after two and a half months of rather intense travel. And I am quite happy. We are now home for a full 32 days. whoot-whoot! And then were off again for another two months, but let's not dwell on that shall we?:) I'm just going to enjoy my time here, because I knew it'll be gone before I know it.

Lately is has also been very cold. Like single digits cold. Even when the sun's shining. Yesterday I went to the barn to check on my bunny Oliver. His water had been thawed that morning, and I went out at lunchtime. I walk into the stall where his hutch is and, yep, both the bottle and dish of water were frozen solid again. So I go up to the milk room for hot water because there isn't any in the barn. And just during the ten second walk up the hill, my hands literally were hurting as from the cold as typed in the code to unlock the door.....

This oh so interesting story will continue, but now Mariah is bugging to come get ready because we are heading out soon for a fun and freezing day of skiing and snowboarding at Snö Mountain!:)

So I got into the milk room and wait a minute until my fingers are able to move then I begin to thaw the water bottle. When I finish I head back to the barn. I reach for the barn doorknob. Stick. Like a tongue to an ice cube. My hands were still wet, which made them even colder, and the bitter wind didn't help anything. I pulled my hand away as soon as I felt it start to stick, and tried again, but faster this time. I went back to Oliver and as I unlocked the latch on his cage, once again my fingers stuck to the frozen metal. It was a beautiful sunny and blue skied day, but that didn't do much against the nine degree weather. And who knows how cold it was with the windchill.

The night before was Velocity. Mom was debating whether or not I should go because I kinda had a cold. "Abby, are you sure you feel up to going?"
"Yes, I'm really fine."
"I don't know why I even ask. I don't trust you, because you'd never say you weren't okay. You'd go even if you were dying."
Which is probably true. But hey, being homeschooled, it's not like I see my friends everyday. So Alezah drove me and we went to Panera Bread for dinner, and then she dropped me off. A bunch of people were outside around a couple of  fires and as I walked around the building, I slipped on a patch of ice. My arms went flying and my legs tried to, too. I didn't totally wipe out and I got my feet under control before they took off, thank goodness, but it was definitely noticeable. Yeah, leave it to me to make a graceful entrance haha.
     As we were leaving the parking lot, the truck's thermometer read 10 degrees. As we neared home, it dropped to 9. Then 8. Then 5. Then 3. Alezah and I wondered if it would hit zero or drop to the negatives. Then it hit 1. My eyes didn't leave the thermometer. And then, 0. I didn't think it would go any lower, but not a minute later it dropped to -2. I was so happy. Don't ask me why, because I'm not even sure why. I guess I just love cold nights, and find something fun about ones that drop to the negatives. And it was only like 9 o'clock. It probably got even colder as the night went on.

Oh, and btw, we had a blast at Snö. It was just Alezah, Mi, Kate, and me. Alezah snowboards, so Kate and I decided this would be a good time to learn. Neither of us had ever been before. Mariah just stuck to skiing though. And I was horrible. But I loved it. I think I still like skiing better, though. But I think that's just because I've been skiing since I was little. If I could actually get down the bunny hill without falling ten billion times, I think I'd like it just as much as skiing, if not more. I snowboarded most of the day, but I also brought my skis with me just in case I wanted to switch. So at the end of the day I decided to do the couple run on skis.

The first couple runs were a little rough...

this mornings happenings...

 This morning Em and I rode Dad's moped to The Over Easy Cafe to pick up some of their awesome sticky buns and bring them back to everyone at the house. While we were all enjoying them, I hear Hallie in the other room, "Sorry."
-Tristan, "I am not going to say it's okay." And he comes walking into the kitchen with his hands on his chest like he's covering a battle wound. "Mommy, Hallie kicked me."
-Mariah, "Tristan you punched her."
"Yeah, but she slammed my finger in her DS first."
Sarah, "I'm sure it was an accident."
Tristan, "It was not."
"Okay, well I think you're okay."
"Yeah but I'm still gonna get her." And running from the kitchen yells, "HALLIEEEEE!"

Ah, ya gotta love little kids:)

Operation: Update on life:)

Well today marks 10 days home. And it has being amazing. As much as I miss my church family in North Carolina, it has been so good to see everyone here.
   
We drove home on Monday, and went to our friends house for a delicious dinner of baked chicken, rice, bread, salad, and spinach artichoke dip.

Tuesday at our house involved loads, tons, and lots of unpacking. I also got to watch my friends puppy for the day. Her name was Mocha and she was a Chocolate Lab-Gordon Setter mix. And late that night  Dad got home from JFK with EMILY!!!!! She was living in Rwanda and is home til the end of January.

 
Wednesday went to Sight and Sound to see Jonah. And it was incredible as usual, but it was my favorite. I've now seen Noah, Ruth, Daniel, Joseph, and In the Beginning. I think Joseph is my favorite. We always try to guess what story they're going to do next. In the spring they are going to be bringing Noah back, but only for a little while. I want them to do Esther next, because 1, I was like 9 when they did Ruth, so I think it's high time they do another girl and 2, Esther is just an amazing story. But Moses, Joshua, or David would also be awesome. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

    After the play we drove the few hours back to Dickson City, so I could go to Velocity, my amazing youth group. It was definitely an inconvenience for my family, because they all just wanted to go home, but I was so stinkin' happy that I got to go. It was the Christmas party that night, so needless to say, I had a blast. Lots of games, music, food, picture, and hugs:)  I got to see most of my friends, Leah, Kessy, Allison, Ally, Josh, Caleb, Tucker, Evan,  Zack, Brynn, Kimmy, Lauryn, and lots of the leaders and parents. Nathan was the only one of my friends I didn't get to see, because he was sick. He was better by Sunday, though, so now I've seen all my friends.
   
Saturday, Kessy came over for the night. My cousin Mina was also staying the night, so we had lots of fun. One way home from picking Kessy up, Dad dropped us at the cafe. When we walked into the cafe, it was 2:50 and they close at 3. And Rob, the chef, really doesn't like when people come in that late because it means he can't shut the girls off and start cleaning up, til their foods done. So we walk in and Rob comes out of the kitchen and he was like, "Haven't I already fed you today?!" (because we had gone there for breakfast)
Me, "Haha yeah, we're just getting hot chocolate."
His look of panic turned to a look of relief, "Good, because I was gonna say, it's getting late." Ah, Rob's a funny one.
     After we got our drinks, we walked home. We live just a half mile up the road. Kess had a coat, but I just had a sweater. And let me tell you, those December mountain winds were blowing. I'm just glad I had my hot chocolate to warm me:) After we got home, Mina arrived and we just hung out and had lots of fun, playing games, talking, and listening to Wicked's soundtrack. My personal favorite:) Later, Mina went to bed with Mariah and Katie...well actually, I think they were having more of a facial cleansing session, they a going to bed session. But when I left them in the bathroom, with all their toners, mask, scrubs, astringents, moisturizers, and cleansers, they looked completely content and that's what matters:) I mean, sleep matters too. But come on, it's a girl's slumber party. Sleep, is definitely, not on the top priority list. So after I left Mariah and Mina's face cleaning party, I went back down stairs to join Kessy, Mom, Anna, and Jen who had just started The Christmas Card. Emily was there too, but part way through, jet lag got the best of her and she went to her room on the third floor and went to bed.
     After the movie, Kessy and I went to bed. Well, we went to bed to bed, but sleep is a different story.  Like I said, sleep is rarely top priority at a girl's sleepover. Especially when they haven't seen each other in four and half months. And we hadn't really talked for six months, because I had seen her in the end of July, but we didn't really get to talk a lot because we normally were always in a big group at church or velocity. The last time we really got to just talk was on iPac. So yeah, it had been a while. And we just laid there in the dark... talking... for hours. Ahh, it was so nice, because I love to talk, and Kessy's a great listener, but she also likes to talk and she gives great advice.
   
Sunday night we had dinner at the Bear Creek Inne, where we usually have Christmas Eve dinner.  But this year we had it a day early because we are having Christmas Eve at our house this year. It was so good to see lots of cousins, aunts, uncles, and family at the dinner. Sarah, my cousin, made Emily, Anna, and me die laughing multiple times with her hilarious, spur of the moment, remarks and comments.

Monday night, we had a bunch of neighbors over. It was great. Everyone brought a covered dish and or dessert. There were 17 kids 14 and under and 19 if you count Jess and I, but ya know, at 15 and 16 were too mature to be considered kids:) So yeah the kids, definitely out numbered the adults. We sang lots of christmas carols, which I love. Jessica (different then my friend jess) our neighbor, played the violin, Jess and her dad played the guitar, and Mom, Emily, and Tommy(cousin) played the piano. Mom was the main piano player, but at one point she couldn't do a song, so Emily and Tommy came up and did it together, which was cool. And my favorite part of the night??? It SNOWED!!!!!! And it was first time it had since we came back. And it wasn't just like a dusting, but like it really snowed. It was just like a movie. So of course all the kids went outside. The boys made snows and ambushed the girls, and the girls ran for their lives until the boys finally retreated after being the girls threatened to tell on them. After that, Jess and I were standing on top of our front hill, and I said something like, "Ah, I love the snow, I just want to roll down the hill."
Jess, "Do it."
Me, "But I'm all dressed up." I still had all my church clothes on, skirt, dress coat, stockings, and dress boots.
Jess, "I'll do it if you'll do it."
Me deciding to throw caution to the wind, " Oh why not, let's do it! Wait let me put my hair up"
Jess, "Good idea, me too." So we pulled our hair back and hoods on and on a 'Ready, Set, GO!' away we went. At the end, I was a bit discombobulated, but managed to dizzily run back up the hill. A few minutes later, Mariah wanted to do it too, and we convinced Kate and Julia to join their cra-cra sisters. So snow covered and cold, we went down again. The hill was a little crowded with all five of us, and it  was chilly, and none of us had on more then a coat, but it was so worth it. I mean what would life be without doing crazy, spur of the moments stuff like this? Def not as exciting, fun or memorable. I mean now in ten years we can look back and be like, "Remember when it snowed Christmas Eve and we all rolled down the hill with any snow clothes?" So needless to say it was the highlight of my night. And Santa granted me my Christmas wish, a white Christmas:) But of course, the next day we left for Sanibel. This travel crazy fam is never in one place for long. I'm just hoping it's still there when we come home. Gosh, I love the snow. And the next day, the trees look absolutely gorgeous all covered in powdery whiteness. Snow covered pine trees are, in my opinion, one of the prettiest things in nature.