Christmas Time!

Christmas came and went so fast. I got my presents all rapped and under the tree just in time for us to rip them all open. My family tradition is that we open all of our presents on Christmas Eve night and then open our stockings that Santa leaves on Christmas morning. My mom got me and my siblings footie pajamas which we all put on and hung out around the house in. It was very rainy and windy on Christmas so it definitely wasn't white but my father decided that we did have a white Christmas after all because when we woke up on Christmas day the fog was so thick we could barley even see the trees right across the street. It is so great being home and spending time with my family again. :)

My Journey Home

My brother and I had quite the adventure trying to get home for Christmas. The whole fiasco started out when we found out that our flight left Sunday morning @ 7:45 out of HELENA?! It was such short notice that both of us decided we would just pull an all nighter and leave for Helena at 4am. I was trying to stay awake on the drive to Helena to make sure that Thor didn't fall asleep at the wheel but I drifted off and started dreaming that I was awake driving to Helena... We finally got to the air port, checked in and went straight for the nice couches in the terminal. The trip all the way to Anchorage is a blur because I slept every second that I didn't have to walk on and off the airplane. We then had to spend the night in Anchorage because our flight home was at 6am the next day. We got a hotel room, watched some sunday night football and then went to Avatar 3-D, which was AMAZING! 

Monday morning we got up 6 hours before the crack of dawn to head to the airport only to have our flight be delayed due to weather in Kodiak (typical) until 2pm. So we headed back to our hotel to get a few more hours of sleep. 2pm rolled around and they decided to just cancel so we were stuck in Anchorage for another night with about 25 other college kids from Kodiak just trying to get home. Six of us decided to get two hotel rooms and keep each other company while we were stranded. The hotel was super night and had a hot tub so the night ended up being pretty good. We got coupons for a restaurant across the street and went there for dinner while we watched the Washington Redskins get annihilated. The next morning the weather had cleared and we Landed! Back to Kodiak Alaska where it was 40 degrees and raining. We were finally home sweet home :) 

Week Before Finals

Finals are next week! I can't believe they came around so fast. In reality though, this week is more like finals week to me and most people I talk to as well. I have two big projects due, a band concert and three of my professors decided to have our final this week instead next to reduce the stress during finals week. Well I sure won't be stressed out during finals week because I won't have anything left to do. It just seems silly to me. School could have been out a week earlier. 

F-f-f-f-f-freezing

I learned in my Geography class that the Jet stream is moving south right now and that is why all the sudden the United States has been pounded with cold temperatures across the map. The first sign that told me to bundle up before I go outside was when I took the garbage out right after I had taken a shower and my hair instantly froze solid. There have been temperatures down to -30 degrees here in the past few days. When I walked to school on Monday morning it was 20 below and I thought I was going to die. My face felt like it was going to crack and fall off. 

The cold also ruins the fun on the mountain. I was so excited to go snowboarding for the first time this season last saturday. I got up there and on the first chair ride up I was already too cold to have any fun. I took a few more runs and by then I couldn't feel my toes or my nose so I decided to call it a day once I had warm soup in my stomach. I then preceded back into the comfort of my queen size bed and slept the afternoon away as snug as a bug in a rug. 

Now are the times you wish you had a nice wood stove to cuddle up next to.

<---- Before I got cold...

Thanksgiving in Fargo

Seeing as I live 3000 miles away from Montana State I couldn’t just drive on home for the Thanksgiving holiday, so I decided to join my friend Liz and go home with her to Fargo North Dakota.
It is a 10 hour drive to Fargo so we packed up the car and headed out after our classes were done on Tuesday. We arrived late Tuesday night and I got to meet Liz’s Mom and sister. I kind of felt like I was going home to meet my boyfriends parents or something but it was my best friend instead.
College friends are different from the friends you had all through high school because you always knew your friends parents and siblings. I feel like you family is a big part of who you are and being at school away from your family no one gets the chance to get to know that side of you. So I took the opportunity to go home with a friend and see the other side of what makes Liz who she is. It turned out to be a wonderful experience. Liz’s family was so welcoming, friendly and hysterical. Not far from what I was expecting from what I had known about Liz in the short year we became such good friends.
I had never spent much time in the planes of our country and that turned out to be really strange. Not having mountains anywhere in site was a new and alien experience for me. As much fun as it was I think I choose to stick with my Mountains.
The hockey games sure were a treat!