The Gingies

A few weeks ago we made ginger bread houses at our Aunt's house and I'm just now getting around to posting the pictures...sorry.


Anyways everyone was competing to have the BEST house so we created categories so everyone could have the best house in their category. So I now present the Gingies Awards!!!


First category is "Most structurally sound"
And the award goes to...............................

Karen

 

Second category is "Fanciest Architecture"

And the winner is.....................................

 Janelle

Next we have 2 awards, "Most houses built and Most creative recovery"
And the winner is............................

Maike

Next category is "Best outside decorations"
And the award goes to...........................

 Gale

 Now we are to the "Most monumental" category
And the winner is..........................................

 Sara with the Washington Monument

 The next category we have is "Most times fixing a roof"
And the award goes to.............................

True

This next award is for "Most Redneck"
And the winner is.................................................

Justin

 The next category is "Tallest"
And the winners are........................................................

 James and Teeyl

 Now we have come to the "Barn yard" award
And the award goes to....................................................

 Marshall for his Chicken coop

 And last but not least we have the "Best inside decorations" award
And the winner is.........................................................................

 Grace

Well that's all the houses we have for today, thanks for joining us and be sure to tune in next year!!!!!!!

Remembering years past

Yesterday morning when I woke up, for some reason I started thinking about what I was doing this time last year. "It was almost wedding time", I thought to myself but then the more I thought on it the more I remembered.

Last year around this time this is what I was doing....

Decorating hundreds of cookies by hand, and yes I piped every single cookie myself

But besides wedding stuff I was quite busy in other areas of my life. I had just started a new job and was going through training classes. Training classes where I had to get certified, I thought a month full of training would be a breeze. Someone forgot to mention about all the state regulations and crap. Justin and I had also just moved into a new house. Now I can't remember why but for some reason or another I unpacked the whole house, before the wedding. Then you can't forget coming up almost every other weekend to Valentine to make sure things were ready up here. But we had the most beautiful wedding day and that's all that matters.

Now flash forward to this year, no training classes, kind of a new house but I didn't have to unpack everything this time and no wedding. I've actually had a wonderful holiday season (from Thanksgiving to New Years is the holiday season for me). I'm on winter vacation so what's not to love. 

Then for Christmas this year, first we are going to my parent's house for Christmas with them, then we'll come back to Valentine and have Christmas/ bday party with our cousin's. On the 30th we will have Ford Family Christmas out at Grandma's, (hopefully) go to Dodson's New Years eve party and then Christmas at Justin's parent's house. I know this seems like a lot, but it's spread out over 2 weeks so it won't be that bad. I'm looking forward to it, I love parties and being with family and so does Justin. I forgot to mention in there that we are celebrating our anniversary, but it's kinda a surprise for me so I'll have to tell you about it after it happens.

I wonder what we will be doing next year for Christmas......................................................

Maybe we'll go to Cali and spend the holiday with Kelsey and then for New Years go to Disneyland, that would be fun. Or spending Christmas at home then going to Florida for New Years in Disney World with my aunt and cousins. Once I'd like to go to one of those towns that is Christmas all year long, but on Christmas. Wait I know we could go to Ohio for Christmas then for New Years drive to New York for the time square thing, it's only about 4 or 5 hours from where my Grandma lives and that's like driving to Lincoln from Valentine. Oh the possibilities are endless, haha.

Online Christmas Shopping

This year because of the move to no where land, haha just kidding, I've had to do all and I mean ALLLL of my Christmas shopping online. I'll have to say it's kinda weird, in some ways good but I guess it's just different. It's one thing buying something online for yourself and if you don't like it return it, but during Christmas time if the gift I picked out wasn't what I thought it was there's no time to return it and get something new. Every site I've been on has warned me about delivery and getting there on time, and this was in November! And it seems to me that they raise prices of shipping around Christmas just because they can. That's why every site I bought from was free shipping.
But it hasn't been all bad, I did get all of my shopping done in one day. I never had to wait in any lines, deal with crazy crowds, fight for parking spaces or travel in traffic. Plus the other thing I love is all the gifts come to my door and I get to open them, so it's been like Christmas at my house for weeks!
It's been fun these past 9 months to realize all the differences about living in the Sandhills. Some things good, some annoying but we always seem to find the good no matter what.

The Sword and the Stone

 

Late Sunday night James informed us that he had a big school project due on Wednesday and that he needed some help. Being totally awesome, both Justin and I agreed to help. So over the last 2 days we have been working on transforming James into King Arthur. Justin and James designed his costume and I made it. James needed something to give out as souvenirs so James and I came up with an idea for that. James is going to have his class mates pull the sword out of a stone (which we also made) then knight them and give them a medal ( we made the medals too).

Now don't think I am at all complaining or moaning about this, quite on the contrary. I am very giddy and over zealous about this project! I only wish I was allowed to come see it in action. Just add another thing to the long list of why I wish I could go back to high school.....haha


Here are the pictures!!!!

King Arthur himself

The Sword and the Stone

King Arthur knighting Justin

Justin receiving his medal

Looks like Kaedo got one too

This is our favorite time of year

It's the most wonderful time of the year! And all of us here at the Simmons House have a different reason why we love it so much. Let's start with the youngest......

Kaedo

His favorite things are the cold/ snow and the new toys!

Georgie

 Her favorite things include playing with the tree/ decorations and sleeping on tree skirts

Janelle

 

My favorite things are giving presents and decorating my house

Justin

 And last but not least Justin's favorites are spending time with family and shoveling snow.

 

Thanksgiving

This year was the first year that I made Thanksgiving dinner all by myself. All of it, well I guess my dad did make a cheese cake. But other than that I made the bird, the gravy, the mashed potatoes, the green bean casserole, the rolls, the cranberry sauce, the chocolate pie and the fudge! That's right I am super woman! And all in all I would have to say I enjoyed it very much and it was really fun! There was one point where I broke the pie crust where I thought it wasn't super fun, but pie crust is easy to fix.

So that was the food now on to the events. On Thursday my parent's came to our house in Valentine and we had Thanksgiving lunch. After lunch we went over to our cousin's house and played some games, watched some football and ate some more food.

On Friday we all slept in, well except for Justin, cows got eat haha. Then we had leftovers for lunch and went back over to Gass's for the Husker game. Watched the Husker's win and played more games, which is my all time favorite thing to do with family.

Then on Saturday my parents left for home and we went to Cody to spend Thanksgiving with the Fords. We had a Wii Tennis tournament, which was so much fun!! Plus Justin and I won so you can't beat that. Then we played some more games and ate some more food! It was a fun and relaxing holiday, just the way it should be.

I don't want to grow up, I'm just a Toys R Us kid!

Justin and Reed playing with their 4 year old cousin's train set.











And having some trouble, I might add. haha











Both Mary Kay ( Reed's wife) and I agreed that we got them the wrong present for Christmas. People have asked me when Justin and I were going to start having kids and always say that I already have one, his name is Justin. I guess now I have proof.

First Snow, Warm Glow

 First snow of the season and Kaedo couldn't be more excited!

 He played/ hung out out side all day

 This is his "please come out and play with me" face. Ha don't think so, way to cold and windy

So since it has been so cold outside I had to warm things up inside. All week long I've had candles burning and decorating for Thanksgiving. The warm fall colors make it feel cozy. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!! 

Rambling Thoughts

This week's Rambling thoughts will include a nonsense picture!! So much fun!

I had a lot of time to think on this week's RT because I had 10 hours of driving in the car, alone, waiting in terminals, and flying on planes. Which brings me to the RT

How am I suppose to protect myself against terrorists if you take all my "weapons" away??

So let's say I get on an airplane and so does a man who wants to high jack it, now I am not a very big person (5'5" and 100lbs) how am I suppose to physically stop him? Pull his hair? Bite, scratch, kick him? I don't think so, any normal size man could easily take me down, and this is why I carry weapons. So anyways I was thinking about it and I've come up with some approved items that us petite men or women could carry on a plane with us.

• 8" heels, the higher and sharper the heel the better! They work really good for stabbing
• Giant cowboy belt buckles, again the bigger the better! Not only can it be used to hit someone but you can use the belt as a whip
• Umbrellas, make sure it's one with a point on the end. Another multipurpose tool, used for beating someone with, or open it in some one's face to scare them.
• Bullet proof vest, hey vest are coming back in style. Don't think I need to explain this one, of course it's to keep you warm on those freezing flights
• Mint spray, or cinnamon would work too. Not only will fresh breath give you the confidence to stand up to the bad guy but can be used like pepper spray

And I'm sure there are many more approved lethal weapons, but this is all I could think of for now. If you have any you would like to add, please comment I would love to hear them!!










Last but not least non sense picture!!!

Man vs. Food

While I was in Ohio, actually while I was in Columbus, OH my brother and his girlfriend took me out to dinner at Thurman's Cafe the home of the Thurmanator. For all of you who have not seen this episode of Man vs. Food, let me try to explain this monstrosty of a burger.
The THURMANATOR:
Bottom bun, mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickle, banana peppers, 12 ounce burger, bacon, cheddar, another
12 oz burger, sautéed mushrooms & onions, ham, mozzarella & American cheese, top bun.
The thing is close to a foot tall, we didn't eat one ourselves but we did see one in person and it was scary. I ordered a normal burger and look how big mine was....

It took me 2 days to eat it! But it was by far the best burger I have ever had, period! If you ever go to Columbus and you are a fan of meat you have to eat at Thurman's Cafe. Be warned though we had to wait an hour, but it was totally worth it!!

Another thing we really liked about Thurman's was the way it was decorated, very unique. All over the walls, the bar and the bar's ceiling are 1 dollar bills. Actually they're not just 1 dollar bills they are decorated bills. We sat down at our table and Ryan said, "I'm pretty sure that is a federal offense". Haha. We spent half the night reading money and debating if customers colored them or how you get your money on the wall and we also estimated about how much money there was. I'd say there had to be over $100, at least.

Here's some that were by our table, unfortunately I didn't a picture of the bar :(

Oh and most of the money did say something about The Ohio State, but we did come across an UM one as well, yuck!

OH IO

I wanna go back to Ohio State
To old Columbus town,
To the stadium to hear the band,
By far the finest in the land,
I wanna go back to Ohio State
To old Columbus town,
I wanna go back,
I gotta go back,
To Ohio
Ohio, Ohio
The hills send back the cry [O - H!]
We're here to do or die [I - O!]
Ohio, Ohio
We'll win the game or know the reason why!
And when we win the game, we'll buy a keg of booze! (or Root beer)
And we'll drink to old Ohio,
'Til we wobble in our shoes!
Ohio, Ohio
We'll win the game or know the reason why!

So I'm back in Nebraska now and missing my family already. It's hard because my favorite brother and (hopefully!!) favorite sister are there along with my favorite aunt. Growing up I had these people so close to me, well not Becky but she is so much fun I wish I would have had her around lol, and now....:'( But I guess it was really fun to visit them, just wish I could do it more often. 

But enough with the sadness! Because I had a blast while I was out there! Sorry I didn't take very many pictures but we were always doing something! There was never a dull moment, but I did manage to take some pictures of my aunt's house/farm and all of her animals. It's a lot like going to Flip's house :) but not the animals are not as exotic

 The Boys

 The pond 

 Abby, the "lamb"

 Chickens

Sammy, my new best friend

Haloween

I was so excited for Halloween this year because we finally live in a house that gets trick-o-treaters!! Ever since I moved out of my parent's house I haven't got to pass out candy. Which was really sad for me, I would decorate my house every year and no one would ever come :( But not this year we had a good turn out! Favorite costumes were a little girl, maybe 2 years old, dressed up as a gnome! She was soo cute. Also there was a Buzz Lightyear that was awesome and Indiana Jones was neat too!

But this year we got to celebrate Halloween twice, that meant I got to dress up twice, score!! On Saturday we went down to North Platte to our cousin's Kristin's house for her annual Halloween party. It was some much fun, the theme was the 80's so Justin and I dressed up like Pacman and Ms. Pacman.

Our favorite costumes from the party were the Married with Children couple, Macgyver, and of course ours. And yes I did make our costumes, which I'll have to say was way more fun than buying them. Last year we paid over $100 for our costumes and they were so cheaply made that I had to modify them anyways. So in the long run it's way easier, cheaper and more fun to make your own.

Then on Halloween we had our own little Halloween/ pumpkin craving party. It was fun we watched How to Train you Dragon, craved pumpkins, ate goodies and I passed out candy to the little kids. On Halloween I dressed up as a Slytherin student. Kaedo was a buck-a-roo, George was a princess and Justin was Tony Stark.

The Lodge

I Love my job, but sadly it's ending soon....just for the season. But here are some of my favorite features of the Lodge!! For awesome pictures of the outside and golf courses visit The Prairie Club. The pictures are under Golf and Your Stay.