Oh, you fancy, huh?

T brought home fancy strawberries for Christmas.

Beautiful small pieces of art.

Trip to Cedar Rapids

 

 

 

After being on the farm for a few weeks, I was finally able to see civilization.

Teresa, my sister, works in Cedar Rapids. 

The Wasko women decided to go and stay with her for a few days.

We shopped,went to body pump, ate out, and worked(ing) on teaching my mom how to use her iPad.

We were also able to spend time with one of my favorite Hawkeyes: Maddie!

Christmas 2011

 

 

 Christmas day is always spent with the Wasko side of the family...

eating, drinking, and being merry.

Christmas Eve

Evening Mass.
(silent night gets me every time)

Dinner.
 (chicken lasagna...num num num)

Traditional Christmas tree photos.
(and a few funny ones)

Exchanging gifts.
(best gift = dad's alaska scrapbook)

Anticipation for Santa to vist.
(guess i was bad this year...just kidding)

2011 Year in Review

a soda fountain please...!

outing with mama and jessica.

soda fountains at the villager.

Tukker Dairy Christmas Party

1 restaurant

3 different languages spoken

(dutch, spanish, english)

5 scoops of fried ice cream

7 green peppers

9 baskets of chips

11 Jarritos Mexican Sodas

13 cups of salsa

15 different dishes served

17 people celebrating the holidays

Dinner & Gambling

Last night we went out for dinner with the Smith family followed by a little gambling at the casino.

We walked into the casino feeling lucky...

but no winnings for any of us.

Great night of fun and good conversation.

Thank you Smith family! Hopefully we can arrange a game night before the end of break.

oh my fudge...

be jealous t & j.

our family friend, diane, brought over her yummy christmas goodies.

seriously, that fudge is sinful.

let the baking begin

well...i have been home for approximately for 48 hours...

time sure goes by a lot slower here.

recap of my sunday:

i lifted over 1,000 pounds of wood pellets for my father, helped him put up a snow fence, and assisted with other farms tasks as assigned.

helped mama wrap presents, make dinner, and began Christmas baking

currently listening to my parents argue over what they want to watch on TV.

bowling

We went bowling last night to celebrate Ryan's graduation from college.

Ryan was the the first guy I met at Northwest...

...a true friend throughout all of college.

Love this photo above of Jason and Ryan hugging with Brady smiling.

Bittersweet to see my friends beginning new chapters.

Proud of You, Katie.

See this beautiful girl standing next to me?

Well, she has a story that all girls need to listen to.

In Katie's words:

"Well friends, this was a big step for me, but I've felt led to go public about this for a while. I encourage you (especially if you're female) to watch this video and the link posted below it to hear my story. If this is something you relate to, I hope you find courage and seek the help you need. Feel free to repost to your facebook--someone might see it who really needs to. I know I may sound nuts for sharing this, but someone has to speak up."

Proud of you Katie for finding the courage to speak about this topic.

part two...click here

Ambassador Christmas party

After each semester, my supervisor takes all of the student ambassadors out for dinner at The Hanger.

All of the non returning seniors tell their most memorable tour.
I had to say my good-byes even though I will be working up until February.
Joe and myself have been ambassadors since our freshman year.
Here we are posing with our Bearcat license plate frames.

Life goes by so fast.  I can't believe I have been giving campus tours for four years now.

Our Christmas Party

 The roommates and myself decided to throw a Christmas party for our close girlfriends.

We had lots of Christmas goodies ranging from Oreo balls to almond bark pretzels to hot apple cider to nutella hot cocoa.

(Too much sugar...!)

We told the girls to bring a gift for the gift exchange if they wanted to participate.

Gift exchanges works so well.

It beats buying several gifts.

We played pin the nose on Rudolph, thanks to Racheal's incredible artistic skills.

 We had a sugar cookie decorating contest...

(although we never truly declared a winner)

It was fun to see people's creative sides come out.

The best part of the cookie decorating contest was that a plate full of cookies was taken to the correctional facility in town.

Service project...check.

Natalie lit a fire in the fire place and a few of us stayed up until midnight talking.

So much fun.

I love Christmas!

and I love all of my wonderful friends!

Best Bar Award: Mollys

To wrap up my time at Northwest, I have decided to start a series of "Best Awards"

Awards will be based upon my favorite places in town.

Today's award is best bar in town...

My groups favorite this year: Molly's.

So much fun.

Girls get in free in Friday nights and drinks are a dollar.

Fun Atmosphere.

Dance floor.

Walking distance.

Stay tuned for more awards...