The Quest for a Nest

and not just any nest. One very special nest indeed, the sweet little house next door!

Officially under contract as of Feb 4th :)

More to come (and pictures) on this quest later...

~Lori

Still kickin'

Yes we are still alive! No we haven't been kidnapped or murdered... just really busy. February has been a whirlwind of a month. Between multiple birthday celebrations (for myself and others), loads of tests and quizzes in school, work, and everything else we have managed to fill up the majority of our days and then some. Sleep is a prized possession. We have practically hooked the coffee pot in our office directly into our veins! Anyhow, I have several posts written out in my mind. Hopefully (somehow) this weekend will provide some time to play catch-up. I miss you all!

Pea-brain

Now that it is a whopping 51 degrees outside I thought I should hurry up and post this sweet little picture I snapped a couple weeks ago.

I found this guy on campus and thought it was adorable. I couldn't stop smiling about his tiny head and giant body so I decided to share a picture with you. Hope it brings a smile to your face as well! Happy Friday!

My New Car Cover

Had to dig a little hole to make sure it was my car :) See how thick the snow accumulated on there?! I had to get something out of the inside so I carefully dug the snow from my door and creaked it open. The inside of my car was like a little cave! So dark from the snow cover.

PS - I will gladly take a four day weekend again any day...

Happy Birthday to Mom

Friday the 15th was my beautiful mother's birthday! We all met up at Mom and Dad's house after church on Sunday to celebrate! (We missed you Julie and Neil!) My mom got up at about 4 am to put in a glorious pot roast and get the rolls started rising. Whew, you aren't supposed to work that hard on your birthday are you? But that is just one example of my mom's selflessness. She loves making other people happy. She works so hard to keep everything running smoothly in our lives. She is a constant teacher, encourager, and support. For all the times my mom has created opportunities for me and my sisters to grow, for all the love she constantly gives us, and for every single little thing she has done to make our lives happier, I want to say thank you. Beyond all of her wonderful "mom" qualities, she is a great friend. Always there to share in adventures, celebrating good news, or lending an ear/shoulder for sad news. Hearing her laugh is the very best! If I was born again, I would ask that my Mom were again my mother. I couldn't ask for a better Mom. I love you Mom, I hope your Birthday was wonderful!

We sort of did a potluck lunch. As I mentioned before Mom made the Roast and the rolls, Karen and Kenny brought some deeelicious broccoli casserole and potato casserole, and Lisa made the ALWAYS delicious Hawaiian wedding cake for dessert! And I... I brought myself... and no food. Better luck next year. Maybe by then I will have easier access to a stove/oven. :)

We all had a great time playing and laughing. We taught Bryce how to play paper football and had battle all the way around the dining room table, every inch guarded by someone. Somehow it still went flying off the edge a few times though.

After the party started to die down, Lisa and I made a trip to Rink Gallery! She is so fun. Our quest was for Cowgirl Boots! We tried on a few pairs, but none were quite right this time around. Too worn, too expensive, or too manly. But, I always have so much fun just looking around that place. It's inspiring. It makes you feel like going to garage sales and re-purposing old things into treasures. It's ALMOST that time of year again! Hurry up spring. :)

Christmas!

I know, I know... I am more than a little late posting about Christmas, but with Blizzard '09 Christmas was a little postponed this year, even for Matt's family. We celebrated Christmas with his family on Sunday the 27th. It was wonderful as always. Way too much food and fun talking and laughing with everyone. We played Dirty Santa and I won a space heater! :) Matt won a really nice set of pocket knives! I also got a beautiful turtleneck and a long snuggly sweater from his parents. It was a fun day and I am so glad I got to be part of it again.

Christmas with MY family was on New Years Eve! Here is our beautiful tree all decorated with piles of presents underneath. Julie and Neil came into town to spend a few days with us! Luckily I got some time off of work to spend with them. I love it when they come visit! It is non-stop fun and games and wonderful hang out time.

I got some glorious gifts from my family, and it is always fun to watch them open gifts and from the look on their face know that they are thrilled. I don't know how my family did it but I absolutely LOVE everything that I was given! I didn't even have any hints to give them this year. They were on their own to find gifts for me and they did great! They must know me pretty well. :) It's our family tradition to wear pajamas on Christmas, no matter what time of day we celebrate! We also like to take turns opening presents so everyone gets to see what everyone else opens (and their happy smiling face!)

My gorgeous sisters! I like seeing us all lined up like this and looking at our similarities and differences. They are all so pretty.

My beautiful Mom. Dad took most of these pictures so I don't have one of him to post! Hopefully Karen caught one and will post it! She's the photographer of our family.

The Looper family! I love Bryce and Griffin's matching PJ's! Soooo precious!

Kenny and Karen in their cute Peanuts PJ's

Neil and Julie

Matt and I

My parents got Bryce these awesome Bakugan balls. When you touch them to magnetic cards they burst open into little warriors! Very cool! Bryce absolutely loved them.

Bryce sure missed his Aunt Julie!

Griffin did a great job opening presents! See his little hand pulling on the paper :) Such a sweetie boy. He got pooped out from opening so many gifts and fell right asleep.

Another great gift from Grandma and "Ha-ah!" I love how you can just see the excitement on his face.

On New Years Day, Karen and Kenny came over and we played with the new Wii fit plus Julie got for Christmas. Mom and Dad even joined in! It was so much fun cheering for each other while we "skateboarded" through an obstacle course, "juggled" balls for a circus, and pretended to be a bird flapping our arms like wild to fly from perch to perch. It was hilarious! Neil also got a hunting game for Wii, so we all tried our best to shoot deer and rabbits in the field. All of us girls were screaming and squealing when it came time to hunt bears and cougars! It was like they were really coming to get us! *laughs* So much fun :)

Dashing through the snow

Mom woke me up this morning so I could join in on a prime sledding adventure that I was about to miss out on! I quickly threw on the warmest clothes I could find and went to our huge hill to see what it was all about. Luckily I have my little nephew Bryce to sled with. With him in the drivers seat we made it all the way down, squealing the entire way! Then my dad and I raced down the hill. He beat me EVERY time!!!! He's too good :) I kept on crashing into huge piles of snow, and falling off. Apparently I need Bryce to be my sled driver every time.

Here is where the magic happens. Although, it is a lot longer and steeper of a hill than it appears. I zoomed in so you could see the people down below! Bryce and my dad are on the sled, and Lisa is at the bottom of the hill retrieving her sled and making sure no cars came.

Bryce liked to sled down AND up the hill :)

Bryce and Ha-ah built these wonderful snow-men creatures for our front yard.

Another precious snow creation!

I'm so glad they came to play in the snow with us! I wish we could sled every day :)

Twas the night before Christmas...

...and all through the house. The Phillips' were decorating, fast as a mouse!

Here are some pictures from "Blizzard 2009!" The news said we got 14" of snow! There were some drifts that were several feet deep, and the wind was really blowing!

There is an entire turtle sandbox buried under there somewhere! Mom pointed out the little glaciers of snow shooting half-way off the roof in this picture too!

Sometimes my family does holidays a little bit differently, which works out wonderfully for all of us! We will celebrate Christmas all together next week when Julie and Neil are in town. So since we are snowed in from Blizzard '09 Mom, Dad and I got to work decorating the house with some holiday cheer. Dad went and picked up a Christmas tree for us! It was covered with snow so we quickly ran it in to the shower to melt *laughs*

We had a great time listening to the holiday music and decorating the house. We got the tree to stop dripping snow and decorated it, put up the nativity scene, and put wreaths, poinsettias, and greenery everywhere!

I ended up going to bed without putting up my stocking! Luckily Mom & Dad found it for me and put it up in time for Santa to fill :) So when I woke up Christmas morning I was greeted with some wonderful Christmas treats!

Sunday afternoon I went to go babysit my sweet beeboo Bryce! We had a glorious time!! Snuggling up watching a movie, playing games, working a huge firetruck puzzle, and reading books. I love that sweetsie boy sooo much!



After I left I went to visit my lovely little (from the sorority) Amber! It was great to have some relaxing time together without having to worry about classes. She introduced me to "Pink Swirls" a frozen yogurt place where you can load on any and every topping you can think of. She made a cup of delicious chocolatey peanut butter goodness with all kinds of cookie dough bites and chunks of chocolate on it. I made a cup of cheesecake frozen yogurt with graham cracker crumbs and real berries on top! It was a spectacular find! After you load it up they weigh it and charge by the ounce. Too bad fruit is so heavy...



We went back to her apartment and talked and talked until i had to crash! I think I am still a little sleep deprived from finals week and our little trip this weekend. We had such a fun time. I hope we get to spend more time together next semester, than we have this past semester! She is wonderful!

Make a Joyful Noise