2023

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Can you believe that it’s 2023?! 1.01.23! 

This day also marks the 200th blog post of the Artsy Otter! I met my goal, guys. 

    #200postsby2023. :) 

A Quote for the New Year

 We are so close and quickly nearing the end of 2022. 

What a year! 

I saw this quote, and, as a writer, I just loved this quote! It’s such a good reminder too. 

“[January First] is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one!” 

It sounds so simple, but I am loving it (and it can actually be quite deep if you think about it)

Quote

“I don’t think of all the misery, but of all the beauty that still remains.” -Anne Frank

Christmas

 I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I did! 

Things were a little different because my dad was working days (leaves at 4:30 and gets home around 7 pm). 

After the Christmas Eve service we had dinner, our Advent reading and opened our Christmas Eve gift. In the morning we opened our stockings, had breakfast, then opened another gift. When my dad got home, after dinner, we opened our last present and our family present and my dad opened his stocking. 

Here's what I got! In my stocking: wool socks, gloves, charger, chocolate, zip fizz, grapefruit, gum, two pouches, and a tiny utility tote from thirty one. My presents: Five-Minute Devotional (Christmas Eve), Elf Squishmallow. and a portable smoothie blender (it's so so cool!) 

All in all it was a great day and we had tons of fun! Merry Christmas! 

 Wishing you all a Merry Christmas Eve! 

"For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

Photo Dump [Alaskan Scenery]

 I decided to do a photo dump of my 10 favorite pictures I've taken this year...scenery wise.

Most of these aren't even edited and some (like the Venus' belt one) aren't actually good photography on my part, just beautiful. I have an old iPhone 5se, by the way...it does way better photos than I thought! Comment your favorites! 

on the way to Seward...a rainbow pillar! 

On the way to Anchorage...beautiful purple Venus' belt!

Headed home from Seward...I am obsessed with the clouds.

Headed home from Anchorage...along the arm! 

Headed to Seward...I love this photo! 

Moose Pass for the win! Driving home after a football game! 

(I actually took this photo on a friend's phone :) Fourth of July! 

Flowers in Walmart parking lot in Kenai . 

The Grand Canyon from YL trip '22…I know this isn’t Alaskan, but it’s one of my favorites 

Just the sun peeking from behind our shed!

Goals

 Here are a few goals that I have put in place for 2023 (its coming up so fast!) 

• Complete Second Semester Refresh (January)
• Do Ocean Science Bowl (March) 
• Save up enough to go to YoungLife camp (May)
• Get my license (in June)
• Finish my NaNoWriMo novel (reworking, editing etc) by June 
• Keep my budget tight (save, save, save) ((read that like an enthusiastic chant ;) '
• Buy vehicular transportation (I might rent my brother's old truck for the summer so I can continue to save for a nicer car/truck) 
• Horse Work
• Start an herb plot in the garden

So yes, that is just a few that I am going to work on in the new year! It's going to be a pretty busy year with everything. I also never got around to the herb garden last year (we didn't do much in the garden at all with all the horse things) so it has been transferred to 2023 list-and I am determined! 

Christmas Cookies

 Believe it or not, I'm not a huge fan of making cookies. There's just something a little more tedious and menacing about them. I don't know. 

Buuuut, I've actually made several Christmas cookies this year! 

My aunt and I made dairy free (and egg free) sugar cookies. They were the first cookies I could eat this year and they were so delicious! 

I also made Keto shortbread cookies for my mom and chocolate crinkle cookies for everyone. There was also sugar cookie tree stacks. 

 Today I am going to make lemon crinkle cookies because they are my dad's favorite. For the people who are house sitting for us while on vacation I am making chocolate mint cookies and maybe chocolate chip cookies as well. 

Any cookies you have made this Christmas season? 

 Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Christmas Movies We've Watched This Year

Here are ALL of the Christmas movies we watched this year! (along with my own personal ratings :) 

• The Man Who Invented Christmas - 6/10
• The Grinch - I like it, but I've seen it too many times. 5/10 
• The Christmas Choir - 7/10 
• Shazam - also seen too many times 4/10 
• Christmas with the Chosen - always 10/10 
• Home Alone 2 - 2/10 (I just don't like them) 
• Santa Clause 1 and 2 -6/10 
• Once Upon a Christmas Miracle - 6/10 
• Elf - 4/10 (not a huge fan, but a few laughs) 
• Christmas Movie Christmas - 10/10 (one of my favorites) 
• Christmas with the Kranks - 1000/10 (absolute favorite) 
• The Christmas Fix Up - pretty cheesy but 6/10 (there's a slow mo snowball fight :) 
• Second Chance Christmas - this was actually really good 9/10
• 12 Dates of Christmas - I liked it, but not great. 6/10 
• Snowed in for Christmas - it was okay 6/10 

Life Lately

 I would like to apologize for not posting this sooner :) 

Life Lately | November 

November was quite busy for me with a few big highlights. 

Undergoing writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

    that took up so so much of my time, but I don't regret it at all. it was so challenging, and sometimes I doubted myself (both as a writer and if I would ever finish). there were no tears, but I tend to internalize tears in that kind of situation. We'll just say there were tears on the inside. But it was so worth it. I was sick the last two days of it unfortunately, but I still felt accomplished and fairly satisfied with the end result. Will I continue to work on this novel? Yes, yes I will. I took a big step away from this project after I completed it. I know a lot of Nano writers use December as their editing time but I knew I needed to have a mental break from thinking about it, and also to get more inspiration. I fully intended to go back through and edit and rewrite portions etc...my goal is to finish it by my birthday! 

Working with our horses. 

    this has taken much time up over the course of the month. Since we are in the process of starting an equine therapy program we really want our horses to be ready, willing, and able to work with children. So we've been working so hard on their manners (no, Zeb, you have to stand...Promise, don't be pushy etc), on their tricks (passing a ball back and forth with Zebedee) and other (kid proofing Promise and her riding manners). Plus, all the chores. It's a lot, but it's also very satisfying. 

School 

    oh school. I love school, I really do, but it is school. So far, math is still a struggle, even though there are lessons that are quite fun that I like. Marine Biology is great. Writing is good. Shakespeare was pretty great. Economics is a bit hard. Latin is easy enough (I'm doing a school year course in one semester, but it's going pretty well). Music and P.E are good. I'm very excited for second semester so I can kind of get new habits in place etc. 

Thanksgiving 

    thanksgiving was very fun. We celebrated with our friends like always. One of the few downsides to Thanksgiving this year was that I was dairy free and relatively corn free, so I had to make separate portions of food for me...but it wasn't a huge deal. I got stuffing which is the best food and made a DF peach pie so I'm all good! :) 

Other

    I have some more allergies again. I figured out that I was reacting to dairy (since it's recurring it wasn't a huge surprise). So I got oat milk. But, I was still reacting to something. So we went to our allergy doctor and he figured out that I was allergic to dairy, oats, oranges and intolerant to corn, chocolate, tomatoes, and pineapple. So, that's something I've been having to work with! 

I was on the Youth Worship Team as well in November. And I was able to be the lead guitarist (instead of having a more experienced guitarist on stage as well), it was really fun and we actually played for church that morning and then youth service that night. 

That's really all to share about! Thanks for reading and again, sorry this is so late! 

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

 I made chocolate crinkle cookies on Thursday night and I used this recipe (click here for link) 

They were so quick and easy-one of my favorite things about crinkle cookies. And they were delicious. 

The one thing I always forget about crinkle cookies is that they need to set on the pan-so one batch came out a little more done that I would've preferred. But, still good!

Here's the recipe! 

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (for extra Christmasy you could also use a bit of peppermint extract) 
• I cup AP flour 
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 1 cup (I used a bit less) mini chocolate chips 

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease or line a cookie sheet. Cream the butter and sugar together, then add in the egg and vanilla extract. After that is combined, add your dry ingredients until the dough comes together. It will be a bit sticky. Fold in chocolate chips. Roll dough into small-ish balls and generously coat in powdered sugar. Bake them for 9-11 mins in smaller batches because they do spread! When they come out, let them sit on the baking sheet to set. Enjoy! 

Music

 Love the album We Need Emmanuel by Brandon Heath (Holiday)! SO good! 

How I Pack [tips for packing]

 We have a vacation coming up soon, so I thought it might be cool if I did a post on how I pack. 

First, I make different columns (for example, clothing, entertainment, toiletries etc) 

Then, I put down everything I might need to pack-or do in preparation-for each column. (for example, hairbrush, toothpaste) 

Next, I narrow down each category. (I don't need to bring this sweatshirt...) 

Finally, I finalize the list...making sure I have everything I need (double, triple check) and checking the weather of where we will be going to plan clothing accordingly. 

If I don't have something I need, I get it. (Whether that be travel toothpaste or more socks) 

Also, I like to see what we will be doing (if we're going to do a hike or just hang out) and plan accordingly for that as well. 

Then I collect everything on the list and pile it in each category. I go through each pile and prepare it for packing (this can involve putting liquids in a bag and rolling/folding clothes). 

Once everything is prepared I like to check that everything is there and then PACK IT :) 

Pack efficiently. What I usually do when we travel is have everything in my backpack and then anything extra (like a pair of shoes or jacket) I put in my sister's suitcase. I tend to travel pretty light. 

Packing efficiently can look like rolling your clothes, putting them in the bottom of your bag in the order that you're going to wear them, putting all your toiletries in a separate bag (this is SO helpful for when you want to freshen yourself up in airport bathroom or something) putting your electronics in a small bag-possibly even putting your entertainment (such as sketch stuff, books etc) in a separate pouch in your bag. STUFF LIKE THAT :^) 

As you can probably tell I like to be very organized about this kind of thing! 

Thanks for reading and hope this helps! 

Tips for 2nd Semester Refresh

If you're like me, second semester is a BEAR. 

I know a lot of people like it more because you can see the end goal, but it always seems like a unending, tedious, unmotivated time. 

So here are my tips for a Second Semester Refresh. 

Tip #1 

    go through your school bag and clean it out. All those loose papers, old gum wrappers, broken pencils, sticky notes, etc that you stuffed in the bottom of your backpack? Clean it out!!! This will get you so motivated and ready! 

Tip #2 

    refresh your school supplies. Get new highlighters if you need them, if you struggle to find a pencil every time you start school-get more pencils. Obviously don't go overboard with too much new stuff...but a little tiny bit helps get that excitement going-a reminder of how fun the first few weeks of first semester was, you know?

Tip #3 

    clean your workspace. Since I am homeschooled, I do almost ALL my school upstairs in my bedroom...so I like to make sure that it is very clean and reorganized. 

Tip #4

    set semester goals. This can be getting a certain average grade on math, or making beautiful notes for science, or keeping your room clean, or remembering to read or journal everyday...anything you want to accomplish in second semester (and it doesn't need to be limited to academic subjects!) This motivates you so much! 

Tip #5 

    make a second semester playlist on Spotify. I always like to make a new playlist for school with different songs and such...this gets you excited to study. 

That's just a few tips I have! Comment any other ideas! 

Thanks for reading! 

Christmas Tradition

A Christmas Tradition we have starts the first day of December. 

We have a little wooden manger that stands in the middle of our table. Beside it is a jar of straw. On the first day of December we draw names. For the rest of the week we do kind things for the person we drew (for example, if I got my brother, I could empty the dishwasher for him or if I got my dad I could bake cookies) and each time we do an act of service or nice thing for our person we get to put a straw in the manger. 

We continue doing this all month long and then on Christmas Eve we put baby Jesus in his straw filled manger. 

There's a movie that revolves around this idea called the Last Straw and a book called The Giving Manger by Allison Hottinger. 

The purpose of this Christmas tradition is to remind us to make room in our hearts for Jesus, serving others instead of yourself, and filling the manger with 'love and service' for Jesus. It gets the focus off of ourselves and to the real reason of Christmas. 

It's kind of hard to explain, but it's such a fun and challenging thing we do each year. I recommend trying it! 

Quote

 "Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tries and a touch that never hurts." 

-Charles Dickens 

Beautiful Quote

 "I can't go back to tomorrow because I was a different person then." 

-Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland 

Our Christmas Tree

Getting a Christmas tree is always a family tradition. We always go traipsing into the forest somewhere and look for a tree. Sometimes we look in a few different places and then choose our favorite. 

This year, we first went to the ball diamond about half a mile from our house and a pretty good one caught our eye. Then we went hiking near lower trail lake and found two possibilities. 

We all went out and when we went to Lower Trail Lake we found our tree....none of the ones we had found before. But it's actually one of the nicest we've had before-large, green, and bushier than some past. 

Here's a pic! 

Working with Promise

This is going to be a less informative post because my mom usually works with Promise more than I do. But I have been assisting with this: 

My mom has been working with her on how to stand still. After she was good and solid on that, we started working on 'kid proofing' her. 

This involves yelling, jumping jacks, running around her, crawling under her belly, holding on to her leg, standing in front of her, sudden movements, and lots and lots of noise. 

And she has been doing so so well! One thing she is terrified of (she is a mare, so terrified of a lot of things :) is the ball Zebedee and I work with, so we've been working on passing it back and forth while she's around so she learns it's not going to kill her :) 

So that's just something we've been working on! Thanks for reading! 

Working With Zebedee

I've been working with Zebedee for the past few weeks, teaching him how to pass a ball back and forth. 

He's been doing so well and picking it up quite quickly!

Here's how I taught him: 

First, I taught him to target. This is a very easy (and helpful) trick that animals pick up very quickly. I am sure I didn't teach it perfectly, but basically holding my fist out, say the cue "target", and when he noses it I reward him. Eventually he learned to anticipate it. 

Then, we would leave the ball in random places around and I would walk him on his lead rope towards it. When we approach it I would say the cue word and he would target it and nudge it out of his way. 

He's still struggling a little bit when he's in a standstill and the ball is coming toward him instead of walking to it, but we're working on it! 

He's so smart and learning so quickly!  

Piano Recital

 Yesterday I had my first ever piano recital! I've had several violin ones in the past and have been playing the piano for years. 

My mom teaches piano lessons to several children in Seward, and she held a Christmas recital. Since I am technically one of her students I presented two pieces that I have been working on. The first one was Downton Abbey the Suite and Silent Night-I'd only been working on Silent Night for a week, though!

It went really well, the students did amazing, there was around 75 friends and family members who came, we gave little gifts to the students, and there was delicious refreshments! 

The Weather Lately

Iit has snowed just about a foot! We live in an area that is surrounded by mountains so it keeps pockets of warm (or very very cold) air in.  We are always colder than Seward and yesterday was no exception as they got 16 inches!  Soldotna got two feet and Anchorage got around the same I think. 

So that's the weather! 

Quote of the Day

Goethe once said, 

"I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate; it is my daily mood that makes the weather. I posses tremendous power to make life miserable or joyful. I can be a tool of torture, or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations it is my response that decides where a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a person humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming." 

 

Meet the Animals Pt. 6

 Aspen Oakley 

Aspen is our St. Bernard/Bernese Mountain/Pyrenees 7 year old dog. 

She is Boone's daughter-but what's funny is she looks less like him than most of the other puppies did. 

She normally looks sad (that's St. Bernard for you) but loves to be out and about, skiing, hiking, camping...it's her favorite thing. 

She HATES baths and never plays with toys; she prefers to just sleep most of the time. She patiently puts up with Tucker. She adores Lucy-even though the love isn't returned. She loves all vegetables and salmons skin etc...

She has a strange affinity for rabbits. She protects them and even cuddles them. She loves cuddles. 

Here's pictures! 

here she is enjoying blueberry picking

this bottom picture is when she was Top Dog for a obedience class that she and mom took together. She is very much mom's dog. 

Christmas Traditions

 Christmas Day Tradition

Here is our Christmas morning tradition! 

Us kids all sleep upstairs and can wake up whenever...but we can only come down when the parents call us. We can hear them getting up, putting breakfast in the oven and making coffee. 

Then they call us and we come down and bring our stockings to the living room and sit down. We go around oldest to youngest (or vice versa) pulling one item out at a time. It's very leisurely and fun. 

Then we eat Christmas breakfast which is always creme brûlée French toast (which everybody on my mom's side of the family eats on Christmas morning. it's such a cool feeling knowing that everybody is eating the same thing...even when we're not celebrating all together :) We also have sausage, orange juice, and sometimes eggs. 

Next, we open our Christmas presents. We get three each, plus our family gift exchange one. Then, we clean up and just have a leisurely afternoon...sometimes we go skiing or sledding, watch a Christmas movie, or something like that! 

Then we have Christmas dinner-ham, crescent rolls, green beans, cranberry fluff, Baby Jesus' Birthday cake, angel food trifle etc. etc. etc. 

On Christmas night us kids sleep in the living room and can watch Christmas movies.

With our dad now working at the prison it's a little bit different. He works nights the Christmas week, so we have to change stuff up a bit. When he gets home on Christmas morning (like 6:45) we will do all the stuff so he can get to bed. And we hang out upstairs so we don't wake him up :) 

That's our Christmas Day Tradition! I hope you enjoyed! What's your favorite Christmas Day tradition? 

Christmas Traditions

Christmas Eve Tradition 

I thought it could be fun to share some Christmas Season traditions that we enjoy! 

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is Christmas Eve. It's my favorite day of the year! My mom and I spend a lot of time making food that day. Then we eat (hot turkey salad, crescent rolls, cranberry fluff) and then head off to the Christmas Eve service at church. My best friend and I exchange gifts in the car after it's over. After we get home we finish our Advent Devotional while we eat cookies and drink tea. We always open one gift-an activity or book and go upstairs. We can play on the Wii or watch a movie or stay up...and it's always fun.

Do you have a Christmas Eve tradition you love? 

Christmas Devotionals

 Here are some Christmas devotionals I love and recommend for this Christmas season! 

Family Ones:

Unwrapping the Names of Jesus by Asheritah Ciuciu is a family one that we love! 

Because of Bethlehem by Max Lucado is another great family one that we have done! 

 Christmas Devotionals I am doing currently are:

Merry and Bright: Celebrating Christmas Every Day by YouVersion (it's really really good!) 

and Our Christmas Stories: A 26 Day Advent Devotional by Janet Denison which is awesome, too! 

Last year devotionals I did:

The King is Coming by Seacoast Church 

and Chosen to Be a Miracle, which was based on The Chosen series...it was so cool! 

Thanks for reading!

Meet the Animals Pt. 5

 Tucker 

Tucker is our Sarplanniac/Maremma livestock guardian dog puppy. 

He is a handful, not yet a year, and loves to chew things up, annoy our other dog and the horses and the cat to no end. Plus, he is very stubborn, like most LGDs (livestock guardian dogs). 

But, he is so valuable to the farm. He herds the horses when they stray towards the driveways, and even tries to separate the horses when they start to fight a bit. He is very protective of his property and is very eager to do his job. He even barks when big trucks go by. 

He has a coarse black coat with a white bib and a little white around his face. He loves playing fetch and in the snow and going on walks and playing in the water...basically everything. He even plays with his tennis ball by himself, tossing it in the air and letting it start to roll down the driveway, catching it up and repeating the process over and over again. 

He is already very large. People don't really realize that he is a puppy as he is much bigger than our seven year old. We are still trying to train him, but he still is a puppy...

His favorite thing is his chair. He sits in it, like a human, all day, surveying his land. It's very comical. 

He is very sweet when you get to know him, very playful and very helpful...even if he sometimes is a pain. 

Here is a picture! This is from when he was about two months old. 

Meet the Animals Pt. 4

 Zebedee 

Zebedee is our second horse. 

He is an old, 12 hands high, palomino Icelandic horse. (Icelandic is a horse breed, but they are the size of a pony:) 

He is short, cute, and sweet...but he came with not great manners. We got him in July/August, somewhere around that time, for free from a friend of my dad's who was moving. 

I had always had Zebedee on my potential livestock names and it means "Gift of God" which fits so perfectly. 

He is so fun to ride with a bumpy little trot and is eager to please. We are still working on his manners; in summer when he is working he tends to abruptly stop to graze as well as always expecting treats...he's getting a lot better though. But he is very good going around cones/barrels and is very kid proof. 

I am currently teaching him to play fetch and he is progressing so well. 

Here is a picture! 

he is so cute! 

Meet the Animals Pt. 3

 Promise 

Promise is our first horse. 

She is a 20 something, 16 hands high mare, dun/bay, mare. She can sometimes be a bit opinionated, stubborn, dramatic, and jumpy...just like a mare. 

She loves pumpkins and enjoys working most of the time. She adores our dog Tucker and has separation anxiety when she can't see him. 

She is doing really good with our kid-proofing right now (which I'll post about later). She does have a little arthritis, which she manages very well with consistent exercise. In summer she loves to graze in the yard and we even let her free range-if she ever gets to close to the driveway Tucker herds her back up. She also really loves drinking water straight from the hose. 

She is definitely the boss over our other horse; she is the alpha mare. 

All in all she is a pretty great horse and we really love her, even if she sometimes can be a troublemaker. 

Here is a picture! 

so pretty! In the winter she gets darker brown and so fuzzy!

December Wardrobe

 I think these are so cute, cozy and perfect for the Christmas season! 

Links to Amazon 

1. This really cute sweatshirt! click for link

2. A beanie...click for link

3. Fuzzy socks click for link

4. Plaid pajamas, because, why not? click for link

Hope you enjoyed this very short post! 

Christmas This or That

I thought this might be fun (plus you get to know me a little better!) 

• Fake Christmas tree or Real? - Real for now but probably fake when I am out of the house :)
• Colored Christmas Lights or Warm Yellow? - Warm yellow all the way!
• Do you prefer Christmas presents or stockings more? - Presents because stockings are mostly little knickknacks.
• Getting or Gifting? - Gifting, it's one of my favorite things! 
• Lots or little decorations? - As long as it doesn't look cluttered. 
• Make Christmas cookies or eat Christmas cookies? - since I'm allergic and love baking...make. 
• Christmas Music or Christmas Movies? - I don't think anyone can choose between the two.
• Colored wrapping paper or brown wrapping paper? - I love the simplicity of brown. 
• Homemade gifts or store bought? - I think homemade <3
• Christmas dinner or breakfast? - that's hard but probably dinner. 
• Christmas Eve or Day? - Christmas Eve for sure. 
• Christmas Plaid or Sweaters? Sweaters...because they're more cozy. 
• Peppermint or Gingerbread flavor? - I have no idea...
• Hot cocoa or Apple Cider? - Hot cocoa in winter, apple cider in fall. 
• Whipped cream or Marshmallows in the hot cocoa?- whipped cream if possible.

That's all I can think of! Maybe I'll make a part two if I think of more :) 

Meet the Animals | Pt. 2

 Lucy 

Lucy is a siamese cat with the most beautiful blue eyes and a striped nose. We got her in 2015 and she was our first cat. We love her so much. 

Now that I have my own room (away from the chaos and mess of my little sister's) I have become Lucy's very favorite of our family. 

Her routine is pretty set in stone. In the morning she and I wake up, she goes to the bathroom while I brush my teeth, while I finish getting ready she sits on my bed. When I go downstairs in the morning she follows and lays by the wood stove. Then, later in the morning when I go back upstairs she does too, sitting on my lap at my desk or sleeping on my bed. When I am writing she curls up on my arms and purrs. Every single night she jumps on my bed and cuddles with me until I start to fall asleep then she gets off, eats some dinner, and then comes back to lay on my feet. 

She and I get along quite well, both quiet, calm, and love routine. She has one toy that she likes. It is a little cloth octopus I bought her for Christmas. She is so funny with it, especially because she has never shown any interest in any other toys before. 

She loves tuna fish and whenever she hears a can being opened, expectantly awaits for the empty can...even though we don't have tuna that much anymore. She hates other cats and loves being outside. 

All in all she is such a great cat and I love her so much! Here is a picture! 

and another because why not? 

Thank you for reading! 

Minute To Win It Games | Christmas Edition

 Our extended family loves to play minute to win it games at Christmas/Thanksgiving parties. It's so fun and involves everyone...plus it doesn't go too long and the games are always easy to play! 

Yesterday, we had a Christmas party and my aunt and I thought of  minute to win it games to play. 

For each game you have one person from each team compete with each other. 

We started off with the Candy Cane Transfer where each competitor had two plates, one empty and one with several candy canes, and had to use a candy cane in their mouth to transfer the other candy canes to the empty plate. This one had a lot of laughs and was pretty easy too! 

Then we had the Ping Pong Toss where you had one minute to toss ping pong balls into a muffin tin...after the timer went off whoever had more in the muffin tin wins. 

Next, we had The Ornament Pulley where two teammates tie a piece of curling ribbon around themselves and hook an ornament on...they have to spin around (which causes the ornament to travel along the ribbon) and hang the ornament on the tree. It was so fun! 

We also had Christmas Tree Stack where each competitor had plastic cups that they had to stack (three on the bottom, two in the middle, one on top) in the shape of a Christmas tree, do a jumping jack, knock over the stack and see how many they could do in one minute! 

We also had the Whipped Cream Search where we put several peppermints in the bottom of a pie dish and covered with whipped cream. Each competitor had to retrieve each peppermint without using their hands-the results were quite messy! 

The M&M Elevator was really fun too; I taped two colored pencils together and tied string on either side of the pencil. Each competitor wrapped it around their ears to make a little 'pulley system' and had to pull the elevator up to their mouths and eat three m&m's that came with it. 

All in all it was so fun (my team won!!) and everybody laughed a lot! 

Meet the Animals Pt. 1

 Meet the Animals | Part One | Willa 

I thought it might be fun if I shared a little about the animals that we have! We have...a lot. (and hopefully more to come :) 

Willa 

Willa is a kitten that our friends found in their shed. Nobody claimed her and they kindly donated her to Faith Place Farm as a barn cat. 

And we love her so much! 

She has killed so many voles and shrews, even when she was still so tiny. 

I was actually able to meet her on my birthday (I had been at YoungLife Camp when they picked her up) and she is so sweet but independent. 

Here's a picture...

Isn't she adorable? 

Some of her favorite things: riding on the horse's back, playing with the hay nets, sitting on our shoulders while we try to work, being curious, playing, cuddling with Aspen, dinner/eating and sneaking inside. 

Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed!