Our Christmas

My gifts for Jacob that I had Lilah help me wrap.  I love brown paper packages tied up with string!

 Jacob's gifts for me... yep... this is how it is every year!  I don't mind though really.  It's the thought that counts :)

 He is a Tundra maniac (thanks Mark & Erika Mueller!)

 Definitely a good sign for his shop!  Don't touch them!  Don't move them!  Don't borrow them! Don't even look at them!

 My loot.  He got me some winter running gear...

...and a ipod/phone running arm band, a blowdryer, lots of chapstick (I use it all the time and have to have it everywhere!), work gloves, warm socks, wireless mouse, and miscellaneous others.

We hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and that we always keep the real meaning of Christmas in our hearts!

Game Night

We got some ice and snow right before Christmas.  It was so pretty on the trees and grass, I had to get a few pictures.

 After Christmas Eve services we had the Luthi cousins out to our house for games.  It was good to be together again!

 Then there was the anti-social one who wouldn't put the Tundra comic book down :)  P.S.  Don't tell him his picture is on my blog~ he will not be impressed!  He barely lets me get pics of him as it is!

Work Christmas Open House

We had our bank Christmas Open House a couple weeks ago and this is what it looked like.

 Kansas Maid Pastries donated the cinnamon rolls.

 In the morning we did coffee, hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls.

 At  11:00 we put out little smokies, summer sausage, cheese, pinwheels, fruit, cheeseball, and cookies.

 A close-up of my snowman cheeseball.  I used almonds for the eyes & buttons, pretzels for the arms, and shaped a orange pepper for the nose.

I also made the snowman cupcakes.  I used mini M&M's for the eyes and mouth and a orange tic-tac for the nose.

I didn't get a picture of the water bottles, but the labels said "melted snowman" on them.  Yep, we had a snowman theme :)

Deer Hunting Outcome {Warning: Graphic}

I finally got my deer one afternoon when I got off work.

There were 2 deer in the field, Jacob & I both shot at the same time and they both ran a little ways into the creek and never came back out.  When we were heading to the house to get the truck and load them, there was another one in a different field that Jacob got.  A guy that works for Jacob's dad loves deer meat, so we gave them all to him!

Here is the picture I text my brothers and dad so they could be proud of me... haha.  My dad said it looked like a coyote on his phone and my brothers told me I got Bambi and that it didn't count unless I gutted it.  But my husband was pretty happy with me even attempting and then hitting it on the first shot that he didn't care what size it was.  Verdict on being a deer hunter:  Probably won't do it again unless it's warm or another decides to jump out in front of my car.  I didn't mind it, but I didn't get a thrill out of it like avid hunters do.

Camera Dump

Since it has been a little longer than I anticipated since the last post I will try to do a quick catch-up.  I have been busy getting ready for the many Christmases that we have this year and also trying my hand at deer hunting.  I decided to give it a try again this year since I hit one with my car earlier this fall.  However, I decided I am a fair-weather hunter and not that interested in sitting in a blind at 6:00 in the morning with 15 degree weather...  Now, the first day I went out it was 40-ish and I really enjoyed the peacefulness of the  morning and had some quiet time with God.  I never did see anything.  But I still enjoyed it.  Not so much after that...

My wonderful hubby trying to make me as comfortable as possible so that I would WANT to continue to deer hunt.  It really couldn't have been any easier of a hunt.  I walked outside about 100 yards and climbed up in the hay blind.  I didn't have to climb any trees or walk down in the woods or anything like that.

I had my friend Lilah over to help me with some Christmas baking one Saturday.  Then we did some crafts together.

Being silly with Aunt Jannette

We made this book about her family.

She wanted a list of questions to ask each of her family members (the same list I used for the other books I made) and then we cut out some shapes with my Cameo that she colored.  This one is for her mom and she is helping her mom clean.

I got my Christmas decorations up before we had the church over to wrap gifts for the Hartford Training Center.

The fireplace.

The sign I designed and made.  I had an old vintage coffee sign that I got at a flea market and never used, so I painted it and cut out the vinyl lettering to put on there.

I just loved these sparkly brown deer to go with my neutral/rustic theme

I looked all over for wreaths to hang in my windows.  Since I needed 14 of them, I decided it was way too expensive to buy that many wreaths and instead bought a plain garland.  I cut the garland up and put the berries in.  I got 3 wreaths out of one garland, so it saved quite a bit of money.  Then I just hung them with burlap ribbon.

Don't mind the plastic wrap that is sitting under the window sill :)

I put the Willow Tree Nativity set on the piano this year with lights under the snow.  Jacob built me the stable one year for Christmas out of our old barn wood.  I got around to staining it this year.

All the gifts we had to wrap Friday night.  We (Kent, Marissa, & I) shopped for 77 residents of the Hartford Training Center and then the church came over and we wrapped and tagged everything.  The kids always have so much fun with this!

On Saturday, Marissa had the ladies and their daughters over for a Christmas brunch.  It was delicious and so enjoyable to spend time together!

These glasses out of the toy box were a huge hit!

Then we made cookie jars.  We cut out circles of fabric to go over the top of the lids to make them festive!

Teagan trying to hide behind the counter so I don't get her in the picture of ingredients.

 The finished product.  These are always so fun to make and give as gifts or even have on hand when you need a quick snack to take somewhere.

This week I am focusing on getting everything ready for our Christmas open house at the bank... so stay tuned!

Painted Sign & Christmas

Here is the sign that I finished for my sister-in-law.

 We also had our Schulz family Christmas this weekend and one of the games the kids played was with a candy ball.  Kelli wrapped up candy with shrink wrap and the kids had to try and get out as much candy as they could until the next person rolled a double.  As soon as they rolled a double they had to pass the candy ball on.  I thought this was a super creative game and the kids had a ton of fun!

It was so good to see everyone at Schulz Christmas!  Our whole Knapp family was home so we got some family pictures taken.  Here is a taste of how they went:

I Never Do This...

I never do these questionnaire things, but it has been awhile since I posted anything since my computer has been in the hospital.  So, no pictures this time and I understand if you want to quite reading...  Sarah, from here did it so I am joining in on her crusade.

I am currently obsessed with... peppermint anything...icecream, coffee, hot chocolate, candles... you get the idea.  I LOVE this time of year!

My biggest pet peeve is... when people are not on time.  I inherited this one from my dear father.  If we weren't 10 minutes early we were late.

I could eat an endless supply of... since I already used peppermint in my above answer, I will do my second favorite.  Salsa. And chips of course.  It's kind of embarrassing when the waitress at the Mexican restaurant keeps asking if she can refill your salsa.  Lots of salsa and a little bit of chips.

I am currently reading... Unspoken, by Dee Henderson released last month.  She is a great author!

My bedtime recently has been... 9:00 ish.  I could probably go to bed sooner than that, but I don't want to sound like I don't have a life.  Which I don't.  To me, when it gets dark out it means you should go to bed, right?  This time change thing is still messing with me.

I am writing this while... I am at work, and yes, we are listening to Christmas music.  Don't give me the "gasp" "you mean before Thanksgiving???"  Chances are, my husband has already given it to me.

The scripture that is really speaking to my heart is... Psalm 113:9  It holds a special place in my heart and gives me hope.

On days when I don't leave the house I... on the rare occasion that this happens, I stay in my p.j.'s longer than normal and get tons of things crossed off my ongoing list!  It feels like I accomplish so much!

If I could hug anybody today, it would be... my nieces and nephews.  I miss them most days and love when I get a phone call or a letter in the mail!  Love you guys!


Now, if you want to join in on the fun, answer the questions in the comments section or on your own blog.  Thanks for stopping by!

Latest Projects

 I have been super busy and absolutely LOVE crossing things off my to do list!  I have been working on a few projects for my sister-in-law.  This first one is such a cute idea!  It is a book with a list of 20 questions that she asks the kids every year and sees how their answers have changed.

I thought it would be neat if she put a picture of the kids on the left hand side of the page to match how old they were when they answered the questions.

This is a Your Story.  It is a book binder and laminator.  I designed and printed the pages using photoshop and used Your Story books that have a strip of glue down the center.  I put the pages in and stick it in the machine to melt the glue and adhere the pages to the binding.

The next project for her is a wooden sign for the little girls bedroom.  I designed and cut this using my Silhouette software.  I weeded the vinyl so I would have a negative to use as a stencil on the sign.  I have the paint to paint the lettering on, now I just need the time :)

I have also been working on a calendar for my mom for Christmas.  One of us girls does one for her every year with pictures of all of us.  This is the first time we have done digital so we'll see how it goes.  I did all the designing in Photoshop Elements with various kits that I got free online.  If you see one that you want to know what it is or where I got it, just let me know and I will try and find it.  You may notice that I haven't collected pictures from everyone yet so this is just a sample :)

I have also been busy baking for church serving and helping Jacob work cattle.  It has been beautiful weather here and we have been trying to get some things winterized outside.  A cold front came in last night and I'm afraid winter may officially be here!  I do have until December 22nd to still work on my fall bucket list though, right?  I definitely know we will not be getting the "Camping out in the back of the truck under the stars" done anymore this fall.  Bummer.  I didn't realize I needed to be doing that in August/September since it gets so cold at night by October.  

P.S.  I love comments!  (If anyone actually follows this blog...)