So Close, but Yet So Far Away

Christmas break came and went and it was time to head back to Nephi and Orem for college and work. Dallen and I left Monday morning and were traveling in his Ford escort. I suggested that we stop at Wilson Arch to hike to the top and take a picture because I had never done so. We pulled over, hiked to the top, took pictures, and headed back down. When we got to the bottom and tried to start the car we found that it wouldn't start... we had much farther to go to get home.

We tried everything we could do to get the car fixed and after little success, we called my dad for help. We were very lucky that it broke down so close to "home" and that we were able to get one bar of service for the call. My dad was able to come and tow us to Monticello where we were able to stay another night with the family. The car was totaled because the engine was fried so my Grandpa and Grandma Bowring were so kind and gave us a ride back to our houses.

Although it was unfortunate that we lost the car, we were very lucky that we were so close to Monticello to call family and use their help. Thanks for all those that helped!

Christmas Traditions

Every year I look forward to the Christmas traditions that our family has. Grandma Sonderegger's basement is a must with the pool table, ping pong tourneys, foosball, air hockey, card games, and story telling. This year Dallen was able to come to the "Party at Grandma's". We participated in all of the tournaments and games and food and loved being there with all the family!

Trapping Skunks

Mike brought down some traps at the beginning of the week that we setup in the canyon by our house. Our intentions were to catch a bobcat...and as you can see our efforts left us with something a little different. One of the traps had a cat track just inches away from the center to make it go off. We were really close!....


As you can see we did catch something in our trap, but it was a surprise that it was a skunk! After debating of who would do the job, Dallen decided that he would be brave enough to get close and shoot the skunk and to remove it from the trap. In the meantime it sprayed and the smell was so rank that the dogs wouldn't come around. It made a fun memory.

Sledding

It was really weird to come home for Christmas without a couple feet of snow on the ground! Rarely do we have a Christmas without snow, so we were excited when it finally came down. All of the cousins had a bit sleep over at our house and we woke up to a winter wonderland. Above is Skylee, Brittain, BrinLi, Cade, Janessa, Davi, Hunter, Payton, Easton, Ashlyn...(and Dallen taking the pic.)




We always have a lot of fun when we ride sleds behind the 4-wheeler so we tied the sleds to the back and rode around.

I think the parents enjoyed the day as well and all crashed out on the couch.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always so much fun! I love that I get to spend quality time with my family and nothing comes before them. We have a family tradition to make "Christmas trains" where we get cardboard boxes, wrap them, and put them all together to form a train. During the night Santa leaves his presents inside of our personal boxes for each child. We also have a dinner with the Fullmer family and play bingo. Grandma Fullmer has a fun time buying the prizes and being creative with the bingo winners. It was fun to be able to spend the night in our new house for Christmas this year and to be able to have enough room for everyone. I love my family!

Bratzley Making

Bratzleys are traditional cookies originally made in Switzerland that my Great Grandma and Grandpa Sonderegger loved to make. I can remember many accounts as a child when I would go to their house for piano practice, Grandma and Grandpa would be making bratzleys together. Grandma Sonderegger would make the dough, roll it and cut them into the squares and Grandpa would sit at the other side of the table and cook them. My favorite part would be when Grandma would save some dough and put it in a little sandwich bag for me. As you can see, the tradition has carried through the generations and over Christmas break I was able to use my own bratzley iron for the first time.


Our new house allowed our whole family to be involved in the event which was fun! My mom made and cut the dough, Hunter ate a lot of it, while Dad, Davi, Easton and I cooked them. I look forward to keeping this tradition.

Hitting the Slopes

Isn't it just great when you dig out the snow boots and the boards for the year? I love the feeling of getting on the first lift of the season! I was able to hit the slopes for the first time this season, last weekend. Dallen had never been before so I took him with me. He did awesome and caught on super fast! Even though I knew it was coming for the sore legs, butt, tailbone, head, and pretty much everything in my body, I was excited to go!



I had never been night boarding before so that was a first for me and I really liked it! We were lucky and it was snowing the whole time so by the end of the night the trails had fresh powder on them and it was great! We were able to get about 9 runs in for the night and I look forward to the next time I get to go!

Christmas with the Roommates

For the Christmas Holidays we decided to draw names for gifts and to have a fun night with each other. Last Thursday after finals were completely done we were able to hang out all day and to have a great night with each other! We started it off by going to Cafe Rio and eating dinner together which was great!


After dinner we went to the festival of lights in Spanish Fork. We had the radio turned up to the Christmas songs and were all singing in the car as we drove around and looked at all of the lights. The big castle and the light house were my favorite with the skaters on the skating rink.


We visited Ashlee's family and house close by the festival of lights and chatted for a while. She has a really fun family.




Once we got back to our apartments we changed into our PJ's and opened our presents from everyone. As you can see, we had some fun taking pictures as well and laughed the whole night together.



I had Ashlee's name, she had Sam who had Anna and Anna had me! I gave Ashlee a book of quotes and a sweater with a scarf. Anna got some earrings that she loved and a wallet, and Sam got a willow tree angel and some little quotes from Ash. I got some cute gloves and lip gloss...they say I need to become more of a girl. ;)

It was a great night and I had so much fun laughing with these awesome girls! It got me really excited for Christmas to see what everyone receives and gives to each other. Also to read the story of Christ's birth and remember all that he did for me.