Cheese Puffs

Seriously.

They are SO GOOD. What do they put in them?! Aside from cheese? I think I'm going to add "visit a cheese puff factory" to my bucket list so that I can understand this magic...

Pirates Booty
Cheetos
These weird Gaytan Cheese Puffs I'm munchin on now...

They are my weakness.

So is dark chocolate.

And coffee and wine and cheesy pasta.

And snuggling. :)

Is it standard to gain like 10 pounds while in nursing school? and.....is it cool that I've probably gotten a good eight of those pounds out of the way already???

Hippopotamus Heather here I come!!

:)

I just can't stop eating cheese puffs.

Let us transition:
Last year I remember posting about how Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday. It still is - and this year things went off with a freakin bang! Picture this:

I was scheduled to work on the Friday after thanksgiving (aka BLACK FRIDAY) - and made plans to leave town that same evening after work, in other words I planned to celebrate Turkey Day here in Idaho, and get my booty to Corvallis just in time to celebrate for the civil war.

Then.  My work schedule changed. :) And I got that Friday off! SO - my family and I started planning a little plan. What if I showed up ON thanksgiving day and surprised mom!? I knew that she was planning on cooking two turkeys anyways - so it's not like I would starve - right?! YES!

Somehow, despite the seven additional people staying at my parents' place in Corvallis (two of them being 10 and younger) - the secret was kept - and my mom was shocked that I arrived just in time to devour delicious food on Turkey Day!

IT WAS AWESOME.

The visit to Corvallis continued with several family meetings and terms like "operation dawn patrol" in preparation for our Civil War Tailgater.

It. Was. Crazy.

My Bro-In-Law says to me - "so...I'm thinking I'll probably have ~15ish people show up at the tailgater - what about you??" My figure was similar, and after getting all the numbers crunched, we came up with an appropriate food and drink plan....something like three tables for the bar, and one for food? Operation Dawn Patrol was a go, and we got to setting up literally before the sun came up on Game Day. About an hour into our setup a bus pulls up to our spot.

No. Not a short bus.

A TOUR BUS. A ginormously largely huge party bus full of ducks and beavers ready to freakin tailgate the crap out of the day. I looked at my bro-in-law - "15 people?!?!!!!!" They piled off, keg in hand, and we kicked it into high-gear. I must admit - we did awesome. The food was good. The company was hilarious. The rain didn't stop us.

Despite the loss - I'll always love my Beavs. Go Beavs! Next year is ours!

Just so you know - I just put the cheese puffs away.

In other news - Noah lives here! It's pretty sweet! No - we don't live together (it's the first question everyone asks, I swear) - but I can see his place from my place - so that's fun. We live one block apart, and are in perfect location of everything. COME VISIT BOISE! Just think - this means, that in the event you want to visit - I just have to bunk up with him (or vise-versa) and you have a whole apartment to yourself!!! How's that for incentive to come? Free housing! Fun place to visit! Dare ya!

To my Corvallis loves that are reading this - I'm sorry if I didn't get a chance to see you on this past visit - it really was a wonderful time for me to see my family. Lets plan something soon though! :)

Here are some pics:

Me and my sweet Hallie - So lovely.

SMILE LAURA!

JD - Amy - Me. :) Pre Turkey!

Laura preparing our squash/kale dish. SO GOOD.

Where would we have been without Eva?! How have we survived every holiday without her!?

Yep. Story-tellin and wine. Pretty much sums it up.

Laura was reaaaallllllly into torching these creme-brulees. She had to refill the butane a few times - it got amusing for the rest of the fam.

Sweet loves.

This is the face I woke up to everyday. Not quite as cute as Noah - but...whatev.

The kids had us write out what we were thankful for on our placemats....this was mine. 

Don't judge me. Sorry Noah. You were just included in the "friends and fam" under God one....sheesh.

I know it's hard to tell - but this was our incredible dutch-oven tailgate food. Strata on the left (SO GOOD) and cinnamon rolls smothered in delicious frosting.....both made in dutch ovens with just hot coals as our heat source.

Our view of the stadium! We definitely fought off some drunkies...

Sometimes I honestly think that Crystal is my soulmate. Her husband won't give her to me. Selfish right?! Here we are, sharing a poncho, loving life. :)

I feel like that's all I should chat about now. I just finished a ridiculous paper. Tomorrow is the end of my least favorite class of this term - pray that I make it through without killing anyone!! :) ONTO NEXT TERM!!!

Love you all - I hope you had an awesome Thanksgiving!!

Song of the week: Some Nights, Fun (I'm sure this is totally overplayed by those who use pandora, radio devices - but I'm well isolated from all that and I just love dancing to it!)

Our independence, with its quest for power and fulfillment, actually destroys the relationship our hearts long for. - William Young

An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children, He does not distribute Himself that each may have only a part, but to each one, He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.

-A.W. Tozer