Family at Christmas

My family doesn't really like to get their picture taken. Nor do they really like to take photos. I like both so I don't know what happened with me. I tried to get some photos this Christmas because I realized both my apartment and cubicle at work was bare of anything but Gretchen photos and Kristen and I looking sweaty. 

I messed up from the start by forgetting my nice camera in DC. I was left with my iPhone. I decided to play with one of my apps with a photo timer. Gretchen, Travis, and I tested it out with balloons. From this exercise I realized that my brother is fairly photogenic and people think a yellow balloon looks like a crown.

toss it Gretchen!

On Christmas Eve on a whim I convinced Gretchen to sit in this tub for a photo. The light is terrible, but she was really on board with the idea.

I also caught this one with my Dad, his arms block his face, which is perfect because he usually closes his eyes in photos.

On Christmas morning the cows are just as much a part of the family as the rest of us as they get  Christmas first. Growing up we always had to wait for our Dad to feed the cows before he would come back home and we could open gifts. Back then it felt like an eternity (and it felt like he was going slow on purpose). These days my brother helps and I can easily still be in bed when they get back to the house at 9 am.

We went over to my aunt's house for Christmas Brunch. While my sisters were cuddling in the big chair I snuck in for a sisters shot.

Further brother photogenic evidence

We played the game Heads Up for awhile, which allowed me to capture my uncle blocking his face.

After we got back home and opened the rest of our presents I tried to get a group shot of all of us. My niece posed the first shot, saying that we all needed to hold hands (yes we do most of what she tells us to). She really has great ideas, if only my Dad had more than just his hand in this picture… Christmas card quality I think.

Legos in the Garden

Powell Gardens, a botanical garden outside of Kansas City, MO, has a temporary lego statue display. Garden statues were sprinkled throughout the entire gardens made entirely out of legos (some had some internal structure support) by New York artist Sean Kenney.

Here are some of my favorite:

4th of July weekend

After the 5K  we hurried back to the house to make homemade ice cream. My family's homemade ice cream is my favorite food ever. I may of had a quart in two days....

it freezes faster if you watch it

I went all out for my 4th outfit. Because when else can you?

The rest of the day was full of BBQ and yard games. Then we shot off some fireworks and had a great view of fireworks blasting off around the entire horizon. 

The next day we had a delicious breakfast at Old Drum Coffeehouse and Bakery then for the rest of the weekend....

The pony rides were really for the children but I hoped on for a spin.

The cows were checking me out so I checked them out.

My brother took me for a spin on the 4 wheeler. 

And I found this face rock in the creek.

Warrensburg Freedom Fest 5K Race Recap

I've fallen a little behind in blogging, but instead of skipping the last few weeks, I'm just going to let you know what has been going on.

I was in Missouri for the 4th of July so I joined my sisters, dad and cousin for a 5K in Warrensburg, MO. For the occasion I stopped by one of the tourist shops downtown DC and picked up some 3/$12 USA t-shirts for the family.

The race was small for DC standards but there were probably 60 or so people running and some walking. The race organization was a little willy nilly. They told us to line up at the starting line and soon after we got over there we were just chatting and the air horn went off for the start with no warning. I did an actual jump in the air what is going on dance then set off. 

With in a few feet my sister Kristen pulled ahead of me along with two other girls. I settled in and after the first two blocks ran the entire race without anyone near me. The first part was a small loop that brought us back by the start, which was nice because we had a small four person cheering section rooting us on. After the first loop it was a long straight away, a larger loop, and a short straight away back to the finish. The entire route was rolling hills. I kept thinking I should catch my breath on the down hills, but then I would think instead I should try to take advantage of the downhill. In the end I think I did a bit of both.

At the turn to the larger loop I looked back and didn't see anyone behind me and the girl in front of me had also created a bit of a gap. So I just tried to push myself.

patriotic running

I finished as the 4th Female in 23:42! My first 5K under 24 minutes. This year they had two age categories, 18 and under and 19 and over. The first place female and third place were both 18 and under so my sister Kristen and I came in first and second for 19 and over female. My cousin Matthew also came away with a second place in 18 and under males. 

medal winners and a Gretchen

Baling hay

I made a quick trip home to Missouri for Memorial Day weekend. It was a relaxed weekend- coffee shop, workout with my sisters (which I won), pizza, Family BBQ, BISCUITS AND GRAVY, and most excitingly some hay baling.

dumping the round bale

my dad representing DC & Gretchen the co-pilot

tractor photo op (and how I got that huge bruise on my leg)

Coffeehouse part 2 & SPAIN

My final stop when I was home was back at Old Drum for some SPAINBIRTHDAYPALOOZA planning (I hope that name is ok with Kendra, my travel mate). I'm having what I'm calling a "momentous" birthday this spring so I decided to spend it in Spain.

We spent several hours (and several baked goods) planning our trek and figuring out where we would stay, we are still working on what we will be doing, but the bones of the trip are in place. We will be going to Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, and Seville. If you have any great tips about any of those places please let me know!

the wrekage

I also spent time trying out my new camera... notice how the cini-mini is blurry and the latte is in focus? That is on purpose! Ok and lets also take a second to appreciate the latte art, I think its a baseball bat.

Gretchen came in to say goodbye while I was at the shop.

cupcake girl

Also of note:

This is my 600th blogpost! The blog is now in its sixth year. Meaning I spend about 2 days a year blogging! EEEK So I hope you enjoy some of my ramblings and thank you for reading!

Christmas camera

I know what you guys have been thinking... What did Courtney do for Christmas? Why won't she update us. Well the main reason is I got a new camera for Christmas! Then I proceeded to take the rest of Christmas day photos on my new DSLR, but I didn't know how to take them off the camera...

Most of it was just nerves that my computer wasn't going to have enough memory, but when I started loading the software it turns out my operating system is too new, but then five hours later, tada! Photos on computer. Another hour and I figured out some simple editing and another hour and I have them here for your enjoyment.

Since its now been a few weeks and I don't remember what happened, I will let the pictures tell the story. These were all taken with the automatic settings, but I've been dabbling in manual and cool things are to come...

auditioning for TLC's new show "Toddlers and Tractors"

Aunts, niece, and nephew ready to eat

yummm... asparagus casserole 

the table set with Christmas plates

practicing my food photography

close ups with the family "grapes"

stocking stuffer classy cup

Independence Holiday Mansion & Jail tour

The day after Christmas the ladies of the family headed to Independence, MO for a holiday tour of three historic buildings. For those of you not from Missouri, a little background. Independence was quite the hub of activity in the 1800s. The Santa Fe, Oregon, and California trails all left from Independence, and Jesse and Frank James frequented the area.

Our first stop was the Vaile Mansion. The Vaile was the fanciest. It was built as a show mansion and was very showy. On top of that they had decorated the house in an over the top Victorian style. We had a tour through this house, which was interesting, but long...  

An upside down Christmas tree, apparently a Victorian tradition

lamp ladies on another upside down pink tree

master suite, the painting on the ceiling ruined Mrs. Vaile's social status

Next we stopped by the Bingham-Waggoner Estate. The Binghams and Waggoners have no relations, just two of the more famous families that lived in this estate. The Waggoners had no direct heirs and the house was ultimately left to the housekeeper's children who were in College at Mizzou at the time. They sold the house to the city of Independence.

It was less fancy, but as Beth said, more livable. Both houses had modern conveniences such as hot and cold running water and indoor toilets. The B-W also had a huge walk in refrigerator of sorts.

The house sits at the end of a road, apparently wagons heading to the Santa Fe trail would just cut across their property until they put up a fence. Then the would still cut across the back of the property, where you can still see wagon ruts today (it was too cold and snowy for us to check them out ourselves).

one of the maid's rooms

the approach

Our last stop was the 1859 Jail, Marshall House, and Museum. The Jail was about as cold as it was outside so we moved through pretty quickly, but it was well done. Frank James was the most infamous inmate. Apparently he was treated like royalty. They put a rug on his floor, paintings on his cell wall and allowed visitors. He had retired from his life of crime at this point and people thought he should be left alone.

You can walk through the Marshall's House, and through most of the jail cells. There is a little museum as well that has some history on the jail as well as Independence in general. 

Gretchen making a break for it

After our morning of touring we had a delicious lunch at Ophelia's on the Independence Square. Apparently I wasn't the first person from DC checking out Ophelia's, they had photos displayed of Obama and Clinton at the restaurant as well.

Christmas number 1

The Sunday before Christmas we headed up the road/highway/Sonic drive thru to my Aunt Betty's for our first Christmas celebration. After a delicious meal of soups and sides we stayed around the table for a few rounds of Minute to Win It Holiday Family edition.

Round 1: Hang as many ornaments on a balanced ruler as fast as you can. My sister Kristen and I were up last and the score to beat was 17 in a minute. We had all 18 on with 20 seconds to spare!

Kristen with our winning apparatus 

Round two was staking nuts on top of each other with a candy cane. This time I went first and did a horrible job, I blame it on a faulty candy cane. My cousins Whitney and Travis however had pretty good hands (they should they stick people with needles all day).

5 seconds later it all came tumbling down

Round 3: Move an oreo from your forehead to your mouth, by only moving face muscles. I think I could have gotten this in another minute or two. My brother, Travis (below), had success!

After games we opened our exchange gifts and had a lovely afternoon.

The other excitement of the day was meeting my new first cousins once removed, Maverick and Tyson. They were born two months ago, but this was the first time I was home. Gretchen enjoyed "holding" Tyson (I did too!).

Old Drum Coffeehouse Saturday

A trip home is no longer complete without a trip to Old Drum Coffeehouse and Bakery. We went in early Saturday to snag the couches in the back and enjoyed coffee, kolaches, muffins, cinnamon rolls, and conversation.

My mom, oldest sister, and niece held the fort down while my dad, brother, three aunts, one uncle, one cousin, and the shop owner herself cycled through. It was great to have a fun place (with great food) to hang out and catch up with family.

ornament latte art

drawing pictures on the chalkboards

most of the family that came in to hang out

Home for the Holiday

Hello all! I'm a little behind after spending a week at home in Missouri for Christmas. But don't worry, I'll catch you all up over a few posts.

Last Thursday there was a bit of a snow storm in Missouri, luckily my flight didn't get in till late so most of the roads had been cleared up and the trip home was mostly smooth. 

The next morning I got up early to do some work and was greeted by a lovely sunrise.

My sister and niece came down on Friday and we decorated the Christmas Tree. My parents still get a cedar tree from our property, so its not unusual for us to only put the tree up a few days before Christmas.

My niece enjoyed putting ornaments on the tree, mostly all on one branch.

Annual trip to the Chilhowee Fair

Every year I try to make it home to Missouri for the World Famous Chilhowee Fair. This year it was a little more deflated than usual as Hurricane Isaac decided to attend. As disappointing as a rainy fair is, most everyone was thrilled to get rain after going the entire summer without.

Along with my normal fair entries and participation in the 5K I was also the baked goods judge and rode in the parade for the first time since I was a little kid.

my 5 year pillow won blue!

a red on my Christmas ornament

Two years ago I won best of show for the amateur flower arranging category. So when my mom called me a few days before the fair suggesting I should put together an arrangement for myself and help my niece assemble one, I was up for the challenge. The Fair's theme this year was "hunting for a good time" so the arrangement themes were centered around that them. I chose to do camouflage while Gretchen insisted on Pick-ups and hounds. We both got second (in categories with more than 2 entries!) so I think our arrangements were a success.

My mom and aunt decided that we needed to enter a float in the parade to promote my sister's new coffeehouse and bakery and dress my niece as a dog. I was nominated to hold the dog during the parade.

sinage

driver and star

we let the dog drive for awhile

dog mobile