~Christmas 2007~

Ben & I were with my family this year for Christmas, and we all headed to Cali! My spoiled, but cute, little brother was able to hitch a ride down with the Bride's on Thursday morning to the valley. I picked him up and he stayed with us Thursday night. He went to work with me on Friday and we left after Ben was done with work. We went to my Uncle Jeff's house first (in Huntington Beach)...they kept us busy with dominos, frisbee golf, racquetball, flag football, video games, card playing, and a trip to the movies! We headed up to my Uncle Justins house (in Santa Clarita) on Sunday afternoon. My family also arrived at Justin's house on Sunday. They hosted Christmas this year and it was so much fun. My Aunt Tonya always has the neatest Christmas decorations and we had some fantastic food! My little cousins got a rock band thing for XBOX 360 from Santa...and BOY! Let me tell you, our family was rockin' out! Just try to picture my uncle on the guitar, Ben singing in the microphone, and my dad on the drums, all jammin' out to old-school rock'n'roll songs! It was hiliarious! On the 26th, all of the boys (plus Ashley) went to a paintball place called SC Village where they got to paintball ALL day! They all had a blast! I picked Ben and Ashley up and we headed home from there (Ash needed to be back for her basketball tournament down here). As far as big presents go...my slibings got a dirtbike, Ben got a puppy (he named him Hunter), and my parents got us a BBQ! But the BEST part of Christmas this year was getting to talk to Joel for over an hour! He sounded great. For Christmas him and his companion got to watch the Disney movie "Cars." Talking to him brought back all those sad feelings I have been pushing away of missing him, but I know he is where he needs to be! He has been serving in the Moses Lake area, but recently got transferred to a city called Wenatchee. One Christmas down, one more to go! Christmas is always my favorite time of year because of the warmth and joy it brings. I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday season!

FINALLY!

I have been wanting to put some color in my house now forever! And now that I am on Christmas break, I was able to! I'm not sure if you will be able to see the color very well on the pics, but the wall in the living room is like a burgundy-ish color and the wall in my bedroom is dark red (I'm doing red-white-black in my room). I love it!

Cinnamon & Sugar?

So my dear father, who likes to think he is funny all the time, said my hair now looks like cinnamon and sugar! Well, my AWESOME friend Bailey did her magic again with my hair! I had her put THREE colors in and cut some LaYeRs! (Those of you who know me, know this is a BIG step for me because I NEVER change my hair) My hair is now browner (I don't think that is even a word?) than I have ever had it! I am gradually starting to like my darker hair, and I'm absolutely in love with the layers! You will all just have to see the new "do" in person because the pictures do not do it justice! (the camera somehow made my hair look lighter than it actually is) Thanks Bailey! :D

Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

Today we headed up to Prescott to pick out a tree in the mountains with Ben's family. It was FREEZING (there was a little snow!) and it was very MUDDY, but we enjoyed ourselves. Our tree is HUGE!

Step 1: Find a tree

Step 2: Cut down tree
Step 3: Put tree in truck (while it's snowing!)
Step 4: Have model husband pose in front of VERY muddy truck
Step 5: Put tree in house and make sure the tree is so big that it takes up half the living room
Step 6: Decorate tree and put presents underneath :) THE END!

Eli's first deer!

I thought I would show off my little bro's first deer! He left the cutest message on my cell phone telling me all about it...so cute that I saved it! Here is his monster!

NEW PIANO, NEW HOUSE, AND STATE SOCCER!

Be prepared! It's a long one! First off, my parents bought me this GORGEOUS piano for my college graduation present (a little early!) and I absolutely love it!



Second, I would like to give you a tour of my new home! Here is one side of my kitchen.
Here is the other side :)

Next is my bathroom.

Ben is in the process of making some shelves in our garage.

Laundry room.

Office side 1.

Office side 2.

Guest bedroom.

Guest bathroom.

Dining room table.

Living room. (plus Ben)

Entertainment center place.

The outside view from the front!

Back yard.

Ben & I

And last, but not least, me and my sisters after their state soccer game, which unfortunately they lost. They put up a good fight though!

And I wanted to say thank you to my mom, dad, and Whitley for helping us with the move! :)

Go Sundevils!!

My uncle Jeff was planning to fly here with his friend on Saturday and go to the ASU vs. Washington football game, but he wasn't able to make his flight so he gave me his two tickets! Ben was out of town scouting for his hunt, so Felisha was nice enough to come with me! We had a good time! Thanks uncle Jeff for the tickets! Here are a couple pics!

~October Update~

Well, we haven't really been THAT exciting, but here is an update! We learned a couple weeks ago that we get the keys to our new house on October 23rd! (Pictures to come!) We are REALLY excited! So, after my THREE exams next week, I will be packing up our whole apartment. I must also add that Ben's elk hunt CoNvEnIeNtLy falls on that weekend! So I will somehow be packing all of our stuff by myself, in two days time! So we will see how I cope with that! As for the actual moving day, both my parents will be down here to help and I am very grateful :) So this weekend, as you might guess, I will be studying my bRaInS out (why did I choose accounting again?) and Ben will be up north scouting for his hunt. Anywho, we have been really good! Just workin', studyin', and playin' lots of softball!

PS - Go Sundevils!! (6-0) and Go Dbacks!!

~MISCELLANEOUS~

Well, it't not THAT exciting, but my friend had a birthday last week and I made her a "cupcake cake." I thought it turned out pretty dang cute so I'm posting a picture of my work!

2007 Apache County Fair

Well, even though I was just in SJ last weekend for my hunt, Ben & I decided we wanted to go up again to get out of the heat & support my sibling and cousins in their 4H stuff! I have always thought (and still do think) that 4H is such an awesome program. It teaches kids how to be responsible and lets them make some money for their savings accounts! My brother and sisters each raised a pig and a steer. I think my CrOsBy family filled up about half of the kids there! Included was: Ashley, Alissa, Eli, Breonna, Austin, Garrett, Jorden, Jacy, Tyler, Levi, Brock, Kyla, and Mackenzie! They all did really well. TyLeR was even the OVERALL top showman! Way to go Ty! The fair was great too. I love the atmosphere of the fair in our small town. Other than the fair, we were able to go the SJ vs. Hopi football game (our first win!), drink A LOT of the famous Bride's pepsi's, play some "Scene It" with the family and cousins, sight in Ben's gun, do some coyote calling with my dad (Ben), and have nice long visits with all of our family! I do have to put in a word about my sister Alissa...she got drawn in the SJ Booster Club raffle thing for a chance to win half the money they collected if she made a field goal from the 20 yard line at halftime during the football game. She, along with two other BOYS were chosen. Let's just say, she kicked their butts! She was the only one to do it! Yep, that's my little sis! We ended the weekend with a nice turkey dinner my daddy made us before we had to head back. It was very yummy! Now we are back to the heat, laundry, and LOTS of studying for me! Hope everyone had a great weekend! :)
~Eli with his steer~

~Alissa with her pig~

~Ashley with her pig~

I got a BIG one!!!

So I had an AnTeLoPe MuZzLeLoAdEr hunt over the weekend in unit 2B (by St. Johns). We got out there early Friday morning and found a lone big one right off the bat about 200 yards away. I was so nervous and missed! My dad and I think that that one was a little bit smaller than the one above. Then I was bummed for a while, wanting to kick myself for missing. We hiked for a while longer and found a herd with one really big buck(the one above). We stalked the herd for a long time and right when we were about 300 yards away, some other hunters spooked them and they ran off. So then we went and sat in the spot my dad thought they would run around too. On the way over to that spot we saw a few smaller bucks, but I did not want to shoot those! We also spotted MORE hunters! There were hunters all over this area. So after we sat there a while, we decided that the herd was not going to come and that there were too many hunters in the area. Just as we were about to leave my dad spotted a coyote...he tried calling it in and told me that if it came in that he was going to shoot it(since we were leaving anyways). As he was calling it in, a yearling antelope started coming into the call too! It was pretty funny. Well the coyote never came in all the way, so my dad never shot(good thing too!) So we decided to leave and my dad wanted to stop and talk to the other hunters(which included two guides and one hunter). While we were sitting there talking to them, the herd came running over to the spot, just like we thought they would! So we book it back to our spot and that is when I got my shot. I hit him at about 164 yards in the gut. He ran a ways and then fell. We thought he was dead, but as we walked up on him, he got up and ran another 100 yards or so! Scared me to death! So me and my dad snuck up on him, and the other hunters we talked to went over to the side to try to get the antelope's attention. He finally stood up again, and I shot him right behind the shoulder at about 40 yards and killed him. The guides that came over to see it were so funny. They just grabbed my antelope and drug it over to a little hill and were telling me how to hold it and pose for the pictures! I'm glad they did because the pictures came out great! He measured at about 17 inches tall! My dad and Carl Hamblin said he scores around 80! We are going to get him mounted...I had SO much fun! And thanks to my dad for taking me and doing all the REAL work! :)

~Labor Day Weekend~

We went to Lake Mead for Labor Day weekend, just like we did last year! (Except Joel came with us last year) I have awesome uncles and aunts who are always happy to invite us to tag along! My aunt's parents live in Vegas, so we were all able to crash at their place and then go out on the lake during the day. We had a blast! (As always!) I'm just sad that boating season is over :(

Bailey did it, and I was bored, so I did too...

A senior at last!

My first day of school was today...I actually only had one class today, but I just have to tell about my delightful experience...we walk in and it's this old man and he asks how many of us have jobs and about half of us raise our hands an he goes, "That's not good because if you want to pass this class you will not have time for a job." He continued to ask us if we heard that this is the hardest accounting class of our whole degree and ALL of us raised our hands and he simply goes, "It is." He then went on and started lecturing the ENTIRE class time! Usually, on the first day of class, the professors just go over the syllabus and course outline and then let you go early, but NO not this guy! So anywayz, you might say I'm a tad bit intimidated, but the up-side is that I am getting 6 internship credits this semester, which means I have 15 credit hours, but really only three classes! So that should help, but man I am ready to get my senior year over with and graduate!! :)

Go Sundevils!!

I'm finally legal!!

Today I finally turned 21! I had a great day...had to work till five, and then my dad took us to Joe's Crab Shack, then we came home and my dad and Ben sang to me and we ate the yummy fun-fetti cake(per my request!) that Ben made for me. I wouldn't give Ben any gift ideas, and I was surprised to see he did a very good job in picking out my gifts! Lycie came over as well, and brought me another cake. It was really cute! Overall I got so many phone calls, texts, and emails and it made me feel so special! I love my family and friends! Thanks everybody for making my day awesome! :)

Blowing out my candles!

Ben's cake (Half eaten!) :)

My presents!

Lycie's cake (Writing on the cake is an inside joke!) :)