Christmas and Spokane Trip!

The whole McCAnn Family on Christmas Day! First time we were all together in like 10 years!

After a wonderful and special Christmas Day with the family, I took off for Spokane to go to Niall and Janae's wedding. Ebay drove from Portland to Tumwater, and we drove from Tumwater to Edmonds to meet up with Jimmy! We headed off to Spokane...

Spokane was great! We spent the afternoon watching Oprah and relaxing and had a fun night hanging out with everyone who was in town for the wedding! Tuesday morning Ebay and I walked to Starbucks because we didn't have a car and then watched America's Next Top Model at the boys house ALL afternoon! Tuesday night was the wedding...it was BEAUTIFUL! My favorite part was hearing them say their own vows! The reception followed and Ebay and I enjoyed dancing with all 10 of our dates :) I caught the flower bouquet and Jimmy caught the garter! (meant to be???? um not after 20 hours in the car with him..haha) Anyways, it snowed a foot and we got stuck in Spokane an extra day! Keith was kind enough to drive us to Old European for breakfast (first meal in the 2 days) and then we all played in the snow and went sledding! Ebay and I hitched a ride from him downtown where we walked around in the blizzard looking for a particular store, slept in the food court, had bottomless fries at Red Robin, slept in the Nordstrom lounge, saw a movie, slept in the food court again...and then Keith got off work and gave us a ride home! Jimmy, Ebay and I drove back Thursday and made it safely over the pass even though he claimed he only had 8% visibility through the windowshield and that his car was hemorrhaging gasoline. But, we made it :)

Jackie is back from Australia and it has been great to see her. She packs up and leaves tomorrow to move to Ellensburg (yay she will be closer to Spokane).

Home.Relaxing.Family.Holidays.

Our $15 Christmas tree we got at a parking lot :)))

So in the past few days I have basically gone from going 100 miles an hour every second of the day...to about 5 mph (which is a stretch). Therefore, I have already complained to my mom several times of being bored! And I have only been home officially for 2 full days! I suppose I need to learn how to relax and allow myself to do nothing! So yesterday after my mom and I spent 5 hours setting up the tree, we laid on the couch and listened to the David Archuleta Christmas CD TWICE. And as usual, within a day or two I'll be busy catching up with friends and family as they come into town for Christmas!

I came home to a puppy :) Liana is a foster parent for a puppy for 2 weeks. It just got rescued and cannot be adopted because it is too 'hyper' for a house so they are trying to help her adjust by putting her with us for 2 weeks. We haven't had a dog around for at least 6 years so it is quite the treat. We named her Lady Doga/Bella and she is a mix (Great Dane and German Shepard). Basically, she doesn't weigh too much less than me! We call her our Christmas puppy :) Her behavior is like Marley from the movie Marley and me!Meet Bella..and our neighbor cat Daisy that thinks it lives with us!

I had a special visit with Claire last weekend in her apartment! It was so wonderful to finally get to see where she lives and where she works! Wilder is soooo nice! We enjoyed wine, thai food, starbucks and FRIENDS (all the essentials)! It was so nice to catch up! Wednesday I'm heading up to Edmonds for the day to see Jimmy which should be fun! Anyways, I miss you all and hope you are enjoying the Holiday time with your families!

Danika came to town!

I'm currently in a funk (the first in many months) so I am going to make a list of all the things I have to look forward to! I'm sure the funk will be gone by the morning :)
1. Two days with my 2nd graders and making gingerbread houses with them

2. Finishing up my last 2 papers of the semester

3. Seeing my 2nd graders perform in the Cougar Choral

4. Getting to see Ebay's class

5. Coffee with Judy

6. Lifecenter with Joanna, Ebay and Danika

7. Seeing Claire on Friday and spending the night in her apartment

8. home. seeing family. relaxing

9. Possible snowboarding lessons with Liana

10. Snowshoeing with Papa Ron...or hiking

11. Day trip to Edmonds to see Jimmy

12. Jackie coming home from Australia

13. New Years!

14. Possible Portland adventure

15. Jan 4th fly out of SeaTac for Tanzania

We had a goodbye dinner for Jimmy this past week. It was very fun and I LOVE this picture. Take note of the reindeer antlers attacking his face!

One year ago....

If you know me, you know I love reminiscing about the past. So as I sit here in the Service Station (of course) avoiding homework (duh), I was wondering what I was doing one year ago... We were playing the family game...Danika was the Green M&M...typical
We were caroling in the neighborhood...Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer! Those neighbors will be sad when we don't show up this year :(

We were rocking out at the Senior Christmas Party at the Bozarth Mansion (beautifully planned and coordinated by Danika!)


And we celebrated Ande's 22nd birthday with Bud Light Lime, the movie Elf and a sleepover!

I miss you girls terribly. I wish I could be more present in your lives. We SERIOUSLY should all think about Seattle next year. How amazing would it be if we were all in the same city again? Just a thought :) Ebay and I have Spring Break in April from the 4th-8th. We are thinking Hawaii or Mexico. Anyone in?
Love you all and enjoy your first week in December
xoxo,
Analisa