There's no place like home

I realize this post is out of order, but I really wanted to share some of these pictures. I keep trying to learn about my "big girl" camera. I've done quite a bit of reading to learn how to use the custom settings and make sure I'm using the camera to its full capability. While I was home for Thanksgiving, I had some really nice days to play around with my camera on the farm. I've included some of my favorites. At Grandma's I was able to see the new addition to our shop. I always thought our shop was big, but with the addition it looks really big! We hired some nice Amish men to build it, and my Dad became quite convinced he'd found me the perfect husband. I'm still worried that he's going to try to trade me for some horses or something! The addition is large enough to store our combine, and Rob's new toy, a John Deere sprayer, and there's still a lot of room to spare. Who knows what they'll find to buy to fill the empty space... I was also really amused to come home to see Grandpa's sailboat parked in the yard. I didn't know he'd bought a sailboat. Apparently he's planning some sailing trips down the Embarass River??? My favorite pictures are ones that I took in our pasture. There was a really pretty sunset one evening so I ran out back and starting experimenting. I love the results! My favorite picture I posted about a month ago. Some of the rest of these look similar, but I like all of them. I hope you enjoy them too!

Welcome 2010!

Happy belated New Year everyone!! I'm always excited to see a new year come. A year can bring so many changes. Looking back at 2009, I graduated with my masters degree, started a great new job with Hormel Foods, and have met many new friends here in Austin. I can't complain too much about 2009, but I can't wait to see what 2010 brings me. Right now, though I wish it would bring me some warmer weather. I don't know how much more of this I can take. Last night the low here was supposed to be -18, and that's before the windchill factor! I think the temperature barely reached double digits maybe twice this week. This week is supposed to bring temperatures in the 20's - heat wave!

Just a little update on my life. I was able to spend 5 fabulous days at home over Christmas. I fled the state of Minnesota Tuesday night in order to avoid winter storms that were to occur Wednesday and on Christmas Eve. Luckily, I made it home without having to drive through any bad weather. My break started out with the Illinois-Missouri Braggin Rights game in St. Louis Wednesday night. Mom and Dad, me, and Joe - a guy dad works with, all traveled to St. Louis to cheer on the Illini. I have always heard about how much fun this game is, and I have always wanted to go. It was really cool to see the sea of orange. This game has become a huge rivalry, and cheers for Illinois/Missouri would break out on the street and even in the restaurant before the game. Unfortunately, our cheers for the Illini didn't work, and we lost the game. It was the first time in 10 years that Missouri had won. I was disappointed, but we still had a good time. I can't wait to go back again!

Christmas Eve was Smith Christmas. We of course had to take the traditional "grand kids in front the Christmas tree" picture. Rob and I were informed we would only be exempt from this picture when we had kids of our own. Looks like we'll be included for awhile. Justin has gotten so tall that next year I'm afraid I'll have to join the front row with Clayton! Because of my new job with Hormel, this Christmas was the year of SPAM themed gifts. Justin, Clayton, and Randy all got SPAM t-shirts, and Grandpa Joe was the lucky winner of the variety SPAM pack full of all the assorted flavors that SPAM comes in. He was quite excited about it. Grandpa actually really loves SPAM, so he was excited to be stocked up! Because of Clayton's love of bacon, he was given several packets of Hormel Bacon. Nothing says love like meat products at Christmas time :)

Christmas Night was Gognat Christmas. Somehow we all escaped from taking the traditional grand kid picture, and for some reason none of us pointed that out :) The yarn bows and some familiar looking wrapping paper made their appearance again, as did the traditional wrapping paper fight. Everyone got a Santa to take home, and I got some great cooking supplies that I can't wait to try out!

Overall, it was a great trip home. I miss everyone lots, and I wish I could make it back more often. Unfortunately, I didn't take any farm pictures on this trip. The weather didn't cooperate, and it was rainy most of the time I was there. In the coming posts I'll post some of the pictures I took over Thanksgiving. I'm going to attempt to update more often in the new year, and hopefully make this more entertaining!

Hormel Prom, a Blizzard, and all things Christmas!

Hello everyone from frigid, not so fabulous Minnesota! It's officially winter. I was able to live in denial of the fact that I live in the arctic, up until last Wednesday. It started snowing Tuesday night but didn't seem like it was going to be quite the storm everyone was predicting...or so I thought. I woke up to 40+ mph winds and probably about 10 inches of snow on Wednesday morning. Luckily for me, my townhouse is apparently in the perfect place for snow drifts. I could see the neighbors bare sidewalk while I couldn't even open my front door. I also discovered another fun fact that morning, my car is HORRIBLE in snow. I already suspected this, but my suspicions were definitely confirmed after getting stuck and pushed out by my kind neighbors three different times...and this was just in the driveway! I work with nice people, and someone offered to come pick me up. I need to take some pictures, because the snow is not going anywhere anytime soon!

In other news, this past weekend I attended the Hormel Austin Plant formal Christmas party (AKA Hormel Prom). I've made quite a few friends who work in the plant, I and was asked to go by one of the supervisors I know. The night was really fun. It was held at the Austin Country Club. The supper was delicious, everyone looked great, and I got to dance all night :) R&D has its own Christmas party, but it's not till January. Hopefully it will be just as good of time!

My house is looking very festive for Christmas time. I may have gone a little overboard. I have a big tree, a small tree, and some other small lights here and there. I like it though, and I'm contemplating leaving the tree up until at least mid-January! I can't wait to come home for Christmas next week! My plans are once again up in the air after some really interesting phone calls late this afternoon informing me that a line trial I'm doing is being moved to next week instead of the week after Christmas. As long as I can get to St. Louis by 8:30 on the 23rd to meet Mom and Dad for the Illinois-Missouri Bragging Rights Game I'll be happy!

*Amanda & I at Christmas party - I failed at taking pictures and this is the best picture of me in my dress*

*Me & Heidi - I also failed to get a picture of me and my actual date! *

*My natvity scene with lights*

*Tree*

*I thought I would throw in a picture that was taken while I was home over Thanksgiving. This is one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken*

*Another random picture of my successful Paula Deen Pumpkin Pie. The middle got a little brown but it tasted delicious!*

The Travels of a Halloween Tourist

Another Halloween has come and gone. I had a lot of fun during my first Halloween in Austin! Last Wednesday I got together with some of the girls I've become friends with and we carved pumpkins. There was good food, a lot of laughing, and some very creative pumpkins! Even though I had the best looking pumpkins on the block, I only had three trick-or-treaters. Only one of those was even in a costume. I was kind of bummed, because I had bought enough candy to feed a whole army. Looks like everyone at work is going to get some treats this week!!

The tourist made her debut on Friday night at my friend Katie's Halloween party. I was pretty proud of this year's costume that I put together on my own. I think I spent a total of $18.95 on my costume. The lime green pants, Bahamas souvenir t-shirt, and awesome Hawaiin print jacket were all compliments of Good Will. I found some awesome palm tree socks at the Dollar Tree and a set of two visors at Wal-Mart. I owned a pair of Crocs, and the fanny pack and awesome 90's style sunglasses came from home. Top that off with my camera around my neck and a bag full of maps, and you had one really tacky tourist! I would say I had a very successful Halloween vacation. I went to an Indian Reservation, I saw Dorothy and a tornado in Kansas, I went to the Muppet Show, a Farm, and a rock show just to name a few. :) Here are just some of my favorite costumes from the weekend....

*Katie the fairy, Joni the ninja, Holly the can, and I*

*Tony campaigned for about a month to have members of his tribe, Chad was the only member. So they named themselves the Last of the Mohicans*

*Miss Piggy and Kermit*

*One of the most comical costumes was Curtis as the Gingerbread Man*

This week it's back to my normal life as a Hormel employee. No real news to report. Cory and I have started planning our fabulous Mexican vacation for next April. We're thinking about Cancun, but we're not 100% sure yet. We're planning it now so I can have something to look forward to during winter and Cory will have something to get her through busy tax season. I know we're going to have a blast!! Look out Mexico!

New Look

I decided it was a time to change the look of the blog up. I like it, but I can't figure out how to move the picture at the top so that it's not cut off on the side. I didn't feel like fighting with it so I just left it alone!

Well today was an absolutely beautiful day! Probably the best day we've had in the entire month of October. This month we've had two, yes two, days of snow with accumulation, and basically every other day it has rained and been dreary. So when the sun shone all day long, I got a little excited! I'm afraid that there won't be anymore days like today, so I tried to soak it all in. I got off work a little early, so I decided to grab my camera and take some fall pictures. The Jay C. Hormel Nature Center is a big nature preserve right outside of Austin. There are several miles of trails, and it's really pretty. I walked around for about an hour just snapping pictures. With all of the snow and rain, the leaves weren't as colorful as I hoped they were, but there were several trees that didn't disapoint! I'm still learning how to take somewhat professional looking pictures with my camera. I wish I had more days like today to practice with it. I'll post some of my favorites for you to enjoy.

In other news, Halloween is this weekend. I'm super excited! I'll be going to a party on Friday night dressed as a Tacky Tourist. You'll just have to stay tuned for the photos of that! Tomorrow night I'm getting together with some girls I work with and we're going to carve pumpkins and decorate cookies to get ready for the party!

That's about it for this post. I'm now an old lady and go to bed early so I'll just leave you till next time!

Introducing Lily Piper Anderson!

I know I promised to write a long time ago, and I'm sorry. You could look on the bright side that it's a good thing that I haven't had time to write, because that means I've been keeping myself busy. The job is still going well. I play on a rec volleyball team every Wednesday with other girls from Hormel. I know, most of you who know me are thinking "Really Rachel? You are horrible at any sport requiring hand and eye coordination." This is true. My team also knows this is true, but it's something to do and it's been fun. I've already made some good friends up here. I'm really looking forward to Halloween. I've been invited to a Halloween party, and some of the girls I've become friends with and I are going to get together and make cookies and carve pumpkins to get ready for the party. I LOVE pumpkin carving!! :)

Other than that, I actually have a pretty great reason for writing. This past weekend I was asked to be on the official committee for the Iowa State University Intercollegiate Meat Judging Contest. I was excited to be on the committee. It was definitely different to be on the other side of the contest. I had a great experience. I think we put together a good contest. Friday night they fed the committee dinner and it was quite possibly the funniest dinner of my life! The jokes and stories that were told had me basically in tears from laughing so hard! It was also really great to see Dr. Carr with his judging team. This is Dr. Carr's last team, as he is retiring after this year. It was a great last trip to Ames for TC, because his kids won the contest! Judging definitely won't be the same without that man! Putting the contest together and reading reasons was a lot of work, but I hope I can be asked to official other contests in the future so that I can stay involved with judging.

But the contest isn't my reason for writing. Most of you have probably heard me talk about Mark, my officemate from grad school, at some point. He has basically been my second big brother since coming to Iowa State. His wife, Katie, and I also became good friends and we joke that she's also my wife. Well the two of them were expecting their first baby this month. I had to be in Ames Thursday night to get ready for the contest. I talked to Mark on Tuesday, and I told him that I would appreciate having a baby to visit when I got to town. Knowing how important Aunt Rachel is, Lily Piper Anderson made her way into the world on Wednesday night. I was so excited to wake up Thursday morning with a message from Mark on my phone with a picture of Lily!! Thursday evening I got to visit the new family in the hospital with my two other officemates Brad and Wangang. It was so cool to get to meet Lily with all of them! I can't wait to see her again when I go back to Ames this weekend for ISU Homecoming!