Happy Birthday Dad!

I'm actually a day late, but I wanted to wish my Dad a Happy Birthday (especially since his card still needs to be mailed out, oops)! I have the most amazing father and I have learned so much from him. The older I get the more I realize how hard he's worked/continues to work to be where he is today! He is such an awesome example to me in every way and I just want him to know how much I love and appreciate him!

I love you Dad, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Bathroom Remodel

Can I just tell you how much I love it when Steven has Christmas break and does all the projects around our house! He has been so great, and after we had our Christmas on Monday he got to work on remodeling our bathroom. When we first moved in we painted and bought a new vanity cabinet & sink. However, the cabinet & sink have been sitting in our garage for the last 5 months waiting to be installed. Now that we also have our new toilet, Steven installed everything while I was sleeping and working at night. He did such a good job and it looks a thousand times better. Now all we have to do is the flooring, lighting, and put in a new mirror. I can't wait to see what it will look like when it's all done. Here are a few before and after pictures. Vanity BEFORE.... First pic: Vanity AFTER, Second pic: NEW toilet!

Christmas Came Early

Due to the fact that I work the next three nights until Christmas morning and then we leave for South Dakota we decided to do Christmas early. It worked out great for me because if anybody knows me they know that I am a huge snoop and it's been taking all I have to not shake & rip open every gift under the tree. Anyhow, here are some pictures of our morning...

sorry about the pj's, crazy hair, and no make-up. The presents & our stockings waiting to be ripped into. Steven digging into his stocking.

Steven showing off the sweater his parents gave him from Mexico. Also, a picture of the new toilet that we bought with the gift card from his parents. (That's right we bought a new toilet, how sad is that!)

Steven's grand finale present to me was an already opened can of black paint, as you can tell in the first picture I was a little confused. When things finally started to click in my brain I realized that it was for my old stereo stand that I'd been wanting to paint black. At first I just thought that he was nice and bought the paint for me, but then realizing that it was already opened I ran to find the stand in the garage. Sure enough he had already painted it for me!! I was in shock and having a hard time grasping how he'd done this without me noticing. He later told me that he'd taken it to the school where he had to clean it, sand it down, and then put 2 coats of paint on. Needless to say I was very surprised and very very apprecitive. I knew I married an awesome man, and he just keeps proving it over and over again. Thanks Steven, I love it!!

Me on the phone with my parents while trying to unwrap the card they gave us.....they know me very well and therfore taped every edge and corner so that it was almost impossible to get open. Thanks Mom and Dad for our gift!!

Here's all the loot. We have truly had many blessings to count this year.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope that you too will remember your blessings recieved this year and the true meaning of Christmas!

Happy 16th Birthday

We just wanted to wish my little brother Jared a Happy 16th Birthday!! The residents of Richfield better be extra cautious now with him on the road! :P We love you J.J. and hope you have a great Birthday!!

Christmas Card & Letter

For the last three years we have joined in the tradition of sending out Christmas cards and letters. Although we have still sent some out this year, we are poor and thus were unable to send them to all of our friends and family. So if you didn't get one in the mail we've posted them both here for everyone's enjoyment and amusement. We hope you all have a Merry Christmas! P.S. If you got your pic/card in the mail, sorry the pictures are a little grainy, I don't know why they printed that way. To read letter click on the picture to make it go full size.

Our Christmas Party

Last night Steven and I hosted our first party ever since being married. It only took 3 1/2 years to finally live in something that was big enough to hold more than 5 people at one time. Anyhow, we had Christmas dinner/party for the students that are in grad school with Steven. Some of them will not be able to go home for Christmas and a few of them are from other countries that have never experienced an "American Christmas" so we felt it our duty to provide everyone with a little bit of Christmas. We ended up having 15 people and had lots of fun. For dinner we provided the ham (which Steven did an awesome job cooking, especially since this was his first one) and the traditional "funeral potatoes" and everyone else brought side dishes and desserts from their own family traditions. Needless to say we had lots of great food! After dinner we played the celebrity game, but with Christmas themed people/objects. Everyone also brought white elephant gifts and we played the stealing gift exchange game which was pretty entertaining. To end the party Steven read the story of The Christmas Orange and gave everyone a tangerine (in place of an orange). Overall I think the party went well and I'm glad we did it, but I'm also glad it's over. Here are a few pictures of our tree, the dinner, and pics from the games. . Our "grown up" tree as everyone called it (I think we are the only ones who have a full size tree) The line for food, and everyone eating. Mary (3rd year TD grad student) & her fiance Mark. Adam (1st year TD grad student) & wife Debbie. Alicia in the red (3rd year TD grad student) admiring her white elephant gift and Katie (1st year design grad student) playing the celebrity game.

Thanksgiving Dinner

I know Thanksgiving was over a week ago, but I thought I should post some pictures of our first Thanksgiving dinner here in Bloomington. Steven is lucky to be going to school with a bunch of great people who are always including us in their parties. I had to work that night so they had dinner early for me so that I was able to be there. Everyone brought a food item that is part of their traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and we ended up with tons of food! It was all very delicious and despite that fact that we couldn't be home with family for Thanksgiving we still had a great time. Here are some pictures of the main cook/host, Seamus, and our dinner party. Steven showing off the canned cranberries still in their perfect form :) and a picture of us!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Being that today is Thanksgiving and we are far away from being with any family We thought we'd use this blog as a way to tell everyone what we're thankful for this year. First and foremost we're thankful for our Savior and the love that he has shown us. We're so incredibly grateful for the knowledge of the gospel that we have and that we have the Savior in our lives. We are also thankful for all of our family and friends who have been so supportive of us, even when we keep moving farther and farther away. We are grateful for each other, our health, the opportunity to continue our education, to experience new things, to be able to work and support each other, to have a calling in the primary that teaches us patience, for our freedom and for those that have fought/continue to fight for us to enjoy that freedom. I could go on and on, because there is so much that we have to be thankful for. We have been very blessed this year and we could not ask for anything more. We love and miss you all and we hope that you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Steven's First Accident

Today Steven got to leave work early, but he didn't end up getting home any earlier. He was rear ended while stopped at a light. It was his first accident ever, so of course he calls me (I've had a couple) and asks what he's supposed to do. Well they called the police and the other guy immediately stated that it was his fault, so they exchanged all the information and got the report written up. Thankfully, the other guy has insurance so hopefully we'll get Steven's truck fixed soon. It didnt' get to damaged as you can see in the pictures below, but he'll probably need a new bumper and a few touch ups, but the other guy's van got pretty torn up.. The other guys vehicle... The hitch on the back of the truck went through the grill and into the radiator of his van. It had to be towed away. Poor guy, I feel for him. We were very blessed that it was only a small accident and that no one was hurt. Anyhow, that was our excitement today.

Leaves, leaves, & more leaves

At the beginning of fall I had gone out once and spent over an hour raking our backyard and by the time I was finished it didn't even look like I'd done anything! Therefore, after that I decided that I could care less about the leaves, because I wasn't going to rake them again! Well then on Saturday Steven decided that he was going to rake them and he went out to get started. After raking for about 10 minutes with the cheapest rake ever he decided he had to go buy a decent rake before he would do the rest of the yard. One trip to Lowes and $100 later he's back with a LEAF BLOWER! He headed back out and within an hour or so all the leaves from our backyard & frontyard were in one big pile ready for the leaf mulchers to come pick them up. That's one thing that is great about Bloomington, they come around every week and take away your leaves for FREE as long as they are raked to the curb! Here's a few pictures of Steven and the leaves..

WGU featured in TIME

So I just had to make a quick post and share with everyone an article that was written about Western Governor's University and was featured in TIME magazine. I'm only a couple weeks in to school, but so far it's going well. I have definitely had my doubts and many moments of confusion, but overall I'm glad I chose to go with an online school. I love the flexibility that it gives me, which is great while working a full-time night job. Anyhow, I didn't even know that this school existed until I started researching schools so if any of you are thinking about going back to college I'd put this school on your list to look into. You can read the article at:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1858876,00.html

Back to School

It's official, today I started back to school. I've had a lot of anxiety this week about starting today, but so far it has gone really well. After doing the introduction class today I'm feeling a little more confident about my decision to go with an online university. It still seems a little unreal that I'm actually in school after being out for 2 years, but it feels good to be back and I'm excited to finally be moving on with my education.

Halloween 2008

Steven the cowboy & fellow student Nick the Vampire I've had a hard time getting into the spirit of the holidays this year, but I still managed to find the spirit to attend a Halloween party with Steven. Some of the students that he's in school with hosted the party and they had a pretty good turn out. The majority of the people were dressed up, including Steven who went as the rhinestone cowboy. However, being the grinch of halloween that I was I didn't dress up, but luckily I wasn't the only one. Despite not fully being in the spirit we did have a really good time. Happy Halloween!

Brown County

Everyone has been telling us that we had to visit Brown County here in Indiana during the fall, because it is so pretty when all the leaves have changed colors. So Sunday Steven and I took the 30 minute drive out there. The drive itself was beautiful, but it's a busy road and there wasn't really anywhere we could pull over to take pictures. We ended up finding one spot to pullover on our way back to Bloomington and were able to get these pictures. They don't quite give the view justice, but at least you get the idea.

New Callings

Last Sunday our Bishop came to our house and extended a new calling to us to be in one of the 3 nurseries in our ward. We willingly accepted and were sustained in church today. However, during the course of church while we were in the nursery we found out that everyone was a little confused as to what are calling was supposed to be. We ended up being set apart after church as being primary workers, but no one really knows yet where we will be. It kind of sounded like we might be teaching one of the primary classes instead of being in nursery, but who knows. Anyhow, that's the latest.

It's Finally Finished!

The baby blanket that I started crocheting in high school as a young womens project is finally finished! It's only taken something like 6 or 7 years to finish, but yesterday I put the final stitch into it. It's a little smaller than I'd origianlly planned, but that's okay. I'm just proud of myself for getting it finished. Below are a couple pictures,. I apologize that they aren't the best representation, and that they look a little green, but you get the idea.

Oh, and no it won't be used anytime soon for those of you who are getting ahead of yourselves!

Date Night

Last weekend we had the chance to attend opening night of the first show put on by the students at IU. We were also able to get together with all of the grad students and their significant others that are in Steven's program for dinner before the show. We had a really great time and it was fun for me to get to know the other students that he's with all week. I always hear so much from Steven about them building the sets and getting everything ready for the show, but I never really appreciate all the hard work they do until I see the final project on stage. It's no secret that theater isn't really my thing, but I can now see and appreciate all the work that goes into a production.

House Update Pics

I know I'm very late on getting these posted, but better late than never. Below are the pictures of getting our house updated. At the end of the slide is also a picture of our crazy neighbors fence that I talked about awhile ago. Enjoy!