January-June 2012

So here we are halfway through 2012 and I am just barely posting again. For a while there wasn't much going on and our camera was too big to keep handy in my purse so I wasn't taking pictures. Then I got an IPhone and I suddenly got better at documenting our life. I hope my family members don't mind me posting these since they are mostly all of them and their cute families. This has been a somewhat trying year for me but being able to look back at the pictures I've taken makes it all seem better and I feel very blessed to have the family I do. Love you all! June-Backyard Brian has been tilling up our backyard all summer and he has been really busy with work and other things so it's taken a long time for him. Plus we have tons of rocks in our yard. :( We had 2 tree stumps that we had removed this last week by a back hoe and some trenches dug for retaining walls. Wayne and Preston came up to help clean up the mess and smooth out the ground. We want to level it a little more, build retaining walls and hydro-seed. It's looking good and Logan and I watched them for 45 minutes straight out of the window. He was fascinated and didn't move for that long. It was so funny. He even tried to push the screen out and join the boys. :) Memorial Weekend-Golfing Summer got engaged over Memorial Weekend and we went golfing with her fiance, Caleb and it was the first time we've been able to hang out with him. We had a lot of fun and are happy for them. Golfing was fun, we played Frisbee, and board games. Shantel's Graduation She really didn't want me to post pictures but I just picked a couple of the good ones cus we were there...so we need to document it! haha Our Sweet New Wheels! Oh, yeah. We also bought a new car on vacation!!! Woot, woot! It's a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe and I loooooove it! St. George Trip Brian's parents rented the same house as last year and we had a blast! Here are some of the highlights. Brian and Logan playing in the sand. Lots of concentration...:) May-Planting Our First Plants Our yard needed so much TLC and Brian has been working so hard and it looks so wonderful now! We had to bring in top soil and we bought all new bushes and I planted my first flowers. :) We just barely bought new bushes to plant along the side of the stairs but I don't have a picture yet...coming soon. Before... ...After! If you look really close you will notice that Brian's truck is riding low from the heavy load. The sad thing was this wasn't even enough to fill them all. My hot husband workin' hard! March-Brian's Competition Brian won the regional and state competition at Ogden-Weber Tech in machining. He rocked the competition and is headed to nationals in Kansas City the end of June. His instructor told Brian that he has one of the best chances of winning nationals that he has seen in 14 years and it will be really good for the business so it's pretty exciting. March-Easter The kids all got kites for Easter so we were out flying them... ...with a fishing pole. Better distance, of course. January-Cookie Party Brian and I got the XBox with Kinect for Christmas so we had Preston, Jenny and Logan up for chocolate chips cookies and a Kinect party. Poor Jen was close to full term being pregnant and we thought the running and jumping might bring baby Lily a little sooner. :) Logan was right in the middle of it all. :) Other Fun Times This Year

Welcoming 2012-And a New Job!

I just wanted to express my excitement for a new year! 2012 is being met with open arms and hopes for a happier year. Our new house has been a huge blessing and we LOVE it!Our ward has been awesome and Brian is serving in the YM with the Teacher's Quorum and I am serving on the RS night committee and just got called to be a Primary teacher to 9-year-olds...we'll see how that goes. Our first week together was hectic and... not fun. We're trying to plan a fun vacation for the end of the year, are considering buying a car, and have a lot of home improvements planned so we're excited to have a fresh new year. 2011 was honestly one of the roughest years I've ever gone through-emotionally, mentally and spiritually. My family went through a crazy amount of problems, stress, trials and tears that literally lasted all year and some of them aren't over. Even being married has even proven less than blissful at points but looking back I can see that without all of the bad, life wouldn't be as good as it is today. It's made me very grateful to be married and have someone constant that understood, sympathized, helped me, calmed me, and worked with me to get through the problems. There's a phrase that says something like a piece of charcoal can't be made into a beautiful diamond without pressure. It's funny how Heavenly Father does that to us. Sometimes we can't make as much progress without having some serious pressure first. So bring on 2012!!

I'm feeling very blessed already this year because at the exact time I decided to start looking for a job again, and one in town at that, an opportunity came along. In tithing settlement we mentioned I was looking for a job so if my bishop, who is a physical therapist, ever needed more help I was available. 2 days later he told Brian one of his employees just gave their 2 weeks notice and a week later I had a job. It's been a different experience to say the least. He works with in-hospital patients and open wounds-2 things I'm not so comfortable with. Every day I feel more and more like a CNA which is way beyond my comfort zone and natural capabilities. There's a reason I became a dental assistant instead of a nurse! Some days it's hard for me to handle. Almost every day I come home feeling a little queasy about the things I've seen too. I really love helping people recover from illness or surgery and get stronger, it's very rewarding. But I don't handle smells or gaping wounds, or clothing changes or bathroom settings very well. Just the pictures he takes to chart wound progressions gross me out! So I'm just praying that I'll desensitize really soon! I'm probably only going to need this job for a couple of years but that sure seems like a long time right now.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had an awesome Thanksgiving weekend in Preston this year. We mostly hung out at Aunt Becky's playing card games and board games and eating delicious food. My family took Brian on his first trip to cut down a real Christmas tree (a long-standing family tradition) and Preston put on their annual Festival of Lights complete with fireworks and a lighted parade.

I just love Shan SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!

And this? I have no idea what she's doing...

Our New House Before & After

Well we finally did it!! We got in our house on October 20, 2011! We've been working our guts out getting it cleaned, painted, and fixed up. Brian and his dad have been doing all the big heavy work and I've done most of the painting and decorating. We're so excited about it still. We just walk around going, "Look at our cool house." "Remember how we have this awesome house??" We're silly but it's been so fun and exciting. So here are some of the pictures. As you can see, we have 2 guest bedrooms so that's an open invitation and we're expecting some visitors!!!!

This is our living room right in the front door. It's one big room that continues through the dining room and kitchen so it's nice. Here's the before...

And this is the after....

This is our kitchen before...

And after a lot of scrapping, cleaning and washing..here's the kitchen after.

Our bedroom was painted an olive green color with a ton of cream colored paint sloppily painted over it. I think they were going for a 'textured' look but it just looked terrible. So we had our work cut out for us. Really...it looked bad.

So this is the after!! We love it! Brian put the chair rail up just the other day and it made it look so good! He's in the process of building a custom headboard and it looks good too.

Then we took an ordinary basement and made it...

...into a sweet theater room!! (You know you wanna come visit...!)

So this is one of our guest bedrooms before and after.

And this is the second guest bedroom before and after.

This is the laundry room/storage room...it scares me. Something about concrete rooms in a basement is creepy. lol too bad we have to do laundry so I have to go in. lol

Oh...and this is just a bonus. :-)

We have one more bedroom that's just an office/storage and the yard still needs some work but we're lovin' it. It's kept me very busy so I've been glad not to have a job yet.