The Durfee's: Is it Spring Yet?

February and March is always a hard time of year for us where we currently live. We LONG for it to be spring, but unfortunately it takes so long for spring to actually happen here. Today, the sun came out and it hit 50 degrees! I was puppy-sitting tonight so I took the dog to the park to run off some energy (as I am sure he has been cooped up all winter as well) and it was PACKED with lots of people trying to soak up any amount of sunshine they could. It gets nuts around here as soon as the weather gets above freezing... But I so get it. I am getting sick of being inside, freezing all the time. It's supposed to be nice again tomorrow, so if I can get Steven to muster up the energy, maybe we will go do something fun outside. Then again, it will probably still be pretty cold, so we will see.

Steven is still wrapping up his last semester of school and we are still SO eager for him to finish. His mentor even told him today that he can tell that he has hit the point where he just needs to graduate. I am so excited to get him back!!! He is so tired all the time that it's hard to suggest doing stuff because I know all he wants to do is kick back and relax for just a minute before he is off to work on his project or head to work. Poor guy...

So we kept it pretty low-key for Valentine's day this year. We attempted to go out for dinner (without a reservation... We are dumb for former restaurant workers...) and decided it was easier to avoid the crowds and we went to Chick-Fil-A instead. The next day (actual Valentine's day) Steven made me a delicious steak dinner and we enjoyed ourselves at home together. We had a pretty cool stake conference that morning with Elder Rasband at the I-Center on campus. He came to speak to all the married student wards in the area. That is one perk for remaining in the student wards. However, come April, we will make the switch to the family ward as we will no longer be students.

At the beginning of February we attending my niece's baptism. It was fun to see her so excited and to see that dress I made in good use. She looked so lovely!!

Steven and I have been doing our low carb diet again since we got home from Christmas. We both had been feeling so overweight and lethargic. It has been a nice change--even if we haven't been losing as quickly as we did the last time. We do cheat every now and then but it's made sticking to it this long not nearly as hard. I have also found that even when I do cheat, I don't even cheat that bad because I can't stomach all the junk food as much as I could tolerate it before. I say that's great progress. It's been a fairly easy transition to make this a lifestyle too. I admit that some days when I am trying to meal plan that it sounds easier to just be done with the diet, but I feel much better when we stick to it.

Work has been going well. This week was tough for some reason. I pin it the the fact we didn't really have a very restful week/weekend before this week began. I attending my cousin's funeral on Thursday last week and then we left town to go to see Steven's family and attend his niece's baptism and his other niece's baby blessing on Saturday and Sunday. We hustled back home so that I could be back in time for an interview I had scheduled and then spent the evening with some friends. While all of that was great and we needed to be there for our families, it made Monday really hard when it came time to get back to work. I can't be more grateful for a Friday night and a good weekend ahead of me to get caught up on some housework and get some rest as well. We have another stake conference on Sunday but this time it is just our stake, so church will be an hour shorter than normal which is awesome for getting some rest!

I do still try to document our lives through pictures, so here is a few for your viewing pleasure and as a small window into our lives: