Holiday Fun

We had a pretty busy holiday season this year. Steven finished out his last full semester!!! He now only has 3 more credits worth of stuff left to do which only includes 1 class and his senior project!! WE ARE SO EXCITED FOR HIM TO BE FINISHED!!! Especially after this last semester... It was probably one of the roughest ones for him--not because the classes were so hard but between school and work he was pretty busy and being so close to the end of his schooling career it was a huge struggle. He made it through though and now things are starting to look up!!

We did a few things here to celebrate Christmas before we took off to see my family for the holidays.  We put up our tree of course, and decorated the rest of the house to make it feel more festive.  We also made and decorated sugar cookies together and had LOTS of fun doing something different together (as well as eating all the yummy cookies).




We took our Christmas card photos over Thanksgiving break while we were visiting Steven's family.  I was really please with how they turned out and even printed off a few to frame around the house! 

This one is totally my favorite of the bunch!

My sister had also given me her wedding dress earlier this fall to take apart and remake it into a baptism dress for her eldest daughter.  It was a little intimidating of a task to take on at first (and I will admit I put it off for a loooong time) but after I decided what to do with it it came together really quickly and I am so proud of the outcome!  My niece loved it and I am excited to see her wear it on her big day!  I thought I would share some of the pictures I took during that whole process...

My niece in her dress! I took some pretty pictures of her in it as well
(but I need to edit them still... on the to-do list for tonight)

The adventures continue with my family for the holiday festivities at home for Christmas!  We saw the new Peanuts movie and Steven and I doubled with my sister and her husband to see the new Star Wars movie as well! Both were very good!  We decorated "gingerbread houses" together, went Christmas caroling, and had a wonderful holiday dinner on Christmas Eve.  We even went to the pool at my parent's motel and got to swim with some mermaid tails I brought from work! I think all the kids enjoyed it and it was fun to show off some of the things I have been working on/with at my new job!  

Steven and I also took a night to ourselves and went to town to attend an open mic night dedicated to one of our friends whom passed away last December.  We had some time to burn before the event began so we stopped by one of my old hangout places in Selah when I was in high school and grabbed some treats and played an epic game of Jenga.  We had a really great time together and it was super nice to have a quiet evening together without having any stresses of normal life to wear on us!

We had such a blast with my family! It was a crazy time having all 18 of us together in one house but I am so grateful for the time I get to spend with my family!

For Christmas this year we used the gift money our parents gave us and (finally) bought a painting of Christ to put in the frame Steven's cousin made for us for our wedding (...that was 2 1/2 years ago now... But beside the point...)  It is a super unique painting and we love it!  We are excited to take it down to his cousin's so he can put it all together for us!



We had a great holiday break and are trying to fall back into our normal work routine. Work has been pretty busy for me getting things put together to be ready for the summer and Steven's work has been slowing down because this is kind of their off season.  Thankfully he has kept busy enough to get his hours in this winter!  We are so thankful for both of our jobs and feel so blessed to have them and to be able to be independent!!

*PHEW* That was a lot of updating and a lot of pictures... 

Until next time!!

Fall Festivities

This fall has been pretty normal for us. Steven is still trying to hang in there with school and work, and constantly reminds himself he just has to make it until December 16th. He has already registered for his last semester (which only includes 2 classes that equal 3 credits..YAY!) I have been working full time and diving in headfirst into this new job! It's been so much fun and I have learned so much! I am excited to see what the future holds with this job!!

For Halloween Steven and I actually (sorta) dressed up this year! We spent the night with some of our best friends! I somehow missed getting a picture of us all dressed up but I have a picture of what our costumes were!

We decorated the office at work for Halloween!

Our costumes I whipped up

Partying it up with one of our new additions to our circle of friends (and our honorary nephew!! SO CUTE!)

Glen also came up for a quick visit over a weekend in the beginning of November. He secretly just came to pick up his guns that we had been holding on to for him, but the visit was nice too.

For our birthdays this year we kept things pretty relaxed. I realized that this is the first time our birthdays were not on a Saturday or Sunday since we got married. So we actually had work and school on our birthdays this year. For Steven's birthday I made him breakfast in bed before I left for work and then brought home some of his favorites from Panda Express for dinner. After dinner we went to G's Dairy for some delicious ice cream. He got a new coat this year for his birthday. For my birthday, the office manager at work put up a super cute "Happy Birthday" banner by my desk. Everyone at the office was really nice and wished me a happy birthday as well. After I got home from work, Steven took me out to dinner (at my beloved Hickory restaurant) and after we went and played some mini golf together! It was such a fun date for my birthday and I hope we can do more fun things like that in the future! The Saturday in between our birthdays we celebrated with friends by having dinner all together and I tried my hand at this new cupcake recipe--cookies and cream! They were delicious, if I say so myself!!!! 

Birthday banner at work

Mini golfing with my one and only!

WE LOVE ICE CREAM!

We are getting excited for the holidays this year and can't wait to see our family and enjoy that special time together!!

Until next time!

New Adventures!

I always thought I would keep updated more often now that I am not in school but I keep forgetting about it! Dangit! 

Anyways, within this past week I received a new job offer!  There is a company in IF that is fairly new and is growing rapidly so they have new job positions that need filled.  Genet Orme (one of my former professors and dear friend) texted me earlier in the week and passed along some job information to me.  I figured "what the heck?" and sent in my resume last Friday.  It wasn't but 4 or so hours later that I had a voicemail on my phone asking if I could come in for an interview for the following Monday!! I have never had such a fast response with a job application before! So I went in with some portfolio work in hand (I had also never had a potential employer want to see previous work before so that was fun!) and they called me back roughly 24 hours later and I had the job! Wow. I can't believe how fast it all happened and sometimes still feel in shock by it.  Part of me was a little sad because I have really enjoyed being back at the restaurant and being part of that family again, but I know this new job will be good for my career and will provide many blessings down the road as well.

Steven is still doing the school thing and the more this semester goes on the more excited I am to be done dealing with school all together.  I don't have to go to class or anything but Steven's whole life revolves around either school or work and it's getting old really fast.  Thankfully, even though he technically has one semester left, by the time we get to Christmas, most of this will be over.  He only has his senior project and 1 on campus class left after that so after this semester that will feel like a cakewalk. 

I have also recently started teaching sewing lessons to a 13 year old girl here in town.  Her mom bought her a sewing machine and needed someone to show her how to use it and teach her some sewing techniques.  So far it has been lots of fun!  She is picking it up quick and soon will be on her way to creating whatever she can think up as well!  We made a pillow case together last night and she loved having something to show her mom after that she made.  It was quite rewarding and has been a positive experience so far.

We got to spend the last weekend with most of my family down in Utah for my nephew's baptism.  It is always nice to get to see my family and am reminded at how blessed I am to have such good relationships with my parents and all my siblings. It also made me more excited for Christmas this year because we will ALL be home together for the holidays--the first time since before Steven and I got married!!! This weekend my in-laws will be in town for a short visit and it will be nice to see them as well!

Our birthday's are coming up again here soon and we will have to decide what we will do to celebrate.  We try to do something fun for a combined birthday activity as well as making each other feel special on each of our days as well. We still have no idea what we will do this year but I am sure whatever we come up with will be wonderful.

Until next time!

August: Wrapping Up Our Summer

This summer was full of lots of ups and downs for us.  I got a full time job right out of college... but then ended up quitting 4 months later.  Steven got an internship and has kept busy at his job... But finds he is super tired all the time and doesn't have the free time he wants to spend with me or to have some time to himself.  It's been quite the ride but I am so thankful that we have had each other to lean on during whatever struggle we may be going through.

Heavenly Father has really been trying to teach me patience this summer.  I have found myself trying to plan out the next year or two of our lives and I find myself at a stop because there are so many unknowns for our future.  Steven will graduate in April--that we know.  But will he find a great job right out of college?  Will we be moving next summer?  What about our family?  Would we have a baby by then?  There are so many things I find that I will have to just wait patiently to see what the future brings us.  This is so hard for me because I am such a planner.  I like to know what I am doing day to day, week to week, month to month, and so on that I am finding it so hard to just accept whatever there is to come for us in the future and having faith that Heavenly Father has our lives in His hands. 

Anyways, since I work mostly evenings now and Steven has his internship 4 nights a week, Steven and I don't really get to share a meal together much anymore. So, I started making lunches for us everyday.  Steven comes home for his lunch break from work around noon so I spend my mornings cooking us a meal (like I would when we were first married and I made dinner every night).  I have found it really fun to be the devoted little housewife once again and find so much joy in taking care of my house and cooking meals for my sweet husband.  I haven't had my house so clean in a long time and it's refreshing to always have leftovers and food in the fridge we can eat on nights/days where we may be a little busier than normal.  

I have started quite a few little projects around the house as well to occupy my time.  I am (finally) finishing up a blanket I started crocheting back in May, I have a couple wreath ideas for the front door that I am starting to work on.  I also tackled the mess of my sewing room yesterday and organized a few things.  It still has a long ways to go but I can at least stand to go in there and work on some stuff.  I also bought some really fun and cute fabric that was on sale a couple weeks ago and intend to make a few things out of that.  I also have a list of furniture things I want to refinish (the kitchen table being one---wish me luck on that one!) as well as a whole Pinterest board of seasonal crafts and other things I want to do. 

Something that is hard about the end of this summer is that this is the first fall that I will not be returning to school (SAY WHAT?!?!?).  I feel like I have been a student for as long as I can remember and I have never had a summer where I haven't felt the pending doom of returning to school in a few weeks.  Steven will be back in school of course, so our routine will change once again for a little while, so it will have it's effect on me but I do not have to ever go to a 7:45 class in the snow ever again. Whoa.

Here's to hoping I can learn some patience and help Steven keep up with school this year!

Until next time!

P.S. I cut all my hair off! Woo!