Needless to say, our blog has been one of those non priority trains lately. Sorry! I promise we have a lot to share, but I'm going to condense it into one super awesome update blog post! Here we go!
This is my couch before we reupholstered it.
This was during the process...
This is the after! I gotta say I'm pretty proud that I actually finished it. I still have to do the cushions because they don't match but we ran out of that kind of fabric. Oops! We're going to try doing it in brown. Keep your fingers crossed. Also, I'm still finding staples from the project all over the house. I think the people who live here after us will probably wonder what we were doing! The job was hard but I am so grateful for the experience and for Ian helping me with the couch. It went so much faster! Also, this picture is a little out of place. It's from Christmas morning when Ian's brothers were visiting us, but it was the best picture I had of the finished couch.
Next, Ian GRADUATED! This isn't the best picture, but he's there in the black gown and handsome smile! We were so excited when the semester was over but we had so much other stuff to do that I couldn't express it on the blog. I am so proud of Ian. He graduated "cum laude" which is in the top 10% of his class. How awesome is that?! He looked great in his cap and gown which I was sure to iron the night before. I giggled a little to myself when I saw people with the creases in their gowns and said to myself "see! They don't have a wife as great as me, huh?" It felt so good to see everyone going back to school in January and have no part in it.
Because of Graduation Ian's Mom came to visit. The kids loved having their Grandma around and so did I. It was such a nice visit we were sad it was so short.
The snow during December was so beautiful in Rexburg. I think I'm going to miss all the fun winter festivities they have here.
As mentioned above, for Christmas we had Ian's two brothers come to visit. It was so much fun to be surrounded by family for the holiday as we spent time with them and video chatted with both our families Christmas morning. In the evening we cooked up the Turkey that Ian's work gave us and had a great dinner with some friends.
On Christmas Eve and Christmas went went sledding. It was so fun to watch Taran and Jordan do crazy things from a distance and then enjoy the safer stuff ourselves. Holly thinks she's a little queen and should be pulled around in her sled everywhere we go. She often sits in it in the house trying to make it go by herself. Below is Atley's first try sledding and a little commentary from Ian.
Atley even got into pulling Holly's sled around. What a good brother, huh?
Holly even got dressed up for our Christmas dinner. She is absolutely in love with her clothes and brings me different outfits all day to try on. What a little girl!
Ian and I have decided we need more pictures of the two of us. Too often we're left out. This isn't the greatest, but it is a good start.
The next super cool thing we did after Christmas was head up to the cabin in Utah! There was so much snow the only way in was by snowmobile. The kids were freezing, but they handled it pretty well. On the way back down the mountain they were pros enough they just fell asleep. I on the other hand need some more practice. I was dumped off 3 times! But, despite eating snow, I had a great time!
We tried to play in the snow, but we always ended up falling down. By the time we left I think there was over 4 feet! That's like 2 of Holly!
See! I told you she thinks she's a queen.
This is the last attempt at a picture of us. Sad, I know. We're working on it.
This Christmas was also tried to teach Atley some French Christmas songs. This is his version of "Il est ne."
We're so anxious to move that it's a little difficult to contain ourselves. We know if we rush ourselves we'll really regret it, but it's hard not to be excited about the opportunities that await us. Soon we'll be able to apply for housing at the University of Sheffield and then before we know it, we'll be selling all our furniture and visiting out families in California and Florida. Hence, some trains and moving by so quickly and some I wish would just hurry up! We did apply for our passports this last week and for me that was a big financial commitment that say we're actually doing this. I think a lot of me still can't believe it. Maybe once we're on that plane it'll sink in.
