Tour of Room and Ryker!

Here's a tour of my new room. I got it all clean for the Sabbath so I thought I'd better get a video while it stayed that way! Its nice to have my own space and its quiet down in the basement. The only downside was it was pretty cold down there. But now I have this great space heater and I'm sleeping like a baby at night.

And here's a short clip of our new dog Ryker! He's a chocolate lab/golden retriever mix and doing a great job for being in a new home with a new pack for only two weeks. He's learning all the rules and some new ones. I think he's going to be a great addition to the family. 

Happy Valentine's Day Weekend!

This last weekend I went to Provo. My friend Amber was flying in from OK and photographing a wedding and she invited me to come assist her. It was super fun to spend my Valentine's day with her!

The wedding was at the Jordan River temple

We had a lot of fun visiting and catching up. Amber and I served in Taiwan together and although we never were companions, we somehow just clicked. We laughed and talked and got Jamba Juice and made books!
Deborah is taking this bookbinding class at BYU and has been so excited about the paper she has been making and the things she has been learning. We got to go into the special building on campus and see all the materials and tools they use to make books. We made coptic bound books and they turned out quite well! I'm going to use mine for a special affirmation journal. It was just fun to be creative!

It was great to see all the old friends from the ward but the best part of Sunday was the cousins dinner at Joseph's! The theme was Chinese food and we had quite the spread. I laughed so hard I left with both my cheeks and stomach sore. I am so lucky to have such wonderful cousins. I miss spending time with them. The conversation ranged from pregnancy to dating to spotlights. Lots of laughs. There were some important cousins missing-namely Mitchell. We called him on the phone so he could be a part of it. Good times. 

Monday morning I went shopping with Deb and roommate. It was great to have girls to go shopping with again! Here in Logan I have learned to go without anyone to affirm my chosen outfit or provide important opinions when shopping! :) Monday afternoon I made the easy drive back to Logan. So that was my weekend! Fun to have a day off and time with great friends! Happy President's Day!

Moving and Farewell to Dixie

So here I am playing catch up once again. I thought I'd better put some pictures up of the moving process. Packing in Vancouver was pretty amazing but everything got here to Logan safely and we are in the process of de-junking and getting it all into a much smaller house. 

Ben was our expert packer

Lunch break with all the crew. We had wonderful help from family and friends in Vancouver. It was great! Thank you everyone!

Here's the shed still full of all our stuff!

And our amazing back yard. Joseph got up early and took advantage of the warmer weather for one last juggle with the soccer ball. We are really going to miss that space! We were blessed.

We made the long trip home with Dixie who was finally going to enjoy life with the family again. We were so excited to have her back! She spent a few nights with a friend and then we signed on the house and we all started the move in process. Mom and I went and picked up Dixie at our friend's house and she was so excited to be going home. She explored the house and spent one great night on a new dog pillow. The next day, while I was at work and the family was moving stuff in, Dixie got out somehow and got hit by a car and died. It was a huge damper on the move. We were so happy to finally have a home and have her back. I think we all realized just how much she meant to all of us. We will miss her. We have since adopted a new dog from the pound. Pictures will follow.

Here's the new home!

Some painting had to occur first. We spent two days painting the whole interior! Goodbye white walls, hello color! It looks beautiful.

So there's the new home. We have now been living here almost three weeks and it feels like home. We still have a garage full of boxes to sort but it will happen and in the mean time we are in awe at God's hand in this family's life. We are so blessed!