Where have we been?

Wow, there's so much to catch up on! We'll start back in December. I finished up with finals and started packing. I got some great boxes from my old boss at Lee's that were the perfect size. Not too big to carry but big enough to actually pack stuff in. Lonna and my mom both came over on different days and helped me pack and stay organized. We closed on our house Wednesday December 16 and then the packing got frantic. On Saturday, December 19 Lonna, Bryan, Natalie, Wes, my mom and dad, Jenesey and her entourage (a.k.a Andrew, Casey and Cameron) came over bright and early (8 am) to help us load up and move. Lonna helped me pick up a U-Haul the night before so we were all set to load up. It was such an awesome move!! Having all that help meant we got everything loaded up very quickly and very smoothly. The only hitch we had was when Andrew fell into the hot tub. Our old apartment had an indoor pool and hot tub that you step down into just like a normal pool and the hot tub just has a floating cover on it. You have to walk right by the hot tub to go from our apartment to the truck and for some reason Andrew either thought there wasn't any water in there or just didn't realize what it was but he stepped right into the middle and ended up waist deep in water!! Luckily we had a box of jeans that don't fit Nolan anymore set aside to go to D.I. and they fit Andrew just right. He was actually pretty excited because they were a pretty new pair of jeans that he got!

After we got everything loaded up we caravanned over to Tremonton and got the Truck unloaded even faster then we loaded! This was really great because Nolan couldn't get

the day off and needed to start getting ready for work by 12:30 but we were done and Nolan made it to work on time and we got to move into our new place in time for Christmas!! Thanks again to everyone who helped us move. I couldn't have gotten things that organized and we couldn't have done it that quickly without all of that help from everyone!

Since we were planning on moving I didn't set up our Christmas tree before we moved so I worked my tail off to get the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom unpacked so that I could get our tree up. We had a brand new tree this year that my mom gave us. She'd bought it the year before but decided she wanted colored lights on her tree instead of white ones so she gave it to us! I splurged and bought a bunch of new decorations and had the tree up by the 21st!

Nolan was a little annoyed that I was putting up Christmas decorations when there was still SO MUCH organizing, unpacking and cleaning to do but once it was all put together he was happy. We'd bought a new kitchen table, a new coffee table and matching end tables and had them delivered so once I had the tree up our downstairs really felt like a home. Nolan admitted he was wrong about the tree. :-)

Since we bought our home and were moving we kept our Christmas spending to a minimum. Christmas day was quick but fun. Nolan had to work in the afternoon so we got up early and took our presents over to my parents house and opened gifts with them. Nolan bought me a new hoodie and a Nixon watch (both of which I picked out) and then he surprised me with some new black heels and the coolest nerd present ever. He bought me a key chain that looks like the shotgun off of Halo!! For those that don't understand, let me explain. Halo is my all time favorite video game and there is a direct correlation between the amount of time I spend playing and the grades I get in school. When Nolan and I used to hang out before we started dating a bunch of us would get together and play Halo and the shotgun is my weapon of choice. If you still can't quite understand why I think this is the greatest present ever don't worry about it. Just know that my husband is freaking awesome and I LOVE my key chain!

I got Nolan a few DVDs, some ammo and I know there was something else but for the life of me I can't remember! Does that make me a bad wife? My parents bought us a bunch of bath towels, hand towels and wash clothes, Nolan got a giant dog bed for his giant dog and a gift card to Best Buy and I got a brand new sewing machine! Now I just need to learn how to use it...

After presents we cleaned up and had some yummy waffles and then opened presents with Grandma and Grandpa Hammer before we had to leave. We stopped off at my Omi's house to drop off her present and then headed to Nolan's mom's. Steve made us some scrambled eggs and green chili (so yummy) and then we opened presents

with them. Lonna put together an awesome storage tote for us with homemade tamales ready to go in the freezer and more green chili for me to cook with! The tamales were fantastic. I think we ate all of ours (around 2 dozen) by the second week in January! After presents we loaded up and headed home so that Nolan could get to work.

Since then school has started back up again. I've got 16 credits this semester with classes in Logan, Brigham and online. The good news is that it's my last semester!!! The bad news is that it's a ton of work. Nolan finally managed to convince me that it would be better for my school, mental and emotional health, and his quality of life if I quit working and just focused on school and finding time to relax. I was sad about giving my notice because I've really like being back at Golden Corral. I like being that busy and running my tail off at work but I'm excited that I now I can just focus on school and taking care of Nolan and the dogs. Speaking of dogs, here's Atticus with his Christmas present!

The sad thing is that he'll eat that whole thing in about 3 days and then he's bored again!

Well that's us for now. We're looking forward to tax returns so that we can get a new bed and bedroom set and finish getting blinds for the rest of the windows. Maybe after that I'll manage to get some pictures of our new place up!