Sheesh, we've been so busy!

We have been so busy lately that we just haven't had time to post all of our pictures from our Christmas trip. A few brief updates and then I will post a few of our Christmas pictures. Brian will be posting about our New York trip sometime soon.

Right when we got back from our trip I started looking into jobs. Brian had to take a pay cut to work at the State Hospital so we figured we could make it work if I worked a few evenings every week. I interviewed to work at the new Buy Low market in Provo. I thought I would just cashier or something in the evenings. Turns out, they needed a part time cake decorator. The bakery manager was more than willing to work with my schedule and gave me the exact hours that I wanted. It's crazy how perfectly it came together. I have loved no job as much as cake decorating and, if I have to work, there is nothing I would rather do. It's been stressful this week (and will be next week too) because we are required to work a lot in the day training and orienting before the store opens. I spent all day today in classes taught by a cake decorator from LA who was absolutely incredible. I am learning so many cool things. It's been soooo hard thought because my heart is home with my kids and it's hard to focus when I would rather be somewhere else. Thankfully it is only for another week and then it will strictly be a few nights a week after the kids are in bed.

The biggest news of all is that Brian got into the Masters program at the U. I know, I know, the U. The have a very highly ranked Social Work program and have the emphasis that Brian wants. We are super excited, relieved, and ready to start today. Brian will kill me for posting about this, but I am so proud of him and his drive to push on even when things don't work out like we planned. He never gives up and just keeps pushing. He's my hero. We now feel like we have a future plan, which is such a relief. Yea for Brian!!!

Now for Christmas is a nutshell. It was soooo fun to be with my family for Christmas. We haven't been with them for so long that I had really gotten used to not being there. It was such a treat.

We always got to open Christmas jamies on Christmas Eve while I was growing up. I have carried the tradition on in our little family. This year it was fun to have grandma pick the jamies. Meg loved hers so much that she didn't want to take them off for a couple days. Adin looked so handsome and grown up in his.

This cracks me up. I took Meg to a $5 Store in Maryland and let her pick presents for Brian, Grandma, Grandpa, Sarah, and Adin. I wanted her to understand the giving part of Christmas and get her to get really excited about giving instead of just getting. I didn't give opinions, I just let her pick what she thought each person would like. She picked this hat for Brian. It says Nightmare Before Christmas on it and she was sooooo sure that Brian needed a new hat. Sarah, who got the most useable gift, got jamie bottoms. My mom got a pink Wilson baseball mit. My dad got a nerf gun, and Adin got a fire truck. It paid off because she was so excited to wrap her presents and so excited to see people open them Christmas morning.

My mom surprised my dad with a plasma tv. He had absolutely no idea and was truly surprised, which he never is.

Just a couple pictures of the kids with some of their new toys. Sheesh, they have way too many toys.

We hope all is well with all of you. We also hope that life slows down a little so that we can post more often again.