Christmas, a Wedding, and Moving Day, and Pics!

right side of kitchen

left side, getting cabinets on Monday!

bathroom w/huge shower

living room

bedroom/storage shelf/changing table

closet/Joseph's room/office

Fatty Bear in his fat bear suit

Wow! I feel like I haven't written in SO LONG. It's really only been 2 weeks or so, but it feels like so much has happened. So here's the update on our lives...

James finished his 5th semester of school on the 17th. He pulled through with all A's and 1 A-. Go James! He sometimes doubts that he will make all A's, but he always does. I'm so proud of him. That means we still don't have to pay for any tuition. :)

I missed the dedication of the new BYU-Idaho Center. Ironically, I've tried to get in several times, but it's always locked! What the heck!? Maybe once school starts next semester I'll be able to get a tour, finally.

Christmas, of course, was awesome. The Heads have some traditions that I quite like. We had clam chowder on Christmas Eve and acted out a little Nativity story. (Guess who got to be baby Jesus?) I was a sheep, a black sheep, to be specific. We came over on Christmas morning as well, but not before opening our presents to each other. I am so excited to have a spice rack, finally. I think it looks awesome in my new kitchen. James also got me some books, the companion books to The Giver, which is one of my favorite books ever. I am currently halfway through Gathering Blue and will soon start Messenger, which I've never read before. I was also excited to get some lotion from Bath and Body Works. Mmm. I love the smell. James got a new backpack and a hat that I made for him, and I gave Joseph some new sippy cups to try out soon, plus little cups to store his baby food. My parents gave us some gift cards, which I'm also excited about.

We then went to "the barn" for the rest of Christmas morning. I got some new shirts, a skirt, some pants, some books, and some other small things. James got his usual Nerf gun and promptly had a war with his brothers. Joseph got this awesome Mother Goose book and an adorable bear snow suit. Good thing, too, because it's been super cold. We went up to Grandma and Grandpa's in Victor for Christmas dinner after we'd eaten plenty of scrapple for breakfast. (Scrapple is basically fried slices of cooked cornmeal with ground sausage. You eat it with syrup.) We had a really nice time there.

Monday (the 27th) was moving day. I packed up the apartment while James worked on some finishing (but not final) touches on the new apartment. It was a very long day. We finished cleaning the apartment in Cougar Court at 10:00 p.m. and crashed once we got here.

Tuesday, we went to a wedding, luncheon, and reception for Allie, James's cousin. It was a wonderful, but extremely stressful day. In between the luncheon and reception, I was unpacking the kitchen. I soon learned that a) I feel incapacitated without a kitchen and b) Unpacking takes much longer in a small space, due to having to move things around a lot. The next two days were basically spent cleaning, unpacking, and rearranging, though not particularly in any order. Phew! I hope I never do that again! Our first night here, according to James, felt like sleeping a hotel room that was still under construction. However, everything has a place. There is a lot to be done still, but I really like it so far. There is still work to be done with soundproofing, but it's worked out well since we go to bed/get up around the same time as the rest of the family. Most of the time, I forget that we even live in their house.

We celebrated Jacob's birthday last night, and that was fun too. Pizza and cheesecake are an excellent combination, but a headache and sleep deprivation are not. I went to bed around 9:00 and slept until 8:00 this morning. It felt great. :)

Joseph can now officially say Dada! He is also getting much better at turning himself around and can move 180 degrees in seconds. It's a matter of weeks before he starts scooting, I think. I can't believe that he's 7 months old already!