It's a New Dawn, It's a New Day, It's a New Life, For... Doug

So what have we been up to since we got back?  Chalk up one more celebration (in addition to graduation, a Disneyland Trip, Christmas, and New Years.).  Doug was a pretty good sport about keeping his birthday low key, but we still had fun.  We had cake and ice cream and played games.  (The poor guy was quite sick on his b-day (and Christmas if you recall), but I'm happy to report that he is happy and healthy now.

So I feel like in addition to getting a dream vacation for Christmas, I also picked myself up a "new man".  Over 7 years straight of school and a culminating thesis project definitely took it's toll on this man.
Basically, what I'm trying to say it that he's had a lot of weight on his shoulder...

...but lately, it's mostly been the good kind. :)  Doug has been awesome with the kids- he has helped out a ton!!!  I'm so grateful to "have him back."  (Of course he is pretty frantic about finding some source of income, and he's already filled out a gazillion applications, but he's stopped biting his tongue, getting cold sores, and he can sleep at night.  This is a good thing. :)

He's even fun during family night. :)  The other night he (all on his own) prepared such a fun lesson where we all made yummy "righteousness cookies" and looked up scriptures.  (I have been very righteous since then because I seriously ate 80% of the cookies... so much for resolution.  They were good.)

All in all, things have just been more relaxed around here.  We've set some good goals and we just feel good about life.  (And we're so thankful for that Disneyland vacation.  It really helped us transition to this phase.  Both of us dream about it almost every night.)  We're looking forward to future job opportunities and saying lots of prayers.

I promise he's not sleeping all the time- I just keep catching cute moments. (And might I also add that that bottle is ginger ale... just in case you had concerns that all the stress had driven him to drink. :)

Au Revoir...

This amazing trip just wouldn't have been complete without some of Grandma's delicious crepes.  Our favorite!

Just had to pay a little tribute to my cute little Brigham- 8 months old today!!!  He has a big place in our hearts.  We just love this happy little guy.  He is crawling all over the place and climbing up to things.  I think he will be standing soon.  He has almost (as in any day now) 6 teeth, and he gives amazing slobbery kisses.

Just before we headed out, sweet Beth showed up with prizes for the road- can I just say that Seth LOVES that car.

Saying our good-byes... until next time!

Goodbye beautiful Tetons and hello Palouse.  (Poppa Scott took this picture and I thought it was lovely.) I am happy to report that we had safe travels and no car trouble!  Almost caught up!  What an awesome trip!!!  Truly just what we needed after 7 straight years of school. :)

Family Fun...

I was so glad we got to see Christina and Dominick.  He is growing so fast!  We had AMAZING clam chowder (my favorite!) and played card games.  It was fun!  This year, for Christmas, Christina made each of us a denim quilt.  They are so snugly and warm- it is so fun that we each have our own.  I can't imagine all the work that went into it (and I'm just picture a lot of broken needles for my first attempt) but we are sure loving them.  We just snuggled up to popcorn and a movie last night with them.  I wish I had gotten a better picture, but my camera died.

Double Trouble.  Aren't these two cute!  They'll be good buddies!

Then we had a fun New Years Eve with Beth and Jon.  They are such good parents- I love my little Lila and Ezra- they are precious!  Lila is quite patient about following the girls around.

I witness Ezra down an entire banana in under 30 seconds.  It was nothing short of a miracle. :)  He is a good little eater!  So cute!

I thought it was awesome that they were using grandpa as a surface to play dolls. :)

This just tickled me.  Apparently Lila really likes having her feet rubbed.  She comes up to grandma with lotion and just lays down.  It was cracking me up.  She didn't want her to stop.  Mom said it is quite rutine, and she would like her to do it all day if she had her way.  At least some of us know when it's time to "de-stress."

Ezra and Briggs are going to be good friends.  They have to figure out "sharing" and "taking-turns" first though. :)

So fun to see my cute sis- she is such a good person!  I'm so proud of her!  She truly inspires me to be a better wife and mother!

The Long and Winding Road...

We hit stand-still traffic for almost two hours just before we made it to Las Vegas.  It felt like it took forever to get to Saint George!

It was worth the drive though- it was so fun to hang out with the Kings!  I am sick that I forgot my camera while I was there, so I didn't catch any fun pictures, but the boys went to the movies, and the girls went shopping.  It ended up being fun... which is saying something because quite frankly, I'm not a shopper, but mom and Jess were so sweet to me.  We found some good after Christmas deals.

Then as we went through Salt Lake, we got to have dinner with Anth and Kylie's crew.  I was so glad, because it gave me a better taste of cute Duncan and Kalina.  They are so precious!  It was nice to see a little more of them!

Little buddies in the making! :)  Look how cute they are!!!

Anth is such a good dad and Kylie is such an attentive mom.  I'm glad we got to visit with them!  I hope I get to see them again soon!

Take You Down to China Town...

...Actually, to Little Tokyo.  This was where Doug came alive.  We didn't realize how close this was to the Fashion District, and we were so lucky to be able to walk through.  It was so fun!

The best part was hitting a little Japanese grocery store that stocked all the things Doug has always talked about, but we've never been able to find, like Melon Pan, Kyupi, Mugi Cha, Hychews, and Pocari Sweat.  He was really taking a walk down memory lane, I think.  It will be fun to actually go back to Japan with him someday, and this gave me a good taste of what it will be like.

On the way home, we ate warm nikumans (little steam buns filled with yummy saucy pork stuff) and watched the sun set over LA.  What a fun day!  I left feeling quite cultured.