Change is good

In the last week our little family has had to make some major adjustments to our schedule. I graduated in April and decided that I wanted to spend some time with Kylee since I was in school full time ever since she was born. I loved spending all summer with her but I really missed my crazy schedule of either working/going to school/ being a full time mom/wife at the same time. So as of last week I went back to work full time! Kylee loves daycare, she doesn't even look back after I drop her off, but as soon as I pick her up she comes running to me and gives me a big hug and tells the other kids, "this is my Mommy!" Melts my heart every time. I love it. As far as work goes I absolutely LOVE it. I am working at a doctor's office in Provo. I love everyone in the office (seriously, I just made like 20 new friends-they are awesome), I love my schedule, and I love the work. It couldn't be more perfect. Oh, and a major bonus, I get to wear scrubs to work every single day. Balance is finally restored in my life and it feels great. Randy is super supportive of me working full time and he continues to love his classes and the research that he is involved with.  Randy was actually on the Discovery Channel in Canada in December. His professor was asked to talk about the research they are doing and Randy was on the video clip that was shown. Pretty awesome eh?

p.s. My brother gets home from his mission in 31 days. I'm driving straight from work to the airport to see him get off his plane. Can't wait!

New Years Eve

We spent New Year's with my siblings. It was a lot of fun and many tears were shed due to laughter. Kylee went to bed at 9 which was awesome! Randy's aunt and uncle bought us the funnest game for Christmas and we played it with my siblings and their spouses. It is called, "The Game of Things" and it is super fun to play.

 I need to explain the video's. We used to play a game when I was little on New Year's Eve with my Williams' cousins. It was a relay race and we would have to squeeze an orange between our knees while holding a quarter in our eye, then we would have to walk to a specific spot with out dropping the orange or the quarter. I thought it was fun when I was little and so I decided to make everyone play it this year. It was hilarious and I hope that no one in my family kills me after putting this video up on the Internet for everyone to see :) I think the perfect title to the video's would be, "What Mormon's do on New Year's Eve." (good one, right?)  We of course ended the night with some good ol' Martinelli's. 2011 was very good to us and we are looking forward to 2012. Happy New Year. 

1. I have way too much BYU gear. 2. It is way too late and no one should have taken that picture 3. Randy and I feel really cool in our matching shirts...

Ignore my cackle... once again way too late.

Dancing machine

I love my little nephew Tyson because he always has the best dance moves. Tyson got to ride with us on our way out to my brother's house one night and we had quite the dance party.

Christmas

The holiday's were great as usual but I am happy to be back to my own home and back into the swing of things. A girl can only live out of a suitcase for so long... We spent a few days in Rexburg with Randy's family then made the very exciting drive (sagebrush and more sagebrush) from Rexburg to Jerome to spend time with my family. Kylee was so into Christmas this year. It really is so fun to watch your own child get so excited during the holiday season. We tried our best to teach Kylee the real meaning of Christmas but Kylee got a little obsessed with Santa and presents. I'm kind of sad that I can't use the line, "Santa's elves are watching you, Kylee" anymore when I want her to be good or to stop doing something that she shouldn't have been doing. The next time we see family will be when we drive to the Twin Falls airport in February to see my baby brother, Kevin, who I haven't seen in TWO YEARS! He will be returning home from an LDS mission in Argentina. I'm beyond excited to see him. Randy and I are really looking forward to this next year. This last year has been great but we know that 2012 will bring us even more happiness and love. 

Bright-eyed on Christmas Eve 

Feeding her baby, "Bobby Jo." Great name right?

Tee ball set...Kylee is a natural already

Christmas morning

Christmas china for a day after Christmas feast

Grandma W

Classic fireplace pose but you can't even see the fire glowing in the picture. Bummer. 

This is what happens when Randy and I stay up till 2 in the morning talking about the assassination of Abraham  Lincoln  (I made him pose like this and yes we were way too tired and yes we should have gone to bed, obviously)

Daddy's girl

Wilk lives the good life.

Thanksgiving Break

We made the drive up to Idaho for Thanksgiving. This year we were with my side of the family and it was so much fun. Everyone was there except for my little brother Kevin, who is on a mission in Argentina. Kylee had way too much fun with all of her cousins. We are very happy that my brother's family is moving from Nebraska to Boise so we will be seeing a lot more of them! Now, Randy and I are the odd ones out because we don't live that close (4 hours still isn't bad). Randy and I really like Boise so it will be fun to visit them.

 My brother's new puppy was a huge hit with Kylee. She followed Wilk around everywhere!

Getting together with family is always so nice but my mom spoiled us with too much good food! I thought I was getting in really good shape but I went to the gym yesterday to my usual class and I definitely had way too much pumpkin pie because I could hardly keep up. I brought stuff home to exercise every day but I never even touched my running shoes (sleep and food sounded so much better at the time).  I better start making trips to the gym twice a day before our next trip to Idaho in a couple of weeks! 

Randy and I know that we have a lot to be grateful for but a few blessings that stand out to us this year are:

Family- we are very lucky in that department.

Kylee- Even though Kylee is a very wild child we love her to pieces.Every night Randy and I find that our conversations revolve around Kylee and the funny things she did that day. We love our little girl.

Friends-  both old and new. We have made some lifelong friends since we moved here and I am very grateful for that. Our friends are amazing!

Opportunities in Education- Randy has an amazing professor/boss who has provided Randy with some really amazing opportunities. Randy is just finishing his first semester in graduate school and has already been offered opportunities in Rhode Island, Albuquerque, NM, Ogden, UT and Phoenix, AZ.

Happy Thanksgiving...a few day's late.

* I was very lazy and only got my camera out one day. Enjoy.

Kylee picked this apple off the tree for Wilk. Too cute. 

Kylee's best friend (cousin) Ty watching Polar Express

We love Wilk

Real girls play with Star Wars toys. 

Matching Jammies- Kylee is confused. 

All three William's granddaughter's pretty in purple

I had to steal him away

I get crafty sometimes...

This summer my Mother-in-law let me take one of these old windows that she had. I was way excited about it. At first I sanded it down, painted it blue, and mod-podged some scrapbook paper to it. I added the lettering but didn't know what to put in the two outside windows. Pictures didn't look that great. Then I repainted it AGAIN. This time I painted it black and added some animal print to it. I grew out of my animal print phase so I decided to start over AGAIN. So, I knocked out the windows, sanded it down AGAIN, primed, and repainted the window an antique white. I then took it into a local glass store and they put the mirrors in for $4 a mirror! Side note- it was going to cost over $30 just for mirrors alone at a craft store. Always use the local  glass stores for these kinds of projects!  For the finishing touch I purchased some oil rubbed bronze spray paint to coat the original hardware. This was so much cheaper than buying new bronzed hardware and it turned out so great- plus I wanted to keep the original hardware on. Definitely worth the $7.

I don't have a picture of what the original window looked like or the animal print phase. I spent a lot of hours sanding this sucker- three different times!

Before ( I liked this but didn't know what to do with left and right windows)

After. I LOVE THE MIRRORS. I need to sand around the edges a little more but I need a break from sandpaper!

I was peer pressured...

So my family has a private blog that all of my siblings and parents have used since 2006 but after constantly being asked, "Do you have a blog?", I decided to make one just for Randy, myself, and Kylee. Plus, I love the idea of making my blog into a book. My sister-in-law does this for my parents each year of our private blog and it is seriously so cute and nice to have! Hopefully I can make blogging a little more fun because right now it just seems like another chore. I will do my best to keep ya'll updated on our crazy (but lovely) life!

p.s. Kylee's face will be dominating this blog. Cutest little chicken.