New Job, Sledding, Ballet, and a Birthday

This last week I started my first desk job, EVER.  I am the secretary at the church we are attending right now.  So far I have been enjoying it and am sure I will continue to.  I only work parttime, four days a week, so my mom has been nice enough to watch Lauren while I work and since Brad works around the ranch, he gets to eat lunch with Lauren most days (unless her and Granny have taken a trip to McDonalds or Wal-Mart).

We have had snow on the ground for the last week and Friday, Lauren and I went sledding with Kristin and Ashlyn.  The girls had lots of fun.  Lauren thought it was fun to go down the hill backwards, and a couple times the girls went down together.   They didn't want to go inside but, we had to since it was getting dark.

Lauren has really been into ballet lately, so last night I showed her some ballet moves and spins that I could remember from when I did ballet.  Then this morning my mom found some old VHS tapes of my dance recitals for Lauren to watch.  I think she was impressed :)

We are living comfortably in our cozy little home and are adjusting well to life in the country.  There is always work to do and our days do start earlier, but it is very relaxing at the same time. 

One more note:  Saturday was  my dad's birthday.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Our Log Home

Well, we are finally are getting settled into our new home.  I have actually lived in this home before, for the first year of my life, so I don't really remember it.  My parents built a home just down the hill from this one and we moved when I turned 1.  Now for a funny story as to why we moved out of this home... I was always told what a big baby I was, and I was also told that after I was born the house was too crowded so my parents had built the new one.  So as a child I always pictured myself being so big that I filled the whole house and my mom and dad and brothers were just squished.  I finally figured out when I got older that they just meant a two bedroom home was too small for a family of five.  Thought I would share that story, cause my parents still love to tell it.
We have been doing a lot of cleaning and work to get it ready.  Brad has turned into a really good handyman and has done a great job at fixing things.   Here are some pictures... Enjoy!

Yes, it is real logs.  Here's the kitchen and living room.

Lauren likes living here.  Don't you love her posing?  It makes the room look so much cooler :)
And then there is our bathroom.  We spent three or four days fixing the toilet and getting the plumbing fixed to the shower.  It is small, but we worked hard to have a working bathroom, so we like it.

Here's our room, Lauren's room, and the short hallway between rooms.  Be sure and notice the bookshelf.  My dad built that for my mom when they lived in the home 30 plus years ago.

That's our new home.

Christmas Time

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my side of the family.  Everyone came out to mom and dad's on Christmas Eve and had lunch (which was delicious, thanks to mom) and open presents.  We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the toys.  The girls got new dolls from Granny and Papa and the boys got a hunting game, which everyone got to try out.  The kids had a fun time playing with all the new toys.  Then later we went to the Christmas Eve service together. 

Brad, Lauren, and I opened our presents Christmas morning.  "Santa" brought Lauren a dollhouse this year.  Before Lauren went to bed Christmas Eve, she said she hoped that Mrs. Santa would come with Santa and bring her a gift too.  So Mrs. Santa brought Lauren an Angelina Ballerina. 

We took Lauren sledding and the next day Jackson and Ellie came out, so we took them sledding too.  The kids loved going fast down the hill and Lauren thought it was so fun to go backwards down the hill.  We even tried Jackson's new snowboard.  

Later on Sunday we headed down to Springfield to spend a few days with Brad's family.  Lauren had more gifts from them to open.  Then Grandma and Grandpa gave her some money and took her to Toys-R-Us to buy whatever she wanted.  She ended up getting a toy guitar and some "little mermaid" walkie talkies.  

We left Springfield on Tuesday and moved out of our apartment on Wednesday.  We have moved up by my family for a while, in a little log home.  And it is a real log house.  Brad and I still have some more work to do on it until it is all the way ready.  I'll post pics when it is finished.

Here are all the pictures...