I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

And a white Christmas is definitely what we got. The "Arctic Blast" continued into Christmas Day, but it sure made it beautiful to look outside. This is the view from the front porch of Chuck and Debbie's house Christmas morning.

We had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas morning. Lincoln slept in, and so did everyone else. We got up and ate cinnamon rolls and eggs for breakfast. Here is the Christmas tree before the unwrapping began.

This might be my new favorite picture of Lincoln. Doesn't he look cute in his little Christmas jammies, sitting in front of the Christmas tree? I'm not bias or anything ;) but he sure is a cute kid.

Here are Chuck and Debbie opening the "Secret Project" Christmas present Aaron and I spent hours and hours making for them. It's a book and each member of the family wrote them a letter of appreciation, or favorite memories, or the ones who couldn't write drew pictures, and the ones who couldn't draw got their hands or feet traced. Then Aaron and I took all those letters and glued each one onto a separate page and used our fancy scrapbooking skills to make each page look nice. The cool thing was is that each page was unique and it matched the personality of the person whose letter was on that page. The book was probably my favorite Christmas present to give this year.

Lincoln did a lot better opening presents this year than he did last year. He was a pro at getting the wrapping paper off, it was the tape that he had trouble with. In this picture I'm helping him with the tape.

Here is our family, right after Lincoln opened his blocks. Only time will tell if he really likes them or not, there was way to much going on this morning for him to really keep his attention on one thing for too long.

Kelly and Ryan were also there for Christmas morning. Kelly got an awesome set of speakers for his computer, and Ryan got a book and something else I can't remember. We had Kelly's name this year and we gave him an oil wrench for his car and a plastic container to put all the old oil in. (I know, sounds thrilling doesn't it? That's what I thought too, but it's what he wanted.) Ryan gave his parents and Lisa pictures frames that he made himself, with a picture or their choice from his adventures around the world. They were really cool looking, and of course the pictures were amazing.

Maybe it was all the excitement, who knows, but Lincoln got pretty cranky towards the end of unwrapping presents and was sent to bed for a Christmas morning nap. Soon after we put him down, Sydni and Jake and Zac came over. I was glad they were able to make it over, even in all the snow. The only sad part was that Lincoln was taking a nap and not around to play with Zac.

I wanted to show the awesome present Lincoln got from Grandma and Grandpa Swan, but he was being so crabby we didn't get a picture of him on it. So Zac is going to model it for us instead. :) Here is Zac sitting on Lincoln's new radio flyer scooter. It has four wheels, and a bell that dings, and it's just the right size for Lincoln's short little legs. I can't wait for him to get this thing outside on the sidewalk where he'll really be able to ride.

Later in the day we went over to Lisa's house for a wonderful ham dinner. (Which, unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of...if anyone does and wants to send them my way...) Everything was delicious and it was so nice to hang out with all the family. We really missed Stacey and Rob and their kids, they were the only ones not present.

I also got a wonderful Christmas surprise, a phone call from Kyle! I didn't think he'd be able to call me because I wasn't at my parents house. But he had some extra minutes on his calling card, so he gave me a ring. I was so excited. I think I forget sometimes that Kyle is in Guatemala, especially because we were living in Texas for eight months and didn't see our families, but talking to Ky on the phone made me realize how much I miss the kid! Anyways, he's doing well. He'll be home mid-July.

Merry Christmas Everyone...and to all a good night! (ok, so that was a couple different stories all thrown into one line, but it's ok.)

Twas the Night Before Christmas

I felt like Christmas Eve kind of snuck up on me this year. It's not that I wasn't ready for it. All my shopping was done, the candy was made, presents were wrapped and under the tree. Maybe it was because we've been snowed in the last few days and then all the sudden here is Christmas Eve! But we had a great time. Debbie made us a wonderful dinner. Then we were going to read the Christmas story out of the scriptures but decided that the story would be more reverent if Lincoln got put to bed first. Which meant we needed to open our one Christmas Eve present of jammies so that Lincoln could wear his to bed.

I didn't get a good picture of Lincoln opening his jammies, but they are really cute. They are red footie jammies with little monkey faces all over them. Then it was my turn. Aaron decided that he wanted to pick out mine this year, instead of having me do it. I'll admit I was a little nervous. But he got the perfect ones. The bottoms are warm and soft, and the top is warm and light weight and buttons down the front which will come in really handy in a few short months. :) Aaron didn't want pjs this year because he doesn't really wear them, so he opted for a bathrobe. I was pretty excited about his bathrobe actually. It's an $80 one that I got on sale for $25, got to love those day after Thanksgiving sales! Besides, Aaron's been a dad long enough, it's time he had a bathrobe.

In the middle of our pajama photo shoot my mom called to say they were opening Kyle's present to the family. Kyle (on a mission in Guatemala) had sent a Christmas package to the family, with the instructions that it was to be opened on Christmas Eve when all the family was together. Well, since Aaron and I were in Washington there was no chance of our family all being together, so we decided having us on the phone while they opened it was good enough. I was pretty impressed with what Kyle thought up for his gift. He had written each individual member of our family a letter sharing his testimony about the birth of the Savior. Included with the letters were pictures of him doing various random missionary things. I wanted to share the letter on here. Those of you who knew him before the mission might not believe he wrote this, but he doesn't pay anyone to write his letters for him; I already asked. :)

"Dearest Krystal, Aaron, Lincoln & Shark Bait,

This Christmas I'm sharing individual testimony to everyone. Christmas is my favorite time of year. Every year we read in Luke the story of Christ's birth but this year I wanted to point your attention to the Book of Mormon's account of our Savior's physical arrival to the world. In 3 Nephi 1 we have the full account of what happened on this half of the world that first Christmas Eve. I want to share a little part of that. 3 Nephi 1:13-14 reads 'Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my Holy Prophets. Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfill all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will, both of the father and of the son -- of the father because of me, and of the son because of my flesh. And behold the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given.'

How would it be to be Nephi? To be the people in the Americas? To see these long awaited signs? Or would they be saying the same of us? 'How would it be to have the fullness of the gospel?' 'To have temple marriage?' 'To prepare the way for the Millenium?' Because that's what we are doing. Christmas is about the Atonement. A gift second to none. How often do we step back and really ponder how great a gift it is? Christmas is the perfect season for it. There is a spirit in the air because for a little season each year people become a little more Christ-like; a little more giving. I hope we can extend the 'Christmas Spirit' longer this year. And strive to be just a little more Christ-like each day.

The church is true. There is no doubt in my heart we are building the kingdom Christ established that first Christmas when he came into this world.

I love you guys, Merry Christmas!

Elder Kyle Stewart Lemmon

I thought that was an awesome letter. And such a perfect gift to be read aloud Christmas Eve. Way to go Ky!

After the phone call, I put Lincoln to bed and then we read the Christmas story with Aaron's family. I always really like this part of Christmas Eve. It always reminds me that I probably should have taken more time to think about the Savior all through out that holiday season and less time worrying about gifts and candy and wrapping paper.

Then I made cinnamon rolls so we could have them for breakfast the next morning. Then Aaron and I stayed up super late putting the finishing touches on the Christmas present we made for Chuck and Debbie (Aaron's dad and mom).

All around it was a great night and we had fun celebrating it together.

Twinners!

So today, at the end of the day, Aaron and I realized that we'd been walking around all day wearing almost exactly the same thing. How embarrassing! :)

But since the day was already over and there was nothing we could do, we decided to compare stomachs to see whose was bigger. This is the view from the back. Pretty normal looking.


Then we go to the front view...you can see my belly but...

The side view is much better. And yes, mine is bigger than Aaron's.

Arctic Blast

When you think about spending Christmas in the North West you usually forget all about dreaming of a white Christmas because it just doesn't happen. And even if it does snow the rain usually melts it off pretty quickly. However, that was not the case this year. We got stuck right in the middle of (theme music: da, da, da) The Arctic Blast!!!!

It wasn't actually that much more snow that you'd get in Utah on a decent year, but you have to understand two things #1 It just doesn't snow that much here very often so people and drivers aren't used to it, and #2 The weather people are VERY dramatic. They took every opportunity to say the words "Arctic Blast" and to have their news anchors ramble on about how much it was snowing. But it was all good. :)

The Arctic Blast hit on Saturday afternoonish, the day Aaron and Kelly and Ryan were driving in. Weather conditions for them were pretty good until they hit the Columbia River Gorge, then it was a pure blizzard. If we ever get the picture of the road conditions from Ryan, I'll post them. Anyways, the boys were pretty lucky, 10 minutes after they passed a place called Hood River, officials decided to close the road and not let any more people through. It was closed for about three days. The boys would have been stuck for those three days at a truck stop. Blah! We were all very grateful they made it through safely in the nick of time.

Freezing rain usually accompanies the snow storms here, and this year was no exception. When Aaron and Lincoln went out to play this morning the ice on top of the snow was a half inch thick. It was crazy! Lincoln wasn't even heavy enough to break through unless he fell on his bum. He enjoyed walking around on top of the snow/ice. And hey...who needs a sled when you can just lay down on your back and accomplish the same thing?

Linc and Zac Together Again

Well, we all made it safe and sound to Washington. We've been having a lot of fun here hanging out with Aaron's family. Lincoln has enjoyed getting to know his cousins better and having other kids around to play with. Today his cousin and best buddy Zac came over to Aaron's parents house to play. Here are the boys (actually holding still) in front of the Christmas tree.

Lincoln wasn't too happy about Zac wanting to share his little tennis ball, but then someone handed Zac the Koosh ball, and the two were instantly friends again. :) It's so fun to watch Lincoln interact with Zac and the other cousins, all this sharing is good practice for when Shark Bait gets here.

The weather has been crazy here and we've been snowed in for a couple of days. Today they even canceled church because the weather was so bad. I didn't even know they could do that. Good thing Grandma Swan has her house well stocked with toys for the grandkids and food for all the men. Being snowed in has given us the opportunity to just sit back and relax and enjoy everyone's company.

Oh Christmas Tree

Here is this year's Christmas tree. It's fake. We usually get a real one, but this year since we are going to spend half the month of December in Washington with Aaron's family, we decided it wouldn't be a good idea to have a real tree sitting around in our apartment turning into a fire hazard with no one here. I found this little tree at Target for $30 it's pre-lit. Can't get much better than that. It's only four feet tall, so we had to bring the night stand out of the bedroom to stand it up on so that it wasn't hidden behind the couch. We also had to stack the banana chairs in front of it to keep Lincoln from getting it. The star on top is new. This is the first year since we've been married that I was able to find a star that I liked, so this is the first year we've had a star on the top of our tree. All the gifts are under the tree just waiting to be packed and hauled to Washington on Saturday when Aaron drives up with his brothers, Kelly and Ryan.

Here's the tree all lit up. Sorry it's kind of a blurry picture, but the camera has a hard time focusing in the dark.

First Provo Snow

It snowed in Provo today! Ok, so there wasn't that much snow...this is about the extent of it. But it was cold and I was excited to try out Lincoln's snow gear, so I bundled him up and we went out to play in the snow.

I wasn't sure how well he'd be able to walk, but other than waddling like a penguin, he did great!

We had fun being outside, even if there wasn't that much snow. Lincoln didn't really like the snow anyway and preferred to play on the blacktop.

I'm so Glad When Grandpa Comes Home

Sunday night when Papa Kerry got home from his bishopric stuff he was playing with Lincoln and it was pretty entertaining.

Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert

This morning Aaron and I had tickets to go and see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Bell on Temple Square and the Orchestra on Temple Square Christmas concert with special guest, Brian Stokes Mitchell. It was a great concert. The music was beautiful and I felt like it was a good opportunity to slow down and feel the spirit of the Christmas season and remember the true meaning of Christmas. The roads on the way to the concert were awful, but temple square was beautiful in the snow. Thanks mom and Kerry and Tanner for watching Lincoln so that we could go to the concert.

Santa's Workshop

We spent a wonderful weekend in Hooper with my family this weekend. This year for Christmas Aaron and I were having a little bit of a difficult time deciding what to get for Lincoln. We really didn't want to get him any more plastic toys. So we came up with the brilliant idea to visit Santa's Workshop (aka my mom's garage) and make Linc some wooden blocks.

Aaron measured out the pieces on 2x2s and a round dowel, then used the saw to cut them up. You can see all the sawdust flying around in the air.

After Aaron cut the wood, my job was to sand it down so that it was nice and smooth. It was a little trickier than you might think trying to sand the wood and keep it square.
Here's me again sanding the wood on the belt sander.
When Aaron was done sawing, he came and helped. He sanded off the corners so that they wouldn't be sharp.

And here are the blocks! We did square ones and rectangle ones some small circular ones and some long circular ones. Aaron is planning on etching in the alphabet into the blocks, and then we'll paint them. But this is the finished project for now.
This picture is just funny, we took the blocks upstairs and Aaron wanted me to stand up and "present" them in the picture, but I was too hungry and too busy looking for food to be bothered with standing up. :)

What Linc's Been Up To

I'm Perfectly Normal...

QUIRKS

Natalie tagged me, and I haven't done this one yet, so I thought I'd give it a go.

♥ Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
♥ Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them.


#1 I have food issues. For example, I very much dislike mashed potatoes, I know you're thinking that's not so weird because everyone has foods they don't like, but even the thought of mashed potatoes or making mashed potatoes makes me gag. Also, I'm not a picky eater but I'm picky about they way I eat food. I can't have any food on my plate touching. And I'm really not in to sauces of any kind, I don't like gravy, ketchup, mustard, most dips, and not many kinds of dressing.

#2 I do not own, nor do I desire to own a television. I've never been much of a TV watcher, it makes me bored. I don't know, I'm not really anti-tv and I don't think other people are the devil for watching TV or anything, I'm just not interested. And I don't feel as if I'm missing out because I can't quote the Office or because I have no idea who just got voted off So You Think You Can Dance. People ask me all the time how I can live without a TV and the answer is: very contentedly.


#3 I am not a phone person. As in I don't really like talking on the phone. Actually that's not true, I have no problem talking to friends and family on the phone, it's the people I don't know. I hate to make appointments over the phone, or call and ask questions, or anything like that. Maybe it's just because I hate the run-around that you always seem to get..."Press 1 for English"...etc. but I just don't have the patients for it. I leave all that stuff up to Aaron. He's a lot better at it than me. :)

#4 I'm a picture/memory freak. We have no less than six large photo albums chuck full of photos to document our lives since we've been married. We've only been married 2 1/2 years. I keep a decent journal, I like to have our family picture taken as often as Aaron will allow, and I plan on turning our blog (which is usually pretty up to date) into a family history book at the end of every year. Obsessed? You bet! But the reason behind this obsession, at least I think, is because after my dad died we could only find one, that's right one, photograph of my entire family (Dad, Mom, Me, Kyle, Jackson, and Tanner), and it wasn't even a professional one, it was one a friend took of our family on a camping trip (and thank goodness she did!). And the only real written records we have of my dad are his mission journal, and a box full of letters he sent to my grandma while he was on his mission. That's it! And there is so much more I would like to know about him. So, I'm obsessed with leaving some kind of a memory of our family.

#5 I have this things with my finger nails. I can't stand them to be long. If there is more than a tiny part of white showing I have to cut them. Maybe this comes from my days as a catcher (it hurts really bad to have nails broken from a softball), who knows? It's funny too, because I can have fake nails and they don't bother me as long as my real nail underneath is still short. The few times I've had fake nails on, I do just fine with them until the nail underneath starts to grow out, then they have to go.


#6 I don't like sheets. Seriously if it were up to me I'd have a fitted sheet on the mattress, and then I'd sleep with a huge snuggly warm quilt and that's it. Unfortunately, Aaron is a sheets person...his only flaw. So every night it's a battle, he pulls the sheets up all nice and tidy, and throughout the night I proceed to ruin all his efforts by kicking the sheets to the bottom of the bed so I don't have to deal with them.


And now that you know the strange truth about me, I tag: Dawn, Tami, Tindy, April, Amber, and Tanner. But only if you guys want to...no pressure.

It's not Christmas without the CANDY!!!!

Yesterday my mom came down to Provo to help me make Christmas candy. This is one of my very favorite parts of the Christmas season. I love baking anyways, but the things you make a Christmas time make the whole house smell like the holidays. Plus, my other favorite thing is dividing up the goodies onto paper plates and taking them around to all our family, friends, and neighbors.

Anyways, yesterday my mom and I tried a new recipe: ginger bread cookies. My mom's friend used to make them and give them to us every year when I was growing up, and I remember sneaking into the kitchen to snitch them off the plates. I couldn't get enough of them. For some reason she stopped making them. But my mom got the recipe, and this year I was bound and determined to have ginger bread cookies. I thought they were going to be really hard because they taste so wonderful. I was really surprised though because they were SO EASY! And didn't take any longer than making normal cookies.

We also made Million Dollar Fudge, which is to die for, and takes all of 15 minutes to make. It makes 5 pounds. That's a lot of fudge. But I love it. We had just enough time left before my mom had to go back to Hooper to make pretzel rods. Normally we just dip the pretzels in chocolate and call it good, but this year I wanted to try my sister-in-law Lisa's recipe. In her recipe you dip the pretzels in caramel and then in chocolate. I wasn't disappointed. YUM!

A few weeks ago my mom and I went up to my Aunt Michelle's and learned how to make Pecan Logs. They are a little trickier to make because it requires two people to do it. But they were worth the effort and also made a ton. I got to take an entire batch home with me.

So those were all the things we had to put on plates this year and take around. I bought too small of plates, so it didn't make for a very need or orderly looking goodie pile, but I figure the taste will make up for it. We had fun visiting those we took candy too (mostly Aaron's family that live in the area, and a few of our good friends).

We were so busy with the candy making that I didn't take any pictures. I know! But you'll just have to trust me that everything looked and tasted delicious. :)

Our Poor, Neglected Blog

Aaron and Lincoln playing outside in Hooper over Thanksgiving Break

It's about time we update the blog. The weekend before Thanksgiving break I got sick with what was probably a sinus infection. But it totally kicked my trash and left me devoid of all energy. It was so bad that Lincoln and I had to go live with my mom in Hooper the week of Thanksgiving because Aaron couldn't miss anymore class or school to stay home and take care of the two of us. My mom was happy that she got to see us two days earlier than planned. Too bad I wasn't feeling well most of the time though. But she was a lifesaver, and Lincoln enjoyed all of his time with Grandma.

Lincoln and Aaron playing on one of the scooters in the driveway in Hooper

On Wednesday BYU let out of Thanksgiving break so Aaron was able to come up to Hooper and join us. Lincoln was so happy to see his dad. They played outside and had a great time.

One half of the Thanksgiving dinner table: Steph, Kirk, Aaron, Lincoln, me, Jackson, and Tanner

Thanksgiving Day I still wasn't feeling that great and I slept most of the morning. But I felt bad that my mom and Kerry were doing a huge dinner all by themselves, so I woke up from my nap long enough to cut the rolls into circles for my mom.

The other half of the table: Jack, Tanner, Mom, Kerry, Steph, and Kirk

Dinner was excellent! We had all the normal stuff. Lincoln got to eat his first Thanksgiving dinner (last year he was still on formula). I think he liked the jello salad the best. And surprisingly he didn't like the mashed potatoes. He kept spitting them out. I guess he takes after his mom in that regard.

After Thanksgiving Dinner, Aaron, Nelson, and Steph playing Rockband while we wait for pie

I was feeling a ton better after dinner. We put Lincoln to bed and then everyone helped clean up and put dinner away. Then some of the family went into the living room and played Rockband on the Wii and others sat down at the table with the paper to check out all the ads and see if there were any great deals happening on Black Friday.

Aaron being the lead singer on Rockband

Ever since a long time ago, my mom and I have always had a tradition of getting up early and going shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. We aren't even all that into the shopping, but we always go to Burger King and get Cini-Mini's and enjoy watching all the crazy people out there. We end up buying pajamas or something minor usually, but we always have fun together. Since I've been married we haven't gone because either I've had to work, or it was our turn to be in Vancouver. So this year we had big plans to go, and I was afraid they were going to be ruined because I wasn't feeling well, and I didn't have much stamina.

Mom and Kerry searching the Black Friday ads

Well, we didn't get up early to go, but by about 11:00am Friday morning I felt well enough to venture out for a bit. We put Lincoln down for a nap, and Steph was kind enough to offer to watch him when he got up so that Aaron could study for the GRE. Then my mom and Tanner and I headed to the Layton mall. Mom bought Tanner some new soccer cleats. Tanner bought a new shirt for himself. I got Lincoln some new clothes that will be Christmas presents, and I also found an awesome present for Aaron that was originally $80 but I got it for $25. I'm pretty happy about that, and I hope he likes it. After that my energy was depleted so we headed for home.

Stacey, me, Whitney, Sydni, Lisa, and Jeremiah at Whitney's Bridal shower on Saturday.

Really this Thanksgiving holiday Aaron and I had the best of both worlds because all of Aaron's family came to Provo for Thanksgiving. Since it's our turn to have Thanksgiving with my family we still spent the holiday in Hooper. But Friday afternoon we headed back to Provo. Aaron's sister Stacey and her husband Rob, and their three kids Audrey, Bennett, and Jeremiah came up from Arizona and stayed at our house while we were in Hooper. Aaron's sister Sydni and her husband Jake and their son Zac, came down from Idaho and stayed at our house too. Aaron's sister Lisa, and her husband Jared and their four kids, Jordan, Carter, Spencer, and Aneya drove from Washington to spend the holiday with Jared's parents in Minorsville, UT and because of that Aaron's parents didn't want to be alone in Washington for the holiday, so they came to Utah too. Aaron's two brothers Ryan and Kelly both already live here. Wow, that was a mouthful. So, when we got back Friday afternoon, Stacey and Rob and kids went to stay with Rob's sister who lives in Provo. So in our apartment were Aaron's parents, Sydni & Jake, and us. We had a great time together, even if there was a lot of chaos.

Aaron's dad, Chuck, opening his birthday present . Everyone went in together to get him a new laptop.

Saturday morning was Aaron's cousin Whitney's bridal shower. She's getting married December 27th in Seattle, WA. Lisa's family came up from Minorsville and stopped in Provo on their way back to WA. It was fun to have all us girls together again.

Saturday night Aaron's Aunt Debby and Uncle Richard had the whole Swan side of the family (yep, all of Aaron's brothers and sisters, and their families all in one place for the first time since Jeremiah was born in October.) over to their house. We were having a giant combined birthday party for Aaron, Kelly, and Chuck, who all had birthdays in November. All the siblings and Aaron's mom had gone together to buy Chuck a new laptop. He didn't suspect a thing, and it was great that we all got to be there to watch him open it. Thanks Richard and Debby for letting us have dinner in your house.

The entire Chuck and Debbie Swan family as of right now (there are currently two on the way)

The more spread out the family becomes the harder it is for us to get a family picture with everyone in it. So of course Saturday night we took advantage of everyone being together. Kelly set up a mini photo studio in the living room. He has a really nice camera, so he took the picture.

Chuck and Debbie and all the current grandkids

We also had one of the grandkids taken. I thought the picture turned our pretty good for as many kids as we had to try to hold still, look at the camera, and be happy all at the same time. What was even funnier was the number of adults (myself included) jumping and dancing around and talking in funny voices trying to make the kids look and smile. Now that's what we should have gotten a picture of!

Lincoln and Zac in their church outfits

Sunday morning was a bit of a challenge trying to get 6 adults and 2 toddlers ready for 9:00am church. The boys look adorable in this picture. Too bad neither of them stayed happy for very long. We all ended up leaving church early because the boys were just too cranky for anyone to get anything out of the meeting.

Lincoln and Grandma and Grandpa Swan at the duck pond

The good news was that both boys had a much longer nap that usual and allowed almost all of the adults to have a nap too. We all woke up feeling much happier. To let the boys get some of their energy out before dinner we took them up to the BYU duck pond. We went to the north one, because I usually like it better because it's harder for Lincoln to fall into the water there. But this time the water was really low and there were no ducks to be found. The boys still had a good time running around in the grass, and to make up for no ducks, we took them to the park afterwards. The evening ended with another wonderful family dinner at Richard and Debby's.

Krystal at the duck pond

Sunday night Chuck and Debbie decided to get a head start on the drive home and drove to Treemonton. Then Monday morning Sydni and Jake packed up and left too. Our house felt really empty after that. Luckily Stacey and Rob were still in town because Rob had some work training. It was fun spending time with them and having them over for dinner. By the end of the week I finally felt well enough that I was allowed to hold Jeremiah (the new baby)!

Lincoln was on again off again sick all week, probably with the stomach flu. And yesterday Aaron went and took the GRE and came home and felt miserable. Kelly and Uncle Richard came and gave him a blessing and then Kelly took him to the instacare. Aaron now has stomach flu. Yuck! Hopefully he gets over it quickly, since finals are coming up. But anyways, that's the story of why our blog has been neglected.