Freedom! Time to.....

RELAX!!!

Too bad we can't do it....

HERE!!

We'll settle for a house devoid of stress :)

Ben is finally done with this quarter! He finished his last test on Friday and since then we have managed to sleep in, download music, watch movies, play racquetball, go to the temple, teach the sunbeams, chill, and get to know each other again after an estrangement caused by studying...just kidding :P We have done nothing that requires too much brain power and everything that we enjoy! We can breathe again! Oh how we enjoy the calm; and we are going to take advantage of it before the storm starts again in a week!

You mean, they're really letting me come back?

So, some good news on our end today: I got re-accepted to BYU! It was a pretty for sure thing since I am a former student and I haven't flunked anything, but it is still exciting to actually know. I will be going back to Utah a week before Ben in June and will start again with Summer term. It's school full-time for me. I figured out that with the credit I will be getting for my Independent Study classes and attending Institute here in Kirksville, I will only have thirteen of fourteen classes left to take. That means if I take a ton of credits each semester, which I plan to do, I can probably be done in a little over a year from now! Haha! I am so excited! Oh it feels so good. Graduation, here I come...finally!

A Bunch of Nerds...

After a long day of studying, a few moments of respite for dinner, and two episodes of House, Ben and Meg sit on the living room couch and stare at the now empty tv screen.

"So do you need to study tonight?" asks Meg.
"Yeah, probably," sighs Ben. "How about you?"
"I guess I should," Meg says, resorting to fate.

Two hours later:
"How's it comin'?" Meg asks so she can find an excuse to stop studying for a few seconds.
Ben leans back in his chair and replies,"Good, you?"
"Fine, I might almost be done for the night," Meg replies with hope.

An hour later:

"Are you done yet?" Meg asks with desperate pleading in her eyes for a positive response. She is looking for any reason to not have to work on school anymore for the day.

"That's good enough for tonight, let's go to bed," Ben finally replies.

Seven hours later:

"Mmmrgrgggg . . . I don't wanna get up!" Meg mumbles into the pillow and Ben just laughs.

At least there is yummy cold cereal in the kitchen and Friday is just three days away. Oh, and I can't forget the haven for dinner and chillin' in between study sessions!

:) What a good sport! We are so close Ben!

Ben and I are quite the pair these days. Study, study, study...Us two peas in a pod are so interesting, don't you think?!

The Last Room

Here is the evidence that I am not just a bum :P I finally finished re-texturing and painting the last room in the house! We saved our bedroom for last since it is the last one that any company will see. But it is so nice to have it done; I was anxious for this project. Just a few more things to do to finish up the house now. Shoulda taken a before picture, sorry!

Valentines Cards

My friend Tiffany found this adorable idea for Valentine's Day cards online so we had fun doing this little project. It was simple and cute. You cut out two identical sizes of a color of cardstock and use scraps of fabric to cut out small hearts. Then you choose a color thread and sew three sides of a border (two sides and bottom) around the paper and then sew the heart on. After that, you put the two pieces together and sew them together with the last border edge at the top of the card. You can make them pretty small too so scrap paper works great. There are a few more details, if anyone is interested let me know! Tiff did all the sewing when we did this project. Thanks Tiff, I had fun! It's nice to be crafty now and then :)

One for the Hubby

Just thought I would share a sweet experience: It is the sweet experiences in life that keep us going. Oh, come on now, I haven't posted anything sappy in a while, you can handle it :) I came down with a nasty cold last weekend, but I can at least be grateful that I escaped it for as long as I did. You all know the symptoms: runny nose, stuffy nose, sore nose from all the nose blowing, watery eyes, parched throat from breathing only through your mouth, and add very unpleasant sinus headaches and neck aches to the list for me. The sweet part about all of this that reminds me how blessed I am is Ben's support even at 3:30 in the morning (this is good news for when we have kids :) I woke up to that ridiculous sinus headache on Monday night. I was kinda scared it hurt so bad! Ben asked me if I was ok, but I think he could tell it was bad from my response; at 3:30 in the morning Ben sits behind me and lets me lean back against him while he rubs my neck and head. Need I say anymore...Ben, I love you.

Fun in the Sun....and SNOW!

Thanks to my sister-in-law Rachel, I now have the pictures from our snow outings at Christmastime. We love going up to the snow at Sly Park in California around Christmas. This year we went twice and had a blast! It was such a beautiful day! We missed Jason and Leslie's family though :)

SnOw in my face!

Daddio..

Jess and Matt in the Rhino. Matt's parents Gene and Jan let us borrow it, it was a blast!

The gang, Matt, Jess, Me, Jared, Lexi, Dad, and Ryan.

Cute Mom :)

Nice one Ben! Great face!

Ryan chillin' on the quad.

Rach

Jarwed. Love the hat.

Ryan and A.J. A.J wanted to try the snowboard so Ryan held onto him while he went down the hill. He is only 3!!!

Ben making the sledding path smoother.

Baby Sarah, Ryan and Rachel's little girl. She is all smiles all the time.
Ryan and Rachel's family. These pics turned out so good!

Ben and I. So fun!