Monday, January 16, 2012

New Year, New Place, New Jobs, New House.....Here's To New Beginnings!

Wow, two posts in one day. I am getting some serious work done (on my blog at least). I know I have a few blog posts about how we live in NWA, and have new jobs. Well, there is more "newness" to come!

At the beginning of the year, they started building our first ever house!! We are so excited and can't wait to be in our new home. We have lived in an apartment going on two years now (I'll be going on three years), and it is just a hard place to call home. Especially with us moving twice in the past two years. I just feel as though I am cooped up, and it is hard to spend time outside when you do not have a yard. Hey, some people can do it and I give them props! There are many people that love apartment living. It does have its Pros, such as: not a lot of space to clean, you do not have to mow the lawn or water the grass, if something is wrong inside the apartment just call the front desk and they will send maintenance over, you have a gym, pool, etc. Apartment living has been good for us, but we are in a new stage of life now where we would like a place where we can come home, and feel like we are home. I also cannot wait to meet new neighbors, and possibly develop friendships with people just right down our road.

Here are a few pictures of the progress of our new house. I will keep you updated very frequently I'm sure. We have already been out there so many times since they have started the house. It should be finished toward the end of April with weather pending. You never know how the weather is going to act here, especially January/February.

It may not look too exciting, but we sure we excited when we saw that the dirt was moved around! :)


SOLD!


Our foundation before they poured the concrete

It's weird how it looks so small without the frame up!

Stay tuned!

Christmas as an Adult

This was my first Christmas as an adult, at least in my eyes. Last year, we were still in school and had a month long break as opposed to this year where we only got TWO WHOLE DAYS off for Christmas. I am definitely going to have to get used to this. We could have taken off for longer, but seeing as we have only been at our jobs for about half a year, we decided not to. I told all of my patients that were off for college break, "enjoy it while you can!" In the short amount of time that we had, I feel that we got to see almost everyone that we needed to and were able to spend quite a bit of time with each of our families. 

Here are some pictures from our annual ornament auction:
Love and miss these two!

All the girls

We always have to have a silly picture

Annie and Caleb, they are expecting their second! Congrats!


Jeff, Dea, and their grandbaby, Naomi!

Morgan and Trace, the seniors, reading the Christmas story


Some of the boys

Each year, the seven families (who I talked about earlier in my blog) get together and usually eat dinner, desserts, and have a good time visiting. Each "kid" (there are seventeen of us) has an ornament, and we start by having the seniors that year reading the Christmas story from the Bible. Afterward, the youngest of the 17 kids opens the first ornament, and the bidding starts. Each kid gets to open an ornament, and after we are done bidding we put the money toward someone or something. It is usually something different each year. We really enjoyed getting to see everyone, and catch up! 

Before I go, I have to brag about one of my favorite Christmas gifts this year. I had been telling my grandmother that I always loved her Christmas village, and she gave it to me this year! It is 62 years old, and bought it her first year of marriage for 59 cents! My how things have changed! I LOVE vintage Christmas decorations!

Can't wait to put it up next year!