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Crazy Busy

Okay, now it's official, she walks all the time now. Have to keep everybody updated because she likes to take her precious little time with everything!! So, I need to take a moment to whine about how very busy I am. And yes, I brought it all on myself, but I still feel overwhelmed. Plus, you all want to know what I'm up to, right? So, let me put to rest the rumors that I am a lazy housewife and tell you all what I do with my days! So, I have 12 credit hours this semester, and all of the classes are a nightmare. One is a legal class which is just reading and reading and reading and more reading. Oh yeah, and when you're done with that, read some more! Another one is a statistics class and we all know how much Breanna hates math. I thought that Ryan would be able to help me a lot, you know, cause his major is statistics, but he keeps looking at it and saying "oh, yeah this stuff kind of confused me too". AAHHH! But it's actually been good for both of us because I work really well when I have a sounding board, and it's been a great review for him. So slowly but surely we muddle through. The last one is an accounting class, which wouldn't be so bad, except that the professor is one of those that thinks his class is what the world revolves around. Kill me now! I'm also in the primary presidency, and I volunteered to do all the birthday cards for the year, so I have to sit down and spend a couple hours every month printing those out. And I have to plan sharing times and fun stuff like that. I have two ladies that I visit teach that are having babies in March, and our landlord is pregnant and due in April, so I'm making rag quilts for each of them. That in and of itself could keep me busy for the next 2 months! I'm also on a new scrapbooking kick. I really want to get caught up before I have another kid so that I'm not completely overwhelmed. I'll just be completely overwhelmed right now! I've started going to the ward book club, so that means another book to read every month. I'm actually done with January's, which is good. And that one isn't too much pressure because half the people that show up don't even read the book! I spend 1 1/2 hours every day and the gym, which takes up a lot of my day. I have a house to clean, and most importantly, I have a beautiful little girl to take care of that now moves faster than ever. And she's very clingy!! And, like last semester, for all intents and purposes, I am a single mother again. We got so spoiled over the Christmas holiday having Ryan around, and now he's super busy again and working his tail off. I keep myself together by reminding myself that this is the last semester we have to do this!! Oh, I almost forgot. It's also tax season, so I have tons of taxes to do. I have my dad's, which are always a real treat, and then all my siblings, plus my own. And I still go up every two weeks to work at my dad's office, which means I pretty much lose that whole day. Here are some pictures of my computer room right now! Oh, the mayhem!
Ryan and I went to the Ryan Shupe concert on Saturday night, and they sang the song "Simplify". That song has never meant more to me than it did Saturday night! I have to say though that I'm grateful to have things to do. One of the hardest things about Ryan being gone all the time has always been that I don't have things to fill the time. So I'm grateful to be busy. And I'm being very careful to keep my priorities straight. Bella is always number one, and when she needs to cuddle, I gladly take the opportunity!! So, if any of you made it this far, I'm impressed. I don't really expect most people to. Just needed to let it all out!! And, it looks like another post on my blog, so nobody can send me comments that I don't ever post!! Hehe! Okay, lastly, I'm posting the cute pictures of all my family. We had family pictures done, and it was so hard getting 12 kids to all look at the camera, but so many of them turned out so cute!

Aren't they adorable???

Well, it's about time...

Bella has finally decided to make walking her primary mode of transportation!! Yeah for Bella! Okay, maybe not primary mode quite yet, but she's walking a ton. She's still a little unsteady, but at least now we know she can do it! Hopefully by the time she's 18 months, she won't crawl around anymore!

PHEW!!!

merry christmas everyone! i didn't get a chance to post before hand. i hope everyone enjoyed their christmas and new year. ryan and i had reason to celebrate. for those of you who haven't been around us over the last couple of months, thing have been tense. ryan was in a class for his major that was really, really, really hard. he's been gone so much, i kept joking that i was a single mom for all intents and purposes. about mid-semester, he was pretty sure he was going to fail the class. test weren't going well, and the final didn't either, so christmas was sort of stressful for us. we were praying that he would at least get a D and not have to re-take the class. an F would set him back another 6 months and would ruin graduation dreams for april. his grade was posted the night of the 30th. i checked while he was at work because i needed to prepare myself before he came home! when i looked, he had gotten a C. it was shocking to both of us. i cried right there! school has been so gruelling for him and neither of us were sure that we could take another graduation disappointment. but, as long as he passes this semester, we're good to go! i just can't wait what life outside of school has in store for us. but we are so grateful for what we have and for the C. i have no doubt that the Lord has blessed us this semester and answered some very desperate prayers. so this is my shout-out to my incredible husband, who has plowed through some of the worst times and endured over 8 years of school now. he also continues to be a fabulous daddy and loving husband. bella still won't say mommy, but she's got daddy down pat. which is amazing because she barely sees him!! and we continue to pray for graduation in april and perhaps a real job??

and we're so grateful for our beautiful little girl. she makes us laugh a hundred times a day, at least. it it weren't for her, we may not smile very often! she is talking a ton now, most of it to inatimate objects. we're still waiting for her to walk. she's getting so close, she just won't do it. oh well, i guess i won't really worry for a while longer. but she's becoming a little toddler anyway. her favorite toy is her little car that she can scoot around on. oh, and i guess i should clarify my last post. piggy is a stuffed animal that bella has attached herself to. i wasn't referring to bella! there was a slight misunderstanding there!! and i realized that you can't really tell what it is in the picture, it's just a big pink mass. but piggy is the dirty, disgusting, falling apart pig that we don't get through a day without.

i hope this post finds everyone happy and well. ryan and i have a renewed sense of hope after his C, so we're feeling good right now. but, a new semester is about to start, so here we go again!!

just wanted to share some of our christmas joy!

my mom made cute little pajama pants for all the grandkids. this is all of them but stefanie's three kids. we need to get them all together for a picture, but this is the best we have so far.

this is our cute little christmas tree. it really is as small as it looks because our house is too little to fit much else!

bella wanted to help me with the lights. and what a help she was...