Our Lovely Christmas

We had the most beautiful Christmas at home this year. Ma and Pa Taylor from Bend and Ma and Pa Darney and Murph from Portland came for the weekend and it was filled with lots of family traditions and so much fun. Friday night was Tex Mex and "The Christmas Story", Saturday (Christmas Eve) was football, relaxing, church, Chinese and "A Muppet's Christmas Carol" and Sunday was kicked off with Cinnabons and presents, tons of food and drinks :) (maybe a few too many of those), a large prime rib feast and "Home Alone". Jake, Mego and Coop were also able to join us on Christmas Day which we were pumped about and so happy to have them. We are so incredibly thankful to have the most awesome parents and friends in the world and feel so blessed that they were able to spend this Christmas with us. Happy New Year everyone!

Animals got to kick off present opening

New stockings for Mom and Dad

The new helicopter/ "Carson's helicopter flying face, mouth open"

Paws LOVES his new bed

Mama T "Tebowing"

A BSU snuggie and kindle...can you say spoiled!?

One of FOUR "in between meals" walks around the hood

Snacky Snacks...to hold us over between Cinnabons and dinner

Dad trying out his new golf club chuck-it and trying to tire Coop out...didn't work

There's just nothing cuter than boys and their dogs

L.O.V.E.

Me and my favorite M.I.L.

Cooper Coop (a.k.a our furry nephew)

C playing with his favorite new toy

I don't think G was too thrilled about this shot

Whiskey and eggnog...need I say more?

Need to clarify this photo: this is NOT our yard inflatable.
This was taken in front of a neighbors house on one of
our many walks. No offense if you have a yard inflatable but,
well, they ARE pretty stupid. Sorry.

Oh the weather outside...

IS BEAUTIFUL! Although, I sure wish there was even just a hint of that cold, white substance I look forward to all year long. Sad. Winter (although my husband thinks I'm a total nut for it) is my absolute fav season. Nothing beats sweatshirts, layering, SNOW, the holidays and my personal favorite, winter beer ales! I'm a very happy girl this time of year. To kick off the holiday season we drove up north a little ways to find us some snow and our Christmas tree. That's right, we put on our snow gear and cut down our tree in style! We took our camp trailer up, watched football and ate chili with our besties, the Blanchard family. Here are some photos of the season so far...

All the boys on Halloween

 Pony Power, aren't we so cute?!

My sweet family on Halloween

Turkey Day! Ma and Pa Taylor

 

Me, sista and Baby P--debuting in April!

Tailgates

Camping and the great tree hunt

Back to Boise

Wow, what a whirlwind of life changes! About a week after my last post, Carson received a phone call from his District Manager at Federated offering him a territory back in Boise (instead of Portland, as originally discussed). We thought long and hard (not really...I think it took us a whole 2 minutes to make up our minds) and decided that we would LOVE to be back in Boise. As much as we had been looking forward to being closer to family in Oregon, we realized how much Boise was "us" and how much we had truly missed it over the last 8 months. Once the decision was made, it was a crazy few weeks to say the least. We had to break the news to our parents (who were sad but very excited for us and supported our decision), I had to beg for my old job back in Boise (which worked out and I'm now happily back at St. Lukes Breast Care Services) and basically kick our renters out of our home. Actually, we didn't have to kick them out, they needed a bigger place anyways so they were happy to get out of theire lease early! So basically EVERYTHING worked out in our favor and I was back in our house and working in Boise within a month. Carson is still traveling back and forth between here in Minnesota every other week until August 18th, but we've definitely made it through the toughest part. We feel so fortunate and blessed that so many good things have come our way and we could not be more grateful for the love, support and HELP we've received from our family and friends.

Day One

Well, I have decided to put my writing skills to good use and become and official "blogger." At this point, I'm not really sure what that means but I'm gonna give it a go. Where to begin---Carson and I have been living across the country from each other for about 6 months now. He is in Owatonna, Minnesota (a small town just south of Minneapolis) and I am in Portland, Oregon. He had to relocate to the Midwest for an 11 month training period required by his new employer, Federated Insurance, who is headquartered in this small town. I know you're probably thinking, why didn't I move with him? Trust me, we pondered this thought but, in the end, decided that a.) I probably wouldn't be able to find a job (especially short-term) b.) I probably would have just been a distraction to Carson and this was a very important and crucial time for him to be focused and c.) well, it's Owatonna, Minnesota...point made? So we went our separate ways for a while. I picked up and moved from Boise to Portland (where Carson's territory for his job will most likely take him and where my parents are) and he picked up and moved to Minnesota. I'm living with my parents for the time being until we know where exactly we'll be living after training is completed. I feel very fortunate that I was able to find a great job right away in Mammography at an imaging center here in Portland, so I'm not complaining. And that's really our current status in a nut shell. Carson will be back for good the end of August and until then it's a lot of monthly visits and phone calls...kind of a weird circumstances for being newlyweds right? But we're staying positive and strong and we feel that good things will be coming our way soon.