New year and new schedule!

January is practically over! I truly do feel like this last month has lasted about 60 days haha. It already feels like Jake has been in school for forever, but maybe that's just because we both have a lot on our plates right now! But in a good way. We are definitely staying busy and happy.

We started out the year in Cincinnati and came home a few days after school had started. We were definitely ready to get back into the swing of things and find a groove that fit our family. Jake has been working night shifts at the local behavioral hospital and is enjoying it! He has already come home with a lot of crazy stories. I am really proud of him because working full time night shifts has got to be one of the most exhausting things. On top of that, he's a full-time student, teaching anatomy, and doing research with a professor! It's been interesting trying to find a rhythm that works for us where we don't all three feel drained and we are finally getting there.

I have been working at Jake's aunt's business M-F from 8-12. It's been the perfect amount of hours and it's nice making some extra money on the side! Most of the time June comes with me and plays with Emma, her little cousin that is about the same age, or I have a family member watch her. Luckily I never work more than a few hours so I don't feel like I am spending too much time away from June.

It's been nice to work and have something else to do besides be a mom and wife. Although I truly feel like those roles are my "calling" in life, I'm not quite busy enough to not go crazy with that being the only thing on my plate. So having a part-time job and one class to finish online before I graduate, I am feeling like this is my sweet spot!

June is growing bigger and smarter every day. This is definitely the best age yet. She's still cuddly, loves being with me (maybe a little too much sometimes), but I also see her gaining some independence. She has been taking more solo steps lately and I can seriously see it in her eyes when she realizes she can do it and feels confident. She doesn't take more than 4 steps in a row usually, but she truly does get better and more confident every day! On top of that, she learned the word "DOG"! We have two my little pet shop dogs and she loves them. They are the most random toys but she holds them and will just crawl around the house with at least one of them in her hand. Anyway, for weeks I would tell her it was a dog. Or I would point our a dog if we saw one outside and I always point them out in her books telling her they say "woof woof". One day I was asking her if she could say dog and she just said it! Now every time she sees her little toy dog or any kind of animal (like the cat on the bag of cat food at Trader Joe's) she says "dog"!

One activity that Jake and I have been doing together lately is working on redoing the entire Seven Brothers Farm website! It's been a really fun late night activity for us to do together while June sleeps, although we have definitely learned that we would probably not work well together ALL DAY haha but we do good work as a team. It's been really fun to learn a new skill with WordPress and gets me excited about vamping up this blog one day (probably switching to WordPress one day!). We have seriously learned how to make a very simple pretty website. It has taken us HOURS AND HOURS hahaha but it's been super fun.

That's about it on an update for us. We're trying to budget better and make more homemade meals this year so we can both be a little healthier. Jake started crossfit for the month with his brother Aaron. I've been doing at least 20 minutes of yoga daily. It's been great and I'm hoping we both keep it up with a little bit of a "healthier" life style (I still love my daily coke from McDonald's. I will probably never give that up lol)

Lisette's graduation!!!

June and I were able to go on a little trip to Kansas for Lisette's graduation from Kansas State! It was so fun to see my family and for them to be able to see June. It's Jake's family's "turn" for Christmas this year, so it was nice to be able to spend some time with them!

Lisette graduated in Early childhood ed and she's going to be so great. She has worked SO HARD the past couple years, but especially this last year, and I'm so proud of her and I'm glad she's finally done! She decided not to get her master's degree quite yet, so I'm excited that she can come visit us for a couple weeks when June turns 1!!

For the weekend, we all rented the cutest air bnb in Manhattan called the Sunset Cottage. They designed it PERFECTLY, but the only thing they didn't design well is the windows - I think they kept the original windows, because it is DRAFTY in there! Haha holy cow it was so freezing cold at night, I slept with pants, sweatshirt, and socks. I'm glad June is a little heater because I knew she was perfectly warm at night in her fleece pajamas cuddling me.

The whole weekend was so fun. We shopped at Target, ate black raspberry bean dip which is AMAZING and June loved it too! I got to see Carli, Allison, my Grandma and Cassie and all of Lisette's friends got to meet June. She did get a little overwhelmed, but really, she handled it all very well given the situation!! She is very much a mama's girl though and wanted to be by me the whole time which I am fine with! Haha she did let Lisette hold her a few times though because she looks the most like me, of course.

It was a really fun and fast weekend. The sun was shining, it was 40 degrees, and we pretty much just hung out the whole weekend, chatting and catching up with each other. My mom highlighted my hair with a box lol so it's much lighter now which I am liking so far, although it's different - I haven't highlighted my hair in over 2 years!

It'll be fun to watch Lisette's "next steps". And it makes me that much more excited to BE DONE with college!! One class left until I can finally get my degree!

Ben to Singapore!

Ahh, it's been a bittersweet week for a lot of reasons! First, June and I just got back from Kansas where we were visiting for Lisette's college graduation (more on that later). Second, it's the last week of school . . . ever! I'll never have to sit in a classroom again, write a research paper again, or ever give a presentation again! I'm so excited but it's also weird because . . . what am I going to do with my time now!? Haha. And third, because Ben and Ralph were visiting this week to take Ben to the Provo MTC. We are so, SO proud of Ben, but we are also sad to see him go and be away from our family for 2 years. We know that he will be well taken care of and really hope he will enjoy his time there learning Chinese and serving the people of Singapore!

Today, I woke up and went to work at the warehouse. I just started this week and it's been pretty good so far- but the learning curve is pretty steep if I'm being honest! Haha. I left a little early so I could spend time with Ben and Ralph before they both had to leave and as I was leaving, it was snowing and sticking like nobody's business. I was shaking the entire drive home. I'm so glad we bought new tires!

When I got home, everyone had eaten breakfast and they were just hanging out. Bob was in town for some work so he was there too, it was a party! We finished up some of Ben's laundry and then the Mauldins came over and brought Waffle Love - so good. After they left, it was nice to have just the 4 and 1/2 of us hanging out together. It's just a weird feeling - knowing this is the last time you'll see a person for 2 years . . . What do you say?! What do you talk about?!

We drove to the MTC with his bags in tow, parked, and walked out to take a couple of pictures. Ralph and Ben had a really genuine hug, and it was really sad to watch them part. You really could feel the love, and it seemed like Ralph never wanted that hug to end.

When we walked him over to the actual building, they are pretty strict and you can only walk to the gate. If you want to go in, you have to drive in, so we were saying our goodbyes at the most awkward spot but it was probably for the best. I got some super cute pictures of Ben, June, and Jake and I'm excited to look back on them in a couple years when he returns home.

I am really proud of Ben for serving a mission. I can only imagine how hard it is to make the decision to serve a mission, let alone actually do it. He is a great example for our little family. I'm excited to hear his stories and watch how his mission helps shape him. I'm also excited to hear him speak Chinese. I know he is going to be great.

We can't wait to see him in 2 years! xoxo

Thanksgiving in Cinci (and photo dump)

We just got back from thanksgiving break in Cincinnati! It's always so nice to get some down time at the farm and hang out with family. We were able to get flights last minute thanks to Jake's dad, and we were so excited to get some time off from school. Jake just got a job where he works 12 hour shifts, on top of school, research, and volunteering, so this break was much needed!

We were able to spend most of our time just at the farm hanging out together - eating food, playing games, sitting by the fire. We took June in the hot tun for the very first time, watched movies, and went to the Cincinnati Zoo festival of lights! They hadn't been in a couple years, so it was exciting to go all together. On top of that, Tracey bought a pass where all her grandkids and a couple adults can go for free for a year, so I know where we will be this summer! I'm super excited.

Thanksgiving Day was fun, too. Not too many people came over, so it wasn't too hectic and it was really fun to catch up with some of Jake's extended family. The best part was that June took a three hour nap during the time that we ate so I ate handsfree and then she woke up so happy. Everyone was wondering where she was and I was really surprised she was still sleeping, especially when it was so loud.

When she finally did wake up, Scott was the first one to hold her. Haha he sat her on the counter with him and gave her a biscuit to suck on. Too bad she has two sharp teeth and bit a piece off, started gagging, and she got a little scared. I ended up taking her outside by the fire so some other people could love on her. Then when she was ready for bed, she went down no problem. I guess there's something about Cincinnati or maybe all the stimulation that makes her so tired and sleep so well. I'm not complaining!

June and I were able to spend some time feeding the animals. She loved it, even though it was SO FREEZING. It was so cute bundling her up in beanies and jackets to make sure she was warm. She loves being outside, so it was obvious that she was going to love it. One morning when we were getting all the feed ready, a couple of the little pigs had gotten out and come to the garage (they know where the goods are) and as I was holding her, she was just straining her neck to look down so she could see these creatures walking around on the ground. She was mesmerized! She also loved petting all the cats and the dogs, which was surprising to me. I'm always scared she is going to get scratched because babies are just rough with fur, but she really did pet them softly. Except for the one time that she pulled Harley's paw, but luckily Harley is used to that. I really love watching June explore at the farm; I can't wait until she can walk around and actually do some exploring!

Here are some photos we took over the week: