The most wonderful time of the year!

Someone is another year older and wiser too! Holly and Joel celebrated their birthdays together in Utah this year! Holly turned 23 and and Joel turned 27... seems crazy even as I type it! WOW!

Birthday sub with green lettuce!

       

Joel was able to take off 2 weeks for Christmas this year so we packed up the car with a thousand and one gifts piled high, threw Lucy on top and off we went. Christmas was absolutely wonderful as always. We had such a great time together as a family. I hadn't seen them since August so it was wonderful to see them and spend time as a family. 

Tyler was back this year but we were missing James. We did get to Skype James in the Philippines though. He looks so well- happy and healthy which is always good to see. Prior to skyping he told us his mission president was pretty strict on the 45 minutes call home so we were super pumped when we were able to talk to him for 2 hours! 

     We had a wonderful Christmas morning filled with presents galore. Everyone was spoiled for sure. We stayed until New Years and then had to head home. By the end of the trip it definitely felt like it was time. After Lucy broke one of my mom's Santa figurines, got into the trash for the 8th time and literally mauled my dad we figured it was time to go. 

We had a blast, from ugly sweater parties to awkward family photos we had fun! I wish the holidays would never end, I definitely had a case of "After Christmas Blues" this year. Another year has flown by, I can hardly believe it. 

Happy New Year everyone!

 

  

Ugly Sweater Party 

Silly Boys!

#awkwardfamilyphoto

New Years Eve Party

Hard Core Rockers

The Used have been one of mine and Joel's favorite bands since high school, so when we heard they were coming to Spokane, we bought tickets immediately. We had a blast, I will admit I was pooped at the end of the night and basically collapsed into bed but still, fun! I haven't been to many concerts in my days and this was an interesting one... It seemed there was a prereq to have at least one of the following to get into the concert: 4 or more piercings, at least 2 tattoos, or a set of gauged ears. Needless to say, Joel and I felt extremely out of place. We enjoyed the show, The Used didn't even come on until 10:30 and the concert didn't end till 12:30. Can you say school night...I felt like a zombie the next day at work, but definitely worth it :)

Fall Festives

Fall in Spokane is simply breath-taking. Joel and I have a tradition of going to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins each year. This year we went up to Green Bluff, it is a bunch of family owned farms, there are pumpkins, apples, peaches, cherries, strawberries... anything and everything you could dream of. We picked out some super cute pumpkins (none of which got carved) Joel did cut one open to roast the seeds though. Other than that they sat on our porch looking real cute which was perfect! Here are a few pictures from this Fall season.

Pumpkin patch

Just a quick glimpse of the Halloween decorations in our home!

We're still ALIVE

I know I have been horrible about blogging lately... I could tell you how life has just been crazy and blah, blah, blah, but 'aint nobody got time for dat.' Instead I'll catch you up.

          August: 

Joel and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. I cant believe it has been four years already.  We celebrated with a picnic in Coeur de' Alene. The weather was perfect and the lake was beautiful. We had a great time! 

Elder Woodburn returned from Peru on August 16th! Hooray! 

Joel and I surprised my parents and drove down a few days early. We drove all through the night and arrived at like 2 am. We snuck around the back of the house and tapped on their window really loud and creepyish... freaked my mom out, it was great! They were so excited to see us. We spent the next few days getting everything ready for Tyler's homecoming; groccery shopping, cleaning, cooking, baking, and of course making lots and lots of "Welcome home" signs. Most would say we took it too far in that sense. Here are some pictures from Tyler's arrival! 

Note the werido on the right...he took it too far.

We are so glad he's home. He was a little awkward at first but he's back to his good old Beavis ways and we love it!

When it was time for us to go home, my mom, dad and Tyler actually caravanned with us. They came down and spent a few days down here. Tyler had some friends he wanted to see and so it worked out perfectly. We watched some movies, hiked, crafted and just spent some time getting Tyler reacquainted with life and everything he had missed the last 2 years!

We made Fall Wreath... messy crafters

Finished Product

Lucy was depressed when they left

September was my birthday month and so many friends and family made it extra special. Joel decorated the house with balloons and streamers which he thinks is pointless and NEVER does so I was super excited... and he did a great job! My parents sent me a box filled with lots of treats and prizes, I have recently become a bit of a makeup junkie (thanks to my sister) so it was a makeup filled birthday and I loved every minute. My father-in-law started the tradition last year and carried it on this year as well... he celebrates my entire birthday week! So on Friday afternoon, he brought over 7 gift bags with each day of the week on them. Every day, for a week, leading up to my birthday I got a treat, some were silly but all were thoughtful and filled with love. 25 years old, I seriously cannot believe it!!

Oh and before I forget, one of the most important events to happen during the last few months... Joel decided to leave SME Insurance. After much prayer and consideration, we decided that it was more important for our family for Joel to have a job where he can leave work at work, where he can come home at a reasonable hour and spend time with us, a job he could somewhat enjoy. That would never have been the case had he stayed. We are confident that this decision is going to be best for our future family. So, Joel is on the job hunt again... not very fun but I am sure he will find something that is a better fit soon. 

Movie and Fort

We've really had to start getting creative when it comes to date night around here. There are only like 3 restaurants in Spokane that Joel can eat at and they've gotten old real quick so we've had to resort to dates like these: 

Movie Night and a Blanket Fort! 

                                     Even Lucy liked it....

maybe a little too much!

Out of Town Visitors

      My parents dropped James off at the airport on Tuesday (he flew straight to the MTC in Manilla, Phillipines) I wasn't there obviously but I can imagine just how sad it was :( They decided what better way to cheer up then to come on up to Spokane and visit their favorite child... ME!!
      They only stayed for the weekend but since it was Memorial day weekend it was a little longer which was nice. Holly was able to come too which was wonderful! We had a really good time. My mom and I went to the farmers market in Liberty Lake which was so fun and just like old times. We had movie night and of course fit in a little shopping too. On Sunday, we also went to our old ward. It was really nice to see so many old faces. We had dinner and games with some old friends. It was a really nice trip.

Us girls, always take it too far with pictures, I promise my dad and Joel were here too... I'll show you if I can find any pictures of them :p

Best friends forever!

Business Endeavorers

     When we moved back to Spokane in August of last year, one of Joel's buddies from college asked if Joel would be interested in starting a property and casualty insurance agency with him. Joel knew nothing about insurance but business is definitely his thing and I think the challenge of starting a new company was intriguing to him. Getting this new company (SME Insurance Services) up and running has been more than I think any of us bargained for. Anyone who knows Joel, knows that he is an extremely hard worker and puts his full heart into everything. He has been working like crazy, staying up till 1 or 2 in the morning every night and then getting up at 7 and doing it all over again. I don't know how he does it. The business is doing pretty well they have a large company on board which should bring in a lot of leads.
     Joel has worn so many different hats throughout this adventure, I have realized just how many special talents he has. He created the company name Subject Matter Experts- (SME for short) designed the company logo and the entire website as well as created a CRM system for company use. He is such a hard worker and I feel so blessed to have him as my husband :) Below are a few pictures of the company logo that Joel designed and the finished products.