Merry Christmas From Us

I wanted to send out Christmas cards this year (if you are family and have not received one yet, don't fret, I'm still working on them, slowly but surely they will eventually all be sent out.) , but we don't have a printer and I don't plan on going to the library to print off a bunch of newsletters to go along with the cards, so I'm writing a blog post instead.

Plus, we love and care about so many people who don't fall into the family category but we are just poor college students who don't want to spend more than $20 on Christmas cards, sooooo here's your Christmas card. Just pretend it came in the mail with an envelope and a stamp. :)

2018 was quite the year for us! There have been a lot of wonderful changes!

Let's see, the year started with both Ryan and I in school. I finished up my last semester at BYU and graduated in April with a bachelors degree in Family Studies. I graduated when I was 8 months pregnant, and despite being a pretty small person, I think I was one of the largest people at the graduation ceremony! I'm pretty blessed to have so many people in my life that care about and support me. My parents flew up from Texas and Ryan's family came up from Southern Utah, all to sit through a long and boring graduation ceremony just for me! I originally just expected Ryan to come (and maybe not even him! He hates graduations!) so you can imagine my surprise when both sides of our family decided to come.

Ryan has been working hard, as always (he's the hardest worker I know). He works full-time in the Tire Shop at Sam's Club and comes home every day smelling like the tire shop and with arms covered in grease. (He's too excited to come home to see me to wash his hands thoroughly... but if you ask him, he'll claim their clean!) He's also working hard at school, this year he took Anatomy and we're hoping to be done with that for a while, because it's tough!

What a handsome guy! Even when he's throwing snowballs at me! 

Our last Christmas card blog post announced that we were having a baby, but this is the year that she actually came. :) Rose was born on May 24th, and took her sweet time coming (36 hours of labor later). She is almost 7 months old now, which we can hardly believe! She is the cutest little human being on the planet (no bias of course...) and we love her with every ounce in us. She's sitting up now, rolling over whenever she wants, and she's started eating solid foods. She thinks her mom and dad are the coolest people on the planet, and she wants to be around us ALL the time (I'm sure that will never change.)  She also likes to play with what we play with. My phone, the keys, and my water bottle are some of her favorite toys, and when I'm eating chocolate she wants to participate as well. (Thank goodness! I don't know what I'd do if I had a daughter that didn't like chocolate! It's in our blood!) Her dad is great at making her laugh, and I make her smile. We are the luckiest parents alive!

We are 100% smitten!

This year we went on a few fun trips: we camped at Goblin Valley and played hide and seek among the rock formations, we spent a week camping in Southern Utah with Ryan's family, a week at Lake Powell with my cousins, and then a week here in Central Utah with my parents, who came up for my brother's wedding.

We also moved into a new apartment. We wanted a bigger place so that Rose could have her own room, and we are all sleeping so much better because of it! And we live in a super cool house.

In the last few months, I decided I would apply to graduate school at BYU in their Marriage and Family Therapy program. We had a crazy couple of months while I met with professors for advice, studied for and took the GRE and found a job that gives me more experience. It's a pretty competitive program, so I'm not sure that I'll get in but either way I am looking forward to finding out how that goes. If anything, the new job I started at a residential treatment center for youth is pretty fun and gives me something new to do that also allows me to use my Family Studies degree a little bit.

2018 has been a busy, exciting, slightly exhausting, and fun year for us, and we're really looking forward to seeing what next year brings us. :)

Look at her already rolling her eyes at us. She'll have it perfected for sure by the time she's a teenager!

We wish everyone a very merry Christmas full of love, joy, and a spirit of Christ this season and in the years to come! We love ya'll! <3 The Vorkink Family