Tea for Two

I finish at work at the perfect time. It's 5 pm like most people, which that explains the traffic on my way home, but that's not why it's perfect. At 5 o'clock, the sky is just completely gorgeous with color. The sunsets are the highlight of my drive home. I've been taking pictures of them for the past few weeks and want to share. (My car is stopped when I take these pictures.) Nov. 13 I got so excited that the sky was pink that I sent to someone who absolutely loves pink, Mercedes. Dec. 4 Dec. 16 Dec. 18 With the knowledge that we are moving in about a week (YIKES!), I've been relishing my time driving around the town I grew up in. I love that I spent my entire life here and that we started our married life here. Next stop, Utah!

Christmas came early this year for us. In November, Jonathan applied to various universities and got in to all of them. It was such a blessing to finally feel like we had options to pick from. Well, we weren't sure about which school to pick, so naturally we went to the temple. It was obvious where we needed to be. So, we are going to be moving to attend.... Source Utah Valley University! Jonathan is beyond excited to be back in school and getting closer to finishing his degree and starting a career in something he loves. I'm so happy that we will be so much closer to Taylor, Kenzie, & sweet {not so little anymore} Mercedes. We'll also be closer to Chris, Annie, Seth, & Clara and Hannah in Vegas. We will still have lots of family to be with. As we've been working on moving, there have been some road blocks along the way. Jonathan's still waiting to hear back about what credits transfer and last night the apartment we were trying to get was l...

This Thanksgiving break was really relaxing and filled with family. Jonathan's family went to Utah to be with his brother's family, so we had a one family Thanksgiving. My brother's family drove in to town on Wednesday and that started all of the playing for the rest of the week. After a morning of shooting , we had an afternoon of cooking. Thanks to my KitchenAid, we had whipped potatoes instead of mashed potatoes. After dinner, there was a cousin sleepover. We spent Friday morning playing outside in the warm, sunny weather. Our neighbors joined us for some t-ball. Ryan is such a good oldest cousin. That night we had pizza at Andy and Amy's. The oldest and second youngest grandkids. While the boys played upstairs, Lyla and Clara quietly colored. I was in shock that these 2 would just sit there for so long. Girls are definitely different from boys. On Saturday, I was boring and didn't take any ...

This short video is such a good reminder for me that I thought I would share it. Sometimes in life, we are certain that we are on the right road. When in reality, we are being taught that  it isn't the right one just so that we can be certain that it isn't right. It's a tough way to learn, but the key is to know that all will be well and that there are better things in store as you keep to the new road you are on. I regularly need that reminder with all that has happened this past fall. All will be well.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving day is going shooting. I'm usually the only girl, so I get to spend some quality time with my dad and brothers. This year my oldest nephew got to come along with us. We had 4 generations of Pattersons. Our usual place was packed with people, so we found another area which was better because it was Ry's first time. Ry got to shoot the .22 All of the adults got to shoot my grandpa's new 1911. Back when he was in the Air Force, he traded a trailer for a 1911 that had a .22 barrel along with a .45 barrel. He wasn't too sure about the origins of the gun and so he sold it, but kept the .22 barrel for it. Last year, he got another 1911 and this was our first time shooting it. It took Chris and Grandpa some time to figure out how to switch barrels. My favorite gun of the day was our old bolt action .22. My great-great grandpa bought this gun from a catalog and he killed a hawk with his first shot...