Christmas & Moving

So, this post is way late! But I figured you'd all want to see Ben's 1st Christmas! :) We stayed home in Idaho for Christmas. So it was just the 3 of us + Owen (the dog). Right after we opened presents, I packed up the tree because we moved a couple days later! Ben was very tired Christmas morning, because I had taken his pacifier away the night before. So he was a little out of it. Most of the pictures we took of him had a really flat, sleepy expression. But we still managed to take a few happy, smiling ones too! 

 Ben LOVED sucking on the wrapping paper. (Don't worry - he was supervised the whole time and did not consume any. :) )

 I think his favorite part was crinkling the paper. Right after his first present, we decided he was just too sleepy. So we laid him down for a nap and put Christmas on pause for a while.

 Once he woke up from his nap, we was ready to go again. With all the pretty bows laying around, I just couldn't resist.

 He REALLY loved the presents we got him. We got him a bunch of things that rattle (I'm shaking a rattle in the above picture). He went nuts for them!

 He was amazed by the wrapping paper. He had no idea what this nonsense meant.

 "What the heck is going on!?"

 "Oh, I love it!!!"

 Playing on the floor with his new toys!

I told you Ben loves the Dog. They have a very symbiotic relationship. Owen loves to come clean-up the messes Ben makes (aka spit-up) and Ben loves to pull the dog's hair. They get along great!

Some of our favorite Christmas presents:

Kendra's - meat slicer, recipe binder, a few clothing articles

Doug's - a blue tooth speaker

Ben's - Anything that rattles and some books that have tails sticking out of the pages

So with Christmas over, we packed and cleaned as much as we could and then hopped in the truck to Salt Lake City. Doug is going back to school. I am soon to be working full-time (which I am both nervous and excited for!) We have a little tiny apartment, in a very culturally-diverse neighborhood. We have lots of friends and family near-by and there are tons of things to do here. So far, we love it!

I'm excited for the change of pace and since we'll be here for the next several years while Doug is in school, I'm glad to feel like we can lay down some "roots" while we're here. No more moving every 7-8 months. And hopefully, since I'm planning on being here for a while - I'll be able to progress a bit in my field and advance to some higher positions. (We will see!)