HUGE catch-up...Sorry guys!

I know, I know. I'm a huge blog slacker. I actaully get on most days for a few minutes, check out the blogs I follow to see what's new. I just haven't posted anything because I haven't had time to get my pictures off my camera, weed through them to find what I need, & wait for them to post. Only thing is, my camera is now missing in the clutter. I know I don't need pictures on every post, but there are so many cute ones I want to share. But I digress & I wil try to do better...even without pictures.

Alot has happened in the past (almost) year. I know I have forgotten alot, but here's the highlights from our little family!

- Joey found out he will have to take his last semester of school in the fall. Thus, graduating Dec 11th. Not as early as we'd like. But thank goodness!!
- On May 13th, Livvy got sick for the first time. An ear infection in her Right ear. Then she had a reaction to the antibiotic. Then she got a bad rash. Supposedly a viral rash she will get when she is sick. More med to take care of that. Lovely....
- Mother's Day was very low-key this year, & I loved it!
- Joey got pneumonia.
- Our new nephew was born! Haven't met him since they are in CA now. But from the pictures we see, he's a cutie, just like his siblings!
- Livvy had another ear infection in the other ear. Poor baby!
- Father's day was low key as well.
- In June, we went to sign a lease with one apartment. It got sold out from under us 15mins before our appointment. SO upsetting!! Then good news came that the apt we really wanted became available.
- We got our apt & started moving on June 27th. We were officially moved in on July 4th. We're still unpacking & decorating, but the basic stuff is good to go & we have even had some friends & family over.
- In July, Livvy started walking on her own. She's still not very fond of it, but she knows she can do it!
- Joey & I took our vacation in August. We celebrated our anniversary, took livvy to the zoo for the first time, spent time with family, etc.
- My Aunt, uncle, & three adorable cousins left the U.S. & moved to Saudi Arabia. My uncle has a job that was just oo good to pass up. They came & stayed with Mamaw for a few months until they could get all the paperwork done. Now they are all together & from what I hear, loving every minute of life there! We miss them, but we will get to see them sometime in summer of 2010.
- Apparently our someone in our building was not the cleanest, thus inviting "friends" to come for an extended stay. Apparently when they moved the "friends" needed a place to go & decided to pay everyone else in the building a visit & stay awhile. These things are NOT our friends & we were very upset by this. Our apartment management took take care of them, but it just grosses me out & makes me feel dirty when I know I am clean (Yeah, I'll admit it...Joey & I are both clean freaks.)But they appear to be gone & we couldn't be happier.
- Livvy is a talking, singing, running, dancing machine! She's always on the go, talking about something, getting into something, or taking a moment to break it down whenever there is music. She still loves her "Your Baby Can Read" tapes, The Wonderpets, Spongebob, kitties, doggies, basically any animal, & baby dolls. She is becoming quite the little mommy!
- We took Livvy to the ice rink for the first time. She refused to put on the adorable little skates they have (The ones I have dreamed about my child wearing since I can remember. But I'll live.). But sat in the little carseat chair Larry made & I scooted her around the ice. I hadn't even been on skates in almost 3 years!
- Liv told me in September what she wanted to be for Halloween...Tinkerbell! And, as usual, she got her wish. She loved the dress, but freaked out a bit when the poofy stuff had to go over her head. Then later, she fell in mud while trick-or-treating. In her own words.."Ew! Yucky!" We have taught her well!
- I had a car acceident in late October. I was on a 2-lane road when I car came over the line, so I moved to the right a little. My tires caught the grass on the side of the road & pulled me into a phone pole. It pulled my side mirror off & flung it into the car breaking the window & hitting me in the head a little. It damaged the whole passenger side of the car. Thankfully I was the only one in the car & barely had any issues except a couple of tiny scrathes from the glass. Insurance covered it & everything is fine. But boy, was that scary! I was truly being watched over.
- A new family moved into our ward at church with a little girl only a few days younger than Liv. If you ask Liv who her best friend is she will tell you the little girl's name. Too adorable!
- Joey graduated on Dec 13th! FINALLY! I'm so proud of him. Now he's looking for better job.
- The holidays were very nice. We spent time with family & friends, & everyone got thouroghly spoiled!
- We spent New Year's Eve with Joey's best friend & his little family. Livvy partied until 12:30am & only fell asleep because we were in the car driving home & she was bored. She is a party animal!
- On January 30th, there was a winter storm that hit the area. The roads were iced so Joey couldn't go to work, nor could our neighbor. We were woken up my our upstairs neighbor banging on our door at about 8:45am. Joey jumped up to answer it & immeadiately smelled smoke. Our neighbor told us he thought it was the apartment across the hall & we needed to get out. He had already called the Fire Dept before realizing we were home. Joey ran back to wake Liv & I. We quickly scrambled into jeans instead of PJ's, threw Liv's coat on & Joey & Liv headed out the door. I stayed back to grab a couple of necessities, until the firelady came & screamed at me to get out now until they knew where the fire was coming from. I listened, & we all got outside safely. Moments later they opened the door to the apt next to us & found an elderly man unconscious. No one has ever told us for sure what happened, but it appeared he had been smoking on his couch & just fell asleep. The man only suffered smoke inhilation & a few burns, & no one else was injured. A nice woman in the next buliding over told Joey to bring Livvy in out of the cold. My parents came to pick her up a few minutes later. We spent the day washing 14 loads of laundry, cleaning, using Febreeze like mad, & cleaning carpets, etc.It was absolutley crazy to see them pull out the smoldering funiture & see the aftermath. Everything was ash. Our outside hall has been cleaned, but is still tinged with black soot everywhere. The experience in & of its self was scary enough. But what is even scarier are the "What If's?" What if Joey had gone to work? Livvy & I didn't hear a thing. What if our neighbor had gone to work? No one would have been there to warn us or to call the Fire Dept., etc, etc. I could go on forever. And in my head I did for days. I still do. We now have an emergency bag...just in case. I know this is nothing HUGE & there are so many who have been through worse. But for me, this was one of the scariest things for me because I think of Joey & Livvy. This really made me notice somethings I take for granted. Funny enough, my testimony was even strengthened. I have never been so grateful for ice & snow. Or for a kind neighbor who listened to the voice in his head that said, "They might be home!". The Lord knows exactly what He is doing. Sometimes, He's just kind enough to let us see a little part of it. Things fell into place, & I could not be more thankful & humbled.

On a different note, I will be making my blog private in the coming weeks. If you would like to continue to follow our Oh-so-exciting lives, leave your e-mail address or e-mail me & I will send you the invitation link when I switch it over.

Well, that's about it. Right now we are working, looking for Joey a good job so we can prepare for me to be a stay-at-home mom, doing our church callings, trying to stay in touch with friends & family, watching Livvy grow, etc. We're always on the go, so there's sure to be more updates soon...I PROMISE!!

(We need to update our family picture too, huh?)