Holy Fall!

I know the last post Dave wrote talked about us being able to enjoy the fall and many fall activities, and this was correct, in regards to the early months of fall.  The later months of fall and into winter were crazy for us, with Dave and I taking a trip with friends to Vegas, Dave being in Brazil for the majority of November and December, all of us traveling to Houston for Thanksgiving, many Christmas Celebrations in and out of town, and a new job for Dave!

In early October, we took a long over due trip with our good friends Megan and Ian to Vegas.  We had a fantastic time, ate lots of great food, visited some great clubs, saw a great show, rode the Vegas rides, and got to spend some time in the sun!  Now, was this trip the most fiscally responsible thing we have ever done?  No.  But it was a blast and we are so glad we went :)

We also were lucky enough to witness the baptism of sweet Liam, the son of our good friends Marcus and Julie.  Dave was honored to be asked to be the Godfather, and we are so glad we could be there to share in the blessings of their family!

Then, on November 4th, Dave left for a project in Brazil.  In the time he was gone, we had tick issues with Dexter, a vet visit with a dog and toddler (NEVER doing that again), a washer that stopped working full of water...and several other minor dramatic incidents that added some challenge to my days.  But, I also was so lucky to have a girls night with some of my dear friends from college, catching up over Marvin's and by the fire, talk about filling up the soul.  And then, as always, came the time for Dave to come home the Monday of Thanksgiving week.  He was home for 12 hours before we left for Houston for Thanksgiving, and in that time had two job interviews with his now company as well (more on that later).

We had a great time in Houston!  Warm weather, lots of parks and playing outside, great BBQ and of course lots of quality time with family.  We were so happy to learn that Jason and Kristy are expecting another little one (we now know it's a boy) in June.  We are super excited for another nephew!  Thank you to Jason and Kristy for being such great hosts!

The week after Thanksgiving Dave accepted his new job at Auctor.  After lots of discussion and prayer, we decided it was the right next step for our family.  This job allows us to focus on priorities we set for our family earlier this year, which were our faith, marriage and Luke.  It was a hard decision, and not the move Dave had planned for his next job, but it was a decision we made based on faith and putting God first in our lives.  And I cannot tell you how incredibly blessed our family has been through this decision.  The negotiations went amazingly well, and now this job is not only of benefit to the time of our family, but financially as well.  Seeing how God has rewarded this decision to make him first in our lives makes me so excited to continue to grow closer to him, to see what he has in store for our family.

Dave came home in the middle of December, after my semester had ended and our Christmas whirlwind began!  I had a gift exchange with my high school friends, we all have little boys and they exchanged names this year, which was so much fun.  This picture shows Levi, the back of Max, Luke and Matthew.  Sweet boys :)

Then we rolled into Cousin's Christmas in Chicago this year, dinner at the Pirau's, Christmas Eve service, celebration at the Cave's after Joe and Hannah's engagement, a long night of kitchen assembly and Die Hard watching, Christmas at my mom's, Christmas at Jan's, Christmas with Dave's high school friends, Christmas with Jim, and last but not least, Christmas with my dad.  Whoo.  An excellent year of chaos and family.  We are so thankful to be near our family, and have so many others we consider family in our lives.

I think I'll do a post of Christmas pics in a day or two, so those are all together!  

We rounded out this year in style with the McGriff's for the second year in a row.  Celebrating with the kiddos, games of Friends Scene It, a delicious dinner and some midnight Champagne!

And as quick as it came, there went 2013.  God has blessed our family in ways we could not even imagine and we are so excited for this year to see how he continues to work in our lives!