Wouden Christmas Card Blog

Here is a little update on the last year of the Woudens!

Our life in Logan has been charging full speed ahead this past year. We feel is has been our busiest year to date. We bought our first car together back in March and are enjoying the joys of adulthood and having a car payment :)  We are now teaching the Family History class in our ward, and as you can see from the picture below of our first week we taught, it's going really well (don't worry, a few people eventually showed up).

For our 3rd anniversary in August, we went to Park City for the day and spoiled ourselves at the outlet mall, got a couples massage (thanks John and Kelsey!), and ended with dinner at the Prairie Schooner in Ogden. We'd highly recommend it (both marriage and the restaurant).

#DAN

Dan had THREE surgeries this year. Yes, three. I blogged about the first surgery on his nose here, but he then had a small surgery near his eye in July, and then on his ankle in October. Goals for 2016, no surgery for Dan.

He officially had his LAST, first day of school! Honestly, I was definitely the most excited about this Dan was. Dan has been working all year as a facilitator for Utah State's distance education classes. This has probably been the biggest blessing for us. It's a miracle for Dan to have a job that he can go to in between classes, do homework during, and always have finals week + holidays off... best job EVER!

Dan is still a big Jazz fan, and I support this as long as they win and we get 50% off Papa John's pizza the next day. He also still loves Aggie football and can't wait to get into church basketball come January. Dan discovered a new passion during downtime with his ankle surgery... Pinterest. He's convinced his mom and designed a whole new layout for her kitchen. I'm just hoping Dan can stay focused enough to graduate while taking this project on...

#MEG

Besides playing nurse to Dan, I have been working tirelessly at 2 jobs for six months now. This summer I traveled to Helena, Montana + Bellingham, Washington for my job with Western SARE. Traveling with my coworkers has been a hoot + a holler, love them a LOT! Then in June, I started a second job at a call center 3 nights a week, and Saturdays.  It has been a pretty humbling experience and definitely made me prioritize my life with having such little time (see British TV shows below).

My big projects outside of work have been scrapbooking my life. The only scrapbook I have is one page of the day I was born, and I'm pretty sure the hospital made it and gave it to my parents. It took me almost a year, but I finally got my mission scrapbooked and consider this a HUGE achievement! Now I'll start working on my college days and high school, then work my way back. Wish me luck, 26 years is a lot of scrapbooking to catch up on...

I also have become obsessed with British TV shows. I am devastated that Downton Abbey has finished its final season, EAGERLY waiting for Sherlock to give us something to watch, and thoroughly enjoying Call the Midwife. My British accent is improving each month.

 

#BLESSED

We have seen so many miracles this year and have a lot to be thankful for. Wishing you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS, and leave you with this thought:

 "We discover he is more than the babe in Bethlehem, more than the carpenter’s son, more than the greatest teacher ever to live. We come to know him as the Son of God. He never fashioned a statue, painted a picture, wrote a poem, or led an army. He never wore a crown or held a scepter or threw around his shoulder a purple robe. His forgiveness was unbounded, his patience inexhaustible, his courage without limit. Jesus changed men. He changed their habits, their opinions, their ambitions. He changed their tempers, their dispositions, their natures. He changed men’s hearts."