{Hank...}

We have a new addition to the Patterson family!! Meet Hank....

He is a cocker/springer spaniel mix and we got him around the first of June when he was about 8 weeks old so he is about 12 weeks old now! I knew the time would come to get a dog soon after we got into our house because Kyle loves dogs and couldn't wait to have a yard and a fence of our own so that we could finally have a dog! But, it has definitely been a change for us, a good change! We kinda feel like we got a good glimpse of what it would be like as parents (probably not at all the same but kind of right??!!) :) He has definitely been a fun new addition to the family! Kyle has been working his training skills and Hank can now do the basic tricks like sit, shake, lay down, and roll over.  We are still working on the biting and potty training but we will get there!! Hopefully! :) 

We've Moved!!!

That's right! We finally have a house of our own!!! We are so excited! We moved at the end of May, so we have been living in our house for about 3 weeks now!! Moving was a lot of work but I feel like we are finally settled in and I can't wait to start updates, decorating, etc.  Our house is in Clinton so we are a little far away from family and friends but it hasn't been too bad!! Here are a few pictures: 

Master Bedroom:

 Bedroom:

Master Bathroom:

Family Room:

Kitchen:

Living Room: (Don't mind our lack of furniture)

Downstairs Bathroom: 

Laundry Room:

Bedroom (maybe future TV room)

Office:

Backyard: 

Front:

We are excited to start some projects to hopefully make our house feel even more like home! Some of our projects are going to be: first, taking down the HUGE tree in the front yard.  It basically covers half of the house! ha! Then hopefully we can start updates on the bathroom and kitchen! :)  Anyway, we have loved our new neighborhood! Our neighbors are SO nice! I was a little nervous moving out to a new neighborhood, we  almost felt like tourist for a little bit, but they have made it so easy!  According to Kyle, all we need now is a dog!! I'll keep you updated!! :)

{Update..}

There has been a lot of good things that have happened lately!! We could not feel more blessed! It's just amazing how things always work out and there is really no reason to be as worried and stressed as we (maybe me mostly) are. Because everything will be okay!! We have been having problems with a car that we bought for Kyle. We bought the car in March and it was in the shop for a month, we just barely got it back last week.  We had to get a new engine and catalytic converter. Let's just say it was going to cost around $4000 - $5000 to fix.  I was stressed! We didn't have this kind of money, what were we going to do??  But luckily Kyle, with his selling abilities, got the dealership that we got the car from and Nissan to pay for the whole repair!! I could not have been happier!  Blessed! In other good news, I have been accepted to the Bachelor's nursing program at Weber State! I start in the fall!  I am nervous to go back to school but I am excited to keep learning more!! I love to learn and I just hope I can keep my motivation! But until I start school I am definitely looking forward to the spring (finally) and summer. All the camping, road trips, bbq's, warm nights, and tan lines...doesn't that sound nice??!! Now for the best news of all!!! Baby Dakota is here!!! He is such a cutie!!

Terra and Daniel are the best parents to this cute guy!!! I am so glad they let us come to the hospital and to their house so we can hold him and see him! They are such amazing friends, examples, and parents and we can't wait to see him grow up and see his personality!! There has been a lot of baby talk among my friends and family and I can't help but become a little baby hungry!! :) Don't worry I'm not pregnant! I need to get through school first but now I just can't help looking at the baby section when I go to the mall!  :)

Change is good...

Well I think???  So...I'm going to do a little venting today! Sorry!  Anyway...I have been working at a pediatric office for about a year and a half....I have learned SO much but to tell you the truth it hasn't been at all easy!!!  I came home many days in tears and feeling very down...I thought maybe I shouldn't be a nurse..maybe this isn't me! I wanted to help each patient the best that I could but I felt no matter how hard I worked or how hard I wanted to be good at something...I wasn't!! And as a result, it made it hard to go to work EVERYDAY!  With me getting a new job at Alpine Surgical Center, I was also working around 45 to 50 hours a week.  Needless to say...I was STRESSED!!  So after a few months of my busy schedule, I quit my job at the pediatric office!  Today was my last day! I can't say that I wanted to quit because I never have quit a job without having something else full time!  Also, I didn't want to feel defeated by this!  I knew I could do it but it was just taking a lot for me to feel comfortable doing my job..and I didn't like that..So, I hope that this new change will give me the confidence to continue working as a nurse.  I honestly can't see myself doing anything else!  I have always wanted to be in healthcare and hope that this new change brings some much needed happiness!  So I don't have another job yet, but I will be working at least 2 days at Alpine coming up when a nurse goes on maternity leave! I know this change was good and I hope that I can continue working on my career as a nurse with maybe just a little less stress!! :)

Have you ever???

Listened to the words of this song:

LOVE. it.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

I hope everyone had a great holiday season! I know we sure did! 
We love this time of year because we are surrounded by lots and lots of very wonderful people!  We are so blessed to have such fantastic friends and family, we don't know what we would do without them! We laughed SO much, I think we burned off a little of that holiday weight!  It was a blast!  With the annual cookie making, parties with friends and family, playing LOTS of games, and eating WAY too much food....I don't know what we are going to do with our time now that the holidays are over! It always goes by too fast! But it was great!
This year for Christmas, Kyle and I decided that we wouldn't do gifts for each other so we could spend more on the gifts for our families!! We had a lot of fun trying to find the perfect gift for everyone! I think we did a pretty good job and it was great to be able to give a little more this year!  Our Christmas celebrations started the Sunday before with Kyle's mom!  We always go up there for a yummy dinner and to exchange gifts.  We have a lot of family to visit on Christmas so it's nice to be able to spend the whole night with them rather than rushing from place to place on Christmas!  On Christmas Eve, we went to my family's party where we exchanged white elephant gifts and ate yummy food! Christmas Day Kyle and I woke up and opened our stockings, then headed over to my parent's house to open our gifts from them.  After that we went over to Kyle's dad's house and opened gifts with them. Then it was off to my Grandma's house for lunch!  It was nice this year because we had a little bit of time to take a nap before we went to Ky's Grandma's house!  Even though it is a little chaotic for us on Christmas we love all the time we had with our family!


New Year's Eve was another time for us to be with family and to laugh and play lots of fun games, which we LOVE to do!  We went up to Kyle's mom's house for the night! His mom and step-dad put on the best New Year's party!  They have tons of snacks and we play board games, poker, and other little games that you can even win money! It's SO much fun!
New Year's is always a great time to reflect on life and make goals to help us grow and I love that about this holiday!! I realize how blessed and grateful I am for all that has happened.  In 2010....

Kyle and I had our first wedding anniversary!
I graduated Nursing school!
We got to go back to the Philippines!
and have made new friends!

In 2011...I hope to..

Get our own house!  (and for Kyle that means getting a dog too!)
Go back to school for my Bachelor's Degree!
and Spend more time on others!


I can't wait for what this year is bringing!  New babies and new beginnings! Hope you all had a great 2010 but will have an even better 2011!!

Our early Christmas present!

This year for Christmas, Kyle's mom and step-dad took us back to Kyle's mission in the Philippines!!! We had a blast and we are so grateful for his family's kindness in taking us back there!! Between the long flights, our car breaking down, his step-dad getting sick we had the good times of talking with THEE nicest people in the world, seeing all the CUTE kids and spending time with the people that Kyle had taught and baptized. We all knew it was going to be an adventure but it will definitely be an adventure we will never forget...EVER!! We had a TON of pictures that would never all fit in this post so it will just be some of the highlights of our trip!

To start off, we took one out of our two LONG flights!! We were all a little nervous because the day we were supposed to fly out it was the big blizzard warning. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as everyone was thinking so our flight only got delayed about an hour and a half. Which wasn't bad but only left us a few minutes to catch our connecting flight from LAX to Korea. We ran our butts off but we made it!!!

We finally made it to the Philippines! We saw A LOT of cool/different things!!

There were fruit/snack stands EVERYWHERE , with the BEST mangos!! Yumm!!!

All of the people would LOVE having their pictures taken. They all would put their hands up to their faces too!! It was awesome!

We ate a lot at different chicken houses! They would make "pecho." It was basically just some barbequed chicken, but it was all freshly made and delicious!

Kyle had a great time reminiscing on his mission days with a couple families we visited! It was so fun to see him so excited to get back there and start talking with all the people! I loved it!

The Pioquinto family had us over for a traditional Filipino meal! It was delicious!!

We saw a lot of beautiful waterfalls and beaches!

The cute kids..

(They sang Christmas carols and danced to Justin Beiber...It was awesome!!)

I absolutely LOVED this trip!!! It was a great experience and it made me realize how much we really do have!! I will never forget it!