Finish Strong

He is officially a college graduate.  And, Oh my, it feels so good!  Corey could flood this page with how amazing it feels to be done with his undergraduate degree.  One of his mantras is, "I can do hard things."  I can attest to that.  We are so so proud of him.  It has not been easy.  8 years. 4 different schools.  2 states. And many many textbooks.  We still have school ahead but, we can put this in the books and celebrate.  And that we did!  Corey picked Cracker Barrell for dinner and Kro-nuts and an Oreo blast for dessert.  We had never tried to Kro-nuts before but, we pass the sign everyday.  They are delicious.  It is a mix between a croissant and a doughnut filled with cream and topped with powered sugar...I should have taken a picture.  

We have so many things we want to do together this year now that school is not weighing over our heads as much.  We are splitting a sports pass with another couple so we can go to half of the BYU football, basketball, soccer, baseball, etc. games.  It will be so fun!  We also now have 2 tents and can do lots of exploring in Utah and the surrounding states.  

We aren't completely free of course.  1.  Life takes money so we won't be living too large.  2.  I am still in school.  3.  Corey has to prepare is graduate school applications and take the GRE (which is no small task).  

First actual walk!! Thank you random balloon lady at the grocery store :)

Our First Utah Crawfish Boil

We finally had success catching crawfish.  The weather was perfect and Esther is old enough now to stay up later when the crawfish come to life.  We had a friend who told us about his 'honey hole.'  Mud Creek at Strawberry Reservoir.  Surprisingly, there were beautiful pelicans in the bay bringing a little Louisiana to our crawfish night.  Not surprisingly, there was quite a bit of mud.  Esther loved it but, she also consumed more dirt than usual.  We had a beautiful night and ended up taking home 60.  They literally walked up to us on the shore.  Esther even baited one when she dropped part of her granola bar.  Corey caught them all since I don't currently have a fishing license.  I didn't realize we would end up cooking them as soon as we got home.  I thought we could keep them on ice over night.  So, I basically slept through and Corey did the midnight cooking.  The next day we made delicious crawfish ettoufee.  We can't wait to go again!

Cajun Christmas

We closed 2015 celebrating Christmas in Louisiana.  It was a blessed year to say the least and it was a great blessing to have the opportunity to spend Christmas with family and friends.  Louisiana was much warmer than Provo which we thoroughly enjoyed.  Esther met her Uncle Ricky, Aunt Cassie, and cousin Weston for the first time.  She was in snuggle heaven for the entire trip and loved playing with everyone.

Some of our Christmas highlights were (in no particular order):

1.  Spending the day in New Orleans
2.  Getting pedicures
3.  Playing with Weston
4.  Visiting lots of family and friends
5.  Eating lots of delicious seafood
6.  Not worrying about school or work for two weeks!
7.  Watching Inside Out (It took 3 days but, that is the first movie we have finished/started in months.)
8.  Playing the guitar with Corey's Uncle Mike in Mississippi
9.  Riding four wheelers
10.  Fireworks and a bonfire
11.  Esther's first Christmas: Reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and Luke Chapter 2 to her
12.  Eating a raccoon...Corey's idea.
13.  Enjoying Walker Christmas traditions:  The Messengers and Willow Lights
14.  Doing a puzzle
15.  Eating Blue Bell Ice Cream
16. Mom's good ol Gumbo

We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas.

16. Mom's good ol Gumbo

We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas.