It's about time for another blog post. Here are some pictures to show what we have been up to lately:

Chinese New Year

We make dumplings every year. They are delicious!

Above are a few things we have around the house to make it feel more festive. Some of it we leave out all year.

Valentine's Day

My school class was good to me this year. I was shocked by how many kids gave me a gift for Valentine's Day. Michael did a good job, too. :-)

Other News:

Not much! We are no longer Primary teachers at church (sad). We have to learn how to be adults again.

Until next time...

About time for an update... It's Halloween after all!!!

Hey folks who look at this every 6 months!!! We are sorry we don't post very much! As it is Halloween, we are posting pictures of our costumes. Enjoy!!

Michael was a garden gnome.

Christi was a flamingo lawn ornament.

Together we made a fabulous pair of lawn ornaments!

As for other recent events that have been going on.... We both got jobs!!! That has been terrific! We are both super busy, but it feels nice to have an income!! We also bought a new car. If you want details on that story, you'll have to ask Michael about it. We went through a series of frustrating events with the car and are grateful that it is now working.

We have recently been through a series of patience-trying events (in which most have been resolved!!) and are grateful for the opportunities for growth. We are grateful for the continual family/friends support as we go through these things.

Until next time....

Double Happiness

Happy Graduation to us!!!! Christi graduated this weekend, but we thought it would be cool to take a picture together in our robes!! :-)

Michael's Graduation

Congratulations to Michael for graduating from the University of Utah with a Master's Degree in Speech-Pathology!

Just in case you've been dying to know what we were for Halloween.....

Family Picture

Here's our most recent Bywater family picture. We were all together again for my Grandma Bywater's funeral, so we took the opportunity to get a picture together. :-D We should have more pictures to post in the near future, but I don't have access to them at the moment, so you'll have to enjoy this picture for now...

UPDATE!!!!! Here are photos from holidays for the first 4 months of this year! We'll have to post pictures from our travels to Arizona later on..... Enjoy!

CHINESE NEW YEAR:

This is the window of our house. It has two red packets and a dragon. :-)

VALENTINE'S DAY:

Flowers from Mike. He also made me breakfast in bed. He did a great job!!

ST. PATTY'S DAY:

I am proud of this fruit rainbow that we made. And we LOVED eating it!!

Our "green" dinner. Green jello, green salad, green cupcakes...

Our St. Patty's Day couple picture. I actually DO have Irish blood and Mike claims to be a leprechaun....

EASTER:

The Easter Bunny was good to us this year... He even came by for a second visit a few days after Easter because he couldn't resist the bags of candy for $1.

Ok... I (I mean the Easter Bunny) couldn't resist. My little sister LOVED dalmatians when she was little, and I thought this was WAY cute.

MICHAEL'S BIRTHDAY:

Michael opening a package from my parents. He is in 7th heaven right now because of all the candy they sent him.

I had to put this one up because it's a pretty funny story. Michael picked this jersey at some thrift store a while back. I gave it to him for his birthday, and then we realized the jersey was actually a WOMEN'S jersey, not a MEN'S jersey. Luckily he didn't wear it BEFORE we figured that out. I now have a new jersey... haha.

I am proud of this cake I made for Mike's birthday. It was a LITTLE late, but hey, when you have Easter, Conference, and birthday on the same day, something has to give. It is a two-layered red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. It was great if I'm allowed to say so myself.