Back to Reality...

The Holidays are over! But we still have Grandma Sandy's birthday dinner tonight-and THEN we are offically over.

Christmas was wonderful as always-the kids love it! For the Kolstad side this year we all got together and gave gifts to a family, I hope the kids can remember this. Christmas eve at my parents was so wonderful for the kids, mom vamped up her nativity costumes this year. We had the Christmas breakfast at our house again which is delicious. David worked Christmas day, which actually turned out kind of nice for me because we didn't have to go visit a million places, I stayed home most of the day. Allie was sick so that was good for her.


We've been married for 8 years now and had a WONDERFUL staycation while the kids were at Ty and Stephs. It was WAY to short. We hiked, ate out, stayed in, went to the temple-and the house stayed clean. However, this day marked the begining of Dave's back pain. He took some vacation and missed some work because his lower back has been hurting. We even had an adventurous night at the ER getting meds because he literally could not move. It's toward the end of January and thankfully he's been able to work on light duty. He did the ring around at HR and with a few doctors, finally he's with a physical therapist that seems to be working out better. He has one more week of light duty then should be back to normal. It's been a tough couple months, he hasn't been able to do much and has been watching a lot of TV. (my suggestion of doing family history while he rests hasn't gone anywhere! he he) Money has been really really tight. Why does it feel like we are struggling even more AFTER nursing school? I've been cleaning houses and doing piano lessons to help pay for groceries. Pretty much we are hanging on for dear life until the tax return comes in. I think I'm about to start the ball rolling on refinancing the house, even though Dave has been hesitant.

I've had a semester of serious stress and business. Piano, YW, cleaning houses, helping my sisters inbetween it all, and who knows what else. I decided that something had to go-I picked piano. I was ready to cut a few students, and then Dave hurt his back. I guess that will have to wait. Dave wants me to keep doing it, but I've tired of ignoring my kids and not having time to be a mom. In my heart I wish so bad to be released because YW is very time consuming, but I'm trying to have a better attitude about YW because the Lord has asked me to sacrifice and serve. I feel like my kids are the ones being sacrificed, but I've come to terms with the Lord that he will take care of them.

Will had another huge dental proceedure, man that kid's teeth. It's cost a ton of money. Davy turned 32 and I turned 31. We had lame birthdays, but it was ok because we have no money, we decided we'd rather buy food and gas. I did get to see the Hobbit though. Dave insisted on seeing the 3d version becuase of a hunter meeting later that night. I have had diziness for three weeks now! It's probably not from the movie, but I still like to blame it. I also had a nasty cold for a week and had a really bad migraine too. Between Dave and I, we have been pretty pathetic.

We did a Snowflake YW trip this month, and it was awesome in every way. Did the temple, the farm, fun games, devotional, and a few other things.

Holly turned 3. She's such a cutie and was very spoiled. I decided to give her whatever she wanted for a day-and she knew it. We went to the park with a pizza and called it good. Everyone else seemed to forget about her birthday, it's right after the holidays and everybody is pooped out it seems. She still had a special day and got a new pony and outfit. This is her year for potty training! We really need her out of diapers.