2015

Merry Christmas from the Laws!

            It has fallen on me (David) to write a Christmas letter. I’m 29 years old and I have never done this. What I know of Christmas letters is that each family member gets a blurb, there are recaps of big events, and then maybe a little Christmas thought. I believe if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, so here we go.

            Evelyn – Evy had a year of firsts. Her first (real) words, first steps (and many more since then), and first birthday (now 14 months). Her favorite things right now are talking about everything she sees, reading books in what she calls her “spot” which is mom or dad’s lap, and talking on the phone, or TV remote, or whatever she puts up to her ear. I have come to realize that a rewarding part of being a parent is watching your children do things on their own that you have tried to teach them. Just a few nights ago after visiting at my sister’s house, I told Evelyn that we had to go home. She immediately went to my sister and gave her a hug and a kiss and said bye-bye. It was completely un-coaxed and made me proud. She is the greatest gift I have ever received. She makes everyone smile and has such personality already.

            Deidra – Deidra keeps our family running on all cylinders. She loves being a mom and feels blessed that she can stay home with Evelyn. When we decided that she would stay home and leave teaching, I wasn’t sure how it would all work and how she would transition. But what I have discovered is that Deidra, no matter what she is doing, always excels and rarely complains. Watching her be a mom and run a household has given me many moments of pause while I admire the things she does. I am grateful to have her in my life. Besides me gushing about how wonderful she is, Deidra continues to love craft making, sewing, reading, and working in the church primary presidency.

            Me – I am still a lawyer at Davis, Arneil Law Firm in Wenatchee. I’m still the newest attorney, which gives me coveted roles like buyer of office snacks, Apple Blossom award presenter, and master of ceremonies at the office Christmas party. Despite my new-lawyer duties, I truly ended up in a great position. I’m glad the firm took a chance on me. When I’m not doing the lawyer gig, I spend time with Deidra and Evy and we make trips to see the family that we have nearby. After I entered the full-time work force, I learned that the greatest stress relief for me was being with family. Fishing and golf are good too. Do I sound like a lawyer yet?

            Year Recap – Speaking of family, some of the highlights of this year were going to Nevada to see my mom’s family. We got to introduce Evelyn to her Great-grandma Harris and the rest of the clan there. Over Thanksgiving we went to Utah, and every member of Deidra’s immediate family was present. We can now say that Evelyn has met all of her grandparents and living great-grandparents, as well as all her aunts, uncles, and cousins. This year has flown, and honestly we have spent it enjoying Evy and family.

            Christmas Thought – I’ve seen Christmas come and go a few times in my life. I’ve spent most Christmases with family, but I’ve spent a couple of them far from home. I’ve almost always been happy at Christmas, but I remember one lonely Christmas on my mission in Slovakia that had me reaching for comfort. I won’t say that it was the worst Christmas ever, because I know there are many who have much greater challenges than me. But wherever a person is on Christmas, whatever they are feeling, and whatever they are facing in their life, the reason we celebrate Christmas is because of hope that comes from the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ. He came to this earth, and because He loved us, He descended below all things, suffering for our pains, sicknesses, sins, and weakness. He overcame them all. If we rely on His power, we can also overcome all our challenges. This gift is given to all who seek Him. This is why I believe the wise men are part of the Christmas story. They show us how we should endeavor to find a place in our lives for the Savior. This is my hope for you this year.

                                                                        With love from David, Deidra, and Evelyn

2014 The best and craziest year yet!!

JANUARY

• We found out we were expecting a baby! I cried. We had waited for this special news & couldn't be happier.

FEBRUARY

• We had our first doctor's appointment and were so happy to see our little bean! 

MARCH

• Derek & Caitie got married! We loved visiting our old Utah home and getting together with most of our Kofoed family (we missed Ryan and Thomas Rayden).

• This was the weekend we announced to our family that we were expecting.  

APRIL

• We entered the 21st century and got smartphones! Hello Instagram!! 
• It's a girl! David knew it all along. This lucky girl has 4 girl cousins born the year before her.
  
• David & I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.

MAY

• David graduated from the top of his law school class! 
  
  
  
• We took a trip to Friday Harbor to celebrate. We also did the downtown Seattle touristy things like eating at the Crab Pot & walking the Public Market. The Mariners won at the game we attended & King Felix pitched. 
  

JUNE

• I said goodbye to these kiddos and Moscow Middle School. David was still working his prosecution job in Clarkston, but we didn't know where or when he'd get a more permanent job. 
  

JULY

• David got a GREAT job! He is an associate attorney in Wenatchee,WA. We said goodbye to Moscow and moved this month.
• We spent lots of time visiting family in Moses Lake.
  
• David took that Washington Bar Exam in Tacoma. His sister Jennifer came with us and the two of us shopped, went to the zoo, and played while he was slaving away.
  

AUGUST

• Our apartment flooded...twice.
  
• David started his new job.
• I kept growing....

SEPTEMBER

• Our sweet Evelyn Ann Law was born on the 12th at 6:06 P.M. at 8 pounds 2 ounces.

• These pictures were taken when she was 8 days old. She is the best thing that has happened to us and makes us happier than we could have ever imagined!
• We found out that David passed the bar on the SAME day Evelyn was born!!

OCTOBER

•  Evelyn turned a month old. 
  
• She is the sleepiest & cutest jack-o-lantern I've ever seen. 

NOVEMBER

• Our niece was baptized in Tri-Cities on Saturday November 8th and Evelyn was blessed in Moses Lake on Sunday November 9th. She wore a dress that Deidra's mom made that Deidra was blessed in also. It was great to have many family members meet our precious addition.
  

DECEMBER

• David built us a beautiful farmhouse bed!
  
• Evelyn is growing every day and is 3 months old!! She loves to talk, blow bubbles, nurse and kick her legs. She is getting better at holding her head up and loves splashing in the bath. Evelyn is generally pretty happy and is getting better at sleeping at night.  She is so beautiful and we are in awe of this precious gift each day.
  

We have had a beautiful year & hope that each of you have as well! Merry Christmas!

New Happenings...

Derek & Caitie were married last Month!

 

I wish my siblings all lived closer. I loved our quick weekend together. I love you guys so much!! Also, look at those cute babies... They neeeeed their aunt Deidra to snuggle them more.

 

David and I had a fun time walking around BYU campus and driving around Provo. It's hard to believe it's almost been three years since we lived there! David graduates from law school in May and then we have to become real adults. Oh wait, I have been doing that for 5 years... Yikes. that makes me sound old.

I am 18 weeks pregnant! It took us longer than we hoped to get pregnant, but are SO SO happy that we are expecting our first baby! Two weeks from today we will found out gender. I had my kids that were present last Friday vote on what they think the baby's gender will be. They are so full of pregnancy and baby naming advice. haha It's a good thing that 6th graders aren't typically parents.
 
Ummm... that's about all our life is right now. Teaching, law school, and pregnancy. :) 

Spring Break

David and I kinda invited ourselves along with the Earls on a Spring Break adventure this year! Friday after work David and I drove to Allie's parents house in Portland. All three couples met up there and Saturday we drove to Roseburg, OR where Mike's sister Sam lives. Her husband was out of town and she had a newborn baby and three other kids, so we spent the day with her and crashed there for the night. Sunday morning we drove to Crescent City, CA where we rented a beach house for three nights. Crescent City is pretty sweet. We were right on the beach and a short drive from the Redwoods.

 The Redwoods are breathtaking. As we walked along different trails I kept thinking I couldn't find another more impressive tree & then we would. They are AMAZING.  The most spiritual experience I've had in nature was in the Redwoods. They are incredible.

 This is the view from the beach house. There is a lighthouse in the fog on that rock.

We then drove back to ML and got to golf and spend a couple of days with family.

Long time, no post

Here's an update on our life that we don't always think is blog worthy. I am trying to do it through pictures, but we are still bad a picture taking. This summer David worked with a judge in Asotin County and an attorney in Clarkston, Washington. I worked for the school district moving classrooms, cleaning, and lots of other dirty work.  I did enjoy my job though because I got to spend a lot of time with a good friend here in Moscow and the double paycheck was nice. My friend helped me win tickets on the radio to Rendezvous in the Park, an annual concert here in Moscow. It was a fun time!

David and his classmate won best briefs in Idaho ( I am too lazy to go look up what the real title is). They were presented the award at orientation this fall. I am so proud of how hard he is working. This year David is on law review, is a writing T.A., and does some research for an attorney all on top of his class load. I got a teaching job!! I had 3 interviews this summer in different neighboring towns and all of them ended with me feeling that I did really well and then I'd receive a rejection phone call. They always told me something like, "you were our next pick", or "we think you'd be fabulous on our team". Umm... So give me the job? haha It was pretty discouraging to say the least. The first week of school, the vice principal of my current school called up and told me they decided to hire an eighth,  sixth grade teacher. They needed to start the year off with a sub until they could hire for the position and asked if I would do it. I of course accepted and subbed the first week of school not knowing if these would be "my" kids.  That Friday was my interview. I was definitely a nervous wreck because I wanted the position so badly. I was also very nervous to discover that my friend was on the interviewing committee. Anyway, I don't remember the questions or how the interview went, but I was very relieved to get a phone call offering me the position that evening! I am teaching 6th grade geography and math. Middle school is a big change from elementary school, but I am happy for the experience and my great kiddos.

 

 

David and I got to visit Kallie and Rayden in Lemoore, CA for a whole week over Thanksgiving! We flew from Spokane to SLC to Fresno, where Kallie picked us up. Ben and Kamille drove all the way down from Moses Lake to be with us too. Ryan is in Afghanistan, we miss Kallie and Rayden, and we haven't visited since they moved to California, so we felt this trip was overdue. We had a blast! One day we spent at Fresno's Zoo. It was fun to watch Rayden's excitement! Rayden and Kamille fed a giraffe with Ben's help.

Rayden attacked  pet some animals at the petting zoo part.

See I am at the zoo too. :) Rayden loves Thomas the Train and kept finding all of the "tunnels".

Driving a tractor!

We also went to a yummy tepanyaki place for dinner. The chef was funny and entertaining.

Kamille and I went with Kallie to a doctor appointment. She got an extra ultrasound because we were there visiting. :) The doc even printed out extra pictures of baby Aleta for Kamille and I. I know that you can't see well, but the left shows her hand and the second is her face and normal heartbeat.

We did some sister Christmas crafting.

Thanksgiving spread. We made TONS of food and then all left the next day. Rayden and Kallie probably still have leftovers!!

Two turkeys watching the "puppies" out the window.

This summer I got two steals of a deal on Craigslist. I bought this piano from an estate sale for 85 bucks! It ended up being kinda a crazy experience and thanks to some incredibly nice people in our ward, we got it moved into our place.

I also bought this bad boy for 80 bucks and the lady brought it over in her own truck! Love it.

Christmas is here!

Another craft! Anyway, we are alive and well. David's first final is Monday and in three weeks I'll be on break as well. :)

Redo

David and I found some chairs when out on a jog that were free and decided to make them over. We carried them home. After much sanding, scrubbing, steaming, priming, painting, cutting, upholstering, and screwing back together, they turned out pretty nice! 

Mad Skills

idea

My relief society president asked me to update our bulletin board. I was slightly overwhelmed because the other ward that uses the same room put up a pretty impressive display. I saw this idea at https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkPW509AJw0N5UbHFQLdqd8gfDX5sN6ElzNk7aHD8UOYNWNNiIECrMbDtzcCPf5L9Nmp-eMMOYMZ09z8DU9Lm0cHTAQC-HnE9bm5BmlpFrfCFh9pi0xxo_f9k_LWgEipnUkV5bMTN8QvZo/s400/bulltn_board_tree1.jpg that I thought would look really cute and I tried to mimic it. David cut out the bird and spray painted the trees I made. The printable I found here https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkPW509AJw0N5UbHFQLdqd8gfDX5sN6ElzNk7aHD8UOYNWNNiIECrMbDtzcCPf5L9Nmp-eMMOYMZ09z8DU9Lm0cHTAQC-HnE9bm5BmlpFrfCFh9pi0xxo_f9k_LWgEipnUkV5bMTN8QvZo/s400/bulltn_board_tree1.jpg. It had a bird, so I thought it was a match made in heaven (it also covered up a pretty bad glue mess..haha). It is a quote by Lucy Mack Smith that says, "We must cherish one another, watch over one another, comfort one another, and gain instruction that we may sit down in heaven together." MU2 is our ward... Moscow University 2nd ward. I feel like it turned out pretty great. What do you think?

my version