Graduated?!!

YEP!  You read it right!  Ben is now an official Alumni of Brigham Young University-Idaho!  I knew the day would come, but it didn't FEEL like it ever would!  haha.  Now, here we are one week later, living in Nampa.  I was not the hugest fan of Rexburg when we first moved there.  I had spent the summer in McCall (and before that, Moscow, ID) and missed being so close to the mountains and forests and rolling hills.  But you know, during the three years we spent there, Rexburg really grew on me.  I came to love the community and the many good people.  And we even discovered some beautiful places to enjoy nature right in town.  And, as much as I was told it was "the moon" (thanks, Dad ;) ), I found that it's pretty much all farm land... which is beeeautiful in the spring and summer.  Sadly, I'm going to miss it... a lot.  But, I'm very excited for our new adventure here, and this new phase of life.

We LOVE our new apartment.  And the location is awesome... we're basically in the middle of the city (which I wasn't thrilled about), but I can't complain too much because we're right next to two theatres and Texas Roadhouse... mmm.  They are literally in our backyard.  Our apartment complex is awesome.  We are feeling really spoiled now that we're in the three bedroom.  It's nice. :)  And, I have to say that my Texas-girl self is LOVING the air conditioning!  I seriously have felt like such a wimp since moving to ID.  Once in gets about 85 degrees, I'm dying!  But that's about as hot as I've been in for the last 4 years!  I wondered how I did it?  How did I grow up in 100+ temperatures and live to tell the tale?  The answer: swimming pool and a/c.  Neither of which were readily available in Rexburg.  Apparently Nampa gets MUCH hotter than Rexburg.  Much.  I've been dying pretty much every time I step out the door.  But no worries!  Because we have our air conditioning.... Ahhhhh.  (Can you tell I'm excited??)

Anyway!  We went to our new ward for the first time today.  It was so great.  We were laughing at how we've gotten so used to being in student wards.  It was weird seeing people above the age of 40 and between the ages of 6 and 18.  lol.  It's nice to be in a family ward again though.  It's a huge ward, with lots of little kiddies for our boys to play with.  Everyone has been so nice and welcoming to us.  We're so happy to be here.

In a week Ben will be starting Realty school... so in just three weeks Ben will be taking the state exam to become a Realtor.  We are excited about that, too.  It's looking pretty promising.  Our plan is for Ben to do realty to get us through Grad school, which he will hopefully start in January.  The application for NNU isn't due until September 15th... so we're just kinda going to be waiting for a couple months.  We feel like we're moving in the right direction though and we're so grateful to recognize the hand of the Lord in our family.  He has blessed us so much and truly has shown us that "ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith."  We really took a step in the dark moving here, but since being here so far, we're seeing "witnesses" left and right.  I'm so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to guide us in our daily lives and decisions.

Here are some pictures from graduation.
P.S. THANK YOU SOOOOOOOO much again to my mom (and Sam and Emma!) for watching the boys so we could move!  I don't know how we could have done it all with out you!
And thank you again, Mom and Dad Holland for the help with hauling everything... you have been life savers!
We're so glad you were all able to make it.

Me and my graduate!!  I'm SOOOOO proud of you, honey!!!

- Laura