Happy New Year!

So, it's been quite a while since our last post! As you can imagine, tons has happened since early November.

First off, we went to Aaron's parent's for Thanksgiving. We had a great trip. It wasn't too snowy. We all went up into the hills and cut down Christmas trees. Julie was the lucky one to pick and cut down ours. It was a great little tree!

Then again, in December, we headed up to Kalispell for Christmas. We were able to stay at Jared and Anita's house. It was very busy, and tons of fun. Joseph really enjoyed being around Jared's girls. We were also able to meet Tim and Anna's baby boy, Abram, for the first time.

At the beginning of February, we also took a quick trip back up to Kalispell for Jadalin's baptism! She turned 8 in January. It was great to visit for that special occasion. It's hard to believe she is already that old. She's growing fast, and her sisters are right behind her!

Julie was able to work on her Independent Study class a lot during Aaron's winter break. After work, Aaron would come home and take Joseph out for about an hour and a half. Julie would stay home and do homework. This got her going, and now she's working hard to keep her momentum now that Aaron's back in school. Julie was able to take her first of 3 tests for this class, and just found out she received a 92, which is an A-. She's really happy with that! She also just got signed up for a class here at the local Institute. She's taking New Testament. It's the last religion class she needs for her bachelors. The director there, Bro. Rogers is helping a lot. She's registered for the weekly class, but can't attend because of her baby-watching duties, so she's doing it mainly independent study. But they're going to meet regularly and talk about the class and then she'll write a term paper at the end of the semester. She's really excited about this class, although that now means she's doing two classes at once! Wish her luck!

To add some sad news with the happy, Aaron's family did have two funerals during the month of January. His father's sister, Gail, passed away in early January. Then Aaron's great grandma (his dad's grandma) also passed away at the end of the month. We were able to travel up to Conrad, MT for Great Grandma's funeral. It was a great chance for Julie and Joseph to meet some more of the Denney/Denning family. (The two names are related, and it is really confusing)

Now for some happy news! Travis and Heather have welcomed their beautiful baby girl into their family! She was born January 25th weighing 7 pounds 4 ounces and 19 3/4 inches. She is happy and healthy, Heather is healing very well, and it sounds like Cardon is adjusting to his baby sister as well as can be expected. They have posted pictures on their blog, linked to the right.

Another wonderful addition is Miss Sadie Dawn Bigler, born February 10th to Stephanie and Nathan (and Brayden)! She was 7 lbs 1 oz and 19 inches. She is beautiful, and they are all doing well. They have pictures posted on their website. The link is to the right.

Aaron is well into his next semester at the U. He's enjoying his new classes. This semester he has two night classes (versus one last semester). That is definitely not ideal, but Julie and Joseph are handling them better than expected. We guess last semester got us adjusted to handle this semester's schedule. Aaron is also applying for a scholarship to help pay for next semester. Cross your fingers for us. It would really help a lot!

As always, we can tell you about Joseph. He is well over 30 pounds now. Probably about 32, Julie's guessing. He is getting taller as well. We think he was around 33 and some change when he was measured last. He has a doctor's appointment later this month, so we will get some official stats for you all. He is talking quite a bit. Well, he's always been a chatterbox, but now he's trying to say words. Julie says his official first word is "ball". He says it a lot. He also says "baby" and "trash" (he has an obsession with the trash can). Joseph also had his first trip to the nursery at church this past Sunday. (While the adults attend Sunday school and other meetings, the children between 1 1/2 to 3 go to a children's class) He did really well. It's a very full nursery with a lot of cryers. But Joseph didn't cry, and from what I was told, didn't push or hit either. That made us very happy. All in all, he's doing great. We absolutely adore our little guy!

Hopefully we've gotten all caught up. Oh, if you know Heidi, check out her latest blog! There's some great news there! Until next time, we hope you and your families the best and send our warmest wishes from Missoula!