Wii Like to Play & Have Clean Dishes

After 6 months of hand-washing our dishes, we finally have a new dishwasher (thank you Dad and Betsey)! Hopefully, a matching oven and fridge will follow soon!



We've also discovered that Wii is so much fun! We're not really video game fans but, this we can get behind! Here are a couple of picks of Jeff doing the ski-jump and hula-hooping. Dad & Betsy brought theirs over to play last night. Another thing we might want to save-up for (after the new fridge and oven...)!





As a side note, Jeff turned his master's thesis in to his committee chair today. He defends in a couple of weeks and is so excited to be almost done! I'm so proud of him...he made it look easy!

Nothing Like a Little NASCAR on Valentines Day

I'm headed to Daytona with my family to watch a little NASCAR for Valentines Day. Should be a fun day! Jeff has to stay home and work on his thesis (sorry, love).

A little surprise

So, when Jeff and I got home on Wednesday night I was absolutely exhausted. I wanted to just settle in with a blanket and watch some mindless TV. So, I sat for maybe an hour, watching TV writing and loading my last blog post, and just resting. When it was time to go to bed, I grabbed my pillow to put it in its proper place for sleeping and out fell a little wrapped package! Jeff had a big grin on his face and an "I can't believe it took you this long to find it" look. Inside was a beautiful diamond, right-hand ring. Something special to commemorate my big day. It's absolutely beautiful and I absolutely love it. I have to take it to get sized tomorrow and am sad that I have to give it up for a week!

Jeff was so proud of himself to have surprised me with something so beautiful! Thank you, my love!

That's all she wrote...

It's all done! I successfully defended my dissertation this afternoon and am officially "Dr. Tobler." It hasn't really set in yet. For now, I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep, finally being out of my (fabulous) heels, and a fun long-weekend at Disney with my family.

It really was a great day and it couldn't have gone much better!

Tomorrow's the Day...

I defend my dissertation tomorrow afternoon! YAY! There were times over the past 3 years when I thought this day would never come! Jeff's told me this morning, "Enjoy your last day a a "normal" person"... I think he meant it in a good way. ;-)

It really has been an amazing opportunity to continue my education and grow in so many ways. I feel so much more capable in my work and am excited about the opportunities this will bring to me and our little family. I feel like I'll be able to have a broader influence for good and for whatever reason, I know that this opportunity was something my Heavenly Father wanted for me. I can see His hand in all of the things that have happened for me to even have the opportunity and have felt Him strengthening me as I've pushed beyond my natural capacity to accomplish what I needed to. I was running my errands on Saturday--had my sun-roof open, singing along to the Mama Mia soundtrack, enjoying the sunshine--and I thought, life is good. Jeff and I have been incredibly blessed (over the last couple of months in particular) and "joy" is truly what we feel. It's such a great feeling to have things falling into place and to feel true joy after so many years of hard work.

We are excited for tomorrow and I am grateful that I'll have some of my family here for my big finish!