Remodeling, Turkey, and Graduation... Oh, my!

My last post was October and it's now January, so you can see how we've been plenty busy during these past months. In October Bart returned home from West Africa. He went to Abidjan, Coast of Ivory; Douala, Cameroon; Monrovia, Liberia and Freetown, Sierra Lione. To my surprise he said these places are worse than East Africa, but then again I don't think he was factoring in the pirates that regularly roam the East Africa coast. Anyways, he made it home in time for Halloween and to watch the Gators eat some Seminole for dinner!

When Bart returned home it was time, yet again, for the remodeling of our house to continue. As he began the daunting and challenging job of remodeling our existing laundry/storage room into our newly bathroom/ laundry room he needed to remove the existing water heater. I was on the laptop in the bedroom next door when I hear water running down the wall. I'm thinking, "This can't be good" and call to Bart to see what happened. When I heard no reply I quickly got up and walked down the hall just in time to see Bart running out of the back door at top speed! He was running out to turn off the water. As I looked in the room this is what I saw.

Yes, the water made it all the way up to the ceiling! So far the rest of the remodeling has been uneventful and he's done an amazing job! I'm always in awe of Bart's wonderful work. This room has been especially challenging because of all of the items within such a small space. Currently he's working on tiling the floor and shower wall. The storm today put a hold on cutting tile so I'm hoping tomorrow that will be started. After that is the vanity and toilet installation along with the sink and countertop. Stay tuned for pictures of the finished product!

Thanksgiving this year was fun and I always love that we're able to get together with our whole family for these occasions. This year I was giving thanks that Bart was home with me for the holidays and that my grandfather, who had some health issues earlier this year was still with us. I am definitely blessed!

December was a busy and eventful month. I graduated from Flagler College with my Bachelor's in Science finally!!!!! Wohoo!!! Bart organized a small party at our house after graduation. Family and a few friends joined us and we had a great time together. I don't know how we fit all of those people in our house, but it worked and was cozy and Igot to show off our Christmas decorations. That was nice since we rarely have over that many people, especially around the holidays. Below are pics of some of my classmates having a drinks after my last final exam... man, that was an awesome feeling!!! I'm going to miss my classmates the most. I hope we all keep in contact.

Also below are some of the graduation pictures. Notice the honors cords I'm holding... yeah, baby! Each of my classmates pictued graduated with honors! What a great group of people to have class with!