A Year in Review

There is no doubt that 2011 was a big year for us.  Highlights:

January

Hayden starts Sunbeams.  I am 11 weeks pregnant.  

February

 I marvel at being a mother to a toddler.

March

My children flood the house while Derrick was out of town, and I freak out pregnant lady style.

Hayden turns 4, and is actually happy about it contrary to this picture.  This one just makes me laugh.

We find out we are having a BOY

And generally, lots of nerves because we know Derrick is graduating soon, and we have no idea what will happen next.

April

Derrick defended his thesis, and accepted a job offer in Utah.  We realize we are moving in 2 weeks. I come for a house hunting trip, and we move 4 days after I get back.

May

 Derrick starts his new job and we get settled in.  We fly back for graduation.

June

I find my midwife and get really excited about a home birth.  I get a big belly.

 We enjoy summer and our back yard.  We do lots of fun activities like Trafalga, bowling, and father/son, mother/daughter outings.  The kids start a summer preschool program

July

 We celebrated 6 amazing years of marriage.  I get a really big belly.

  Owen is born!    It was a life changing event for me. (and I guess you could say the same for him too :)  )

August

 We continue enjoying summer before it's gone, and enjoying our new little family member. Things start to calm down.

September

I have a blog worthy 26th birthday.

October

Owen is blessed.

I work like mad to make 2 dinosaurs and a candy corn costume.  Worth it.

November

The kids get very excited about tiny bit of snow we got (and that's all we got the whole rest of the year).

December

 Owen gets really sick and has to go to the ER.  Luckily, he's fine after a few hours and we go home.

Christmas celebrations

And Halle turns 3.

So looking back, there was a graduation, job hunt, big move, new baby.  I try to reflect back on lessons learned, or growth, but it was so packed full of big things that it's almost overwhelming.    It's going to make our next year seem very boring!  The one thing that sticks out is how blessed we are. We were worried there for few minutes at the beginning of the year, but everything fell together the way it was supposed to  And if flooded houses and stomach bugs are the worst of our worries, we know we have pretty much got it made.  We have good family and friends who stand by us (thanks everyone) and the gospel to guide us.  What more could we ask for?