Year End Wrap Up

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from us!  We had a great year!  In the spring, we made it down to San Antonio to hit Sea World for the first time, and had a blast.  I am thrilled that Olivia loves big rides as much as I do.

The biggest event, of course, was Helaman's graduation from his oral surgery program.  He is legit now, and happy to have his first "real" job, though it was sad to say goodbye to our little house that treated us so well and provided so many nice memories. 

We couldn't bear to sell it so we are renting it.  We also made it down to Houston for a beach trip with the cousins.

The kids have never been to a beach before, so there is nowhere to go but up from Surfside.  We then moved to Odessa, Texas, to stay in a apartment for 6 weeks until our home was finished being built.  We enjoyed the pool there but didn't care for the highway noise, mouse houseguest and tight quarters.  We are spoiled!  We moved into our Midland house and have loved it, improving it only by adding a swingset and trampoline to take advantage of the larger backyard.

We drove to Houston for Thanksgiving to enjoy some cousin mayhem, then stopped in Austin on the way back to catch some much-missed Torchy's and a visit to the state capitol. 

Our Christmas road trip was to Phoenix!  Shortly after setting out, a semi in front of us lost its wheel which barreled into the side of my brand new van, taking off a panel and severely denting the door.  However, no one was hurt and the van was drivable.  We made it to Phoenix without further mishap - this is the new temple there.

Personal updates:

Charlotte is 7 and loves school.  She loves it so much that she comes home each day and teaches Olivia, Elliott and her doll collection what she learned, and converted the upstairs to a classroom.  She makes all 100 percents on her report cards which makes me a little nervous about the quality of the curriculum, but I think it has done good things for her confidence.  She is a great big sister, always helping with Elliott and around the house.  She also enjoys practicing the piano and performing duets with her dad, as well as scooter and bike riding around our neighborhood.

Olivia is still her spunky self.  She goes to Pre-K but is less enthused about it some days ("it's all babies there!") not realizing that the kids are her age - she is just used to hanging with her older sister.  She loves reading books with mom, playing with Barbies and antagonizing Elliott.

Elliott is still our little prince!  He is at the age where he gets into everything when you turn your back, but has such a sweet disposition and smile that you can't be mad at him for long. He loves looking at pictures of animals, but if he sees any in real life he gets very scared. He is curious about everything and gives great hugs and kisses.
 

Helaman and I celebrated 11 years together this year, and look forward to many more! He has been busy at work, mainly with wisdom teeth and implant cases, and looks forward to using his NetBricks membership to join the girls in big time Lego construction.  He also bought me a bike for Christmas so we can go riding together.

I am busy putting the house together (some days more than others) and this year I am determined to learn how to use Helaman's camera to document our adventures with a little more quality.  Looking forward to the year ahead!