2011

Today on the last day of 2011, I've been thinking about what a year it has been. It has had its good and its bad times. Unfortunately this year has brought more surgeries for Dad, but hopefully he is on the road to recovery for 2012! Greg's grandpa and my step grandpa both passed away this year, along with Auntie Reah and our good friend Harvey Black. Several of our friends moved away from the Springfield area this year, which made us sad. I have applied for 34 jobs this year, and the only job I got was one I didn't apply for, but I am getting some good experience at the Illinois State Military Museum. We did have several opportunities to see our families thoughout the year, which was nice. And one thing that is definitely better about this year than last year--we are not having tornadoes here in Illinois on New Year's Eve Day. In fact, it is quite nice outside. So we'll focus on the good things that happened in 2011. Some of the highlights include:

In February, Greg turned 30. In April, Greg and I traveled to Atlanta to attend our friends David and Teal's wedding. Also that month we attended our first Cubs game in Chicago. In May I got to go home to Utah for three weeks, and it was wonderful to get to spend all of that time with my family! Later in the month I got my job at the museum, and Greg and I got to sit in the St. Louis Cardinals dugout for a few minutes when we attended our first Cardinals game of the season. In June I turned 27. In July we drove through ten states on our two week trip extravaganza to see our families in Arizona and Utah, and I was called to be the first counselor in our ward Young Women organization. In September our Gettysburg friends the Atkinsons came to visit, and we had a wonderful time with them. In October we celebrated our #3 wedding anniversary, and we got to attend our first baseball playoff game. We also got to attend a WORLD SERIES game, and while I was at home in Utah at the end of the month, the Cardinals won the World Series! In November I got a new car, and now it is the end of December.

I think we can all agree that the most exciting moment of the year was on Thursday, October 27, when the Cardinals and Rangers were playing Game 6 of the World Series. Twice the Cardinals were only one strike away from losing the World Series, but twice they came back, which paved the way for this, the greatest sports moment of the year:



I loved watching Game 6 with Mom, Dad, and Rich in Utah! And we got to see Game 7 in St. George with Grandma the next evening. Now that the Cardinals have lost Albert Pujols, I think it will be hard for them to ever have another year like this one. But we certainly enjoyed it while it lasted. 2011 has had both its good and bad moments, but it's fun to reflect on the good things that happened and look forward to more fun adventures in 2012!

Merry Christmas!

All was quiet and peaceful around here . . .











. . . until Christmas morning! The animal children were seriously really excited this morning. It was so funny. Big Spike was trying to open everyone's presents, and he was especially excited about his own.







The animal children pooled all of their money and bought us a hand-held carpet cleaner so we can clean up all of their messes!





Greg's and my main present to each other was going to the World Series back in October, but Santa still brought us some nice things. Here I am with my awesome Jimmer Fredette signed basketball card.



And here is Greg with one of his presents--a t-shirt to wear when he is playing Call of Duty on the xbox. We also received some really nice money and presents from our parents and family--thank you everyone!!!



As you can see, opening presents (and chasing wrapping paper balls around the house) wore everyone out! It was nice that Christmas was on a Sunday so that we could go to church this afternoon and remember the real reason for the season. It has been a Merry Christmas here, and we hope it has been for all of you as well!