Merry Christmas! We are but days away, so it's looking like an actual physical card and/or letter isn't much of an option anymore. So instead, to make up for it, here's a recap of what we've been up to this past year!
This was my fourth year of working full time as a Project Lead at Ancestry.com. It is challenging but very interesting and rewarding work, and I have a great team; I love it! (For those who may not know, I work with the historical collections once they've been imaged &/or keyed, and do a lot of database management with SQL/Excel/etc. to make sure they're going to look good for the site.) We've been fortunate enough to have grandmas helping out during the day with Avery, and since September I've even been able to work from home twice a week which has been so great!
January marked Sean's first semester up at the U and then in May we found out he was accepted to the Architecture program! (Very competitive by the way, some wife bragging for you.) So this fall marked his first semester as a real, live, honest-to-goodness Architecture student. It's been kind of a long and funny road getting to this point, but I'm confident this is what he was born to do and so glad he made the switch. He is incredibly talented! (He even just got nominated for a design award, so that is an objective statement and not just more wife bragging.) But wow is this major just so incredibly demanding. He has slept up at the school, oh, at least a dozen times? Well, usually without much sleeping. It's bonkers, but everyone says this semester is the hardest, so fingers crossed it maybe gets a little bit easier? (He just barely finished this semester last night at 3 A.M. so hooray for Christmas break!)
In August we moved out of our basement apartment close to UVU where we'd been for, believe-it-or-not, 3 years. What, really?! Blows my mind. But anyway, it was a totally random lead from a friend, and it's kind of funny how it all worked out. In March we were looking to buy a house and were even under contract for one place, but it didn't feel right. (We ended up deciding to wait until we know better where we're going to end up.) Then all summer we were trying to find somewhere else to rent, but things just kept falling through. Until the LAST week before fall semester started, this apartment worked out and it's been pretty close to perfect. Not super fancy or ginormous or anything, but nice and open and light and really just exactly what we needed. It's been great, and should work for us for the next couple years we think.
Avery Turns One!
Avery turned one on March 24th. And she has turned into the funniest, sweetest, cutest, jabbering little toddler. Some things she loves: dancing, The Little Mermaid, drawing, playing with other little kids, her baby doll (Baby Ariel), her stuffed animals, her "bankocks" (her two blankets), "Joooce?!" (juice), books, counting to 10, recognizing letters (she knows most of them now and gets really excited when she sees them, for example, outside of H&M), Bubble Guppies, "Jake and Finn?!" (Adventure Time), making funny faces, playing hide and seek, "getting" dad, brushing her teeth, "hang?!" (she hangs on Sean's rock climbing rings every night and he helps her do pull ups, she's gonna be crazy strong), Super Simple Songs, playing on smart phones/tablets, cheese and pickles and apples and bananas and "marnies" (Smarties), and as of the last couple weeks, she really loves baby Jesus, Danta Clawz, presents and surprises. We are getting very excited for Christmas!
Speaking of which, here are some more pictures from her Santa photo shoot! (She LOOVED posing for the pictures, and the photographer was super impressed--"She's very obedient for not even being two!" There's a mom brag for you.)
SANTA PHOTOS!
So that's us kind of in a nutshell. It's been a whirlwind of a year, not a whole lot of down time, but it's been a good one!
And now I'll wrap this up by posting some photos from throughout the year.
HIGHLIGHT REEL
Train ride up to SLC to scout out the U's campus.
Avery doesn't trust some of these characters on TRAX.
Sister Brittany Thomas (aka Aunt KooKoo) leaves for Tacoma, Washington mission.
Lunch breaks with my baby.
Most un-romantic Valentine's Day to date. Marked the start of Avery's first time being really sick, turned out to be RSV. (Thought about posting the picture from Instagram of her hives she got from it, but I just can't. It's the saddest picture ever.)
Gotta have a naked baby picture. Walking about 10 steps at this point.
"Hoo hoo - Ah ah"
Easter!
Anniversary Trip to Zermatt, only five months late. First (and only) overnight away from Avery so far.
(The only photos we have are these from the amazing pizza/bagel place in Midway.)
Avery with Lumpy Space Princess (she makes her say "Hey Gurl!")
Taught primary for 3 years until we moved out of our last ward; our kids loved Avery!
The giant check! ... that we didn't win. We did this Amazing Home Race in March and even though we didn't win it was really fun! And we somehow managed to avoid getting a speeding ticket.
My favorite people coming to visit me at work!
Socializing (with her buddy Brayden).
Shopping for summer shades.
Summer meant hiking! This is Stewart Falls up behind Sundance.
These guys were there too.
Supporting the arts (Aunt Amy's choir performance).
Sitting like a lady at church.
Arrested Development Season 4 happened.
Emcee Noodle Hat (she busted out some beatboxing after I took this picture.)
More socialiazing (with McKinley.
Cheese face.
At dad's soccer game.
Rock Climbing at Maple Canyon.
Went to St George with my family; most of the pictures are on a hard drive up at Sean's school though, so here's the only one I have from my phone: sleeping in! (It's pretty great, because this picture could have been taken literally anywhere. Also, batman pajamas.)
Summer also means splash pads.
Sometimes people think she is my friend Michelle's child. I can't see why?
Bored in Primary.
Staying cool.
*Probably the funnest highlight: In July our little family took our first big vacation and went on a two-week road trip first to California with some friends, and then to Arizona to see Sean's sister and her family in Flagstaff. *
Vegas!
Earl of Sandwich! We meet again.
Hotel in Vegas.
Del Mar races!
The beach!
Disneyland!
Other places!
Griffith Observatory.
More beach! (Crystal Cove is beautiful!)
Taliesen West outside of Phoenix (Frank Lloyd Wright's school/residence in the winters.)
Flagstaff with cousins and Aunt "Bad-Guy"! This nickname came about later but I feel it appropriate to mention it here. (Her name is really Becca.)
24+ hours of driving altogether, but we made it!
(end of trip photo section)
Playing in the backyard.
She loves the tramp. And posing.
Mmmm, Rita's Ice. (Aunt Emily moonlighting as the Ice man.)
Ariel and arabesques.
"Toys?!"
Seven reasons she loves grandma's house.
"Fries?!"
Socializing (and practicing kissing already, yikes!) This is her good pal Everett.
Her favorite "toy" at Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's house was this incredibly heavy statue of a dog. He's really funny, as you can see.
She has too much fun at Grandma's house and sometimes fights her naps; a couple hours later this results in her conking out somewhere random, like this.
Halloween!
Annual murder mystery with my friends! This year it was Gatsby/1920's themed.
Velma Kelley (from Chicago) and Ernest Hemingway.
Halloween Carnival at work: Avery was Ariel!
She loved trick or treating!
With our good friends Mary Poppins and Bert the chimney sweep.
Sean's first big project for school.
This bench was installed in Green River, Utah by the Golden Ratio statue. The mayor of Green River dubbed it "The Double Date Bench".
First snow of 2013!
Can't get enough of that hat and those boots.She also loves her mittens. And also the episode of Bubble Guppies she's watching.
Going to the store is sometimes a gamble, and for a while there it was nearly impossible to go with her solo (she had big ideas about running around everywhere), but it's finally gotten to the point where it's doable again! And she's usually a very good little store companion. (That, or I've gotten better at convincing her the cart is a fun place to be?)
She really is just the best.
Trying hot chocolate for the first time; she's a big fan.
And I just posted this, but I love it; Avery telling Santa Steve what she wants for Christmas (my boss dresses up every year). She really likes this Santa guy!
*********************************************************************************
Well, I'm a little bummed because there are some real winner pictures that I don't have access to right at this moment (hits like "Cutest cousins at a Thai restaurant in Flagstaff!", and "Dinner at Club 33!"), but if you've made it this far I'm sure you're just a little bit relieved there's not more. You're a busy person! You've got things to do! So I'll just have to come back later and add them in, so I've got a good comprehensive recap of the year for future reference all in one place. (I've kind of stopped blogging because I spend more time writing in either my journal or the journal I keep for Avery- I know, I know, who does that?!) So if you're a real die-hard fan of the Greene family you could check back in a month and there will maybe be even MORE pictures for your viewing pleasure!
But anyway, to wrap things up, it's been a busy but fun year, and we are excited to see what 2014 is going to bring. Here are some spoilers: more Ancestry.com and schooling at the U, but also The Return of Aunt KooKoo, a trip to Washington, and POTTY TRAINING! Dun dun dun...
Merry Christmas everyone! And a Happy New Year!
No comments:
Post a Comment