Goodbye 2011

Since I've been a slacker and didn't send anyone Christmas cards or anything and have hardly kept up on the blog as good as I should, I am now going to do this year in review post. This is as good as it will get for this year. Goodbye to 2011! We've had a great year!

We have lived in this house for the whole of 2011. We've moved a lot in our still short married life and I believe that this is a first for us to not have moved at all in a year. We are so grateful to my parents for letting us live in their condo. The space is fabulous and the reduced rent they charge us is amazing!

Brian has been at school full time this year. He has worked so hard and rocked all of his semesters with A's and B's, including this most recent semester during which he had 21 credit hours! He was so busy, but we are so proud of how hard he's working in school. He also came up with the clever idea of posting a tutor ad on Craigslist and is doing so well making a little extra cash and helping people who are struggling with math and science. He really is a good tutor and likes it a lot. Brian was also released from the Young Men's presidency and moved to the 11 year old scout leader. The young men loved him so much and were so sad, but we're happy to be able to actually see him some now. And, I really needed an 11 year old scout leader so it's a double plus.

I am still serving as the 2nd counselor in the Primary presidency (over cub scouts, hence why Brian's calling was good for me, too). I feel like the one who is the biggest slacker out of all 4 of us, but I try my best and I love the kids and think that I do a pretty darn good job keeping the kids' attention when it's my turn for sharing time. The only thing new with me this year is that I went and got myself pregnant. I'm happily out of the icky stage and starting to finally catch back up on all the house work. Our third little one is due May 27, 2012 and it's a girl! We are happy to try out one of the other kind and are looking forward to her arrival. I'm also still busily trying to go through all of the random stuff of two families and organize it into a way that works for us.

Oliver has had a great year. He started preschool and loves it. He now goes Mon-Thur for 2 hours and even rides the school bus to and from preschool! He has his own ideas and suggestions and expresses them in fairly accurate complete sentences, even with correct grammer. He goes to the bathroom all by himself. He can put his shoes on alone. He's good to try doing a lot of things for himself. He is actually a very big helper to me with little tasks like moving the laundry along, unloading the dishwasher, or carrying groceries in from the car. He's sleeping much better at night, uses words more often, feeds himself fairly cleanly, and is just growing up into a full fledged grown up boy. He had his last year in nursery at Church and is starting 2012 as a Sunbeam, during which he did great yesterday.

Dexter has gone from a baby to a big boy during 2011. At the beginning of the year he was still wearing diapers full time, sleeping in a crib and talking very, very little. Now he only needs a diaper at night, decided he was too big to even take a nap, sleeps in a big boy bed, moved back into the upstairs room with his brother, and talks all the time. He has made huge verbal strides! He's gone from the baby who only said 10 or fewer words when 2011 started, to the big boy who speaks actual sentences and has a vocabulary of well over 100 words. We got Dexy into TLC this year and it has been so good for him. He has a speech therapist who comes to our house once a month and we have been doing Kindermusic once a week for the last couple of months. Both of these, along with having his brother going to preschool and leaving him to actually have to speak for himself, have turned Dexy into an all out talker. I'm so proud of him!

The other thing that was new in 2011 was that we got a couple of ferrets this year. We had 2, a white one named Frosty and a racoonish looking one named Chewie, but Frosty got sick and died. It was more sad than I thought it would be, seeing as we only had him a month or two before he passed away. Chewie is still with us and going strong. He puts up with the boys very well, and likes to get out of his cage and be curious about us and what we're doing. He loves to steal and hide plastic bags, small stuffed balls, and shoes.

We love being in the St. George sunny weather. We've had so much fun this year hiking the Dixie rocks, playing at the splashpad, being able to go to the park year round, and having a summer pass at Sand Hallow aquatic center. The boys and I have also loved story time Fridays at 11 AM at the city library this year. My parents sold us their Camry for a whole dollar before they moved to Nebraska this year and it has been a great second car. It's so nice for Brian to get where he needs to go and for the boys and I to still be able to get out of the house or run needed errands. Everyone has been fairly happy and healthy this year. Our only major issue this year was Dexy getting stitches back in July. We also got to go to Disneyland this year which was awesome, but you all know that because it just happened. We now say goodbye to 2011 and look forward to another great year in 2012!!!