2013 Annual Christmas Letter
Happy Holidays to our Wonderful Family and Friends,
I know getting these letters in the mail is a thousand times
more fun than reading them on a blog, but as the most exciting event of the
year has yet to occur… you might be getting a Valentine’s card from us instead
of a Christmas card.
2013 was an exciting year for us. It started off pretty
normal, Brian was working late busy season hours at PwC during January and
February and then… he got a new job! This new job has been such a blessing for
our family. We hadn’t expected him to leave public accounting for a few more
years, but the opportunity was right and he started working at PulteGroup in
March. His last day at PwC was his birthday, I think it was the best birthday
present he could have given himself. The hours are better and the opportunities
look promising, we are excited to see where this job takes us!
In addition to the new job, we also found out we were
expecting a baby (see it was a crazy year)! We are excited to have this little
boy join our family in a few short weeks, we can’t wait to meet him, and can’t
wait for Michael to have a little friend.
Michael continued to grow into quite the little boy this
year. He is BUSY all the time. He still doesn’t like to sleep, and waits until
he is absolutely exhausted to give in and take even a short nap. He moved to
his big kid room this spring and loves it, probably because he sleeps even less
in there than he did in his crib. He went through a few obsessions this year,
at first it was “diggers”, then Thomas the Train, and now anything to do with
Cars or Planes. It is so fun to watch his interests change over time. He
continues to love to go to music class, storytime, and the park, he has learned
his days of the week based on these activities. He loves to read and this year
we have fallen in love with a few childrens’ book series including Franklin, Llama Llama, and Karma
Wilson’s Bear series. He loves to play outside in the sandbox, ride
his bike, and boss all the grown ups in his life around. He asks to do “school
activities” every day and we are having a hard time keeping up with his love
for learning, he is just too fast! He knows all of his capital letters, can
pick them out when we are out and about, and some of the sounds. We are
starting to work on lower case letters and finishing off learning the sounds. He learned about iPads and iPhones this year,
and while I haven’t loved his new found interest in electronics we are trying
to embrace the learning apps and accept (and limit) his interests. He started
nursery at church this year, and it has been mildly challenging. He loves
singing time, and is awesome at playing “name that tune” with primary songs in
the car. He current favorite bedtime songs are “’ere you left your room this
morning” (Did you think to pray), and
If the Savior stood beside me, and
yes he knows all the words, all 3 verses, he is amazing. He still loves his dad
more than anyone, and bosses poor Brian around from the minute he walks in the
door at night until he finally collapses in his bed. Even though he is so busy,
and we are so tired all the time, we love him and are so excited to see what
2014 brings for him.
Brian left public accounting and settled into a new job this
year. He seems to really enjoy the new job, and has the opportunity to work on
a variety of projects and get some good exposure to the field. He is learning a
lot about the business behind homebuilding, and seems to be really interested
in the industry.
And me, well I spent from March until August so sick and chasing
Michael , and the rest of the year totally off balance but still chasing
Michael. Having a two year old and being pregnant has definitely been
challenging, but it has given me a new found admiration for moms with more than
one child! I am excited to meet this new little guy and spend 2014 chasing him
around too!
We were lucky enough to make several trips to California and
Utah this year to visit family and friends, and have my parents and sister
visit us this year. It was wonderful to see everyone and we hope to make it
back soon… though not too soon because 1 kid on an airplane is almost more than
I can handle… I can’t imagine 2.
We have been so blessed in 2013, we hope the rest of your
year is as exciting as our’s promises to be. We wish you and your family a very
Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year.
Love,
Brian, Ashley, and Michael
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