Bring On The New Year

I considered writing a Christmas letter this year, to send out with our cards.  Well... I was lucky to just get the cards out this year.  It seems like we had a lot going on right around that time; I could be totally wrong and that could just be an excuse.  Someday I might get around to sending a Christmas letter.

For now, I decided to just look back at the year and see what we have done.  It seems we have done nothing and everything.  Looking back, I know we did so many fun things, but at the same time, I wonder if we did enough?  Did we take advantage of being in Europe?  Did we spend enough time together as a family?  Did my kids make memories that they will remember in 20 years? Did I tell my family how much I love them, or tell Pete how amazing he is- I know I have, but did I do it enough?

I think it comes down to this: We were happy this year.

So let's take a look at some of the things that made us happy...

Pete:

*enjoys his career as a dentist  *after being deployed for 7 months has found a new love in reading books (that aren't always related to teeth)

*was accepted into a four month exodontia residency, and lived in Missouri for four months without his family (that part didn't make him so happy)  *visited some Church historic sights  *visited Utah for the first time in two years  *ran his first half-marathon  *traveled with the family  *became Elders Quorum President

Pam:

*took a lot of pictures  *ran her first half-marathon  *became a personal trainer  *taught a lot of classes

*ended up in the German newspaper a few times  *started taking a German class

*traveled to UT with the kids for two weeks  *took a girl's trip to Belgium

*took a small break from teaching tons of Zumba and revisited teaching Pilates  *has enjoyed being a "stay at home mom" who really is never, ever home

*has continued to have the best job in the world as a fitness instructor

Noah:

*turned 8  * lost four teeth  *was baptized  *started 3rd grade  *loves legos, Star Wars and the combination of the two  *has also found a love of reading  *decided he wants to invent something cool and make a bunch of movies

Annie:

*turned 5  *started kindergarten  *made a whole bunch of friends at school  *started reading  

Cooper:

*turned 4  *continued attending German Kindergarten, and increasing his German language  *continued to make us laugh all the time

The places we visited this year:

*Barcelona and Madrid, Spain (Pete and Pam)

*Vienna, Austria (all of us)

*Prague-multiple times (Pete and Pam)

*Garmisch-multiple times (all of us)

*Brussels and Brugges, Belgium (Pam)

*Utah (all of us)

*Legoland, Deutschland (all of us)

*New Mexico (Pete)

*Missouri (Pete)

*Nauvoo (Pete)

*Carthage (Pete)

*Independence (Pete)

*Kansas City (Pete)

*St. Louis (Pete)

*Northern Germany (Pete and Pam)

My parents, aunt Ruth and cousin Jody were able to come and visit us for two weeks and travel around with us.  My cousin Alyssa was also able to come and stay with us for a month and travel.  

We're looking forward to a new year with lots of travel plans already in the works.  Much of the traveling will be done as a family, but a lot will be done as a couple.  We're looking forward to spending time together, and (as far as we can tell) we should all be together the entire year.  We're hoping to have more family come to visit, since this is our last full year in Germany.  We're looking forward to meeting new people, and continuing to enjoy the life we have right now. We have been blessed greatly this year, and hope to continue to have blessings poured upon us this coming year. 

Bring on the New Year!