Exactly a year ago Ry drove off in our little Sentra in the dead of winter to Indianapolis. But before he left we stood by the Christmas tree and took a family picture.
That was how our year began.
January- Mack celebrated his 3rd birthday with our Utah family and I celebrated my 31st birthday. Ry started his new job and lived in a hotel. His home teaching companion was Austin Collie who plays for the Colts. He had to quickly learn how to adapt to cold mid-west winters and how to de-ice a car. I had to learn how to parent alone and do all the duties I was use to Ryan helping me with. Gratefully my parents made the transition easier for everyone and my Dad was everything my boys needed when they needed him.
February- Nate celebrated his 5th birthday in Utah with miniature golf at Trafalga. To keep the boys busy during the cold winter months we made visits to Aunt Shari's and BYU's Bean Museum. Ben and I made a trip to Indiana to visit Ryan. We arrived a day after a horrible ice storm and it snowed 6 inches while we were there. I got to see downtown Indianapolis for the first time and was pleasantly surprised by how warm and kind the people in the mid-west are. It was sure hard to say goodbye to Ry when we had to fly back home.
March- Ry flew to Utah to see his boys. I'll never forget the sweet look on the boys faces when they saw their Dad and the look in Ry's eyes when he got to hug his boys. We sure were grateful for skype for Family Home Evening and our nightly calls on the phone to say prayers. Ryan may have been a thousand miles away, but he made every effort to be there in spirit with us every night.
April- Ben celebrated his very first birthday. Ry joined us via skype and sat on the picnic table and watched live as Ben ate his birthday cupcake. As the weather warmed up Nate loved to be outside every day catching his pet snake and playing with him. We had fun making trips to Malad to visit my sister's family and we loved to make our trips into Salt Lake to tour around the church sites.
May- Ryan and I celebrated our 9th anniversary together in Utah. We also found out this month that Ry would be taking a job in New Jersey and that our family would join him in June. It was amazing how quickly it all fell into place and how perfect of a situation it was for our family. Ryan started his new job in May and worked hard to find us a place to live.
June- The boys and I wrapped up our Utah life and packed up my parent's basement. My parents did so much for us while we lived there and it was sure hard to say goodbye after only being back home for such a short time. School ended for Jack and Nate that first week in June and on the 6th my niece Shaunie and I packed up the van and the four boys and headed out on our cross-country trip. We stopped for a day in Nauvoo and had such a wonderful time. On Friday evening we finally pulled into New Jersey and Ryan was there to welcome us to our new home with wide open arms. We still didn't have a place to live so we made a visit to my brother in Maryland and I got to visit Washington D.C. and NYC for the first time. It was a very busy month.
July- We moved into our rental townhome and officially started our New Jersey life. Ryan loved having his family and a home and it seemed heaven on earth. The boys made nightly visits to the marsh to catch frogs and on the weekends we made family trips to the beach. Our ward family embraced us and we quickly made some amazing friends and found ourselves quite at home in New Jersey. We made a trip to Palmyra, New York for the Hill Cumorah Pageant and had an amazing time. We also made a trip to Virginia to visit my brothers and his family again.
August- Ryan celebrated his 32nd birthday on the same day that Hurricane Irene made its arrival to New Jersey. The hurricane passed directly over us and at some points during the night I feared our home would fly away, but we were blessed and had no damage or flooding. Just a week before we also experienced a big earthquake for this area that really shook us up. We also had the most rainfall during this month than New Jersey had seen in a very long time.
September- Jack celebrated his eighth birthday and started the 3rd grade. Nate started kindergarten and was a natural at being a school boy. The boys love their school and all the specialty classes they get to participate in. Jack is excelling in his music and art classes and Nate is becoming a budding artist. Mack is my buddy at home and we enjoy the alone time we get together while Ben naps and the boys are at school. Ry was busy busy at work and got to take a weekend trip to San Francisco for a seminar which meant he got to see all his family and friends. Ryan's mom also came to visit and was our first official visitor.
October- Jack was baptized on the 1st and officially became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. That same week Ryan was also called into the bishopric and a week later Ben was welcomed into nursery. Our life just seemed to get crazier. Ryan was able to make a weekend trip to Utah for his sister's wedding and I was totally jealous he got to be with all our family.
November- Ryan and I enjoyed having a less busy month and had fun just being together as a family. We have our family fun nights every Friday where we have sleepovers in the family room. Ryan takes the boys running at night, and I loved taking my boys to Holmdel Park to see the farm animals and go fishing in the pond. We also got to enjoy our first New England Fall. The biggest excitement of the month was having my parents come to visit and getting to spend Thanksgiving with them. We made a trip to Virginia and had a fun trip into D.C. It was so hard to say goodbye not knowing when we'd get to see them again.
December- We kept waiting for the New England winter to hit, but here it is the 30th and we're still waiting. Me and the boys love our movie nights. Jack is so happy being a boy scout. And every Wednesday Ryan works at the church doing his calling and Nate is his buddy the whole time. Mack and Ben seemed to run circles around me and are my little helpers in the kitchen at every meal. Just tonight Mack helped me peel the carrots and Ben loves to stir whatever is cooking on the stove. Of course we still have our dance parties in the kitchen and we sing songs constantly to each other. Christmas has now come and gone and was much quieter this year then we are use to and we found ourselves missing our family. Gratefully we have good friends who we got to spend the holiday with and we feel so blessed to know that our ward family is our family now.
It seems crazy to think that a year has come and gone. It was such a busy and fun filled year for us, overflowing with lots of excitement, adventures, trials, and challenges. And looking back we can definitely see how the Lord had his hands in everything we did and He was definitely watching over us every step of the way. We look forward to the next year and what joys it will bring and Ryan and I have an even firmer testimony of the Savior and how He is involved in every detail of our lives. Praise be to the Lord for the good life our family has been blessed with.
Side note: I wish I could have a picture to accompany each month, but I don't so if I can get pictures off my old hard drive I will definitely have to put together a slide show of all the amazing places we've visited this past year.
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