End of 2011 Wrap-up!

Well, in case you hadn't heard its 2012!  Happy belated New Year!

Here is a cliffnotes version of 2011 in the Earl house!

MATT:

• Graduated with his BSN from ASU! 
• Applied to Grad School. 
• Was Accepted into several CRNA (nurse anesthetist) programs and accepted a position at The Mayo Clinic's program in Rochester, MN starting in the fall of 2012. 
• He continued to work in the ICU at St Joseph's hospital for his 4th year in a row. 
• He also worked part time for Eastern Arizona College as a clinical nursing instructor, which he loved!

JENN:

• Served as the Primary Secretary for our church's youth (18 months-12 years)
• Created half a website (then lost steam...and never finished it...but learned a lot!)
• Lost 30 lbs!  Shedding my "baby weight" and hitting my goal weight (though I still have lots of work in the gym that needs to be done, before I am really satisfied!)
• Managed to keep the household running, bills paid, and all of Matt's application materials sorted, sent in on time, etc, while Matt worked full time & attended school full time for the first 1/2 of the year and worked 2 jobs & interviewed all over the country during the second 1/2.

LILY:

• Turned 4 (In Feb of 2011)
• Learned the basics of reading and loves to sound her way through new words!
• Gave us more "works of art" then we could possibly ever have room for, she sure loves to draw!
• Finished her 1st year of pre-school and started her 2nd!
• Was a Sunbeam, and participated in her first Sacrament Meeting Program!
• Continued to be cautious, kind, thoughtful, and kept us laughing with her infectious giggle and her new found sense of silliness that comes from spending a lot more time with friends this year.

ISABEL:

• Turnded 2 (In Jan of 2011)
• Turned her selective talking into a HUGE vocabulary!
• Potty Trained!
• Got into lots of trouble with her crazy, wild-child spirit, while Mom and Dad tried not to laugh as we sent her to the corner! 
• Continued to be a sweet snuggler, a mischevious trickster, our "class clown", a thorn in her big sister's side (constantly teasing and goading her), our little performer/actress, a whole LOT of fun and a whole LOT of work!

KATE:

• Turned 1 (Dec 2011)
• Learned all those fun things that babies do in the first year: IE: First words, rolling over, sitting up, crawling, cruising on furniture (though she still refuses to walk even now), wave bye-bye, blow kisses, etc
• Also learned to be an excellent climber (often giving her mommy a heart attck)
• Is our most social baby by far
• Became VERY curious, gets into EVERYTHING, can sometimes be naughty, but ALWAYS does so with a big sweet grin on her face.  She isn't sneaky or malicious, she is just curious and BUSY!
• Stayed as blonde as can be!
• Is a HUGE daddy's girl, loves to snuggle him!
• Continues to bring a lot of love, giggles, smiles, and more recently temper tantrums, adores her big sisters, and keeps us all very busy!

Our family took a trip to Utah in the summer and one to California in the fall.  We traveled to Thatcher 5 or 6 times, and in general stayed pretty busy! 2011 was really our first year with 3 kids, since Kate was born in Dec of 2010, and boy did that one extra kid make things more complicated!  Matt and I spent the least amount of time together over-all that we have in the past 8 years, due to having such full schedules, and it took me quite a while to adjust to a making decisions/"parenting on my own" mind frame, but in the end it made us all appreciate the time we get to spend together SO much more!  We spent the entire year living with Matt's folks, which is a challenge and an immeasureable blessing!  I have a feeling that in the future, when we look back, we will view 2011 as a pretty big year!  Our last year in AZ, living with Matt's 'rents, last year before Grad school, before we have kids in school (Lily will start Kindergarden in the fall), etc!

Overall, it was at times stressful and awful, depressing, an incredibly challenging/hard year (probably our hardest yet), but it was also the year I have felt the most blessed, optomistic, and grateful.  I am grateful for all the things that happened in 2011, but I can't say that I am sad to see it go!