December 31, 2011

Peer Pressure

Well my friends, it turns out having a newborn and a toddler is a little hectic. Thus the blog has been neglected. But in all fairness, its better I neglect the blog than one of my children, so I don't feel too bad. Its the Christmas cards that are getting me down. Yes, I did get them in the mail this year and avoided typos (last year I spelled our last name wrong... talk about embarrassing). But with each card that I received it became more and more evident that my card was lacking. We had failed to include a bullet point list of our accomplishments for the year. I wasn't aware that such a list was customary, but I can now see the error of my ways.  To make up for it, I'll fill you all in on what the Andreasens have been up to this year.

Scott...
-graduated from BYU
-got a job with Ford and moved the family to Michigan
-bought a house
-bought a car
-remodeled said house
-served as a ward missionary and counselor in the young mens presidency
-became a father of two

Stephanie...
-graduated from BYU
-followed her love to Michigan
-painted painted and painted our new house
-got in her first car accident (totally the other guy's fault by the way, as evidenced by the fact that he gave her fake contact and insurance information)
-served as a counselor in the Relief Society
-had a baby without any pain medication and it was awesome (birth story to come, I promise)
-completed her summer reading goals on time (book report to come, I also promise)

Ellie...
-had eye surgery
-received treatment for her 30% hearing loss and has experienced a surge in speech development
-had her first hair cut
-fell in love with Barney and Caillou (though Elmo is still her main man)
-started going to nursery and LOVES it
-met and fell in love with her new sister. She really is the best big sister

Ev...
-completed the journey from zygote to adorable baby girl with grace
-made her mom wait an extra week to make her debut, but only took 5 hours once the party got started
-became the light of our lives and just the sweetest baby ever

So that's what we've been up to. Its been a great year! We've certainly reached a few milestones this year and have been incredibly blessed. We've had the opportunity this year to exercise our trust in Heavenly Father on many occasions including the paramount decisions to move to Michigan and to have another baby. Along the way, although we've experienced trials and loneliness in our new circumstances, we've tried to choose faith rather than fear and I know that for me, one of the biggest lessons I've learned this year is that God really does bless us when we put our trust in him. "...yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him" (Helaman 12:1)