Our Christmas

This Christmas I have to admit Deven was the bigger child. I don't know who was more excited Gracie or him. Gracie had a great Christmas morning, but was most excited about the pink princess dress her uncle got her and the pink stick horse her aunt gave her. It just goes to show she loves pink and princesses. This year we had a family party in Gunnison and Gracie got to see Santa and be an angel in the Nativity. She loved being an angel so much that she wouldn't take her costume off the rest of the party. We spent Christmas morning at Deven's house and then headed to Gunnison. We spent a good part of the evening at my Grandma's house playing play station, where we got everyone (including my mom ) to play guitar hero and sing star. This was our big family gift and turned out to be a big hit with everyone. (top: Deven and my sister Lisa having a guitar battle)

Our Birthdays

I guess you could say between Christmas and birthdays we have been busy. Both Deven and I turned a year older. Deven turned 29 on Dec 20th and I turned the big 30 on Christmas Day. I have to admit being 30 isn't as bad as I thought it would be. We had low key celebrations with our families My family made me a Hawaiian cake, and Hawaiian haystacks in honor of our future move, they are all trying to humor me , because they know I am nervous.

The Match

Well, the day we have been waiting for finally came. When we first started medical school the thought of 4 more years of school seemed over whelming. Well that time has flown by and this past year we have been anticipating where we will spend the next 5 years of our life. We have been waiting impatiently for the past few months but yes the day did come. It brought with it a lot of emotion for us (ok for me) when we found out we will be going to Hawaii. It came as a bit of a shock! Deven was excited almost immediately, but I will be honest for me I am still waiting for the shock to wear off. But I have to say I am so proud of him and so excited for him. He has worked so hard these past years and he got into the top program. It is just hard for me to imagine being that far away from family. I know things happen for a reason and that we are going where we need to be, I know we will have many neat experiences as we grow together as a family. Everyone is welcome, we would love visitors!!! Congratulations Deven, all of your hard work paid off!! I guess we should say Aloha!

SNOW FUN

We have had a lot of fun in the snow. Gracie is loving it! We decided she needed warmer clothes though. The first time we made her wear them she pouted for a while, but in the end had lots of fun shoveling snow with her little snow shovel Nana bought her.

Our Christmas Tree

Well it is no "Rockafeller" tree, but this year our tree had a journey of its own. Over Thanksgiving weekend, We went with my dad and family up the mountains to pick our perfect tree. We found our perfect tree, but then we had to move it to Provo. We wrapped it in a tarp and strapped it to the top of our car. It made it home and with a little trimming, ok a lot of trimming, we were able to put it up and decorate it. Gracie has already eaten almost all of the candy canes off of it, and since we don't have many decorations, it is already looking quite bare. None the less we had a great family adventure getting our tree this year.

The Annual Jeans Run

Lisa and I started a Jeans run, where instead of paying the entry fee, we train and run for a pair of jeans. This year we got Sharon to do it with us. We trained for a half Marathon. We started Just before Bridal Veil Falls up Provo Canyon and ended at Utah Lake. It was a lot of fun, and even more fun is shopping for that new pair of jeans.

One Little Indian

I sent Gracie to preschool and she came home as a little Indian. She was so proud of the new costume and she even let her teacher paint her face (We all know Gracie hates her face touched)

The Bike Ride

I am sure the nice weather will be coming to end soon, but we have sure been enjoying it. We found Deven's old bikes and our neighbors gave us their old bike trailor. We have had so much fun going on bike rides. Gracie loves it (and for anyone who know Gracie she is always one for a ride) She asks us everyday if we can keep the trailor and go for more bike rides.

Fall

This is the first year Gracie has got to see the leafs change and we decided to take a day and let the kids play in the leafs. Gracie and her cousins.

Gracie was so excited about Halloween this year. We took advantage of the good weather and carved pumpkins outside. She had more fun coloring them and lighting them up at night. And of course Halloween brought for us a little fairy.

A Little Update...

To all of our family and friends. It seems we have been moving around a lot and we thought this would be a fun way to keep everyone informed of our life. We have been able to travel with Deven this past year to some of his rotations. We got to spend a month in Hawaii, Washington State, and Texas. We had a lot of fun and are waiting to hear where Deven will get his residency. In the mean time we are enjoying the rest of the year with family.

First Snow Storm

A lot of people were a little nervous with the first snow storm being so early this year. Not us we haven't been able to play in the snow for years. Gracie was so excited she couldn't even eat her breakfast. It turned out her favorite part of the snow storm was eating it and then making snowballs and throwing them at her dad.

Texas

Deven spent most of the month of August in San Antonio Texas, but I got to go visit him for a week. We didn't have Gracie with us so we decided to go eat at the Tower of the Americas. It rotated around the city and we enjoyed a great atmosphere as well as some tasty food.

Our Summer

I am going to share some of our summer experiences with everyone. For the 4th of July we had the opportunity to watch fire works on the Puget Sound, Steilacoom to be exact. Gracie was enjoying herself. Although the water was a lot colder than Hawaii she was excited to be at a beach.

Of course we spend a lot of time in Seattle and enjoyed many ferry rides. We did a lot of site seeing. We saw so many beautiful waterfalls. The scenery was amazing and we hope to go back.