I'm being cheap, but I'll blame it on being "earth friendly" so I'm skipping out on including a Christmas letter with the card (which hopefully you received... if you did not receive one, well I'm being earth friendly and didn't send cards out... =) )
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Andy and I had a pretty busy year and boy do I feel like it flew by. Just last year we were in Saint Louis and Andy was working on his last semester of school EVER (hopefully, cross fingers)! He went on a trip to Guatemala through the new year with some people from his class to do therapy there and really enjoyed it (while I rang in (or slept in) the new year all by myself). He then arrived back in the states only for two days until he went under sedation to try and repair his knee (he dislocated it back in undergrad while wrestling (awful sport and awful situation: so mad at him =) )). I took a couple of days off of working at the bank to nurse the old baby to health and just made myself sick with exhaustion...
Whoo Wee! (my new phrase I'm trying out, hope you like it cause you'll hear a lot about it) So that was January. Such and such months later we were blessed with news that we were about to become Aunt and Uncle times 2! No. Not twins. My sister and my sister-in-law both had news that they were expecting their first children (both boys... whoo wee!)! So we were excited about that news and kept it in mind as Andy applied and interviewed for jobs about the country. We had always dreamed about living in Colorado and being super close to the mountains, but were kind of disappointed in the reality that Colorado is PT Saturated and the living is high and pay is low... Boo... So we (ahem HE) interviewed in Richland WA at Kadlec Medical Center and I interviewed the city... So a good interview and 2 Targets later.... (drum roll please) we accepted the job in Richland!!!
Andy graduated in May and turned 26 in a matter of 2 days! We had both our families down for the celebrations and rejoiced in both of us being out of school and real adults! =) We then packed up all our stuff in another short 2 days... Half celebrated our 2 year anniversary and headed on our way south. We made minor detours in Charleston, Schaumburg, Yellowstone, Badlands, etc. But we eventually stumbled upon the Tri-Cities: our new home.
We lived with only an air mattress, a couple of plates and utensils, a skillet, a sauce pan, a computer, some clothes and two towels for about a month and a half as we lived a nightmare through phone calls with U-Haul... until finally! we got our stuff! Hallelujah! Since then we have settled into our new home. We joined a community group. Made a few new friends. Became members at a church (Crossview). Joined a classy gym (Gold's). Made numerous trips to Seattle (had to see our nephews!!! Parker and Jackson!). Made trips back home for weddings and family. Andy likes his new job, but definitely sees a change in the future (a more sports- centered clinic). I also (reluctantly) gave up my retirement and became (not reluctantly) a full time nanny to a wonderful 2 year old boy.
We feel somewhat settled, but are definitely looking forward to the new year and so far very few planned trips out to Seattle. We are hoping with staying put for a while that we can grow in this area and become more and more connected and make it more of our home. Andy and I are praying that God will bless us with a child this year and just to stay positive during this time. Hopefully next year's letter will have a wonderful blessing of a child as its main focus.
We wish you the most wonderful Christmas/ We pray that you are all doing well and that you will enjoy time with your family this season.
Love you all,
Andy and Allysha
P.S. Are you proud that I never mentioned Buckley in our Christmas letter?!?! He's doing well by the way. If you want to read more about him just read every other post I have ever written! =)
