Wow!

I cannot believe that an entire year has passed by. A lot has happened this year. I thought I better due a recap and reflect back on our many blessings. I am truly grateful for all of the love and support we have received from family and friends. I am so thankful for the incredible friends I have. We started the year out saying goodbye to our good friends Matt and Karin who ventured out to Texas. They had a beautiful baby girl, Sienna. Andy finished up his final semester and graduated from BYU!!! That was a huge accomplishment for us. Gavin celebrated his second birthday in May and I survived another pregnancy; Max joined our family in May too! Both of our boys have been blessed with great health and are the sweetest boys ever. Max was an unforeseen blessing and ten days after his birth he became my strength to keep going. I lost my best friend and little brother. My world was turned upside down. Karin was a sweetheart and flew out to help, I am glad she was able to get me out of bed. I just watched the movie p.s. I love you ...well lets just say I'm glad I am able to shower and I have good friends and family for support. Grief is such a hard thing, this year especially. I also lost my sweet great Aunt Verna on new years. She was able to leave this life peacefully in her sleep after a really long battle with pulmonary fibrosis. She was an incredible woman! The gospel has been such a blessing in my life, I love my Savior. On a happier note, we have had a few fun vacations. We celebrated our fifth anniversary in August, Andy was genuinely romantic-it was fabulous.We ventured back to Yellowstone in September. We went to Disneyland in October, Andy went to Washington and I went to Texas twice. We also just got home from spending Christmas in Northern California with my dad's family. It was great to get away from home. This Christmas and every other holiday this year was difficult but when you are in good company it makes it more bearable. I'm looking forward to this next year. Andy's business is growing and he has accomplished so much. Gavin and Max are so much fun and they are constantly changing and doing new things. Max is already crawling and babbling away. Gavin is working on the potty training and getting better...cross your fingers. I saw my parents really smile for the first time in seven months, that is definitely a good sign. I look forward to the adventures to come and I remind myself constantly to keep moving forward-that's what Eric would want me to do. Besides, my dad(being the law abiding, straight arrow that he is) set off illegal fireworks for Christmas; that was fun to see and I know that Eric was smiling one of his biggest smiles from somewhere up above.