Dear Friends & Family,

It’s kind of funny to think that what seems like not that long ago, I couldn’t wait for Christmas to get here and how looooong the days seemed to drag and now? Well, now every year I find myself wishing for just a day or two more to get everything ready. Either way, here we are, just a few days away from Christmas and less than two weeks from wrapping up another year.

2012 was a year of change, adventure and abundant blessings for our little family.

This time last year we were getting ready to announce our pregnancy to our families on Christmas. It’s hard to believe that was already one year ago. In February, we found out we were having another girl and I cried again.

In March I got the opportunity to fly down to Torrance, CA to learn more about the Toyota brand. Not long after that, our filter system took a dump resulting in Andy and a friend completely replumbing and replacing the filter system in our pump house. The good news is, if you come to our house we have excellent {expensive} water!

In April we started checking things off of our “baby bucket list” by taking a family trip to the beach. April also marked the “end of an era”, so to speak. The company I’d worked for for almost 2 years sold to a company based out of Wisconsin and I ended up being “absorbed” into one of my bosses other companies. After 6 years in the hunting industry, I made the jump to the snack food industry. There’s been quite the learning curve, but wow…what a ride!

In May, Rylee turned 4! Hard to believe still comes to mind. We also threw her her first “friend party“. Monster themed, of course. At just 10 weeks to go until the baby was due, I did a little belly-to-belly side-by-side comparison for fun.

In June, we knocked some more things off the baby bucket list…Rylee got to experience her first Em’s baseball game {complete with ice cream in a baseball cap bowl}, went to see her first movie in a movie theater and got to shoot a bow for the first time.

July {and our due date} was here before we knew it! Early in the  month we took Rylee up to our favorite camping spot to do some fishing and she also got to shoot her rifle for the first time. We welcomed Reese Kallen into our family on July 19 and our hearts have never been the same. She truly completes our family. Rylee loves being a big sister and the girls truly adore each other. {The story behind Reese’s name can be found here.}

We’ve been going non-stop ever since…

We spent nearly the entire month of August home together as a family of four. Andy & I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary by enjoying a day date of running some errands, grabbing some lunch at Hawaiian Time and watching a move. Maybe not very glamorous, but completely perfect.

Andy & I both headed back to work at the end of August/beginning of September. Andy is head teacher again this year but is also teaching PE, shop, math and Global Studies.

In October, Toyota sent me to North Carolina to experience NASCAR. In short, it was amazing. We had a blast trick-or-treating. Well…Rylee did. Reese was just kind of along for the ride.

After 3 long years of rejection {thanks to our “unique” property} we were finally able to refinance our property. With a huge weight off of our shoulders, about a month later we bought a new car! And yea, it’s a Toyota. Peace of mind on multiple fronts.

November, and now December, have completely flown by and now we’re wrapping up another year. Our life is crazy busy, but so full of love. Other than a couple of extra hours in the day, we wouldn’t change a thing. We have been blessed and we try to remember it daily.

It will be fun to see what 2013 has in store for us.

We hope your Christmas and the year to come are full of love, laughter and happy memories.

All our love,

Katherine, Andy, Rylee & Reese

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