Season's Greetings!

We enjoyed every bit that December threw at us. We started with a bang! On December 1, Brian graduated from the Academy. I am so proud of him. He endured a lot in those 5 months to make it to where he is today.

He is the closest guy on the last row in this picture. They were taking their oath at this point.

Now Brian is riding with an FTO (field training officer). He will be with a new FTO every 6 weeks for the next 6 months. He gets to be on his own in May. From the stories that he tells me, I can tell that he is excited and is doing what he needs to be doing. I love him for following his dreams.

We had an amazing Christmas. Last year Sadie wasn't really old enough to get excited about the "magic" of Christmas. This year she loved seeing the lights, laying under the tree, spending time with family, and learning about Santa Claus. However, that by no means meant that she wanted to spend one on one time with him. She let him know by saying "No Claus, Bye Claus, GO AWAY Claus."

We did take her to ICE at the Opryland Hotel, and to see the lights. The entire Ice exhibit is made from...well...ice! It is very interesting and changes every year. This year's theme was Madagascar- the children's movie.

Everything behind us in the picture is made of ice!

Sadie will be TWO on Thursday. I can't believe how fast she has grown!

She requested an "Olivia" themed birthday party. I've been busy this week making the preparations for it.

We rang in the new year with Sadie at home. We went to 2 different parties and made it home by 10:30. Sadie had no intention of staying up until midnight, so we all went to bed. Brian and I watched the ball drop and then called it a night ourselves. We talked about how we used to spend New Years Eve and how much we have grown since then. We are old, but we are accepting it and moving on to the next phase of our life with our little girl (who is not a baby anymore...) in tow.