What will the New Year Bring?

We didn't send out a letter with our Christmas cards this year so I will attempt to do it here on our blog.  Those of you who follow the blog are pretty up to date on everything that has gone on in the Williams home over the past year.  We feel blessed that most of our news in 2011 has been GOOD news.   We celebrated the arrival of Reese in March and have felt blessed to have such a sweet soul become part of our family.  She had us wrapped around her little fingers the moment she opened those big blue eyes.  She has remained a mellow little girl, she's very easy going. She is easily entertained by big sister and her dog Obi.   Kurt and I find ourselves enjoying Reese a lot more than we enjoyed the first year with Reagan.  We know she will eventually hit all the milestones they measure month to month. We aren't stressed about all those silly things like we were the first time around.  Reese is 10 months old now and I find myself wondering how it's possible that my baby is almost 1!?

Reagan continues to grow by leaps and bounds.  She's nearing 3 1/2 and is a sharp lil' cookie!  Her vocabulary continues to amaze us, sometimes we feel like we're talking to a 30 year old when we talk to her.  She's always been very verbal but at this phase, it's really amazing to have a conversation with her. She understands more than we give her credit for and we find ourselves watching what we say because Lord knows she will be repeating everything she hears.  Her self confidence is soaring after her ISR swim lessons.  We still continue to do lessons 3 days a week.  She adores her teacher and will do just about anything to please Miss. Ann. :)

Reagan is starting at a new preschool tomorrow and will be going there 2 days a week.  She is really excited to start school and meet new friends.  She was digging in her heels on the potty training front but really turned the corner the past week.  She's primarily in undies now and only wears diapers at night.  She's like her mommy in that she will do things when she's good and ready.....and on her own watch :)   We are excited to get on our new schedule with preschool (and mom is looking forward to a 3 hour break a couple times a week).

Kurt's 2012 should be an extremely exciting (and exhausting) one.  He recently made a job change.....I take that back, a career change really.  After a great career/tenure at KPMG in their Forensic Group, Kurt decided to make the leap over to Merrill Lynch Wealth Management as a Financial Advisor.  As most of you know, my Dad has worked at Merrill for over 30 years.  Kurt will be teaming with, and learning from my Dad.

His first few months will involve a great deal of testing in order to get him certified in the business.  He took his first exam right before Christmas.  It was the Series Seven exam and he passed with flying colors.  In fact, he was told, he had the 2nd highest score in the nation since the test was re-vamped in October.  I am not surprised he did this well, he seems to excel in all he does.  I'm so proud of Kurt for making such a big career move.  It's a definite risky move at this point in our lives but I know how hard he works and know that he will be successful at Merrill.  He's lucky to have my Dad to mentor and guide him.

I am keeping busy as usual staying home w/ the girls and working on my Bootski Brands business here and there.  Business has continued to grow from year to year and I have a really quality clientele here in Boise/Eagle.  I have enough business to keep me busy but not enough to draw me away from the girls which is my #1 focus right now.  I have remained active in my Moms Club and have met some really great moms that I have a lot in common with.  I joined the board of the Moms Club this year and have liked being part of the leadership of the group.  We plan the activities for the month and work on membership growth ideas.  It's a great group of stay at home moms in the group, we all have a lot in common.  It's nice to have a group of women going through the same things you are going through with little ones.  It means a lot to have a "sounding board" of quality people surrounding you.

I also started teaching a TRX suspension training class on Saturday mornings at Mind Body Fitness here in Eagle.  I have only taught a couple classes so far and my 'official' first class is this Saturday.  I've been doing TRX now for 2 years and really love it.  I really love the studio Mind Body Fitness and feel really blessed to have the opportunity to work with the owner of the studio.  She's a wonderful woman who is really supportive of me and my family.

2011 was a wonderful year for our family.  Kurt and I look around at all we have an feel so blessed to be where we are.  We have 2 sets of grandparents close by who get to watch their grandchildren grow up. We realize what a gift it is to have them close to us....not only for free baby sitting :)  but to be with our girls during birthdays, holidays, and milestone occasions. We have such a great network of friends around us who are supportive and loving of us. We have so much fun with all of them, even if our "nights out" with our friends are few and far between, we still feel lucky that we can pick up right where we left off and have a great time. Kurt and I celebrated our 13th (or was it 14th?) New Year together this year and our 9th New Year since being married.  We are best friends and definitely each others biggest cheerleader.  Time flies by, we hope we are doing a good job raising our girls and then we take a look around and see how happy they both are and know we must be doing something right.  Looking forward to what 2012 will bring!

Happy New Year everyone!