Three months later...

We're still here. Here is a brief update on the last three months.

- I was lucky to be able to work from home in October and November and then mid-December through the end of January for the company I often worked for in Denver. They were super awesome to let me in on the project and it's always good to add a little sausage to the bacon Gary's bringing home.

- Gary's elective in December was acupuncture, which required him to be at work about eight hours a week. He showed up the first day, and the doctor he was supposed to work with wasn't there. In fact, she was out of the country and wasn't going to return until the 13th, so we booked a flight to Denver for the next day. We spent about a week and a half in Boulder with Gary's parents. It was great to have some time to visit the Ropers and Smiths in good old Colorado. Miles loved hanging out with his cousins and Nana and Papa. He also said his certified first word, which was cat.

The three amigos

- We were home for about a week after our Boulder trip and then we flew to Fresno. Miles came down with his first cold the first day we were in Fresno and promptly spread it to pretty much everyone else, which put a bit of a damper on the festivities. We spent a relaxing couple of weeks in Fresno and enjoyed the company of all of my family, including Jennifer, who had just returned from a mission in Barcelona, Spain. On December 29, our little niece Caroline was born to Bobby and Jessica. She is adorable, and I enjoyed some newborn photography practice with her.

Miles having fun with Big Mike

- Miles got a lot of awesome presents for Christmas and his birthday, and he loves all of them! Thanks and great work, Nana, Mimi, and aunt Emily! Gary and I are such bums, we didn't even get Miles a Christmas present or a birthday present. We probably won't be getting away with that any more. That's right, Miles turned one on December 30. He loved eating his cake! He didn't really understand unwrapping presents, but he does expect a fun surprise every time a box shows up in our house. I recently brought home a big box of Swiffers and a new air popper from Target and Miles insisted on opening them up to see what new toy he had received. Silly buddy.

Miles ate at least a fifth of that cake. For reals.

- January was another light month for Gary, so he enjoyed the slower pace and spending lots of time with Miles. Some of our excursions included a wild animal refuge and the world's longest non-motorized parade (aka, pretty much anyone with a horse in the Texas area riding down the streets of downtown Fort Worth). Now that I think about it, I would NOT have wanted to be in one of marching bands in that parade, if you know what I mean. Nasty.




- February brought us success in my family's Super Bowl pool, which is pretty much the only reason we ever care about the big game. Although, since we are going to be cheeseheads in the very near future, we were glad the Packers won.

- Now that I finally have free time again, I am back to obsessing over photography. I'll be starting up a photography blog soon, which will mainly only be of interest to those interested in bad to mediocre photography presented by someone who knows very little about the subject (yep, pretty much no one). But, I think it will be a good way for me to track my progress and hopefully internalize the things I am learning and practicing. Photography is something that really excites me, so I figure I may as well go with it. My goal is to eventually be able to make enough money taking pictures to cover the expense of all of the equipment. We'll see how that goes.

- Gary is surprised (and relieved) by how quickly this year in Texas has gone by. He is very comfortable being a doctor and he gets awesome feedback from his supervisors at work.

- We are now debating whether or not we should/can/want to buy a home in Wisconsin. Gary has another acupuncture month in March, so we'll probably be going up to scope out our future four year home.

- We are having a great time and love our baby Miles. He is so cool and we are a very happy little family. We hope to expand our family soon...