The 12 Months of 2013

In the first month of 2013, we skied a lot, flew to San Diego for the Joint Math Meetings (during which Judah got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Yates and go to the San Diego Zoo and the aquarium), and Ryan had a birthday. 

 In the second month of 2013, we had school and that's about it. Thus, not that many pictures.

 In the third month of 2013, Judah got a new car seat. He thought the best part was the box. We also celebrated Easter with Aunt Rachel, Uncle Doug, Lydia, and Micah. Ryan was informed by his graduate program that he had earned a Master's degree.

 In the fourth month of 2013, Judah turned 1. Lots of people came to celebrate with him at various times and for various lengths of time. He also got a car. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson for getting that out of the way for us early in his life.

 In the fifth month of 2013, Judah got to ride in his bike trailer (the first purchase we made when we found out that we were having a baby) for the first time. He also fell in love with laundry baskets. And we flew to Minneapolis (Judah's first non-cross-country flight) for the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences biennial meeting. And apparently I loved the car picture so much you get to see it twice.

 In the sixth month of 2013, we had a two-day cycling expedition with the Hofstras (Rebekah's mom's family) in Rochester and then flew to California. Judah got to visit Christian Encounter Ranch (where Ryan spent several years of his early life) for the first time.

 In the 7th month of 2013, we put Judah to work sweeping the deck at home. We also visited Letchworth State Park, went out for our 9-year anniversary (thanks to Rachel and Doug for babysitting), and had our basement gutted to take care of mold. We also had our deck refinished and our house painted, but we have no pictures of the finished product of the house painting, apparently.

 In the eighth month of 2013, we spent some time and home and also went to Ocean Grove, NJ, with some of Rebekah's family, where Rebekah's mom went on a helicopter ride (accompanied by some other family members, though not the ones pictured here in the helicopter) in celebration of her 60th birthday. Judah gave up his morning nap in favor of sand and sea on that trip.

 In the ninth month of 2013, school started. We went to Rochester to celebrate our nephew Micah's 2nd birthday. Ryan went to a conference for a full week and Grandma and Grandpa Yates came to help keep Judah and Rebekah sane and fed.

 In the tenth month of 2013, we flew to Illinois (Judah's first-ever direct flight) to attend our 10-year college reunion. We stayed with Rebekah's cousin Jason, who was working a lot that week so we barely got to see him, but we did get to have fun with his wife Bonnie and son Grady! We also went to Letchworth with Rachel, Doug, Lydia, and Micah, and Rebekah's mom and dad, where we failed to get a good picture of the three grandkids all together. Judah was a lion for Halloween.

 In the eleventh month of 2013, Judah became very safety conscious. He also had his first burrito (after which we returned to quesadillas for him), and we went to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house for Thanksgiving, where we got semi-successful pictures of the 3 grandkids who are 3, 2, and 1 years old currently.

 In the twelth month of 2013, we started telling the world that Judah will be a big brother at the end of May 2014. We also made some Christmas cookies, celebrated with Rebekah's family a few days early, and flew to California to celebrate with Ryan's family. Judah got up at 5:15 on Christmas morning, but only because he was still on NY time and it was our first morning in CA. His favorite part of Christmas celebrations is handing out the presents to other people.

As we look back on this year, we are thankful for all our friends and family and for God's provision in our lives. As we celebrate the twelve days of Christmas, we continue to be in awe that our God became incarnate as a baby, lived and died among us, that we may know Him. As we look forward to a new year, full of new experiences and challenges, we pray that each of you will be blessed by His presence and love for you. As always, we would love to hear from you!

2012: a year, a baby, a blog.

As most of you already know this last year has been largely shaped by the birth of our son Judah. This post could go on and on with thousands of cute baby pictures, but I'm sure only the hardiest of readers would make it past the first five hundred. So I'm left with the very difficult task of filtering the year down to the size of a single post (for those inclined to take the plunge in to the land of overwhelming cuteness you can friend one of us on Facebook). The year started with signs of spring.

At least, we don't remember much before Judah being born, it was probably a semester like others, but it ended early. These signs of spring meant much more for us this year.

Somehow we finished the semester, though with a little bit of juggling.

Then we promptly left our home and went to Oregon so that I (Ryan) could be an intern at Intel (giant company that does many amazing things). We had several visits from friends and family.

Saw many sights and enjoyed Portland (including lots of good food). Met up with old friends (how can we have no pictures of this?).

Judah saw his first volcano.

Rebekah and Judah went back to New York to see his cousins.

At the end of the summer we had a wonderful time picking blackberries and visiting with the Farringtons.

We also took lots of pictures of Judah. This one may be my most favorite ever.

Just in case you thought we didn't do anything without Judah, we went to a soccer game.

The fall semester settled in and we got really busy, but we were continually reminded of our new pace of life as it seemed like Judah hits some new milestone every week. New teeth, sleeping though the night (sometimes), standing while holding on to chair, eating solid food, playing in the snow, babbling, and toying with words to name a few.

It has been wonderful fun to grow as a family. Merry Christmas (late), Happy New Year (a little late), and Splendid Epiphany (slightly early?). As we have celebrated the birth of our son this year, we have been even more in awe that our Lord came to earth as a baby, and we pray that you are blessed by His incarnation this season and throughout the year.