A Look Back - Part II

2006
We come home from Utah and immediately began preparing to put our condo up for sale. By March it was sold to the first spoiled freshman that walked through it with her dad. Phew! Spring Break we went to San Diego and met up with Rich's parents again. Lilia was terrified by the ocean and has had a fear of water ever since. For Easter Rich's sister came via suburban to visit us in Iowa! Yay! The night they arrived, Iowa City experienced their first tornado since 1981! Right through the center of our small town...a wild ride, and one that I will never forget! Around the same time we found out that we were expecting another baby! Packing, packing, packing.....In May Rich's parents and brother + his family came to Iowa City for graduation. Rich graduated! Hooray! We closed on our condo, said goodbye to friends, packed up the ABF (no more hauling trailers for us!) and left Iowa City. We moved in to my parents house and shortly after they left on a mission. Rich spent his entire summer studying for the BAR from the moment that he got home from work until late at night. It was a long and boring summer without him. In July he took the BAR exam and to celebrate it being over, we left Lilia home and went to Daytona Beach, Florida just the two of us. We found out Rich passed the BAR in October, and our reoccurring nightmares of him working at McDonalds with a law degree finally went away. We settled in to "normal" life and enjoyed living around our families and friends.

2007
We started out the year with the birth of Sophie on January 5. In February we bought our land (where we are now building) and I got braces. We spent the year living in my parents house with a few random trips to St. George, Lake Powell, camping with family, and Disneyworld. I started getting semi-serious/interested in photography and started taking pictures for family and friends. In September we bought our Terrace home, fixed it up (carpet, paint, yard) over the next two months, and moved in just in time for my parents to come home from their mission. Life is normal. Note: When we were first married and in school, we always talked about how great it would be to have a home, a career, and kids....we were finally at that point in our lives. No more "RV Adventures" when you have a house payment, kids to take care of, and a real "career". We found ourselves adjusting to what our lives were going to be like for a looooong time. Now I look back on those days and wish we could take off and go live somewhere for a summer with no worries. The grass is always greener, right?

2008
We started off the year, somehow, convincing Rich's dad to take us along on their yearly Work Retreat...a cruise to Panama. Cruise? Yes please! It was our first cruise, and although we were skeptical, we were quickly converted to the cruising ways. Right before the cruise, however, I got my braces off. Yippee! I took a few photography classes throughout the year, launched my photo website, and got more serious about turning my hobby into a business. We (well, mostly Rich) worked hard in the Spring to get our yard in shape. That summer my wonderful Aunt and Uncle came to visit from France and we had a lot of fun with them. In the fall Lilia started preschool at Weber State University and I went to Bald Head Island for Learnfest to meet my American Photographer Idol, Audrey Woulard.

2009
Another year, another cruise, this time with Rich's family. I started teaching photography classes. We put our house up for sale and sold it in a couple of months. Found out that we were having another baby girl. Went to France to photograph my cousins wedding with Lili while Sophie stayed home. Got a new pet "Annie" our guinea pig. Moved into my parents house. Started building our new house. Went to my 10 year high school reunion. Welcomed our new baby Hazel into our home...errr...basement October 15th.

Phew! Done! That was my year in a not-so-small nutshell. If you didn't read it, or skimmed it looking for your name, I don't blame you. I mostly did it for my own record keeping.