Cheers to 2011!

It's funny to go back and read what we were doing last year at this time...HERE. It's starts out by saying "I wish I could say my month was filled with sunshine, sand, sun-tans and pina colada's but..." Ha If I'd only known one year later thats exactly what was going to happen. January 2010 was filled with sickness, remodels, pregnancy... I would have NEVER guessed that ONE year later we would be selling EVERYTHING we own, leaving our newly remodeled home (that we waited so long for) and taking our two adorable kids across the ocean to live on a volcanic island. Sounds bizarre and unlikely...but it just so happens to be the facts these days. I am excited to be doing something different, sad to leave our families, happy for the sun and sand, nervous to be so so so far away, thrilled to make the leap, relieved-but torn about purging all of our precious, however nonessential possessions, excited to be on our own, heartsick to leave my home of 29 years (SLC), eager to leave my home of 29 years (SLC) to discover something new. So many mixed emotions, it's unbelievable.

We've made serious headway and sold just about everything in our home, well at least the large ticket items anyways. I started listing things on KSL the week of Christmas and to my surprise and delight, most all of the big items are gone. It's amazing how quickly that happened. Again, mixed emotions, but on the other hand as soon as you change your mindset and realize that really most everything is just stuff, replaceable "stuff" it's easy to let it go and actually kind of re-freshing. I will miss our life as we know it but am really looking forward to what the future holds and the Job opportunity we've been presented with. What a blessing! We are meeting with a Property Management company tomorrow to get our home rented out, asap. Things are really moving forward and we are hoping to be on a plane to our new home destination before the end of the month.

I feel really blessed to have such a great family and support system. We wouldn't have been able to get through the last few months without our family and I feel so blessed to have them in our lives. We will miss seeing everyone all the time and Olivia especially will miss being so close to her cousins and her Grandparents. However, she is so excited to be able to wear a swim suit everyday of her life and never have to wear socks or a coat. We've already got the FREE google video chat set up and we are ready to talk and hang out via webcam! We are excited about Johnny's new job and we are SO thankful to have this opportunity! I am excited to meet new people and make new friends in Hawaii. What an adventure this will be.

So a little about The Millers NOW...

Johnny has been working hard to finish little details on the house to get it ready for renters. He has been taking care of the kids, and taking Ronin to work since Ronin was 3 months old. He has done a fantastic job and needless to say the kids adore him and totally favor him over me. He is still training at Bernales and teaches 1 to 2 days a week. He will seriously miss the gym and the tight knit group of friends that it has created.

I have been working PRN at least 3 days a week for the University Hospitals and Clinics. I am just 4 months shy of hitting my TEN year mark at the hospital and it will be SO different to not have that in my life anymore...farewell SICK people! Yay. I really love my job and am actually pretty damn good at being a Radiographer but I could really get used to not having to worry about disease, dirty blood, airborne illness and just down right gross people on a daily basis. However, i will miss my awesome group of friends from work and being a part of the professional world! Ha Ha Hawaii is going to be a whole new world. December 30th was my LAST DAY of work and I am now excited to be with my family and to able to be the mom and wife I should and can be. I want cooking and cleaning to be my NEW job--and I think I may have a shot at being good at it, since we don't own anything anymore, it should be a snap!

Olivia finished her last day of school Dec. 30th as well. What a bitter sweet time, Liv loves her school, her friends, her teachers and the routine school brings, she is going to miss it a TON. Olivia takes a dance class once a week from Miss Mimi, it is definatley the highlight of the week and she asks me on a daily basis how she can become a dance teacher like Mimi when she grows up. She will miss out on the Spring Recital at the end of the year which is kind of sad, but we've ordered her a costume anyway because she will LOVE IT! She loves dressing up still and changes clothes several times a day...still. She is a smart little cookie and is constantly asking what words mean and then using them. She is very inquisitive and bright. She LOVES to learn songs and is quite the little performer!! She learned Mele Kelikimaka, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and The Reindeer Pokie songs for school and LOVES to sing them to any crowd she can. Olivia is handling the move really well so far, she wonders why we keep talking about going to Hawaii, but we aren't actually GOING yet. She is ready for the warmer weather and like I said...to wear her swim suit everyday. She is also excited to hang with Vanessa and is already planning on her and Ness being best friends.

Ronin is just plain awesome. He smiles all day long and is very easily entertained. Mr. Smiles, as he is sometimes referred as, LOVES eating big kid food but doesn't love bottles, he sits a lot and rolls all over but just doesn't seem to want to crawl yet. We may have another NON-crawler on our hands, but only time will tell. He sleeps well these days and is just happy to be here. He says "ma ma ma", "da da da", "ba ba ba" and "gully gully gully" when he sucks on his binki, it's adorable. Ronin is such a blessing, such a happy smiley little guy, I could nibble on him all day long. We may be spending quite the $$ dough on sunscreen for this little red-head in Hawaii, Him and I ("the whitest girl you've ever seen") are going to make quite the pair.

Well...nothing like starting a new year by quitting my job, selling all of our stuff and moving to a tropical island! CHEERS TO 2011!!

A Happy New Year, it will be!