Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Christmas Letter 2009

We hope this finds you well and enjoying your holidays.



This has been an exciting year for us. We have had many great adventures and experiences.

Here is a short story of our life for the past year.
In January brad moved to Colorado Springs, CO to start a new job at Progressive Insurance in their IT department. We were fortunate enough when he graduated he was offered a job right away. He loves his job and is learning so much. Everyone he works with has really helped him out.
The kids and I moved to CO in February. I needed to finish up my work and get things ready to move. It was a long journey with a U-haul, my dads truck and trailer. The kids did really well on our trip. It has definitely been a big change for us as the temperatures never hit 90 degrees and the lows were in the negatives. We have survived the snow storms and all the rain in the summer time.
We have been able to visit a few sites including: Royal Gorge, Winter Park, Estes Park, we frequently visit the museum in Denver, and also the Cheyenne Zoo here in Colorado Springs. We have had a great time being here. It is a very beautiful state.

Tyler is getting bigger every day. He is in pre-school and he loves it. His teacher said he is a great student and always asks questions. In August he had another surgery on his trachea. It was mostly to remove scar tissue and to make his scar look better. Dr Schraff did a fantastic job. We discovered his vocal chords don't work as they should so we are contemplating a trip to Cincinnati Children's Hospital to have him evaluated to see if there is anything we can do to help him be able to talk louder. Only time will tell.
We had a little scare with Tyler. We went to Helen Hunt Falls with the Foster family. We hiked up to the top and all of us were visiting, the kids were doing their own thing when all of a sudden there was a THUMP and Tyler was gone. He had fallen over the edge of one of the falls. Luckily it was only about 10 feet but it was enough to scare him and all of us. We are so thankful he didn't slide down the fall and stayed where he was. He hit his head on the way down but there were no scrapes or bruises. We were very fortunate.

Katie has hit so many milestones this year we are so please with how she is growing. She has learned how to crawl, cruise and walk all this year. Her first word was mama. I was so very excited to hear it. She continues to try and say new words every day. She loves to torment Tyler but also loves to give hugs. She is such a fun little girl. Over the summer she got really sick and had to be admitted in the hospital for observation. In my opinion it was useless but better safe than sorry. She is now able to go to nursery at church and that is so nice to not have to wrestle with her and I can go to class. A BLESSING!!!

Brad is working with the 11 year olds at church and loves it. I think they really keep him on his toes. At work, he is going to be starting a project that should last about 9 months so we are very thankful he has a job.

Tricia is loving being a stay at home mom. I admit at times it is really stressful but very rewarding. I love being able to be with Tyler and Katie at home to see them learn and grow. I have been able to focus some of my time on photography and I really enjoy it. Brad has been a big help in this adventure. We are starting a photography business in January. Brad has designed a web site and we will be launching it January 1st. We are really excited!

Overall I think we are content with our lives. I know as sure as I say that we will experience many trials but we are happy and love being together.

We have had the opportunity to have a lot of family visit us and we love it. If anyone wants to visit you have a place to stay. Come and visit us!

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. We have and hope to keep this spirit with us through-out the year. We hope this finds everyone well and happy.

Love
The Bastian Family
Brad, Tricia, Tyler and Katie

2 comments:

Jamie Blake said...

what an eventful year! I am glad the family is doing well and that we were able to get to know you a bit during the summer! best wishes!

Just K said...

Merry Christmas!!! I can't believe Tyler fell over the falls. I think my heart would have stopped. So glad he's okay and that katie is doing awesome. We miss you guys, but I guess I wouldn't be able to handle cold. Christmas morning was 34 and I thought we would die while Ella tried her bike out. When is it going to be spring again?

Mesa Arizona Temple

Mesa Arizona Temple