Where did our little baby go?
Four years ago today this little cutie was born:
Dear Family and Friends,
This has been another very exciting and busy year for our family!
Connor will be two in March and has become an expert climber. He’s very active and enjoys playing with other kids at daycare. His vocabulary is increasing constantly; some of his favorite words/phrases are “mama,” “daddy,” “CaCa” (Carter,) and “oh man.”
Carter will be four years old in February and is a great a big brother. He’s full of energy and loves playing outside. He attends the pre-K class at the daycare where Connor goes, and enjoys learning how to write the alphabet and numbers, learning sign language and playing with the “big kids.”
Ryan is still working as a Model Designer for Legoland and has been very busy designing models for Legolands Florida and Malaysia. He was also able to go on a research trip to Atlanta and has designed and built models for a Legoland Discovery Center opening there in the spring. Ryan still enjoys building in his free time, and had a great time at Seattle’s Brickcon in October. He was recently called to be the 2nd Counselor in the Elder’s Quorum at church and enjoys it.
Katie left the law office in Los Angeles in June and began working full time as a paralegal for a business litigation attorney in Del Mar. She was sad to leave the office she had been working at for five years, but she really enjoys her new office and the commute is much better. She and Ryan were released from their calling in the nursery, but Katie still teaches in Relief Society once a month.
We added a new member to the family in July. After five years of mostly faithful service, Ryan’s first car gave up the ghost and we made the plunge into new car ownership with a 2011 Toyota Sienna that has already proven useful for vacations and hauling stuff around.
Ryan and Katie were able to go on another cruise to Mexico in May and had a great time, even though the weather didn’t cooperate. The whole family is looking forward to spending the week between Christmas and New Year’s in Orlando with Katie’s family to celebrate her dad’s 60th birthday.
We hope you enjoy this Christmas season as we remember the birth of our Savior. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Love,
Ryan, Katie, Carter and Connor Wood
We're the proud new owners of this beauty:
Looks like everyone is happy with the new addition
After finding out that our 2004 Hyundai Accent would need over $3,000 in repairs, including a new transmission, we decided to go ahead and spend that money (and more) on a new minivan. We test drove a few models, did a lot of research, and decided on the 2011 Toyota Sienna. The whole negotiating process was somewhat stressful, but as soon as we headed out the door (without purchasing the van) things really turned around and we ended up with a great deal. We're looking forward to MANY years with the new member of our family!
Ryan turned 27 on Friday, May 13th. We were leaving for our cruise the following Monday, so we decided not to do a party or anything. I still wanted to do something special for his birthday and worked with one of his co-workers to arrange for the boys and I to surprise him by bringing a birthday cake to the office.
We took the boys to see the new Star Wars Miniland at Legoland earlier this month. I think Carter maybe loved it more than his daddy, which I never would have thought possible. I'm sure it helped that there were buttons to push because that's Carter's favorite part of all Miniland. Here are some pictures of our fun day:
As promised, here are pictures from Connor's birthday party (yes, I'm actually posting about it within 4 DAYS!):
