Dale & Rebecca in Oak Park

First, my Christmas letter equivalent:

Frankly, all we did was work in 2011. It was a tough year in that respect but we were grateful to have all the opportunities. Dale had a photography studio and building it kept him ridiculously busy.

I started my own freelance business and was buried up to my neck from about June on.

We went to Minnesota’s North Shore for vacation and it was quite cute. We didn’t go on any camping trips but we did make a quick trip to Saugatuck for our anniversary. That was nice! We really needed to get away.

I made a quick trip to Grand Rapids to meet up with my dear friends Rebecca & Heather and had a great time. Sadly, my camera broke on that trip and I was without one until this weekend–Dale got me a new one for Christmas! Yay!

We were lucky to have a few guests this year and we enjoyed each visit immensely. Love to have company.

I bought an American Girl doll named Molly when Betsy, Bryan and their kids came to visit. We had tea at American Girl. It was the most fun tea party I ever had! Am now obsessed with buying outfits for Molly. I’ll have to post her Christmas present unwrapping photo shoot that Dale did. He had more fun with it than I did, I think. Ha!

We threw a party on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and it was a lot of fun.

Bela and Monty continued to be cute and cuddly and all kinds of adorable pets.

Christmas was a whirlwind weekend trip to Flint and back–nice but very fast and we didn’t get to catch up  with as many people as we would have liked.

As for 2012? We plan to have a little more fun. We hope to enjoy camping, and Dale is looking forward to playing with his new telescope then (he’s been making accessories for it and researching astronomy during every spare second).

I have fantasies of being more athletic. And maybe taking an archery class! And hiking more. And continuing to grow my freelance business.

We might buy a house this year (we’re just starting to look). I will get my master’s degree in the spring and turn 40 (eek). And our 10th anniversary will happen in October (we’re already planning a trip). So I also hope to get it together and back to having little adventures and blogging about them. For posterity, if nothing else.