Welcome to our Christmas/New Years letter

a very long one at that

feel free to visit back and read in a couple parts

 What a year it has been! It's been a year of change for us, but it's been wonderful! 

Here is a re-cap of 2010

*January*

*SNOW* and lots of it! 

It snowed so much within a few days

Apparently I was in shock :)

It sure was fun to play in though! 

I enjoyed snow days and then turned 26 :) 

My mama makes the best birthday cake!!

We also started house searching (our lease from our townhouse we were renting was going to be up in April) and we were so excited to finally own a house of our own! 

*February*

This marked an epic month for us! We welcomed two beautiful nephews!! I immediately feel in love and Brian and I love being an aunt and uncle!

Thomas Benjamin Farley (Brian's oldest brother and his wife) on 

February 2 in Lexington, Kentucky. 

Such a sweet and precious bundle of JOY!

Caden Thomas Mueller (My sister Liz and her husband) 

on 

February 9 in Des Moines. 

I was so lucky and blessed to meet him about 10 minutes after he was born! One of the best days of my life :)

He was so alert! 

love at first site :)

One proud auntie!! 

This little man looks like a Homan. Precious!! 

Talk about the best week ever!! 

I was in baby heaven! 

Except we had to wait to meet Ben because they were living in Kentucky at the time. 

These boys are so dear to our heart :) We are so blessed to have such great siblings to raise them!

We found some houses we liked but not THE ONE. 

One of the model homes we looked at

*March*

We spent spring break in Kentucky meeting the newest addition to the Farley family. Brian, his brother, mom and myself drove down and had a wonderful time.

Cuddling with babies is one of the best feelings in the world! 

Henry Clay's estate.
Snazzy!!

I wanted to buy one of these so bad!!
But couldn't justify $100+ for a hat 

Brian and my parents suggested we move in with them while we find THE HOUSE. Oh, and Brian mentioned that we could pay off all student loans if we lived there for an extended period of time. I on the other hand wasn't such a fan of the idea. I mean who wants to move back to the town they grew up in and live with their parents, with their husband? I may have had some pride issues.

*April*

Another epic month in our lives!


 We made the decision, to move in with my parents. After much prayer and God breaking my pride, I decided to follow Brian and we said goodbye to our townhouse. 

We had a lot of stuff!

He is a lot stronger....
We had a lot of great help from friends and family!!

Rain makes moving less enjoyable.

I rode in the back of the truck the rest of the way and it was awesome. 

Choosing what color to re-paint.
Can you tell Brian picked out some ;)

Little did I know that this was exactly the right move. We are loving living here and plan to stay until at least next summer. That is as long as Tom doesn't kick us out :)

Happy to be getting settled! 

*May*

We had so many close friends have babies this year! 

Here is the list

Leyton to Kristen and Luke

Eli to Ryan and Ruthie

Troy to Angela and Lane

Braydon to Laura and Luke

Noah to Randy and Liz

Nephew Caden to Liz and Derek

Nephew Ben to Mike and Lianne

 ♥

A great weekend getaway to the cities for a friends wedding

*June*

School came to an end and it was a very sad time for me. 
I had worked half days 1:1 with my student "B" for the past two years (3rd & 4th grade) and we really enjoyed working together. 

Buds

Hippie Day

When I started working with him he was struggling to read the word 'the' and now he is reading a chapter book! It was so exciting to see such growth in so many areas. 
Unfortunately at the end of the year it no longer worked for me to work full time days and continue to work with B. 
So, I had to make a very hard choice. Work half days with B or full time with another student. I ended up choosing full time and luckily still see B every day. Whenever he sees me he says "hey Rach" and it is hilarious. 




We celebrated our three year anniversary! It's hard to believe it's been three years already! We are more in love than ever and are so happy. 

                

*July*

Two very great things happened this month. A Farley family vacation to Ireland and Brian's 2 brothers and their wives (who were living in India and Kentucky) moved back to Iowa. 


Ireland was amazing! We both actually wondered if we could just not come home and move there for a while. We loved it because it was the first foreign country we have been to that speak English. It was perfect. 

We enjoyed 



 * Being with family

The Farley Clan

We sure love being auntie

and uncle

* Killarney National Park

Jaunting cars through the park! Marvelous!

* Matt (Brian's youngest brother) getting engaged

So excited she is going to be a Farley!!

*Dinner in a castle

One of Brian's favorite things of the trip. The food again was amazing. 

* The beauty

Everything about this country was gorgeous. 

* The Cliffs of Moher 

We could have sat here for days and enjoyed God's creation. Think we could build a house here?

A beautiful day for this trip!

* The music

He was so good! I knew this song too!
Thanks daddy!

Great Irish town and music. I knew the songs!

* Kayaking 

This was amazing and so pretty. Brian was a sport and did all the hard work.
We saw Funji (google him) and went in a cave!!

* The driving

Whoops.... that is what extra insurance is for

I did not drive

* The culture 

They don't have lemonade in Ireland, but everyone tried to please Brian and get him what he wanted

* The food

Brian fancied the sandwiches

One of my favorite meals there and maybe even that I have ever had

                                                  

Amazing ice cream and presentation

* The theatre

                   

We saw an amazing show full of music and dancing

* Surfing

The water was so cold

I was having a fabulous time

Stud!

So much fun! 

Here are some posts from our trip there.  
 Killarney National Park

Videos

Surfing, Food, Theatre

Brian also started a new job when we returned.  Here he is to share with you :)


After three years of working at EFCO Corp. I decided I wanted to gain experience in another company & industry. I was blessed to be offered a position as a HR Consultant at the Iowa Credit Union League in West Des Moines. In my new position, I administer the company’s compensation & benefits plans and consult with Iowa credit unions on HR related issues.  Being new isn’t always fun, but all in all, it has been a great change. 

    

*August*

Brian's dad bought a boat at the beginning of summer!! We spent as much time as we could on it and highly enjoyed learning how to wakeboard. Now, we are excited to learn tricks :)

We love boating at sunset

Lots of fun!

He is a natural

We love being

out on the water!!

School started a with a new student. It's a learning curve and takes lots of patients to get in a grove. He is adorable! He was Mickey Mouse for our Halloween party and I was Minnie :) It was cute! 

Mickey & Minnie

*September*

Two words- Hawkeye Football

We love going to games together! 

Michael is becoming quite the musician!
He plays the ukulele and the banjo and is all self taught.
It's awesome to hear him and Caden loves it! 

The season didn't go as well as we would have hoped/planned but, we still enjoyed going to a few games. Thank goodness they won the bowl game though :)


One of our best friends got engaged!!

She is marrying one of our long-time camp friends!
Can't wait for July!!!

*October*

Dressed up with Mr. Monkey Man

Brian and I also took a weekend getaway to Des Moines :)

Hey, we live in Indianola now, so Des Moines is considered away.

*November*

Thanksgiving was different this year with both families, but it worked out. 

Brian checking out Michael's old banjo

The musicians jammin' together!

We were able to spend Thanksgiving day with some good family friends who just lost their dad/husband. It was really sad, but they are incredible people it was  encouraging and our hearts were full. 


Brian turned 25!

Master!

We had a blast at Incredible Pizza!
Chuck E. Cheese for adults :)

*December*

Tidbits for this month:

I was in our church's (Westwind in Waukee- we love it) Christmas production and loved it! 

I had did a monologue of the Innkeepers wife. 

Jesus came to become our Savior! 

We love reflecting on the fact that his story doesn't end with his birth; it's only the beginning! 

We had a great time with family! We truly are blessed with wonderful & fun siblings that are our best friends, parents that love and care for us deeply and nephews sweet as pie! 

Thanks for sticking with us through the whole thing!

It was a year of change, but it was wonderful. 

We are so thankful you are a part of our lives. 

♥ Brian & Rachel 

Totally not Christmasy, but we don't have a picture of us in front of the tree :)
Dublin will have to do.