Dear Drew, It's been the best 5 years of my life

Dear Drew of 2006,

No one makes me laugh like you do. Even though I've basically promised my heart to someone else, you have stolen it. I can't imagine spending my life without you. I was SO happy when you asked me to be your wife (on 14 Sep 2006).

Dear Drew of 2007,

I don't get to see you very much! We seem so consumed with school and work that when we get home, we're exhausted. Our tiny apartment offers comfort, even if the window lets in the cold air. At least we have the weekend to go shopping at Wal-Mart and to study in the Harold B. Lee Library. And good thing I'll be done with school this December. Maybe then we'll have more time for each other.

Dear Drew of 2008,

I got a job at the University Press Building while you keep chugging along at school. I got bored with that job quickly so I added on a job at a Mexican restaurant at nights to make my days crazier. I get off at 3 from my day job and then go to the restaurant at 7. I thought we were going to see more of each other! At least we'll get to go to New York for an internship! I'm so proud of you.

Soo...the internship is over and now we have no idea what to do. Sooo...let's go live with your parents! Oh, and while we're there....Surprise! You're going to be a daddy! We get to see a lot more of each other since we worked at the same temp job and we don't have real jobs, so we take a lot of walks.

Dear Drew of 2009,

We had our first baby. It was the most amazing thing we've ever done. You got your first job out of college and we made a couple of bad decisions (buying houses and then backing out...twice). We lived in Mansfield and moved a lot. We lived really close to your parents (often in the same house) which was special for Luke. You didn't get into grad school, which was discouraging. I don't see you a lot again. This job keeps you really busy.

Dear Drew of 2010,

We moved to Arlington, where we came into a good ward and made some amazing friends. You didn't get into another grad school. You didn't get picked for a job you applied for. And then they called you again, a couple months later. They were interested in interviewing you. And they gave you the job. Now we know why you didn't get into grad school! Heavenly Father was definitely watching out for us. Oh yeah...we're having another baby!! And guess what??? It's a girl!! We're seeing a little more of you, although not much. You work late because you have to drive everywhere.

Dear Drew of 2011,

You moved us across the country to North Carolina. Good thing I love you, because you keep moving me further from my family! We had our second baby, Grace. She is truly the sweetheart of the family. You started your new job...a desk job! We get to see a lot more of you because you have a set time: 8-5. We have officially been married for 5 years. I'm excited to see what the next 5 years will bring!

I love you! Happy 5 Year Anniversary!!

Santa Letters & Sugar Cookies

It's that time of year...

Santa Letters

Sugar Cookies

Christmas Card

 So, this year I made homemade Christmas cards (see above!). Annnd, since they were homemade we decided we'd just send them to family. But I wanted to send some Christmas love to my friends, too! So here is your digital Christmas love :)

Okay, so for a year recap...here it goes! (WARNING: LOOOONG.)

2011: This has been a really BIG year for the Pepper family! We started the year off living in Texas. I had some great friends there and we were relatively happy, but Drew wasn't quite satisfied with his current position in his job. He applied for a Marketing position within his company and a couple months later he was offered the job, which meant we were moving to North Carolina!

I was also pregnant. Very, very pregnant. We were a little unsure of how it was all going to work out with a newborn, but we felt we were supposed to move on to NC, so we walked blindly towards not only having our baby, but also the move.  Grace Kathryn was born March 7th and we are so blessed and excited to welcome a sweet baby girl to the family.

Sooo...about 2 weeks later we were in the car driving to the east coast! I don't know how we did it, but we did. I am so excited and proud of Drew for getting his promotion. He really is an amazing man.

Also before we left, Luke turned 2! That should have been a super fun time for him, but on his birthday he had strep and pneumonia at the same time, so it was a really awful time. At least he got presents (that he made me open).

Where we live is only 2 hours away from Drew's uncle & aunt and 4 hours away from his grandparents. So we've spent a lot of time with both since we've been here. We've been very fortunate to have his grandparents close because they're willing to drive here and watch the kids almost any time we need it. Which is a huge blessing. In August we went to Myrtle Beach with said grandparents and Drew's parents and brother and lots of that side of the family. It's an annual shindig and I love it because I'm a beach girl! Later that month Luke, Gracie, and I went to Utah to welcome Baby Ethan (my nephew) to the world! It was a lot of fun.

However...while we were in Utah I had a big migraine episode. I continued to have them once I came back to NC and they were so bad that I decided to go to a neurologist. After a LOT of tests, it was determined that I just had some crazy migraines. I'm not having them anymore, which is nice, but it was scary while it lasted.

Drew also had another surgery. The year before he had surgery to fix a torn ACL but it never felt quite right to him. He went to have it checked and he had a bunch of cartilage that needed to be taken out before it could really heal. I was able to go with him to his surgery thanks to my amazing friends Becca and Christal. He's healing well but still isn't playing basketball, which used to be his favorite hobby ever.

Anyway, that's about it! I celebrated my birthday in Utah with my family (without Drew, which was sad) but it was fun and I turned 25! Phew, that's old. But that's nothing compared to Drew who turned 28 this year! That's much closer to 30! Drew is loving working in an office instead of out of a car and he is looking into grad schools...again. It just hasn't been the right timing before, so we'll see what happens. I ran a 5k this year and I have BIG plans for next year as far as running goes.

Our free time... Luke: playing with Cars and talking ALL.THE.TIME. Grace: Eating. Pooping. Sleeping. Playing with toys. Drew: Watching ESPN. Playing with Legos. Kathryn: CRAFTS. and more crafts. And reading. And running.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!