So, let's pretend that it really hasn't been a whole year...

I'm sure I could list a few excuses as to why I've been MIA, but really... who cares about those anyway? ha!

It's been a wild ride from where we were April 2011 to where we are now in 2012. Unemployment took it's toll until July 2011. During that time we decided that we needed to "let our house go." Instead of just foreclosing we were hopeful that a Short Sale offer would be accepted by our two banks. The fist offer, submitted in April, came to an end in October when the banks demanded 20% more than their already full price offer. The second offer, submitted in October, never had the chance to close because the banks didn't give the approval letter until Wed. Dec. 21 with an expected close date of Mon. Dec. 26th and the foreclosure date was already set at Dec. 28th - with the banks closed for Christmas and a weekend in the midst it was impossible to close. Despite our best efforts we still got foreclosed on. That was a major blow for us. I know we're not alone in experiencing that, but it was terrible news, especially at Christmas. We ended up staying in the house until March 4th and then moved into my Grandparents' empty house in East Mesa. Since then Jared was offered a new job at Boeing (1.2 miles from our new house) with a much higher salary, amazing benefits, etc. We are so blessed and are so glad to have moved on from 2011.

Now to a recap with pictures :) We'll go by months...