Christmas Letter

I guess since we only printed a few letters off for a few family and friends I'll add it on here just in case anyone else is curious. :)

Dear family and friends,
This year has been one of many adventures and big changes for us! It seems like all of the "new" things that can happen in someone's life did this year. Aiden is obviously the most exciting and important, but we'll go in chronological order.
In June we moved to Lehi. I had two online classes and a 150 hour internship to finish by July, but since we'd have been kicked out of student housing three weeks after Aiden was born, I decided to finish up down here. We were also anxious for Tyson to get away from his Logan job where he had to deal with rude, foul, and offensive words and actions on a daily basis. After looking at several apartment complexes we found one that seemed to just fall into place and we love it. We upgraded to three bedrooms and two bathrooms which is perfect for our little family with room for visitors (hint hint)!
In July, I completed my last classes and had a wonderful month shadowing my dad in the NICU. I had to complete 150 hours of anything that had to do with my major (Family, Consumer, and Human Development combined with Health Education). While it was very tiring since I was in my ninth month of pregnancy, it was still a fantastic opportunity to spend lots of time with my dad and I loved every minute of it! Tyson spent the month searching for a job.
On August 5th we welcomed Aiden Tyson Whiting into our family. It was the most magnificent day of our lives since our wedding two years ago. Aiden had some meconium in the fluid so Grandpa Peterson ended up in the delivery room to help save the day. I wasn't too worried because even though meconium can cause major problems, I at least knew what was going on. Tyson, on the other hand, thought his precious little baby was dying. They immediately took Aiden to start putting all sorts of tubes in him and Tyson about lost it. I also ended up with a broken tailbone which meant six long weeks of healing. It was all worth it though! Aiden is a great baby and has such a fun personality already. It is so fun to watch him grow and discover new things and we love being parents! Life has changed so much but we couldn't imagine it without our sweet little Aiden. It's impossible to describe how much we love him!
In October Tyson FINALLY found a job. He had been doing odd jobs for the temp agency or going up to Idaho to work for family, but it was a long prayed for blessing to get into a steady job. We also realized how important it was for us to find this apartment since Tyson found the job through a ward member. He is now the Shipping Manager at a printing company in Sandy called Aspen Press. He is constantly busy - some days only having a few minutes to stop and eat - and he loves it. He's also had the opportunity to take advantage of plenty of overtime hours to make up for the months without work. He does all the delivery scheduling, packing up, shipping out, receiving paper for jobs, and sometimes does the local deliveries himself. He has received numerous compliments from coworkers and also from the owners who are very impressed with his hard work. After two weeks of work he even got a raise with a promise of more in the future! He's so happy and it feels good to be able to pay off some bills but also spend a little on fun. Also, now that we have a steady income we are starting the hunt for a house!
In November our car broke down and needed a $600 repair. Since it was only worth about $1200 we decided it was time to get a new one. We found a great deal on an '06 Nissan Altima. As we shopped around we realized that ours was a nicer model with fewer miles at a significantly lower price. We added it to our list of blessings to be thankful for. We were also able to sell our old car for a higher price than we thought we'd be able to get.
In December I got to walk with the fall graduates (even though I was a summer graduate) so we took a trip to Logan for commencement. We also went to the wedding of one of my cousins while we were there. It was in the Logan temple on the same Friday we got married so we considered all the wedding celebrations to be our anniversary celebrations too. It was incredible to sit in the same temple exactly two years later and think about what a wonderful choice we made and how much has happened in our lives since then.
Well that's all. It's been a big year for us with lots of changes and lots of blessings. We are so grateful for all of our family and friends and all the support we receive from everyone. We are also grateful for the Christmas season to remind us of all the most important things in life. We love you all and hope you have a very.....
Merry
Christmas!!
Love,
Tyson, Gina, and Aiden