Happy Valentine's Day!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! Aaron and I had a wonderful day today! It was really nice to exchange simple gifts and spend some quality time together. Aaron got me my favorite flowers as one of my gifts!! I'm not sure why, but I just love receiving flowers so much! Especially, of course, when they're Oriental Stargazer Lilies!! They're just starting to bloom and they smell so amazing!

I found some time this evening to get on our old wedding website and read the stories Aaron and I posted a year and a half ago about how we met and how we felt about starting a life together. (http://www.mywedding.com/aaronjanae/stories.html)
It was really nice to reflect on our journey and think about how much we were guided by the Lord to be together. It gives me motivation to make sure we continue to be guided by the Lord throughout our marriage - it makes such a difference! I have a wonderful Valentine and I'm so blessed to spend the rest of my Valentine's Days with him.

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day too!

Oh one other thing I have to share... Sugar and Sampson got a Valentine's Day gift for Aaron this year! :) It was a heart shaped box of chocolates that said "We Wuff You!" on it! How cute is that?!?! :)

2009 Christmas Letter

Okay... we never actually sent this out, and I keep meaning to post it... so I finally am! :) Here's our *late* 2009 Christmas letter!

2009 was an exciting year for Team Robinson! The biggest highlight was that we became homeowners!!! We started off the year in our apartment, but in May we closed on a great little home in a lovely neighborhood. We’re really enjoying it!

In January we got a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Quincy! He was a sweet little puppy and was soon joined by a sister in May when we got a Pomeranian named Sugar! Those two have been great friends and it’s been a blast to watch them enjoy one another and to play with them ourselves when they let us in on the fun :)

Janae began the year working for an inventory company called RGIS. She liked the job, but the odd hours were really tough. She also began attending school online through Troy University and is continuing to work toward her bachelor’s degree in Political Science. She thoroughly enjoyed the new world of being both a dog owner and home owner and spent most of her free time playing with Quincy and Sugar and organizing the house. One of Janae’s favorite things is teaching her CTR 5 Primary class on Sundays. Janae now continues to attend school and also works two part time jobs at Best Buy as a Digital Imaging Specialist and at David’s Bridal as a Wedding Consultant.

Aaron continues to do well in his job as a Software Engineer at Lockheed Martin. He was promoted to a Level 2 Engineer in March and has since transferred from research and development to a government contract. Aaron’s new world of being a dog owner and home owner would be better phrased as feeling like the owner of messes and a mortgage, but he loves it all just the same. Aaron is currently working toward his MBA through St Louis University and attends night classes once a week to accomplish that goal.

In June we got to travel out to Seattle for Janae’s dad’s promotion ceremony for his promotion to colonel! It was a special event and we’re very proud of his accomplishment. We were also able to be there for Kyle’s endowment at the Seattle Temple. It was wonderful to be there for that and support Kyle into the next stage of his life! We’re so excited for him! For the Fourth of July we kept up with tradition and went to Birchwood, WI with Aaron’s family to stay at their cottage on the lake for a few days! We enjoyed being out on the boat and spending time with family. In August we got a chance to see Janae’s family one last time before they moved to Germany and Kyle left to serve in the Argentina Rosario mission. See you in two years Elder Andrus! We love you!

Another highlight of 2009 was celebrating our first year anniversary! Aaron had a business trip in Chicago and Janae was able to accompany him on the trip and use the time to celebrate the special occasion. While we were there, we found ourselves right in the middle of Oprah’s 24^th Season Kick Off Party! If you’ve seen that video of the Black-Eyed Peas performance and the coordinated dance they did in the streets, we were standing right behind those people! So that’s our little claim to fame for the year :)

We were able to spend Thanksgiving with Janae’s Grammy and Papa in Colorado. Janae’s brother, Phil, was able to come as well and it meant a lot to Janae to be able to see him and spend time with him again. It was really nice to see family for the holiday and visit a few friends in the area as well. For Christmas we get to head up to Wisconsin and spend some time with Aaron’s family! We’re excited for the nativity puppet show, waffle breakfasts, Upwords competitions and lots of down time to talk and catch up!

This year we got our first real Christmas tree and we’re very excited about it! Fusing our old traditions together and starting new ones has been a wonderful experience to share. We hope you all enjoy your special traditions this holiday season and we send our best wishes to you all! Merry Christmas!