Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas Letter 2011

Dear family and friends,

21011 has been a big year for us!

Dan passed his final geography exam for Charles University and just has to finish writing and defending his dissertation to finish his PhD. This made the prospect of moving back to the US more realistic and he found a job advertisement that was pretty much describing him: a degree in geography, experience using GIS, knowledge of Eastern Europe, and the ability to read Cyrillic alphabets and experience living abroad. Of course, he applied and after several Skype interviews was offered a job with FamilySearch, a across the pond. Dan is now working in Salt Lake and we are living with his grandmother in Kaysville.

Our second miracle this year was the birth of our daughter Charlotte Lucie Reeves in July. She was two weeks late, but born early enough to see Grandma and Grandpa Reeves who traveled to Prague to help our transition to a family of five. Charlotte is the easiest going baby who gets lots of love from her two brothers. She loves to growl, squeal and slobber on anyone lucky enough to hold her.

Benjamin turned three and is finally potty trained! He is quite the talker and loves to play imagination games with Vinson, some of which he leads. He enjoys going to parks and watching Backyardigans.

Vinson has had a big year starting school. He started the school year in a Czech školka (kindergarten), before we had any idea that we would be moving. It was difficult for him in the beginning but he made friends and was learning all kinds of Czech. His transition to kindergarten in the US (no changing clothes/shoes, walking to public parks, etc.) has gone more smoothly than we had anticipated and he has made several friends. The other day he told me he loves America because everyone understands him. J

Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

Dan, Val, Vinson, Benji, and Charlotte

4 comments:

Hannah Holt said...

Yay! We are so glad to have you back in the states (even if we live a state over now). Welcome back! (and Merry Christmas)

alpine alert-pali eternal said...

We want to come see you!!!! So excited that you are back. Give us a call 801-380-7286.

The Bunnell Family said...

Keep us up-to-date on your family's doings. We miss you and love you!

Ashley said...

Valerie! Can I come visit you sometime?