Christmas Letter (by Justin)

So, most of you know that normally every year I write up a nice long Christmas letter to let everyone know how the year went.  Well, I decided against printing it out this year and including it with our Christmas cards.  Not cause I am a cheap bastard...but because I honestly don't know if the Postal Service will be able to deliver it according to recent news.  So...I am making the switch to digital!

As you probably know, this has been a major year for us.  I started a new job January 1 and we moved out to Bozeman, MT in the middle of March.  Well, actually I moved out here in the middle of March, did all of the unpacking, and then Kristin and Kaitlyn showed up in the beginning of April.  Funny...I seem to remember completely unpacking our last house by myself as well.  Oh well, I am sure it was harder for Kristin since she had never even been to MT and we were already in a lease on a house she had never seen.  Good thing she trusts my impeccable judgment!  We have had a lot of visitors and have had a few vacations ourselves.  We both had close friends get married so we went to weddings and bachelor/bachelorette parties, went to Yellowstone a few times, I went to Colorado with my dad and brother, and we went to Wyoming on my company's summer meetings.  Needless to say we had lots of fun this summer!  I also played in a golf league every Wednesday night with a bunch of guys.  Don't get me wrong...I am still a hack.  Just now I am a 23 handicap hack instead of 36, and that included a stint on the injured reserve list for a few weeks due to a weird elbow dislocation.

As far as our family goes.  Things are great!  Kristin is six months pregnant with our son.  I am fired up to have a boy!  Kaitlyn has gotten so big you probably won't recognize her.  She is a ton of fun and also a real pistol at times.  She started making this face like Chuckie from the old Child's Play horror movies when she says no to something or tells Gunther (Gunner) to stop trying to eat her hot dog 'ronis!  It started out of the blue and she does it on occasion.  Personally it kind of freaks me out.  No really, I sleep with one eye open now.

It has been difficult to leave all of our family and friends, but this is such an amazing place that it has helped ease the transition.  Plus we had a lot of visitors over the summer and did a ton of fun stuff!  Funny how now that it is 8 degrees out nobody is out here visiting...

Gunther is still a total PITA, but we love him.

And as for Kaitlyn...she experienced a lot of new things this year and has grown tremendously from each new experience.  Here are just some highlights.  

She went to a rodeo with her boyfriend Bridger,

helped us grow some vegetables in our garden,

caught her first fish,

got a big girl bed,

(Gunther thinks we got it for him)

took a dance class,

hiked up a mountain (that is the valley we live in),

hiked to a waterfall,

carved her first pumpkin (there is that Chuckie face again!)

met Santa and Mrs. Claus,

and had a great summer just being a kid!

We have had a great year!  We love it out here!  Please come visit!  Merry Christmas!

It's a BOY!!! ...What do you do with a boy?

They have officially determined BOY!  We are ecstatic! So far, everything looks good and healthy, which is a blessing.  He was moving all over the place, so much that we were there well over an hour with them trying to get the measurements needed.
Kaitlyn resisted at first, saying "Nooooo, it's not! It's a girl! It's a sister."  But, it didn't take long to convince her it was a boy, then when we told her the name, she approved immediately! Here is Kaitlyn revealing the news last week, which we also posted on Facebook.

This baby is going to be "Charlie"- Charles Armstrong Hill.  Named after my dad, Charles Arthur Alexander and also Justin's grandfather, Eric Charles Armstrong Hill.  Justin and his dad, Mark, also carry the middle name Armstrong, which has history of more of a family name than a middle name (with a story behind it).
My dad, Charlie, had three sisters, two daughters, three grand-daughters, and a female dog, so he is extra-thrilled to have a new male little buddy in the family!
Here's some pictures from the ultrasound, I know nobody else really cares, but I figured since I was blogging about it, I might as well include a couple!

His profile looks very similar to how Kaitlyn's looked, and, once again, they said he has long legs, so maybe he will be tall like Justin!

Busy Weekend Ahead!
Last night Justin and I went to a Christmas party given by some new friends we've met through his co-workers and golf crew.  It was a lot of fun, and I got to meet several new people.  Today we are going to the Bozeman Christmas Stroll, which is held downtown every year, and is a parade with Santa and tons of kids activities and good food :).  Tomorrow we are going to a Christmas musical at the Ellen theatre called "White Christmas", Justin got tickets for the three of us for my birthday, so I'm sure we will all enjoy that. Then we are doing dinner at "Evelyn's" house (our neighbors- and Evelyn is the little girl who is Kaitlyn's age, and they have a big time together!).

New Family Pics!
Justin's co-worker's wife, Anna, is a great photographer here in town, and so we did a little photo session last weekend for Christmas cards (and it had been a while), so here are a couple below! She is very talented!

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and is enjoying the holiday season!
-The Hills :)