Brimhall 2013 Year-End Letter

By Andrew -
Happy Year of the Horse!

 What can be said about 2013 that you don't already know from a Facebook status update? In case you didn't stalk us carefully enough, here are some gems:

From Kim: 
Jacob's been asking to watch Doctor Who. I'll take it! • Ender* accepted an offer from Ball State for their Counseling Psychology PhD program. It's nice to finally know where we're going next. • I'm so happy we'll be in Mexico for one more mango season • Packing two years into two suitcases is not easy • If anyone in the SLC area isn't busy tomorrow we could use a bit of help moving. • Signed some papers for a house here in Muncie today. I guess we really do live here. 

From Ender:
Me: "Hey, I'm going to look up what the 9th anniversary is." Kim: "I'm pretty sure it's humus" • Graduation is tomorrow and I am speaking. • #babysfirstearthquake** • Less than 3 days left in Mexico and I finally memorized my phone number • Me: "We should get to Muncie around 7!" Jacob: *explosive diarrhea* Me: "Okay, maybe closer to 8." Jacob: *more diarrhea* Me: *sigh* • I vowed never to drive a moving van cross country again. I REALLY MEAN IT THIS TIME • Today is the third year anniversary of the day I stopped caring if I had another person's feces on my hands. Happy Birthday, son! • I am not doing one more scrap of homework until I'm sure that I'm not dying in a tornado today • I had 12 hours to write an 8 page paper today. I did it in 10. #speedracer**

Now for some context: We, the Brimhall Bunch (as we demand to be called only when sporting matching footie pajamas), said goodbye to Mexico with the fervent hope that years from now we will remember only the good things. Seriously though, Mexico. Get it together. 

The first 6 months of the year were inconsequential. Kim and Jake lived in a box while Ender went all over the place every day for school. Sure, there were times when we went and saw and did things that you are and should be jealous of, but mostly it was box sitting. Ender went to Denver and Muncie early in the year for interviews for grad school and nailed one of them, obviously.  

 The summer was all about moving. Kim left early and worked on selling our place in Salt Lake while Ender stayed behind to finish his masters degree and shut down the life we had in Mexico. After two exotic (not really) years, we walked (flew) away with nothing but a few suitcases and a nervous dog in a bag. We miss the food and the weather desperately. Since returning, we have been busily packing on what can only be described as "America-weight." 

Muncie has been a great (read: cheap) place to ease us back into the US economy.  Jacob has made some great friends with some church kids and Kim gets along great with their mothers. We feel truly blessed; the overwhelmingly warm welcome we have received from new friends is kind of weirding us out. The rest of the year has been busy, settling into a new place, making new friends, and Ender doing school, so much school. Speaking of school, after completing his first semester, he describes it as, "Hard." That is also how he describes driving; after approximately 7 years of living in places that didn't require a car, he is a terrible driver. Luckily Kim is a GREAT back-seat driver.

* a.k.a. Andrew/Andy
**hashtags used sarcastically 

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