Happy New Year. We're a little late.

Hi there. Well, I was thinking of writing a "New Year" post, and then never did. So, now that January is half over, I thought I'd better get onto that. Guess it's better than waiting until February, hu? As the new year has arrived, I have been reflecting on the many adventures that we enjoyed during 2008, and wondering what the new year will hold. (And I heard that some of your were inadvertently left off our first annual Ryland Christmas Letter list, so maybe this will make up for it a little bit?)(And for those of you who got the letter, this might be a bit boring for you.)
As for our 2008 adventures, there were many! We spent the first 3 months in sunny Brisbane, Australia, where we ate lots of fish and chips, drove on the wrong side of the road, and loved every minute with Sam's family. What a great way to start the year! (We miss you all!) Then on the way back to the U.S. of A. we spent 2 1/2 weeks traveling around New Zealand. We got to spend a week on the south island, which was definitely a huge highlight of the year. What a beautiful place! We spent the rest of our time catching up with good friends, where time went too fast! We love all of you down there in the southern hemisphere, thanks for making our year so wonderful!
Back at home, Sam finished up his final semester at BYU, and the day he took his last final, we headed off on a cross-country trip with my parents and little brother, Dustin, to see my sister, Heidi in Maryland. It was a long and wonderful journey. We got to see family, lots of history, and found out that driving through the night wasn't a great choice for us.
A couple of weeks after getting home, we moved into our new apartment, Jackson turned one and started walking, and our lives have never been the same! After a couple months of searching, Sam got a job, and not much has changed since then.
We really were blessed last year, and looking back, we can't believe all that we were able to do. Looking forward to 2009, we're not sure what the future holds (quite obviously), but we are sure looking forward to it! What an adventure!
P.S. If you are interested in "seeing" our adventures, you can find them at the bottom of the blog, on our picasa site. But I warn you there are lots and lots of them.