Christmas Letter 2010

Hello from the Hugheses and thank you for taking the time to read our letter. Some may think of us as "electronically savvy" by doing our letter online, while others may think of us as "fiscally conservative" (to put it nicely!). Whatever you choose to call us, thank you for taking the time to look us up!

We hope you'll enjoy our online letter as it will allow you the opportunity to see pictures with our story, and there are some great pictures this year (mostly of a handsome, blue-eyed boy).

As most of you know, 2010 was a year of transition for us in more ways than one: transition in terms of location - Lincoln, NE back to Noblesville, IN; transition in terms of name changes and roles - from honey to mommy/daddy; and a daily transition in terms of faith - from pride to humility as we attempt to daily remember our need for God's saving grace through the death of His son on the cross. It has been a year of growth and change and we are only better for it.

We started 2010 in Lincoln, Nebraska where Jon had the amazing opportunity to work as a clerk for the United States Court of Appeals for the 8^th Circuit. He loved the work and the people and misses his job very much. We suffered through a rough Nebraska winter (I think people are still digging out of the snow last winter brought in Lincoln) but loved being so close to Heather's family who made visits as much as possible. We were also able to see a lot of friends, as Lincoln was a great stopping point for several of them.

In April, we were blessed to accompany Heather’s family (thanks to Jon’s family!) on a fabulous trip to Orlando, FL. It was so fun to experience Disney with our niece Izabel and spend quality time with family. It was also fun to see a 34-week pregnant lady waddle all over Magic Kingdom!

And then there was June…… sweet, sweet, June! We welcomed our precious Nolan William to the world on June 15^th. Words cannot describe the experience and the joy we feel to have him in our lives.

God surrounded us with family and friends during this time and we are eternally grateful to everyone who prayed for us, visited us, sent cards and gifts, made meals, and loved on our Nolan. One of the other blessings from our time in Lincoln was our church family. We had a wonderful church and small group and we miss them all so much!

We spent the rest of the summer introducing Nolan to our world and all of his family, and taking advantage of being in Nebraska for our last few months.

August ended our time in Lincoln and we packed up and headed back to Indiana. Jon’s parents and his brother could hardly wait and greeted all three of us back with open arms (especially the youngest one of us).

Jon is an associate at Bose McKinney & Evans and really enjoys the job. He stays very busy and does not get to be home as much as we would all like, so that is hard, but we know this is where God wants us and we are so thankful for the opportunity. Heather stays home with Nolan for now but just accepted a speech therapy job at an assisted living facility, which will start in January. It is so good to be back to our friends, family, and church here in Indiana and great to be back to our HOME. That being said, this year has surely taught us that a home is certainly not a building, but rather wherever we are together, and we LOVE being together!

As we look back it is hard to believe all of the amazing experiences we have had. And it is even harder to believe that our little Nolan is rolling over, jabbering, laughing, and trying so very hard to crawl. Is he really already 6 months old?

We hope that you enjoyed the summary of our year. To those of you who we were able to see this year, it is always great to fellowship with you. To those we missed, we hope we will have the opportunity to see you soon. Please feel free to visit our blog throughout the year to keep up on “life with the Hugheses”. May your Christmas be merry and bright and may your 2011 be blessed!

Love,

The Hugheses

*Disclaimer*

We just wanted to let you all know that our blog will be the site of our 2010 Christmas letter this year and therefore, there won't be any new posts for a while. We'll have lots to catch up on after the holidays! Until then, we'll leave you with these sweet shots!

Love- J,H,N & M

Our big guy sitting up!

I love my daddy!

Jumping in my diaper

More tummy time with Stella

Trying out dad's hat

Hodge Podge

I've posted a mix of pictures (mostly of Nolan of course!) from over the past few weeks. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break! We didn't do anything big....just spent time together, which was what we needed!

To start- a few weekends ago we decided to attempt a Christmas card photo. We didn't end up using any of these, so I thought I'd share them here!

Nolan with a lamp shade hat.... thanks dad!

See how big I'm getting!!

I can't help but laugh at Nolan's faces- he has such a fun personality! Heres what I imaging he's thinking:

"Oh great- that black, flashy thing is out again!"

"Maybe if I pretend it's not there it will go away.... What's that up there?"

"Nope- still there.... aw heck... I might as well amuse them!"

"Alright, this is ok. I get to chew on these things"

"Oh, it's exhausting being so cute!"

I'll end this segment by saying the final product is adorable!

Last week we had baby Stella with us, so things were busy around here. The days go by really fast though! We only have one more week keeping Miss Stella. I will be going back to work starting the beginning of January. Please pray for me to find a good job and most importantly, for us to find a safe, loving place for Nolan to stay while we are at work!

Here are a few pictures from our days at home:

Nolan still loves his jumper!

Nolan in his bathrobe

What a happy little guy!

Nolan taking care of Stella during tummy time. Sooo sweet!

One of his many faces that entertain me during the day!

Like I said, we had a great Thanksgiving! We had a low key day filled with family and good food at Jon's parents house. Nolan was so good and got tons of love! We had delicious homemade noodles, turkey, potatoes (sweet & mashed), spicy corn, stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce, and lima beans (may have even missed something). We also had my very favorite- STRAWBERRY PRETZEL SALAD! It was such a nice day!

Nolan's 1st Thanksgiving

All dressed up and ready to impress- he's wearing the camo hunting hat he got from his great aunt and uncle. Pretty cute!

We fed Nolan his first veggie on Thanksgiving Day! He tried green beans and had us laughing so hard we could cry! His reaction was priceless! We got it on video but forgot to get pictures! He must of got his tummy full b/c he crashed with dad shortly there after.

And Papaw did too...

A shot will all the guests

"Aw mom.... enough!"

Friday we braved the crowds (which actually weren't too bad) and did some shopping. We found a couple good deals- so it was worth it! We ate Qdoba (which I love!) and then began decorating for Christmas. Here is N checking out the tree...

We also got a chance to see our good friend Jeff who was home for a visit. He had not yet met Nolan. I think they liked each other! :)

Saturday and Sunday we finished decorating and cleaning. We also were on an 80's movie kick and watched a bunch of oldies on Netflix. It was great! :) It was a much needed long weekend!

And last but not least- a few shots from the beginning of our week:

Nolan is "Nuts About His Grandmas!"

My boys waking up from a nap

And still loving my bouncer!

Well- December is here and we have snow! It's actually quite beautiful since I have all the Christmas lights on inside the house and we don't have to go anywhere! :) I love this time of year and we can't wait to share it with Nolan for the first time!