Each year Ryan writes a wonderful Christmas letter recapping our year and this year is no different. I love reading about our year through my husband's perspective! He's a great writer and sees things in a different light than I do, so I hope you enjoy reading this letter as much as I do!
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| Photo by Jami Thompson Photography |
Happy Holidays from
the Nolan’s!
Hello Friends and Family, another year has passed and as
usual, it’s been a crazy one for this little family. Much has changed, and more changes are coming
fast. Biggest and most important thing
first – we’ll be welcoming a baby boy soon, due in the first week of
January. Maxwell Joseph Nolan, or Max,
is healthy and growing normally and we’re hoping for an on-time arrival. Christmas will have to be a smaller affair
this year, no traveling for Sarah when she’s close to nine months pregnant, so
we’ll be staying home for the first time in several years. Speaking of home, we made the leap and moved
farther south into Virginia Beach. Our
house is larger and in a much better school district so we’re quite happy. My job moved to a smaller, closer Navy base just
up the street so my commute is much shorter.
We’ve been able to squeeze a little bit of travel into our busy year,
including several trips to PA, a couple trips to Charlottesville VA, and an
awesome trip that Sarah and I took to Ponte Vedra Beach, FL to watch the
Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in May.
It was my first actual PGA Tour event, believe it or not, and I was in
hog heaven. We got to spend time with
Sarah’s oldest brother and his family who live in St. Augustine, as well as
relax some on the beach, so it was an awesome trip. I went on my annual trip to Fortuna for the
Southern Humboldt Masters over Father’s Day with dad (finished 2nd),
and went by myself this time because all three of us flew back out West a month
later to attend my cousin Cameron’s wedding in Napa. Unfortunately that trip was also a sad
occaision; we lost my Grandma Arlet (mom’s mom) in early July. Grandma was almost 97 and she lived a
wonderfully full and happy life so we’re happy she’s with Grandpa now. Luckily I was able to see her for a little
bit during my June trip and I’m very glad that I did. With Sarah and baby growing our last travel
of the year was to PA for Thanksgiving, and included a beautiful baby shower
arranged by Sarah’s mom with all of her best friends and family. The last bit of major family news is that we
sprung for a new car, and got Sarah a 2015 Nissan Pathfinder. It’s just right for a growing family, very
safe, so far so good.
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| Photo by Jami Thompson Photography |
Sarah has a lot going on, as those of you that follow Sarah
Nolan Photography know. In March she
quit her corporate job for good; she had been working part-time to help the
transition for her replacements at the company.
Apparently working in a corporate environment was not good for trying to
have a baby, because we were pregnant the month after she quit. Lol. The
photography business is going very well!
She’s in a constant cycle of booking, packing props, organizing,
shooting, editing, and keeping the social media piece going. Her client base continues to grow as people
see the great work she does, and I’m very proud of her. Sarah also gives back to the community
through a series of volunteer efforts, including photographing events for
special needs families and offering her services as one of a series of gifts that
a friend’s charity gives to families of newly-born babies with Trisomy-21 (Down
Syndrome). She continues to tutor a
couple select clients in math, which she enjoys and she says helps her stay
sharp. Sarah was the real rock star of
our move back in August, and she had this house 90% put together inside of a
week. Now the baby’s room has become a
focus, and we’re most of the way there – Pop Pop Joe came down and painted, the
crib and dresser are up, baby clothes are washed and hung, and we even have our
hospital bag packed. Not bad for a busy
family!
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| Photo by Jami Thompson Photography |
My work situation is still a bit strange. I’ve now been at this shore duty job for
nearly four years, and I have over 17 years of total service. Because I’m retiring at my 20-year mark, the
Navy has no appetite to send me back out for more sea tours. My command has me doing quite a bit of
high-level work and wants to keep me so there’s a decent chance I’ll finish out
my career right where I’m at. That would
be just fine with me, and now we’re just waiting on confirmation to make it all
official. The Navy is a large organization
and moves very slowly sometimes. Work is
the boring part though, it just gets in the way of my golf schedule. I started early in the winter playing our
Golfweek Amateur Tour Winter Tour, a series of two-man events, where my partner
and I won the overall gross championship this year. I played my second full year on the regular
Golfweek Amateur Tour and had a great time.
No individual wins this year, but only finished out of the top-five in
the Championship Flight twice. My game
is improving, I just need to work on closing out tournaments next year. I had some other successes – won the Military
Invitational up in Williamsburg, qualified for and competed in the Virginia
State Amateur up in Charlottesville, and finished 12th in a field of
over 100 Championship Flight players at the Golfweek Amateur Tour National
Championships in Hilton Head in October.
I have a great group of guys that I play with regularly at the Naval Air
Station in Virginia Beach, and my calendar always seems to be full of good
tournaments to play. I’m looking forward to continuing this year’s Winter
Tour, which started in November, and All-Navy Golf tryouts in the spring. Outside of golf I still cook regularly for
the family, and between moving, having Jared back, and the baby coming we
always seem to be slammed busy. Life is
good at 35 and I have my health (mostly), although not much hair left on my
head!
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| Photo by Jami Thompson Photography |
Jared’s back! He attended
6th and 7th grade with his mom in Iowa, and we’ve had him
back here since mid-July. Now 13 and an
8th grader, Jared is adjusting to a new house, new friends, new
school, and a new baby brother on the way (FINALLY, he says). There are always bumps and bruises with
adjustments but he’s doing well overall.
Some may recall that he wrestled for his middle school in Iowa, and we
got him involved right away with a local wrestling club called Mat Rats. He practices twice a week in the evenings,
and the club is run by his middle school and future high school coaches. He’s getting great experience and great
visibility. We’ve just started getting
him into local AAU tournaments, giving him some important “mat time” and
exposure to the coaches. Jared likes
golf as well, but hasn’t quite gotten the “bug” like I did at his age. I play a regular Sunday round with him and a
couple work friends, so he’s still swinging away. I imagine that his interest level will
increase when the school golf season comes around. Like most teenage boys Jared loves video
games, and he’s become our resident technology expert. He’s a fun and interesting kid and we love
watching him grow up. He’ll be 14 in
March (yikes)!
Little Lira is doing very well! She adjusted quickly to her new digs and new
walking routes, and she’s pretty much as awesome as ever. I’ve been quite entertained by how aware she
is of Sarah being pregnant, and she is not happy when her momma is not in her
sights. When Sarah’s editing or resting you
can often find Lira sprawled on her belly, although she likes that less and
less, because her little brother-to-be is getting good at punching his puppy
through the belly. One funny event from
earlier this year – Lira dug up a bunny nest in a bush at our old house, and
managed to catch and kill two baby bunnies.
It was sad for the bunnies (although they are incredibly overpopulated
here), but kind of funny to us because our spoiled, lazy, indoor dog who sleeps
on the bed showed signs of being a “real dog”.
We hope you enjoy hearing about us and we love to hear about
you!
We moved, so if you want to send Christmas cards to us, please let us know and we will send you our new address! Thanks!
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| Photo by Jami Thompson Photography |
