Merry Christmas Friends!

I decided to go green be cheap and not send Christmas cards by snail mail to everyone.  However, the lucky few who get snail mail cards (family, close adult friends and parents of our friends) won't even get them until after Christmas since we failed to mail everything out in time.  Big oops.


So here's the sneak preview for the rest of the world.

Update: the letter that we sent with our photo this year...probably the only time you will see something written by Andy:

Merry Christmas!

According to the Chinese Zodiac, this was the Golden Year of the Rabbit.  According to my zodiac, it was the year of the Jimmer.  He won every player of the year award possible (except for the point guard award—weird, right?), was drafted in the top 10 by the Kings, and was the sole reason I wanted the NBA season to happen this year.  Thankfully, the NBA figured things out, and Jimmer was able to make his rookie debut last night.  He was truly Jimmerific, and I am hoping for an equally Jimazing debut as a rookie Christmas letter writer.

The year began with Daisy and I trying to figure out the name of our unborn son.  It was a lot simpler than I was anticipating.  As soon as the idea for Jordan Dennis Phillips came up, we were both sold.  The only hesitation we had was when my dad, a Dennis himself, felt the need to warn us that anyone with the name Dennis would likely have a “menacing” phase.  We felt the name was perfect, and couldn’t be deterred.

Jordan eventually arrived on April 30^th, and has been the opposite of a menace up to this point.  Although he didn’t figure out how to smile until he was about 4 months, he has been smiling ever since!  He is already a frequent flier, having flown to Orlando (for Harry Potter World), Salt Lake, Chicago, and Columbus; we were able to make all those flights without getting dirty looks from fellow patrons.  All during the BYU Football season, he was also there to wipe my tears.  He has truly been an angel.  Recently, he has shown glimmers of what my dad described, as he has learned how to make changing diapers and clothes more of a game than we would like.  Further, the world, or our living room, has become quite the oyster for him as he recently learned to crawl and is just starting to pull himself up.

Daisy began the year still a portfolio manager for the Firm, took a nice long break for maternity leave, and recently made the transition to working from home part time for BlueSky Professional Services Group.  They are an executive search firm with personnel all over the country.  The job’s flexibility has allowed her and Jordan to accompany me on a number of interview trips.  In addition to her new part time job, and looking after Jordan, she continues to write (both for the Phillips blog, and for an online magazine, Latter-day Woman), enjoys working out at hipster fitness classes, and is learning how to be a homemaker (which includes sewing and other crafty stuff as well as expanding her arsenal of delicious meals).

I am currently finishing up my 4^th and final year of medical school.  I finally decided what type of residency program to apply to, and am currently interviewing for spots with radiology residency programs around the country.  I have absolutely no idea where we will be next year, as residency positions are determined by something called the “match.”  Every applicant and every program ranks each other, and some computer (hopefully one smarter than the BCS computer that re-matched Alabama and LSU for the title game) will pair up programs with applicants, thus matching us up.  Then sometime in March, we have a ceremony where we get to find out where we matched.  Outside of school, I am just enjoying watching my son get closer and closer to one day holding a golf club.

As exciting as 2011 was for us, we can’t wait for what 2012 will bring.  With Jordan and Daisy by my side, it’s bound to be... unfreddateable!