A Year in Review

Merry Christmas! It's been a very eventful year for our family. We are still in Durham, North Carolina for graduate school and are loving every minute of it! Here's the quick update on each of us:

James: Business school continues to keep James very busy! He is a second year MBA student at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and plans to graduate in May 2011. This summer, he was an intern at Hamilton Lane, a private equity firm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. James loved the work and hopes to pursue a career in private equity. When he's not hitting the books, James makes sure to attend every Duke basketball home game (we are national champions!!).

Melissa: This month, I graduated from Duke's Pediatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program with a master's degree in nursing. I absolutely loved every minute of it! To complete my schooling, I did a 400 hour residency with an inpatient pediatric team at a hospital in Raleigh. When Hannah is sleeping, my favorite things to do are read, bake, and enjoy great Masterpiece Theater movies with friends. My calling in Young Women's also keeps me hopping, but my girls are worth all the time it takes! But the best part of life is being a mom to the cutest girl in the world...

Hannah: After six months of saying she's 2, our little girl finally had her second birthday on December 8th. She has grown up much too quickly, but it is so much fun to be with such an interactive little girl. Hannah talks non-stop and is starting to string together little sentences. She especially loves "ballooms," playing at the park, visiting friends, and "choclate." She's even warming up to Santa (a.k.a. "tanta") and has sat on his lap (very hesitantly) twice this year! Hannah is a very well-behaved girl with quite a strong personality. We sure love our little girl!

We've also had the chance to do a little traveling this year. With James' internship in Philadelphia, we explored Philly and Hershey, Pennsylvania and made a trip to New York. At the end of the summer, we drove to Florida by way of Savannah, Georgia, and we met my parents at Disneyworld! It was an amazing trip, and Hannah loved the Disney princesses (especially Ariel). We came back through Atlanta, Georgia, and then met up with James' family to tour the Smokey Mountains and Asheville, NC (where the Biltmore mansion is located). We also spent the beginning of the Summer break at the Outer Banks in a beach house with some LDS MBA families. Charleston, SC was another fun family vacation taken during a school break. And of course we took a couple trips to Utah, which included James' brother's wedding in October (congrats to Beaver and Brittany!).

We hope your year has been wonderful! Thanks for all of your love and support.

Love,

James, Melissa, and Hannah Winder

P.S. If you found my suitcase, please email me: melissamwinder@gmail.com