2013 Revisited

Off the top of my head, here are the things that most stuck out about our year in 2013:

• Trevor worked as an online business and marketing consultant all year, and I spent time every week helping to design websites for his clients. 
• I went to the gym almost daily in January and it was really nice to be so active.
• Because of my gym-going, Charlie was pretty sick for 3 weeks of January. Poor kiddo had RSV, bronchiolitis, and a double ear infection all back to back. 
• We moved into our new house in Eagle Mountain!
• My parents and brother visited for Easter, and we had a fabulous time celebrating, including letting Charlie have his first mini egg hunt in our front yard.
• Trevor and I took an overnight trip to Park City for our 5th wedding anniversary - and that was the first time we left Charlie overnight with someone (Trev's parents).
• Charlie turned 18 months old and got to go into nursery! Woo hoo!
• I travelled to California to be a bridesmaid in Chris (Kyle) Peterson's wedding. So fun!
• Trev and I played quite a few rounds of golf together, and I didn't improve much. :P
• I was called into young women's and a week later I got to go to girl's camp for a couple days.
• Charlie and I spent a lot of time at the neighborhood pool to cool off in the summer.
• Our good friends, the Kimballs, moved across the country to Philadelphia and it still makes me really sad to think about it. 
• I had my 26th birthday. Trevor turned 29!
• Charlie and I went to North Carolina in August for a week and it was Charlie's second official trip to the beach. 
• Trent received his mission call and left on his mission to Mexico.
• Mical got married to Jeremy in Springville, and I got to help set up for the wedding. It rained like crazy right before everything started, but it all still turned out beautifully!
• Our little family took our first ever road trip and vacation to California. We visited Las Vegas on the way, spent two days at Disneyland, and also hit up some beaches and the San Diego zoo. 
• I got pregnant with Baby #2 while on vacation. :D
• Charlie had his 2nd birthday with a really awesome Mickey Mouse party!
• We got to see my brother and his girlfriend at Halloween, and Charlie went trick or treating as a ninja.
• Thanksgiving was spent with Trevor's family, and we ate Thanksgiving dinner at his parents' house. So yummy!
• Found out that the gender of Baby #2 is a GIRL!
• We spent Christmas Eve at Trevor's parents' house, Christmas morning in our own house, and the rest of the Christmas season in North Carolina! And New Year's Eve, too.

Recap of 2012

I love looking back on my year and making a bullet list of the important things I remember from that year! Sadly, I just realized I never did it for 2011 (the biggest year of my life so far, since that's when Charlie was born!!). Oh well, at least I'll hop back on the tradition train and do it for 2012 :)

• Rang in the new year with 2-month-old Charlie at a couple of my parents' friends' homes in Raleigh! We were at the Berriman's house and exploded paper poppers at midnight!
• Discovered the wonders of Instagram.
• Finally finished decorating Charlie's nursery.
• My Mom and Dad came to town in mid-February and were able to watch Charlie so Trev and I could go on our Valentine's Day date to Park City. It was awesome!
• Trev started at a new full-time job in February! Yay!
• Charlie and I visited many parks and duck ponds all year long, and we spent a lot of time at story time at the Provo library with friends.
• I went through the very traumatic experience of having my baby fall out of my arms onto the concrete and watching him recover. Fortunately, no permanent damage done. :/
• The Easter bunny came to visit our home for the first time! And I made a bunny cake, as usual!
• Celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary!
• Bought a pass to Seven Peaks water park where Charlie and I frequented over the summer.
• I ran the Dirty Dash, twice! Once in June, once in September!
• Enjoyed the Olympics on TV, after finally purchasing a cable subscription and cancelling Netflix.
• Had the biggest, most fun 4th-of-July WEEK full of family festivities and a bit of illness ;) Some firsts for Charlie included going to the zoo and seeing fireworks (which didn't scare him!!)
• I turned 25 years old!
• In August, I finally stopped pumping breast milk and it was the most freeing experience of my life!
• Went to Jackson Hole with the Kimball family! Trev and Dave ran their first relay race from Utah up to Jackson Hole. They survived!! Then, we relaxed, played games, took pictures, and ate at Bar J!
• My car got backed into on the way to Jackson Hole, in the middle of nowhere Wyoming. :(
• Once home, I drove a Dodge Charger for a couple weeks while my car was getting fixed! 
• Bought a brand new Canon Rebel T3i DSLR camera and I love it!
• Went to NC for two weeks! (Trev just stayed for the first week and went home to work). This was Charlie's first beach experience!
• Participated in two monthly photo-of-the-day challenges on Instagram!
• My good friend Jenny Buck gave birth to her second child, sweet baby girl Amy.
• Found out my friend Meghan Ballard was pregnant with her second baby! And even though he was technically born in 2013 (Jan 1st!!), we're still glad that little boy Nolan is here!
• I was called as the Junior Primary music leader, and it's been a blast! Trevor served in the scouts this year and spent many a sleepless night in a tent on camp-outs! :)
• Spent many hours of my Fall months searching, touring, and trying to find a house to live in! Submitted 3 offers, and finally got one accepted!
• Charlie turned 1 year old and had a Curious George birthday party!
• We had Halloween in Springville dressed as a little dragon, a knight, and a princess :) Gotta love family themes!
• Attended just one wedding reception - my friend Megan Whitmore (McKarns, now) got married!
• I voted for Romney. Alas, President Obama was re-elected. 
• Trev turned 28!
• Thanksgiving at the church in Heber City! Then, lots of fabulous Black Friday shopping, including my first (and, so far, only) visit to the new Outlets at Traverse Mountain! Gotta go back! :)
• Trev was on steroids quite a bit this year for his Ulcerative Colitis. We are contemplating trying a new medicine regimen if this last attempt doesn't get him into a good remission.
• After over 3 years, I finally quit my job as manager for Shy Property Management. It has been glorious. :)
• Spent way too much time waiting for the builder of our home to "get a permit" to start work on the basement of our new house. 
• Got family photos taken and sent out our 3rd annual family Christmas card.
• Santa Claus visited us for the first time and left wonderful gifts for Charlie! Christmas was very relaxing not having to travel this year. 
• Watched our lion's share of TV shows and movies this year, most notable TV shows include the Bachelor, Bachelorette, Walking Dead, Downton Abbey seasons 1&2, Gossip Girl, Friday Night Lights, Modern Family. Notable movies include Hunger Games, Dark Knight Rises, Skyfall, and Les Miserables... can't remember any others... well... I remember Breaking Dawn, Part II, but it's really not a notable movie ;) Honestly, I don't even think we got a babysitter other than my mother-in-law until close to Charlie's first birthday. Ever since then, we've been taking advantage :)
• Charlie learned how to flip over, sit up, crawl, babble, feed himself, play, laugh, pull up, and walk! I think I'm going to be stunned how much he will learn in this coming year!
• New Year's Eve was the lowest-key you could possibly imagine... waiting for the ball to drop on TV, then promptly going to sleep. In fact, Trev had already gone to bed, so I woke him up 5 minutes before midnight to celebrate with me with some Martinelli's. Wow. We are awesome!! ;)

It was a good year. Things to look forward to in 2013? Moving into our new home, having some sort of fun vacation(s), and maybe consider adding to our family! I guess we will see what time may bring! <3

Reminiscing & Resolving...

Sometimes I just can't believe things. Like when I realize I'm 25 years old. That means that 10 years ago I was 15, and I remember when I was 15 thinking I was all grown up and ruler of the world. My how things have changed. The more I've learned about life, the more insignificant I've felt. I'm just grateful to know that the most important thing I can accomplish in my life is to positively affect those I know in my small sphere of influence. For me, these are people in my family, my friends, and my close neighbors. It all starts there: A smile one day, a hug the next, words of love and encouragement. I have to give thanks to my wonderful brother for helping me realize what I want my next life goal to be: I want to say "I like you" more often to people who I enjoy being around. Sounds easy, right? Well, much easier said than done. But really, I'm going to do it. More hugs. More laughter. More friends! And who doesn't want more friends? :)

Anyway, I just got to thinking tonight about what I've accomplished in the last 10 years, about those things in my life which have changed. It's been eventful to say the least: I graduated high school, went to college, got married, graduated from college, had 5 or so jobs, certified to be a yoga instructor, and had a baby! It seems like there won't be as many large life events in the next 10 years, so it gets me thinking about what I'm going to choose to do with my time? House buying will happen. More babies, probably, too. But what else? I'm just not sure what my niche is outside of motherhood at the moment. I'm such a dabbler in everything, plus I find I'm a terrible goal-maker and a much worse goal-achiever. This combination could result in a lot of wasted time and energy. So perhaps this coming year, 2013, I'll actually attempt to make some New Years' resolutions. In the past I've been wont to just never even try, because I knew I'd never accomplish my resolutions for longer than a day or two. It was almost laughable thinking about myself attempting to stick with something like that. But I'm feeling different tonight. Hopefully this desire to change and improve sticks around for a little while! Wish me luck.

Future goals? Go to bed earlier. Wake up earlier. Exercise much, much more. Read my scriptures more consistently. Keep my house clean. Oh.... and say "I Like You" on a much more frequent basis! :)

Good night!