2013 Year In Review

A lot of things have happened this year: both ups and downs. It's crazy to think of where we were in January, and where we are now, and where we are headed after this year. So many life-changing experiences have happened, and all I think about it how blessed we are.

2013 started of with a bang as our happy little Logan was born! He is such a bright ray of sunshine in our lives! He wants nothing more than to be a big kid just like his older brother. He started crawling at 6 months, walking without support at almost 9 months, and now is only a month away from his first birthday! I don't know what life would be like without him. He makes everyone around him happy! Quinn loves his baby brother, and even though they are still learning how to play together without fighting, they absolutely adore one another.

Quinn started Preschool this year! He knew his letters at the beginning of the school year, but had a hard time remembering their names and sounds. Now, just a few months into it, he's trying to sound out words on cereal boxes and anything he can get his hands on! There is nothing better than seeing your child find a love of learning! Now if we could only get his melt-downs under control....

Josh switched jobs a few times for various reasons, each time with us praying and feeling right about our decisions. Looking back on it now, the biggest blessing was just getting out of the rut that was Lowe's and finding the motivation necessary to push harder with Josh's school work. Now he'll be earning his associates from UVU this Spring, and be able to work towards his BS in Geology over the next couple years. Josh is such a wonderful example to my boys. He works full time (or at least as close as he can get), goes to school full time, comes home and plays with his boys and helps me around the house, and still manages to find time to be on UVU's racquetball team and perform his singing talent whenever he gets the opportunity. School work is becoming a lot easier for him to handle, and it is so amazing to see how good he is at math and everything compared to just a few years ago when he quit college for a while. Sure, I'm his tutor for most everything, but he picks up on things so quickly, and is doing really well in school! And every time we get to go see him sing somewhere - ah! We love it! Quinn and even Logan sing all the time now, too, just like their daddy!

We started the year with lots of goals in mind for our yard and projects, etc. But the truth is we got so caught up in life and work that we were lucky to get the sprinkler system in before the ground froze, and only after the youth in the ward came to help with the last final push. We lost our amazing dog Pooch to an autoimmune disease, and later welcomed our new dog Brutus into the family (while he has his charms, he's got a ways to go to match Pooch). We gained a chicken, lost a couple more (such is the life), and we've started making plans to add goats to our menagerie in a couple years. We absolutely LOVE this life style! It's a nice break from the technology-filled world we live in. It gives us a chance to experience what Heavenly Father truly gave to us here on Earth, and to appreciate all that it given to us. No matter how stressful life gets, whenever we go outside, or go on a drive/walk in the mountains just 5 minutes from our house, we feel peace and happiness again.

We've had lots of other things happen in our lives this year:

Camelot Returns

Happy Halloween! We dressed up as knights of the round table this year. Josh was King Arthur, I was Gwenivere, Quinn was Sir Gawain, and Logan was the apprentice, Merlin.

 We also got to go to Hee Haw in Pleasant Grove with the McNeffs. It was pretty fun! The hayride during sunset was beautiful!

Quinn LOVED the big slide! It was hard to tear him from it!

Logan just chillaxin with me, watching the big boys.

We really loved seeing all the animals. We introduced Quinn to goats, since we'll be getting some in the future. He loved everything but the pigs, and told us we needed to buy them all. If only!

Another slide break.

And then bunnies (which we'll probably end up getting someday, too)

And Quinn's very first pony ride ever! He really loved it! Makes us happy, since we want a horse one day when we can afford them, too! He's our little country boy :)

At the Santaquin City trunk-or-treat, and trick-or-treating later:

Hangin' with the Terry's and Other Adventures

Lately, we have had so many opportunities to show up and support Quinn's best friend, Caleb Terry, in his battle against childhood Leukemia (for more on his story, visit http://calebscourageousjourney.weebly.com/).

The most interesting venture was a real live Roller Derby here in Utah County! I didn't even know they existed here. It was definitely an experience! And since we were special guests of the Guest of Honor, we got to chill out on the old couches right in front of all the action!

Logan had just hit his "I'm too big to sit still, I just want to crawl everywhere" stage, so it was fun trying to keep him away from the track where he'd certainly get run over.

Here's a shot of the action. Crazy ladies!

Quinn was getting sick that night (which we didn't find out until a few hours later... we figured he was just over tired) and spent a lot of the time playing on Daddy's phone.

Finally some of our other friends and fellow Caleb-supporters showed up. We love the Hunts, even if they were late!

Caleb and his mommy, Sara, are so stinkin cute together! I love watching them interact!

Caleb led the victory lap at the end. It was so special to see all the high fives and support he got that night!

He's so cool.

Meanwhile, back with the McNeff's, it was time to go home. Our boys were just done!

Here's a video I made of a few of the moments of that night:

This past Monday for FHE, we went out to the Baird Pumpkin Patch in Genola, where the prices are so ridiculous you just can't pass it up! The Terry's and the Schmidt's joined us (or rather, we joined them) while we picked out pumpkins of every size from tiny to huge!

Caleb posing for me.

My cute son tromping through the pumpkins looking for the perfect one!

Logan's best friend is Mike Terry. He holds him for me on the Sundays that Josh teaches and I'm needed all primary on the piano. Logan seriously loves this man, and I can say with confidence that Mike kinda loves him too (he likes to steal him from me all the time, anyway lol)

 I just loved this shot of Caleb in the patch.

 Quinn with the Terrys, looking for pumpkins.

Again, I can't get enough of Sara and Caleb together.

Near the end, Quinn, Caleb, and Caleb's older brother Andy, were playing superheros together. The sun was setting, they were so cute, and I just love this picture.

When Mike wasn't taking care of Logan, he was just sitting on the lawn munching away at his favorite snack: grass.

These boys love playing together.

This was our haul, plus 4 baby pumpkins I'm gonna paint in the house. We thought we got a lot, but apparently our porch can still hold more. Oh, and all of this was only $10!

Tuesday, Grandma McNeff took me and the boys to Thanksgiving Point Gardens. I've seen them in the spring, but the fall was a new and pretty experience. Quinn had a lot of fun, too. Here he is looking over the bridge - one of his favorite things.

Partial Family Photo op!

There's a little pond where you can feed the fish. The boys loved it.

This is Logan's happy "war" face he puts on all the time, especially right before he attacks us lol.

When we last came here, it was for our wedding photos. This was one of my favorite spots. So I had to have the boys take a picture with me here.

I always love the random pictures where no one is looking at the camera - it's like a small peak into what we are really like.

This is the tunnel to the secret garden (which unfortunately was closed). Quinn was scared of the dark tunnel at first, but he made it through safe and sound and happy :)

Grandma McNeff even let him drive the go cart!

Logan and I chilling in the back

A new feature since I was there last is a collection of bronze statues (some of which I remember being on display at the Mesa Temple VC back on the mish, so it was neat to see them again, and to see some of them made life size).

This one is life size - and I mean LIFE size! It's huge!

...And then Gabe broke the golf cart. Just kidding, it just died on us and Gabe pushed it to where it'd be easier to get another one. What a stud!

Quinn loved the view at the top with the Greek columns.

My happy boys!

If you made it this far, thank you for enduring my long posts, and I hope you enjoyed the show :)