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:
