2012

I blogged 7 times last year. 7!!! That is not great, so maybe I will try to do better this year. I did find an old post that I never published though, so maybe I will publish it and make it 8 posts for the year. Not even one a month. Pathetic.

I am not sad to see 2011 go. It was a great year because it brought us Zachary, but the first part of the year was really a doozy. I am so glad it is not last January. I learned a lot throughout the whole year though and added another true love into my life, so I guess 2011 wasn't all bad. Zachary has been a blessing in our family in ways I can't describe. He is happy and easy and has the most special spirit. Max and I both really felt that we needed to have another baby and were we ever lucky to get Zach. I think part of the reason that the first part of last year was so hard was so that we could become better people before Zach came to our family. He is really special. (Did I mention that already?) :)

This is how Zach is about 99.9% of the time. I would love him even if he was a grumpy baby, but I really love that he is so happy.


I don't even know how to begin catching up on my blog, so I won't. But here are some highlights of the end of last year.

Trey turned 3 and had a football party. I made a football cake, which was much easier than the princess cake I made for Halle, but not nearly as cute. Actually it turned out pretty crappy, but he didn't notice and it tasted good. I can't believe he is 3. He is hilarious and pretty smart for a 3 year old. He keeps me laughing. He also has absolutely no interest in potty training and I couldn't care less. Off to Sunbeams he goes in diapers. (This is what happens when you have 3 kids, I think. I stopped caring about this kind of stuff.)

The Birthday Boy!!

I sent my sister Kayce approximately 110 pictures of myself in about a week and a half. I thought it was hilarious. She was not so amused. Maybe I should have used all that time I spent taking pictures of myself potty training Trey. Nah!!!
One of my best friends from college, Michelle, moved to Colorado. Hooray!! Even better was that during Thanksgiving one of my other best friends from college, Melissa Honey, came to visit. I think we spent 5 hours at a restaurant until they kicked us out and then we spent like another hour in the car. It was awesome.
Melissa and I also continued our tradition of taking pictures at the temple and she used Max's picture blanket while she was in town. Hilarious!!


Halle had a dance recital and it was darling. All the pictures turned out blurry though. I think I had the camera on the wrong setting, darn it! But she was so cute and had a great time.

We went to see Santa at the library with some friends from our ward. It was way cute and definitely the best way to see Santa. I wish I would have dressed my kids up cuter for the picture, but it was what it was that day. We were gone all day doing stuff that I can't even remember. I am surprised that the kids are even somewhat smiling in this picture. They were so tired.

We had a wonderful Christmas! We tried to do random acts of kindness on every day leading up to Christmas. It didn't quite work out as planned because my phone deleted my master plan and for some reason I was way too frazzled to come up with it again. We did do some really fun things though, like going to sing at the nursing home. Which was hilarious and fun!! We also took hot chocolate to the bell ringers at Walmart and cookies and doughnuts to the fire station and some other fun things. Next year I will be more organized because it was really fun!


Christmas was fairly low key. Halle got an art table, Trey got a tool bench, Zach got a jumperoo. Halle and Trey also got digital cameras, which turned out to be a hit! I got quite a laugh when they thought they were broken because they were touching the screen and nothing was happening. Not everything is touch screen kiddos!!

Laney came to town and we went to Zoo Lights with her. I forgot my camera, so this is the best picture I have. We have so much fun whenever Laney comes. We can't wait until she comes again!
One night I went to the grocery store and the entire parking lot was blocked off and there were all sorts of fire trucks and news cameras. I sat there for about 35 minutes and called my mom, who came over and we tried figure out what was going on. It was just a refridgeration leak, which was way less exciting than we thought. Haha.
Other highlights with no pictures.....

Kali got engaged on Halloween and is getting married on April 21st. We love, love, love Brent and are so excited. She did, however, move to Utah yesterday and broke my heart. But she is so happy with Brent and I am so happy for her.

We got to talk to Jeremy before Christmas and it was great. I am so ready for him to come home, although I don't think he feels the same. My mom and I are counting down the days though.

Max's parents came to visit and we had a really fun couple of days with them.

Before Christmas we went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Trey LOVES the dinosaurs. I am debating taking him back one more time before the exhibit leaves. Halle hates the dinosaurs though, so we will see. If you want to see a picture of that, go to facebook.

Also, I am really grateful for Max. Even though last year was really hard, it was also strangely the best year of our marriage. He is way good to me and way good to my family. I consider myself very lucky to have him.

So overall the year is ending on a high note. Life is good. However, major changes are on the horizon. I will blog about those in a few weeks. Even though they are good changes, they are still change and I hate change. I also went to the grocery store today and the laundry is all done, so I am not sure what else I could want at this point. Pretty much my goal for this year is to survive and keep the house picked up. Reach for the stars!