January:
*The year started off with celebrating Nana and Papa's (Jean & Kenny's) 60th wedding anniversary. Technically we celebrated on Christmas Day and again on their actual anniversary.
*Snowy weather at home made for a fun, SUNNY, WARM trip to Cabo San Lucas with my parents, Rod and Patti, and some of our good friends, Melissa, Lamon, and their girls.
*Neighbors, friends, and family helped us celebrated Papa Kenny's 80th birthday.
March:
*Matt entered his third Mustang Challenge. We did not get to go with him, but he had his parents, Shane, and Val there to help him out. He finished in the top 10 again.
April:
*Mesa played soccer in the spring and really enjoyed it. Her confidence and "aggressiveness" grew this year and we are looking forward to watching her grow even more competitive.
May:
*Mylie had an "Under the Sea" birthday with some of her friends.
*Mesa and I enjoyed her last month of 1st grade with "her mom" as her 1/2 time teacher. I was sad to leave my teaching partner for the past 4 years, Elizabeth, but it was time to go full time for both of us. The nice thing is, we are just down and around a hallway from each other.
*The girls finished up their dance year with a nice spring recital.
June:
*Mesa had a "Sports" birthday party so her good guy friends "wouldn't have to go to a girl party." Such a considerate one.
*We rented a house up at Wallowa Lake and celebrated Grandma Betty's 80th birthday. Along with that celebration we also celebrated cousin Mike's actual birthday, Aunt Peggy and Uncle Guy's 30th anniversary, Matt and I's 10th anniversary, Jaci's college graduation, and Connor's 1st birthday. We spent our days fishing, miniature golfing, roasting s'mores, golfing, paddle boating, playing games, and hanging out.
July:
*Matt broke his collar bone by sliding off a horse. He didn't even get bucked off--what a boring story. He got to spend some time off horses (some of the time---I caught him riding a quite a few times!)
*We celebrated our 10th anniversary.
*We had a wonderful opportunity to meet up with Matt's brothers and his parents in Utah. Steve, Leslie, and their kiddos, and Denny, Mary and their gang, the four of us, and Dennis and Linda all hung out a beautiful rental house (more like a mansion!) Matt's cousins and aunts and uncles also joined in the fun for a few days. It was a lot of fun, but we missed Amber, David, Shellie, and AJ (and kids).
*We enjoyed a short trip to Bear Lake. We swam in the lake, played in the sand, rode the 4 person bike, and letter boxed. We have it on our bucket list to do again. What a great place!
*Also, in July I passed my Praxis tests for Social Science. I studied most of the summer so I was thankful when I passed and saw my studying and time away from the girls wasn't completely wasted.
August:
*The school year brought a lot of changes to our lives with me going back to full time teaching. It was an adjustment teaching middle school and high school students all day long and not being home to get the household chores done (to my expectations). My students are wonderful and that really helps. I am the homeroom teacher for the 6th graders and I couldn't ask for more fabulous kids!
*Mesa started 2nd grade. And Mylie started her last year of pre-school.
September:
*Dance for Mesa and Mylie started up again. Mesa also continued to take piano lessons--she made it to the RED BOOK! :)
October:
*Matt's show season finally came to an end after 6 months. He also competed in Project Cowboy and got to see his sister, Amber, and brother-in-law David in Fort Worth, TX. We were so proud of him, he placed 2nd out of 170 people in the first round. He ended up not making it through to the 5th round. (There were 8 rounds.) He had an enjoyable trip.
*It seemed like Halloween was a week long this year with all of the activities and right in the middle of conferences. Mesa chose to be a cat (thankfully that was easy) and Mylie was Pocahontas. This was the first year in all of Mesa's life that my mom or I didn't make her costume. I don't think she cared or noticed a bit. :)
November:
*We made a trip down to see Grandma Tillie and Grandpa Evan for one weekend in November. We enjoyed our visit so much and Mesa got to build her first snowman of the year in their yard.
*A trip to cousin Mike and Jen's house for Thanksgiving with all 23 of us on my mom's side. It was so great to see everyone and take a break from everyday life. We even enjoyed the 4 hours stuck on the freeway from 8pm-12am. Thank goodness for portable DVD players--and we had 2!
December:
*There has been an amazing amount of snow this month so we are enjoying Matt being "stuck" in the house with us. When it does thaw out he has a ridiculous amount of mud to trudge through, so he's on vacation until after Christmas. He's been very helpful in the house and with the girls. It's been great.
*Soon it will be Christmas which will find us at home. We are anticipating the arrival of the day we celebrate Christ's birth--the best gift of all.
*Soon it will be Christmas which will find us at home. We are anticipating the arrival of the day we celebrate Christ's birth--the best gift of all.
