Happy New Year

For the last two New Years I've done a recap of the previous year and I like looking back at all the fun we've had throughout the year so I'm going to keep up the tradition.  I have to be honest, though, 2013 was not my favorite year.  It was a rough one with lots of ups and downs, but I'm trying to count our blessings and what better way than focusing on all the good that happened to us in 2013.

I started off the year teaching preschool for the first time.  It was really fun but also super stressful because I had never done it before and I was so worried about not doing a good job.  Throughout the year I taught a bunch more times and I have gotten pretty good at it.  Now it's not nearly as stressful or as much work.  Lucas has made some serious advances as well.  I can see a huge difference in his learning from January to December.  He is getting to be so smart and so creative, and is even starting to read!

Paige has obviously made some huge advances over the course of the year too.  She started out the year only being able to roll over. Then in February she started sitting up. In March she was crawling, getting her first tooth, and drinking smoothies through a straw. In April she was crawling and climbing the stairs, and eating baby food.  In May she was trying to walk and eating real foods like grapes and sandwiches.  She also developed her love of shoes around this time, except she was still in the phase where she just ate them all the time, which was not my favorite.  
In June she went on her first airplane flight, learned to clap and wave, and really started getting into mischief.  In July she was walking and crawling down the stairs and was nicknamed the "tower of terror".  In August she got her first haircut from Lucas and started saying her first words. In September she turned a year old.  In October she graduated to a forward facing carseat.  In November she had her first overnight babysitting experience.  And in December she got to play in snow for the first time.  She is such a different baby in some ways, and yet she is still the sweet little angel we started out the year with.

Another big change of 2013 is that we bought a minivan.  We went on a lot of fun trips in the mini van and have discovered that it makes traveling with kids SO much easier!  We went to Disneyland - twice!  We drove to Utah twice as well.  We also did lots of driving around to the zoo, museums, the beach, and a couple trips to the airport to drop people off for flights cause we now have SO much room for extra people and cargo!  That's probably one of my favorite parts about the van is we can pick people up and carpool places rather than having to take lots of vehicles.

Some milestones for Lucas this year: he turned 4, he started his second year of preschool, he rode tower of terror for the first time, he went to the dentist for the first time and was amazing!, he gave his first haircut, he gave his first talk in primary, had his first of probably 30 starbucks vanilla bean frappuccinos this year (he might be addicted), and turned into one of the best and sweetest big brothers I've ever seen.

Ryan and I celebrated our 7th anniversary this year by taking a trip to Mexico.  We started a new tradition as a family of having pizza and movie night on Friday nights and the kids love it!  We also went on a lot of family bike rides with our double bike trailer that we love!

And last but not least, we found out that we will be welcoming a new baby to the family in June of 2014.  Lucas is very excited and he wants to have another girl and name her Paige.  We're going to have to work on that.

Well, when you only focus on the good stuff, 2013 doesn't look too bad.  Here's to hoping that 2014 is a great year for us and for all our friends and family.