2013 year in review (and some favorite pictures this year)

We are closing out the year tonight with my husband by my side, my little boy sound asleep after having a wonderful evening with his grandparents and the fire burning with the football game on.

I am going to attempt to recap some of our major events from this past year month by month that stick out on my mind. One word to describe this year is busy. From January all the way through till December we have been busy in every aspect of our life.

This year began with Daddy staying busy traveling on the road for work. So Bridger and I had our first real test run of being home together waking up getting dress and ready and out the door to school and daycare on time. That was an adventure. Those were the moments I realized how tough it is being parent number one ALL the time. Of course in January we celebrated my 27th birthday by taking Bridger on his first plan ride. Reminiscing about how tough it would be, yet he did so great.

February was relatively quite from what I recall. Daddy sent some beautiful flowers to work for Valentines day. Bridger began quickly learning on to crawl and climb and even began wobbling. I do remember that around this time it seemed like we were sick all the time. Lots of time off from work to take care of our baby.

And March, where do I even start. Our boy turned 1! What a special day it was. We were surrounded by family and friends. I planned his first birthday party way in advanced, took lots of pictures. teared up alittle bit and realized how lucky we were to be his parents. That little boy has brought so much joy to our life and this last year has so special to us. In addition we became aunt and uncle again to Ms. Kallan. She is such a great baby and we wish that she lived closer!

Once again April was slow  although busy in other ways that I recall in  that we didn't have a single day off in April from school. May was my first Mother's Day, the end of the school year and memorial day weekend! A great way to enter into summer.

We were off and driving for nearly 18 hours in June, that is one way! We celebrated the wedding for my dad and Athena, we did the college world series, zoo, enjoyed family time with my family and made our way back home while stopping to see my 99 year old grandma. It was a busy month.

July was one for the books, lets see if I can jam pack everything in. We celebrated fourth of July, put our house up for sale, went to Bull Trout for our annual camping trip, celebrated our third wedding anniversary and to  top it all off...... daddy turned 30 years old! Whooo that was alot just thinking about all of it. In between those events we attended parades, rodeos, local cuisines, farmers markets and lots of swimming for mommy and Bridger at roaring springs.

Then August came.....my mind shifts from summer to school. It was a DIY project for mommy's classroom. What I refer to as a little classroom makeover! We sold our house. And our sweet doggy passed away. It was a tough month and really still has been. We miss her everyday.

September came and went just as fast as August did. We moved into our new home, we had no living room furniture for 6 weeks and we learned that it just meant one thing....a huge playground for our little boy to run around. Finally in October it arrived! I began more graduate work and every Sunday my boys enjoyed time with Grandma and Grandpa.

October brought on my favorite season, Fall. Football was on all the time, we had a great Halloween at school and although our little guy was too tired to trick or treat we still had fun dressing up as a puppy and a superhero with mommy!

The count down to Thanksgiving break was on. My family came to town, we spent lots of time with Gaga, managed to get in some much needed sleep, however the ear infections came and it seemed that we were sick often.

Finally December came way too fast and now we are here on the last day of the year, about 3 hours till the new year and I can truly say that we had a great year.There were lots of ups and downs, lots of learning happening, growing together as a family and stronger as a unit, laughter and tears, and of course watching our baby boy become a toddler.

Here is to many great new memories, health and happiness! Happy New Year.

xoxo,
mommy

Winter break

We are enjoying our 18 day break from our busy lives. So far we have been spending our days with trains, cooking, family, board games, books, and a whole lot of lounging around in our pajamas.

Yesterday afternoon we made our way to Aunt Becky and Uncle Bill's house for game night and burritos. Who knew that Grandpa and myself would be able to pull off the win! *Note that grandpa doesn't usually join in on the annual board game after Christmas and I ALWAYS end up loosing. However NOT this time. Was there a little under the table alliance going on...... ABSOLUTELY, did we out smart and out play daddy, bill, becky and grandma YOU BETCHA! We had a great night last night and Bridger loved being able to play with his cousins, even if that meant a few times in time out! Between coloring, Audrey reading Bridger Goodnight Moon and Bridger going after Nat for the phone those three played great together which meant a really good night's sleep for us!

Today we are cooking a recipe out of the new cookbook daddy got me.

Three meat lasagna by The Pioneer Woman and everyone got involved in the cooking process. Bridger loves to "shake it baby" with all the spices and mix everything up.

Daddy cooked the noodles and kept an eye out as my backed was turned a few times and now our baby boy is sleeping and we are waiting for the timer to go off so we can enjoy our meal.

 

It has been so nice to relax and get caught up on all the cleaning, laundry and dinner making.

Merry Christmas 2013

What a beautiful Christmas we had in our new home together as a family of three. It was so special. We woke up around 6:30am. Daddy turned on the Christmas tree lights, I positioned the camera and then from there I didn't touch it. It was special moments in front of the tree just the three of us. Sharing love, laughter and special memories together for the next few hours.

Bridger understood the concept of opening gifts this year. He had extra practice on Christmas Eve so yesterday morning he new exactly what to do. He was so funny, after each gift he wanted to Daddy to set it up and play either, basketball, baseball, football or read his Elmo book.

We skyped with both my mom and sister and followed up with a Skype session with my Dad and Athena. Bridger was a lucky boy he has such great grandparents on both sides that love him dearly and for that we are grateful.

Ben and I had a great time just slowing down and enjoying our time with each other. He is all ready for his upcoming shows with his new clothes Santa brought him and of course Santa new exactly what to get me..... The Pioneer Woman cookbook. How did he know?

Following our family Christmas it was on to Grandma and Grandpa Parsons for Christmas dinner. This year Aunt Barbra and Uncle Dan came over. Bridger and I didn't last long after dinner, we ended up napping together for 3 hours. What? I guess you could say we were exhausted! But after napping it was on to spending time with the family and watching alittle more basketball before we headed back home to tuck our little guy into bed.

We are blessed. Merry Christmas.