Goodbye 2014 | Hello 2015

The end of 2014 is upon us. This year... I feel like everything in our lives changed so drastically this year. We have been through so much this year, and I feel like victoriously shouting that WE SURVIVED. We even ended the year on such a wonderful note, with our sweet daughter being born this fall. In comparing my feelings this year to those of exactly one year ago, I am floored. Last year at this time, I was feeling like I would never be blessed with a baby, I was dealing with the fact that my mother had been sent to hospice care and would be passing away shortly, and we had just barely moved to Arizona to start our life here. In short, it was a hard time. Today, I am just grateful. Grateful for everything we have been blessed with. Grateful for the friends we have made here in AZ. Grateful for the knowledge that families are forever. And, most importantly, grateful for the beautiful little girl who has blessed our family and made us so much happier than we have ever been.

Here is what we have accomplished this year, between the two of us:
-Made it through Mom's viewing, funeral, and graveside service.
-Traveled to Texas 5 times.
-Been to the ranch 4 times.
-Traveled to Utah twice.
-Visited Las Vegas and saw Shania Twain in concert.
-Had several out of town visitors come to stay with us.
-Switched jobs to a work at home position.
-Had a blast working at Origami Owl.
-Attended Megan's wedding.
-Had a CT scan, an MRI, and countless ultrasounds between the two of us.
-Been to the ER 4 times.
-Filled up at least 5 Bahama Bucks and Cafe Rio punch cards.
-Celebrated 3 years of marriage.
-Survived pregnancy.
-Delivered a 9 pound baby girl.
-Gotten our money's worth out of our health insurance.
-Been to three baby blessings - Maddie, Olivia, and Oliver (I didn't go to Oliver's...I was too pregnant)
-Went to Emily's graduation.
-Attended Michala's end of year dance concert.
-Taken almost no pictures January-September, but hundreds of pictures October-December.
-Met our niece Olivia and our nephew Oliver.
-Improved my sewing and photography skills.
-Put together our family yearbook.
-Lived through our first Phoenix summer.
-Moved to a two bedroom apartment...on the third floor.
-Kept up with a journal.
-Gone to two Phoenix Suns games with Origami Owl.
-Driven about 116 hours on road trips, give or take.
-Played the organ all year, until the end of September.
-Stopped on the way to the ranch to pick a piece of cotton.
-Successfully finished all 6 seasons of Drop Dead Diva...twice.
-Participated in Relay for Life for cancer awareness.
-Visited the Midway Ice Caves, felt like Elsa.
-Had several baby showers thrown for us, by our wonderful friends and family.
-Worked Origami Owl Convention and loved it.
-Got stranded on the side of the road with my two week old when my car broke down. Luckily James came to save the day!
-Visited the pumpkin patch.
-Participated in the ROC race and had a blast.
-Attended 2 temple open houses.
-Probably a lot more!

It's been a very productive year for our little family! Although it had it's sad times, altogether 2014 was a pretty good year for us. And with that, here is our 2014 in a picture review:

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

A Texas Christmas

We spent Christmas this year in McKinney with my family. Everyone was able to make it, which was so awesome!! We had a lot of fun having everyone around. We played A Christmas Story monopoly (always a great tradition), watched Christmas movies, celebrated Michala's birthday, opened new jammies, read the Christmas story, had Christmas, went to the Melville's house for dessert and games, left Maddie with Grandpa and went and saw the new Hobbit, and took family pictures. It was a wonderful week!

On the drive home, we stopped in the Guadalupe Mountains so Maddie could experience snow for the first time. She was ticked because we woke her up and it was cold. :) She would grab a handful of snow and then not let it go and cry because it was so cold! Silly girl.

Maddie's Christmas Photo Shoot

Mesa Temple Lights

On Saturday, we went to the Mesa temple lights as a family. Maddie LOVED it! She was fascinated by all of the lights and especially by the big nativity on the lawn.