Wrapping Up 2017

I'm staying up late doing two of my favorite things -- documenting life, and making plans.

Michael is on call right now and miraculously went through church and all of the day without being called in, but when he climbed into bed he was paged. So he's at the hospital, my parents are visiting, and everyone's asleep. I love starting a new year so much.

2017

was the year I recommitted to blogging after unexpectedly taking a year off. This blog started when I went to London for a semester, then it kept going through the rest of my BYU experience -- living in Boston for a summer with my sister, my time in Provo, studying abroad in Jerusalem, interning in DC. Then it transitioned into documenting my first job out of college and into our engaged days and newlywed stage. Then dental school and Indiana, to Fresno and residency. 

I look at the years on the side of this blog and see 2016 missing, and it makes me realize how sad it makes me that I'll never have a clear picture of that year. Learning to be a mom was a huge transition for me, and I lost myself in it. But writing and remembering is a big part of what makes me happy, so at least I know that going forward. Here's a review of our 2017!

January:

Rachel and Spencer's birthday visit! And dealing with all the post-election feelings. My parents came to visit as well, and I started to come out of the hazy newborn days. Almost. Michael finished his anesthesia rotation and went back to the busy life in his oral surgery clinic.

February:

Potty training hit me like whoa. Valentines was uneventful and residency was so dang busy. Westin still seemed 90 percent unaware that we had brought a baby home from the hospital in October.

March:

Built a fire pit in our backyard. Lucked out with another visit from my parents and caught up on all the things. Finally started going out in the world again after newborn days and potty training phase. 

April:

My brother's family visited Fresno. We met the rest of my family in Disneyland. The boys and I did spring break in L.A. with cousins. Had our 5-year anniversary.

May:

First time camping with kids. Stood up for moms, right around Mother's Day. Taught Westin how to rap. 

June:

Drove to Utah, went to Lydia's baptism. Drove with Aunt Ali from there to Colorado. Spent a week at Rocky Mountain National Park with Michael's family. Drove home through Cedar again, went to my 10-year high school reunion. 

July:

Finished our first year of residency. Michael started his plastic surgery rotation. Boating and splash pads with friends. Found out both my best friends here were moving away from Fresno. I cried a lot. Went to our fun stake pioneer day party.

August:

Kayaked with Rachel at Shaver Lake. Drove my boys to Utah for my mom's family reunion. Took our favorite day trip ever to Pismo and watched whales all day. Started dog-sitting again. Made our first trip to Yosemite and biked around the valley.

September:

Started preschool at home with Westin. Visited Louisville over my birthday. Michael went to a work conference in San Diego, and the boys and I had pizza parties and park trips while he was gone. I started a little social media marketing side job.

October:

Bennett turned one, Westin conquered his fear of slides, and some ducks and chickens overstayed their welcome in our backyard. We visited pumpkin patches and made zoo trips. I learned about Sister Lawrence's scripture class and loved it instantly. Our friend Allison from our Jerusalem semester visited and we loved meeting her kids. We took the train to Hanford and Westin loved it. We had a fireman and a Dalmatian around here for Halloween.

November:

Michael turned the big 3-0 and Westin turned the big 3. We made a quick trip to L.A. for Quinn's baptism. I drove the boys to Utah for the Cedar City Temple open house and they loved seeing friends and cousins. Michael went back on oral surgery service and started taking call again. We had a fun Thanksgiving with just our little family.

December:

We went hiking to find snow. Our laundry room flooded big time. A new washer and dryer finally entered our life, probably 18 months too late. Christmas time was extra magical with a three-year-old and a baby. If you're thinking "Bennett's not a baby" then don't think that. I need Bennett to be a baby. We can reevaluate this in 2019?  Westin went to his last Sunday in nursery and I still can't believe that. The holidays were so fun this year! And I keep comparing different aspects of life to this time last year and it's surprising me how much has changed more than I realized. Sometimes life shifts so gradually that we can almost miss recognizing that changes have happened.

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This week:

Happy New Year! It's literally exactly midnight as I write this, and I'm so thrilled about 2018 being here. I think all even years and ages are just better than the odd ones. A full year of residency complete! Good things are going to happen during our next one. A sweet golden retriever named Rosie is hanging out with me tonight. I have a mini job, a new fun hobby (more to come on that!), and a developing project, and the three of them are making me so happy right now. But nothing makes me happier than my three boys, and knowing that I can be with them forever. 

We spent the week with my parents in town and that always feels so lucky. Christmas felt so special and fun, and we loved having grandparents here for the party. Christmas Day can sometimes feel a little melancholy by the afternoon because of the season ending, but that was not the case at all this year. I felt like it was 2pm the first time I even looked at a clock, just because we'd had so much fun eating food and playing with presents and talking with family. That night I watched It's a Wonderful Life for the first time and it was the perfect way to keep the feeling of Christmas alive the whole day.

Bennett is walking! He finally walked across the room a few times today and that is such a fun and joyous milestone. He felt so big and I loved the triumph in his sweet blue eyes.

It was a good Christmas, fun week, busy year. We're ready for 2018!

Sundays used to be one of my hardest days of the week, and it was just not sustainable. A few things have fixed this (Bennett being older, Westin loving nursery, getting used to doing sharing time, etc.) but a huge fix to the issue was that I just let go of trying to "maintain" consistency from end of church to bedtime. We get home around 4pm, Westin goes to bed around 7pm on Sundays since he doesn't take a nap. Michael stays after to do financial stuff, and Westin and I were starting to just get in fights after church a lot. Finally I just started saying yes to most everything he asks (within reason, don't judge me) rather than picking my usual battles on Sunday afternoon. It has turned into one of our most enjoyable times together, and we laugh so much. I know I can't always let him eat a big sugar cookie AND a candy cane right before dinner. But if he asks on a Sunday afternoon I can, and we both had a better day because of it.

Rosie, grandpa, and Westin.
Walks with this crew are great, and we still can't believe we have 60 degree Decembers in our life.

My favorite part of fitting in a temple date is a renewed eternal perspective.

Love this girl.

This boy loves walks and car rides.

Westin was excited about his new balance bike under our Christmas Tree, but he's got a lot of figuring out to do there... He just walks on it :) 

From Instagram:

I love reflecting on another year and looking forward to plans and goals for a shiny new one.

Nothing stands out more to me this year than the way I’ve learned (and am still learning) to let go of expectations and manage my own happiness. Residency is a ride.

Other coping skills of 2017 included, but were not limited to: Savoring simple moments with my little boys. Reading about politics less. Making easier meals. Keeping in touch with forever friends. Dog sitting. Day tripping. Creating.

New Years has a new bittersweet feel to it now that I have little (quickly) growing people around. But I’m so grateful for the year we had and the way it has shaped our family. It’s amazing how much change 12 months can pack in.

These kids all just sat in this dome for a while, just strangers not interacting at all. I thought it was so funny.

So fun to see this boy take his first steps this week.

Hiking with my mom! My dad was sick most of this week, we all felt so bad for him.

These cinnamon rolls were so delicious, even if they weren't the prettiest I've made. Super easy too!

Somehow I've made it this far in life having never seen It's a Wonderful Life. Finally fixed that!

Christmas boys and new toys.

The Night Before Christmas

Merry Christmas Eve! I love this night so much, and I don't want it to end. That will probably result in a 2am bedtime over here for me, and I'm not ashamed.

Our week had highs (Christmas Eve! My parents coming! Games, food, lights, live nativities, Michael having time off) and lows (laundry room floods, wrapping all the presents..., shelling out for a new washer and dryer), but mostly we've just loved soaking up the last of the season over here.

Michael:

was on call twice this week -- one night he only got two hours of sleep, and the other he literally never slept. So he's been catching up on rest and we're so grateful he has a couple days off. He came home after working two days with two hours of hospital sleeping to a flooded laundry room and just immediately jumped in to help me clean it up. Westin stayed up until almost 10:00 just because we were in too much of crisis mode to put him down, and he loved that :) He "helped' us clean up the water quite a bit and just thought it was so funny that daddy was using his leaf blower inside the house.

Maddie:

is so happy to have a new washer and a dryer. Also I'm happy I bought Taylor Swift tickets and an alarm system before the washer and dryer necessity came up because then those would have felt much more frivolous. But as it stands, I'm just really happy all three of those things have been purchased lately and let's just say there's nothing else under the tree for me this year... Oh, December spending. You really outdid yourself.

Westin:

is having fun learning about the first Christmas. He really loved a live drive-through Nativity that I took the boys to when Michael was on call. It was put on by a local church here and I was so impressed with the work they put into it. I am so emotionally connected to Jerusalem and their recreation of it had me so grateful for the meaning of Christmas and the reality of the Savior. I asked Westin who he could make happy for Christmas and he wanted to "give a big big present to the garbage man!" So we put together a little package for him and Westin drew him a picture, and he was so happy all day Wednesday waiting for the garbage man to drive by. They were later than usual and finally it was nap time and I thought Westin was going to miss him, but right as I finished his story before putting him down we heard the garbage man coming down the street. Westin was so excited and jumped out of bed and we ran outside barefoot and met the garbage man. His conversation with Westin was really sweet and I just loved watching them interact. It made me really want to keep Christmas even simpler next year and just help Westin have more experiences like that.

Bennett:

is thrilled that grandpa is around and it's so sweet. He just lays his head on grandpa's shoulder, and wants my dad to put him down for his naps and bedtime. It's so sweet. He laughs all the time at nothing, just laughing and smiling about life. He's becoming a pretty picky eater and it drives me crazy! I'm trying all I can to get this kid to be more than just a meat-and-bread eater. He doesn't even like mac and cheese, and that's supposed to be my nice-mom lunch. The only vegetables in him come from soups or smoothies. He loves to find two small books and put them under his hands, then crawl around while his hands are just sliding across the floor. It looks so funny, like a little turbo mode. I swear he could walk if he want to but instead he just sits down and laughs when we try to get him stepping. I'm so excited to watch him experience Christmas morning tomorrow. 

Santa came! Though to be honest I cannot figure out how to approach the whole Santa deal around here.
So many feelings there.

I was proud of these until my friend and I swapped cinnamon roll pictures and I realized they were even more a mess than I initially thought... hahaha. Oh man, I think they'll taste good though? Potatoes were involved??

I love them. 

Tater hole! Um, my parents totally crushed Michael and I and it was their first time playing. It was possibly the most unlucky round of Tater Hole I've ever had and I need a rematch ASAP.

I can finally manage to get some Sunday pictures when church is one hour instead of three.

My boys! I'm outnumbered and in love.

We went to Christmas Tree Lane (a famous Christmas lights neighborhood) on the 23rd and we had NO idea it was such a huge deal. And soooo long. It was kind of insane and we're just going to consider that Fresno box checked. There were some really fun houses though.

I love this Mary and Baby Jesus scene so much.

My favorite house on Christmas Tree Lane.

They had two lanes going down and we were right next to my parents at the beginning. But then their lane was the sloooooow lane so that ended, but Westin kept yelling at "Hey grandpa!" at many more cars during the experience.

Conveys a little more of the craziness.

Watching TV like a teenager again.

Organization makes me sooo happy. Preschool and primary have been needing a solution for a while now.

SimpliSafe! I'm extremely thrilled about this.

Renting that RugDoctor. Oh the flood.

Our washer just kept filling at the SAME TIME that our drain in the floor wasn't draining, which we didn't know. So that unlucky combo ended with so much water.

I had to snap this picture because I was so depressed for a minute at Costco at how much money I spend on bodily functions. Also, I always wanted to be above pull ups and just train my kids at night right when they potty trained, but night training Westin has been a WHOLE difference scene than his day training. So, this is me admitting defeat. For now.

My random Instagram poem, because I needed a distraction on Friday night:

Twas the week before Christmas, and all through my home
were holiday to-dos, but I write a poem?
The stockings were hung on my mantle with care,
the wrapping, not so much, too much effort there.

The children were nestled all snug in -- wait, no,
Westin literally just fell out of his bed, so...
There was re-tucking in and second hugs and kisses
Plus promises of tomorrow with the daddy he misses.

Now visions of Reeses Trees dance in my head
But I ate the last one today, need something instead...
There are gifts to be finished, rooms to be cleaned,
But, I'm thinking new Fuller House is going to be screened.

I know, it's horrible, but you're watching too.
And if you're not, come on, just embrace 90s you.
Then from the side of my house there arose such a clatter,
Same old story, huge neighbor dog convinced something's the matter.

Christmas prep is winding down, Westin asks every day
"Is tomorrow Christmas?" And yet again I say
"Not quite!" and his toddler mind struggles to understand
When is this Christmas deal, I mean, how long's it been planned?

But soon enough, little man, you'll wake up and see
Christmas morning has come! And the best part will be
Having everyone at home, even grandparents too,
And I hope the day feels magical to you.

Because I remember the feeling of counting down days
and loving Christmas time, and all the different ways
that we celebrated Christ's birth and the fact that He came
to bring peace on Earth, and a way home again.