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.