The Year the World Ends

Now that we've been home a few days, I've had time to reflect on the past year and the new year ahead of me. I can't believe how fast this last year flew. I remember when it arrived I was relieved. 2010 was quite possibly the worst year of my life and I couldn't wait to start new in 2011. I have to say that, although it had a few ups and downs, 2011 was much better than the previous year. A few highlights:

• January- Ammon was born 1/12/11, four days overdue and one day later than planned. I still get mixed up and tell people he was born on the day I wanted him to be born rather than his actual birthday. I mean 1/11/11 would have been the coolest birthday ever!

• February- Not much happened besides adjusting to being a mom of two and dealing with Ammon's reflux problems. I was seriously at the doctors every week. Not fun.

• March- Lydia turned two and Ammon was blessed on the same day. My brother Scott also received his mission call to Brazil.

• April- Both my kids were hospitalized for almost a week with RSV, bronchiolitis, and pneumonia. Thankfully, they have both fully recovered. It was a horrible nightmare and I'm grateful for priesthood blessings, good insurance, prayer, and Primary Children's for helping us make it through.

• May- I quit work at Chase Bank and became a full-time stay at home mom. It was an adjustment at first, but a good one, and I love my current job.

• June- We pretty much relaxed at Taylorsville Dayzz and we threw my dad a surprise 50th birthday party when my parents came out to visit.

• July- I turned twenty-four, and then we traveled to Washington where we spent a month with my family for the summer (except for Brigham who only could stay part of the time because of work). While we were in Washington my brother Kyle got married on the same day that our niece Abbigale was born. Lots of new family all in one day!

• August- We finally made it back to Utah to resume our normal lives. 

• September-  The BYU football season started so it was a glorious time. 

• October- I ran my fastest 5k time ever at the BYU Alumni Run and we hosted our annual Halloween party. It is my favorite Halloween party yet. 

• November- I cooked a lot of new things, crafted some new things, and expanded this blog to tell you all about it. Brigham also turned twenty-seven, but don't tell Lydia because I convinced her that Brigham turned from three to four.

• December- My kids met Santa for the first time, Ammon got his first haircut, and we traveled back to Washington for more family Christmas adventures.

After review, this past year pretty much evened itself out. It was stressful with so many doctors visits and problems from Ammon with his reflux, supposed allergies, hospital stay, ER visits, and eczema. And yet, it was full of lots of extra time with family that I usually miss out on. I really have so much to be grateful for from 2011. A new son, lots of family, improved health, and much much more. 

Since last year was better than the year before, I'm thinking this year is just going to continue the trend of improvement. And speaking of improvement, I've set some goals to work on to improve myself and my home:

1. Faithful visit-teaching and help my husband become a faithful home-teacher.
2. Write in my personal journal more often. 
3. Keep excess weight off and start a healthier eating lifestyle.
4. Teach Lydia to read.
5. Teach Ammon all the basics that a one-year-old should know like animal sounds and such.

Those are a few of the goals I'm welcoming 2012 with. Brigham and I have many decisions to make this year and as I sense change on the horizon and adventures to come, I'm ready to begin.