christmas recap & farewell, 2013

Belated Merry Christmas to you! I hope everyone had a great holiday. Ours was pretty great!

I can’t believe 2013 is over. The holidays were fun and relaxing (believe me, it was tough to pare it down and learn to say no to things to make sure I could enjoy myself this year!), and now I can just relax through the homestretch of this baby-growing thing.

Look how cute my sister in law is. She’s so much taller than me, she’s all bump and I’m all stump!

I’m ready for 2014. 2013 was a pretty big year for me, but being pregnant for over half of it definitely slowed down the adventures. I love looking back to recap and appreciate the bigger moments, milestones, completed projects, adventures and silly little diversions that made up my year. It’s so fun to look back before emphatically leaping forward. Here’s my 2013 recap:

• Spent the first 5 months of the year wrapping up my Capstone course and finally finishing my MBA! Graduated in June.
• Got a new ride; a 2012 Toyota Highlander. Whole new worlds of thrift shopping and junk-scouting opened up.
• Got chickens! It’s a family effort with my inlaws, and as they aren’t on our property it’s been pretty easy for me to just enjoy the benefits in the form of happy eggs.
• Injured my back in the spring doing some yard work, and it continues to haunt me this winter.
• Husband and helpers expanded the size of our deck, recoated/painted it, finished the walk-out basement under the deck, and poured a beautiful patio. Our backyard is really coming together and I can’t wait to put final landscaping touches in this summer and see it evolve into the plan we’ve been working toward.
• Started my own seeds indoors with our homemade grow-light apparatus. I learned a lot for following years.
• We also expanded the garden this year into a second plot at the back of our RV pad. We’ve got a LOT of growing space. This year I filled it with a lot of viney things like pumpkins, squash and cucumbers but next year I’m going to plan better for maximum growing and food preservation. Who knew I’d even love to play in the dirt so much?
• Discovered early in June that I was pregnant with our first baby! After 8 years of just the two of us, we are going to expand and I’m still giddy with anticipation.
• Pregnancy has been pretty drama free for me, which I’m posted a little about over the past couple of months. That doesn’t mean I’ve been myself energy-wise however. Productivity on big projects was slower this year, but it’s been a great experience. In October we found out it’s a girl, and I’ve been busy preparing the nursery.
• Turned the big 3-0 in June!
• Unceremoniously and untidily wrapped up my 30 before 30 challenge.
• On my birthday, we discovered my brother and his wife are also expecting – 4 days before our due date! It’s a great story, and it’s been so much better, having Becky to go through all of this with! I can’t wait for them to be parents and meet my new niece. That was an awesome birthday present. I returned the favor by making OUR pregnancy reveal on my brother’s birthday (July 7).
• Went on a couple camping trips nearby over the summer. Nothing too notable except my first up-close moose sighting!
• Events: A fun Jazz game, Salt Lake City Urban Garden Tour, saw an Ani Difranco show for the second time, & went to my first Major League Soccer game. (Soccer fans are insane. That is all.)
• Made soap! The easy way, but still. I’ll have to post on it soon because it’s great fun.
• Hosted a cooking club (Squash theme!) and attended several others. Our little idea is still going strong after 5 years. I love these people.
• Was thrown the world’s most beautiful baby shower in November. My work friends put it on and it was absolutely stunning, with amazing food, in a beautiful log cabin setting. We were showered with all kinds of great gifts and got to see all my favorite people in one place (other friends and my immediate family were also invited). I just wish I had thought to have someone take photos. I know there are a few out there who did and I need to get them all to save the memories.
• Repainted the former guest room to make room for the new office. The room previously serving as the office is getting the nursery treatment. The office is only in phase 1, until I can huff paint fumes again (lots of stuff planned).
• Assembled my first from-a-pattern quilt top (and have begun quilting it) for baby.

January’s resolution for this year was to focus on healthy, and while I didn’t anticipate the exhaustion of pregnancy to factor into every day, I feel like I’ve been pretty successfully focused (really, I’ve had no choice) on cleaning up some habits. Next year should be even better and I can’t wait for what it will bring.

I hope you all had a great year and 2014 is even better. 2014 resolutions to come!

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