2011's Top 12

Given that I went m.i.a. from blogging for a good portion of 2011, I figured it was only right that I start 2012 out on the right foot by giving a recap of some random highlights from our happy year...

January -- Happy Chinese New Year from James!

February -- Happy Valentine's to Daddy! (from James, again)

March -- Not so happy, not sure why (also from James)

April-June -- Happy Hiking time now that Jon passed his oral exam!

June - Happy Half-Marathon! (Not my prettiest moment, but I figure completing a half-marathon is worth posting a gross, sweaty picture of yourself on the internet)

July -- Happy Wedding Day, Kaitlyn and Jordan! (check out those adorable cake balls!)

August -- Happy Vacation, Mommy and Daddy! (Thanks to Grandma Ami!)

(more) August -- Happy this-could-only-happen-in-Mexico vacation ... holding baby sea turtles!

also August - Happy Green Night! (complete with everything green salad, green treats, and the Incredible Hulk)

November -- Happy New Camera so that I can start making up for lost time!

December - Happy Family Time!

Happy here we go into 2012!

I hope your 2011 was a happy one, and that 2012 is even more, as James likes to say, "Hap"!!!

Just the 3 of Us

I am this close to giving a thorough new year update about our 2011 adventures. But, I'm not quite there yet, so in the meantime I have to share some fun photos my awesome sister took for us while we were visiting Utah. (She's so talented! ... and our new camera wasn't too shabby either :)

Happy Birthday, Sir James!

As promised, here I am to really wish our big boy a happy birthday! As any parent of a 2-year-old boy could probably guess, we celebrated with a weekend full of trains...

Trains to ride

And trains to play

And lots of fun in between.

I can't believe the little guy is such a big guy now! He is such a good kid, that makes us laugh and smile on a continuous basis. We ask ourselves on a regularly if we are doing something right as parents, or if we just got really lucky. Either way, we love our little man!

I'm Back!

Okay, I know that I've had issues with blogging lately. I'd like to blame some of them, at least, on some camera frustrations. We've been without a working camera for at least 3 months now, and it's amazingly hard to feel motivated to do a blog post when you have no pictures to go along with it. But, the good news is that I'm back ... new camera and all! (long story short, I've decided to boycott Canon cameras for a while, and I've come to the conclusion that not all things are better done using the internet ... camera repairs included)

So, for those who are still checking in on my quiet little corner of the blogosphere, stay tuned as I will have much posting to catch up on (including a 2-year-old big boy that celebrates a birthday today!!)

:)

Word of the Day

Gelotology = the study of laughter

... I know I'm a blogging dropout lately, but I promise to be back right after I've had a few good laughs ...

We made it!!!

Whew! It has been a whirlwind of a week, but we rolled into Utah about 11:00 last night to stay for the summer. Highlights of the last week included:

• Having my sister come to visit and enjoying some good, old-fashioned girl time with her (meaning we ate way too much sugary stuff, and watched several chick flicks!)
• Finishing work!! I'm saying goodbye to high school, and moving back to elementary school next year, which is a welcome change (though I will miss some of the cute teenage drama :)
• Jon passed his oral exams, which is a huge milestone and a huge testament to Jon's amazing work ethic! Now we just need to put that to work on his dissertation.
  
• A wonderful goodbye Chinese dinner to thank good friends who treat us like family.
• A great lunch with James' two second mothers who have been the best baby-sitting duo we could possibly ask for. We really lucked out this year with our babysitter for James while I work. Not only has she become a beloved friend, she also enlisted the help of a young woman who we're going to keep on as our sitter/nanny for next year.
• A beautiful 9 mile run that felt great. I did 12 miles last week, tapered to 9 this week, and I'm feeling pretty good about my upcoming half marathon next week!
  
• Moving apartments and unpacking the new apartment sufficient for our summer subletters. Okay, this one requires some stories. Best part (that's sarcastic ... and foreshadowing) was when we found out the movers were showing up 3 hours late, and I ended up with a poopy diaper and no available diapers except the ones that had just been packed at the very back of the moving truck, making them the last things to be unpacked. The next two hours consisted of trying to entertain and console a naked baby, up past his bedtime, and quarantined in the bathroom for most of the time after he pooped and peed on the carpet ... needless to say, neither he nor I were feeling very good about life right about then!
• One very long drive across Nevada, with said baby who had been up about 4 hours past his bedtime the night before. (To give him credit, though, he was a total trooper, and I have to say that Baby Signing Time is pretty much the best thing ever, even if the songs get stuck in your head.)

And now, here we are, with loads to look forward to this summer. I'm not sure anyone really wanted that many details about our life lately, but there you are ... and I'll console myself with the fact that even if you didn't want to hear about it, it was therapeutic for me to put it all out there. So, thanks for listening, Blogworld!

Ready for summer

Every year when it comes to this time of year it feels like we're approaching the end of a long race, and even though the end is within sight and I know it is so close - it still feels so far away and I just don't know if I'll be able to keep up the pace. Okay, maybe that's a little overly dramatic, I mean it is only the end of the school year, but seriously, will summer ever be here?!

I'm not sure it helps that we have tons and tons that we're looking foward to this summer. Because Jon is doing his oral exams next week and will have a slight break before hitting the dissertation hard, we decided to take advantage of the time and go to Utah for the whole summer. We're going to sublet our California apartment, and the rent an apartment in Ephraim. Since there is a huge price differential there, we decided to apply those funds toward a summer adventure in Mexico. We'll be spending a week there of quality mommy and daddy time, while James will enjoy some quality grandma, grandpa, aunts, and uncles time.

Amidst all of that, we will also be throwing two bridal showers for my baby sister, running a half-marathon, going to the Ogden condo, marrying off my baby sister, going to Bear Lake, running a 10k at 10K (feet), going to a family reunion, and trying to fit in hikes, camping trips, and lots of quality family time! And we're going to try to relax, because it is summer after all!

Needless to say, we're very excited ... now if we could just get the school year to end so that summer can arrive!!