New Year!

New Year's Eve and Day were really great this year! We made plans with my Brother and Sister-in-law to have a small party at our house on New Year's Eve, but we didn't know my parents had accepted an invitation for us to hang out with their friends too. So we ended up spending most of the night with good family friends. Savannah was in heaven playing with the two kids that were there. And we enjoyed dinner and games and looking through old photos of my parents and their friends from their newlywed days. 

 

^^And yes, Easton is in a tuu-tuu as well!^^

The later it got in the evening, the crankier my kids got, and we decided to head to our house with Sawyer and Kenna, put the kids to bed, and then chat and eat munchies while we waited for Midnight. Midnight came quietly in our house, with just the 4 of us, and we cheered and poured sparkling cider in red solo cups (we are sooooo fancy sometimes) and wished each other a Happy New Year. Our neighbors started lighting off fireworks and Savannah came running out of her room excitedly yelling that she needed to go outside, so we did, and watched them go off.

One of these days I'm going to throw a majorly huge New Years party where everyone has to dress all fancy and their will be music and dancing and everything! Someday...

The next day, we went out across the lake for our annual New Year's day shooting trip! We go out with family friends every year, but I have not been able to go out since Bryant and I have been married. One of us was always working, or I was pregnant and didn't want to go stand in the snow or whatever reasons. But this year was a blast! Savannah went off with her friends to play in the mud and snow and do a bit of sledding, and Deagan had a blast being passed around to everyone. 

^My sister-in-law Kenna and I^

^^Kenna's Dad Kurt came out too! It's so fun to have more family!^^

 

^^Kandis, Kenna and I. I think the girls actually did better at shooting than they guys did. And I took 2nd place, believe it or not! I kind of shocked myself when I did!^^

 

^My Brother Colter, who probably spends more time outdoors than anyone I know. You should see some of his photos from him hunting and fishing! I really think he should get into outdoor photography!^^

^The view of my mountain from the other side of the lake.^

^This is possibly my new favorite photo of Bryant. He just looks so manly and stuff. If I still had a Jr. High school locker, I'd hang this picture up inside it with little hearts drawn all over it. Hubba hubba!^

The weather was beautiful! I was just in a sweatshirt and I was so warm I was sweating! And we were up higher than the inversion, so it was nice to get some fresh, clean air in our lungs. We had a really good time and we can't wait for next year!

Afterwards, we went to lunch, where a guy walked up to our table and said "You guys look like Duck Dynasty meets Utah!" I had to agree. Everyone was covered in camo and mud. Not to mention my dad has a pretty sweet beard going on!

Happy New Year everyone! 2014 is off to a good start!

Also... this. Because Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are too much perfect going on.

And because Zooey is wearing a tiara, and I'm in full support of everyone wearing tiaras just because.

 

Big announcements, plans and resolutions!

Happy New Year! 2013 was pretty amazing. We added another baby to our growing family and we couldn't be happier! We had a pretty busy year, but I have a few announcements that are going to make 2014 crazy busy!

I'll start with the biggest announcement first, to get it out of the way:

I am starting my own business!

Yup!

It will be a silk screening business, taking after my dad. This is something I have been thinking about for over a year now, but I was always too scared to really start doing it, mostly because it's a bit of a financial risk. You've got to have capital in order to start something, with the hopes of making that back. But a few weeks ago, I was up all night with a million ideas swimming through my head, and I thought about it all the next day. By that next night, I just had this really good feeling that this was something I needed to do, and that I should do. When I talked to Bryant about it, he was really excited for me, and thought it was a great idea. You never know until you try right?

I will be selling things like shirts, bags, scarves, aprons, etc. I will be selling online, but I'm also hoping to do some shows, fairs and farmers markets too. I've got my sister and my parents help, and Bryant's support and my determination. I think this will be a good thing for me and I'm really excited! 

But I'm going to need help! I am working on some samples of things now, and hoping to get a shop up and running within a month or so. It's fresh after the holidays, so I expect things to be slow going until summer, So I would really appreciate it if you, all my friends and family, will help share my stuff on facebook, pinterest, twitter, on your blogs, wherever! I would be forever grateful if you did!!!

So look in the next several weeks for my launch of my new business! Wahoo!

2nd announcement:

I am going back to work. Well, kind of. I went back for 2 weeks during the holidays to help out, and I realized how much I've really missed working. I missed all my friends I had there and it was so nice to see them and talk to them again. I've missed problem solving and helping people, and making people happy. And everyone who had started working there after I left were so nice to me and made me feel really welcome. So on my last night, I mentioned to my manager that I would be willing to come back and just do "on-call" shifts and help out when they needed an extra hand. They agreed, and I filled out an official application to be a "real" employee. I don't expect to be working very often, but that's perfect for me since I've got two littles at home who are still my number 1 priority. But I just wanted something that could get me out of the house every now and then. Something that allowed for some adult conversation, and a chance to be around people who are just as passionate about books as I am. And a chance to be with friends, and make new ones too. I'm just so excited! It's good to be back at work!

3rd announcement:

Bryant and I will be writing a book this year! We have talked a LOT about this for a while now, and we are finally and officially going to start diving into it! I wont say much about it yet, just that it will be fiction. Bryant is the creative writer and I'm the critical one. He will be structuring most of the story, and I'll be doing most of the actual writing and editing of it. I don't expect this to ever be something published, but it's going to be a heck of a lot of fun to work on! The couple who writes together stays together yeah? :-)

2013 really was an amazing year for us. I couldn't tell you what my resolutions were last year. I don't think I even made any. But I have a few this year:

1. Start and grow my own business
2. Write a book
3. Study my scriptures more in depth.
4. Finally get my house in complete order. We've been here over a year now and I feel like we are just settling in.
5. Spend a lot more time outdoors with my kids. We were out in the snow for 5 hours today and both my kids were upset that we weren't out there longer.
6. Make a new friend!

We have a lot of plans this year. And I'm particularly excited about all the traveling we have planned. Bryant and I sat down last night and kind of went over our calendar for the year and realized that we will be making 4 trips to California this year! I'm hoping I have a rich distant relative I don't know about, who wills all his money to me so I can pay for all that gas! Wowzers! But there is nothing I love more than traveling, so it's all worth it!

And who knows, maybe my new business will be a total success and allow for a lot more traveling. You never know right?

Seriously guys, I'm so unbelievably excited about my new business! And this entire year! 2014, you are gonna rock!

The Best of My 2012

*This post has taken me DAYS to write! The joys of being a busy mommy...*

We had a pretty great year this past 12 months. I noticed a lot of other people were doing "highlights" of their year, so I thought I'd follow along and do my own!

March:

In early March, we traveled down to the State FFA convention to watch my brother Sawyer give a speech. It was a lot of fun!

We celebrated Savannah's 1st Birthday!

A few days later, we traveled down to Disneyland with Bryant's parents, brother Tyler, sister Chantel, his Aunt Sandy and his Uncle Steve. This was Savannah's 2nd trip in under a year!

In July, Bryant's parents came to visit, and we celebrated Independence Day!

We also had fun in Zion's National Park for the Macfarlane Family Reunion!

In August, we went to the Bushell Family Reunion!

We also attended our ward rodeo!

I also made the really tough decision to quit my job so that I could focus on being a better mom and a better, more focused student. Even though I miss my job and my friends a lot, I still think this was one of the best decisions I've ever made!

In September, we found out we were pregnant with baby #2!

In October, my parents moved and we decided to rent the top half of their old house from them. It's been so nice to have space! We not only have a real bedroom for Savannah, but we even have a spare bedroom! Well, for now... Baby #2 will be taking up that space in about 5 months. AND my kitchen and living room are two separate rooms! Wahoooo!

In December, we celebrated Christmas a little early with my family.

We celebrated my Dad's 50th Birthday by throwing him a surprise party!

And we traveled to California to visit Bryant's family for Christmas!

In between all of that, we had several play dates, fun at 7 peaks and the local pool, museums, movies, going out to dinner, and other fun things.

2012 has been really fun. It had it's moments where I was overwhelmed with school and work, but overall, the good moments definitely outweigh the bad.

I have very high hopes for 2013. I'm most looking forward to Savannah's 2nd birthday, my 4th anniversary, and this baby arriving (who may, or may not arrive on my anniversary!) 

I have no major resolutions this year. I looked back on last years post about my resolutions, and I found that I actually completed almost all of them. I was impressed with myself. But this year, I'm not going to promise myself anything big, like getting back into shape (I'm pregnant for goodness sake! I'm just going to get larger and larger over the first half of this year anyway.) or being super amazing at school (again, I'm a mother of a toddler and soon to be newborn.). I'm just going to make the resolution to do my very best. That's all I can expect from myself, and everything that my kids and my husband deserve.

Although, I would like to get the new baby's room painted... I guess I'll count that as a resolution.

So welcome 2013. So far, you're lookin' pretty good.