Wrap Up

It's already almost time to wrap up 2017. Such a crazy thought!

I like to take the time at the end of each year to reflect on the goals I set in the beginning of the year and to see how they went.

I feel like I'm still working on most of my goals! Balance and letting go of fears have been the two major themes of my life the past three years. I think both are just going to be a long process for me. I also wanted to exercise more than just once a week at Pilates, and I did that...for about two weeks! It's been hard to get back into a regular rhythm of exercise, even though I have daily reminders on my phone to do so! Having three jobs now is making it much harder to add extra things to my schedule.

I also wanted to connect more with people one on one. I'm still working on this as well. I've been spending some time the past two weeks trying to reevaluate my schedule and trying to include more time not working, as I don't really have a day "off" anymore. So I've been trying to come up with ways to be more intentional with taking time off and using that time to spend with others.

My other goal for this year was to continue to strive to look more like Jesus. Obviously this is always going to be an ongoing goal. I've been trying to spend more time in the Word and really focusing on who Jesus was on earth and on what He did while He was here.

I'll share more about my goals for 2018 in a later post. Now it's time for a little wrap up of this year.

******

January was a month of celebrating birthdays! We celebrated our friends's son's birthday, my friend's birthday and my birthday!

February was full of celebrating our 9th anniversary, and I got to meet the founder of LuLaRoe!

March was full of events with amazing women! I celebrated one of my best friend's birthdays, attended our church's women's retreat and got to spend a lot of time with another of my best friends and her kiddos!

April was full of babies! One of my best friends had her third baby and one of my other best friends found out she was having a girl!

May was full of celebrations! We attended a fun birthday party, went to Disneyland (and spent time there with a friend and with Josh's dad) and attended our niece's preschool graduation!

June was hectic, but we found a few moments for fun!

July was fun and busy! We celebrated the 4th of July with family and friends, went to Disneyland and the d23 convention and I went to LuLaRoe's annual convention!

August was full of more celebrations! I helped throw a baby shower for one of my best friends and went wine tasting to celebrate the birthday of another friend!

September was full of so much goodness! We celebrated our niece's birthday, I went to CO to spend time with one of my best friends and her family and we got to meet my best friend's new baby!

October was full of lots of fun! I went to the Museum of Ice Cream, we went to our friend's Halloween party and went to a local corn maze!

November was crazy! We went wine tasting, Josh had a conference for work and we had our annual Friendsgiving, plus Thanksgiving festivities!

December has been fun and busy! We've had lots of Christmas fun, I celebrated a friend's birthday and we saw Star Wars! There's a lot more fun to be had in these few days of the year!

I'll be back later with the rest of my thoughts. 2017 is almost over!

Friendship Refreshes the Soul

I went to CO last month to see my bestie and her family!

I know I say this every time I get back, but I really have the best time with them. We have much needed, sometimes even really hard conversations, and I always leave feeling encouraged and refreshed.

I cried a lot on my final day there, knowing I had to get on a plane and come home. Em asked me in the car on our way to the airport what my favorite part of this trip was and I couldn't even answer her. I had to text her while I was waiting for my plane because I couldn't verbalize it through my tears. My favorite part was all of it, and I'm very much looking forward to the next time I get to be with them.

We went driving in the mountains to see the fall leaves, which was so beautiful. I feel like we often get a little ripped off where I live because sometimes the leaves haven't even had a chance to fully change before the wind and rain come in and strip the trees of their leaves. So it was amazing to see so many beautiful trees starting to get their fall best.

We went to a biergarten in the mountains as well, which was really fun. It was a place Em had been dying to try, so I'm glad I was able to go there with her. We also went to one of their favorite country bars while I was there, and had wings and lots of laughs.

We started and finished a 101 Dalmatians puzzle (the amazing Thomas Kinkade one) and played quite a few games with the kids.

We saw American Assassin in the theater and went out for drinks after at one of their favorite spots (that they took Josh and I to last year when we were there).

We also had a wonderful tea morning that turned into afternoon with Em's sister. She is such a sweetheart and I'm so thankful that I've gotten to know her a little better over the years.

And we spent a lot of time hanging out at their place with the kids. I love their little family so much and I love getting to spend time with them.

It was my longest amount of time spent there and yet time flew by as usual. I'm so thankful I was able to take this trip!

Oh Five. Two Oh One Seven

May was another busy, but fun month! 

I did some LuLaRoe pop-ups/events, we celebrated a couple of birthdays, and we took a trip to our happy place!

Early in the month, we spent the day with my sister and her hubby. We went to a really cute teahouse and went wine tasting. It was a really fun day!

I spent some time with my friend E.K. and her kiddos. I sure do love watching her as a mom. We've been friends for 17+ years, and I love being able to witness this chapter in her life. 

Our niece and one of my best friend's daughters graduated preschool! It's so cute to watch them sing their songs and dance. I love their little personalities.

We also went to a lobster/crab feed birthday party for a couple we know. Neither of us had ever had to work that hard for our food before, but it was a fun experience! 

Some other highlights for the month:

We went to a going away get together for one of our old pastors. They are moving out of state, as he got a senior pastor job at another church. It was nice to get together with a lot of the people we used to go to Bible study with a few years ago.

We also went to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean with some friends. I actually enjoyed it a lot more than the last one. 

Stay tuned for a post about our trip to our happy place!

12.16

December was another busy month for us!

Here are some of the highlights:

We had a little Christmas shindig at our house with a few friends. We ate a lot of food, played games (including a white elephant gift exchange) and laughed a lot. It was a good night.

We got together with some friends from out of state. Our friends C.H. and Y.H. were in town for the holidays, and we were able to see them twice while they were here. It's always so good to spend time with them.

We had a full two days of Christmas fun with family and friends. All of Josh's family members were in town, so we were able to spend quite a bit of time with them. We also spent time with my grandparents, my family, and some friends.

 (Josh and I got engaged 10 years ago on Christmas Eve!)

Some other things that happened this month:

We went to a baby dedication for our friends S.S. and A.S.'s new baby. He's so cute!

We went to our niece's preschool Christmas program. It's so fun to see the personalities that come out in these kinds of situations. Plus the kids are all super cute!

We saw Rogue One with some friends. It was really good! I liked it a lot.

It's still hard to believe that 2016 is over. As I was going through pictures from this year and putting together my year-end collage, I smiled a lot at the happy memories. It was such a great year full of many wonderful things, but it had its rough moments too. I'm looking forward to 2017 and all it will bring (I will share my full thoughts on 2017 in another post)!