Oh Three. Two Oh One Seven

It's nearing the end of April, so I think it's time to post about March!

March was another busy, but fun month.

We went to a celtic festival with my family. It was one we had gone to when I was younger, and neither of the boys had been. It was fun but not nearly as fun as I remember. Time changes and things change, I suppose. But it was nice to spend the day with my family!

I went wine tasting twice. The first time, Josh and I went with our friends C.B. and L.B. to celebrate my late birthday and L.B.'s early birthday! The second time, I went with L.B. and some other friends to celebrate L.B.'s birthday...and then we headed to her surprise party! Both were really fun days. I'm so thankful that I've had L.B. in my life for over 14 years now!

I also went on the women's retreat with my church, which was a lot of fun! The place we stayed at was right on the beach and the weather was perfect (after it finished raining, of course)! I'm so thankful for the time that I had to connect and re-connect with some amazing women.

Some other fun things that happened:

Josh passed his final tests for work! I'm so proud of him and all his hard work. He's had such a busy year and a half, and now he feels like he can finally relax a little!

I also have been able to spend some time with my friend E.K. and her kiddos. I'm so thankful they've been in the area so I could see them.

And that was March! I'll be back (hopefully) in the next two weeks with April's post.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E and NINE years!

I'm not even sure that I should keep apologizing at this point for my posts being late, or few and far between.

But I'm here tonight!

So we went on our anniversary trip to Disneyland! This was our 8th year going for our anniversary! And for those out there that think we are crazy or that we will get sick of it, well, I don't think that will ever happen!

It rained for awhile on our first day, most of the day on our second, and was warm and sunny our final three days! It went from 57-80 degrees in the time we were there! But it was all awesome and we got to experience some stuff we hadn't done before!

 In line for the Haunted Mansion in our ponchos

 His true self

Our first night, we got to see the Main Street Electrical Parade and the Remember fireworks show! Both made me tear up a little. I hadn't seen the Electrical Parade since it's Farewell Season in the 90's. And the Remember fireworks show was the one they created for the 50th anniversary that was my favorite fireworks show until the 60th show!

On It's a Small World

On our second day, we enjoyed a lot of indoor rides and activities. We were there during AP Days so we went and hung out in the lounge they had set up for that. We got pictures with the Country Bears and took some other fun pics. Since it rained until right before dinner time, we had to find a little corner to hide under to eat our lunch, as all of the indoor restaurants were jam packed. But it was an adventure and a fun one at that!

 Our traditional picture!

 Churros for breakfast are the best choice

Our third day brought sunshine and lots more fun! It was Mardi Gras, so we got some beads in New Orleans Square and had our traditional dinner at Blue Bayou. We also tried out the Alfresco Tasting Terrace. It's a fun upper deck to one of the restaurants in California Adventure. We did some wine tasting and enjoyed a meat and cheese board. It was a fun little rest in the middle of our afternoon.

 Rockin' my 'Roe in Hollywood Land

Our fourth day was spent trying new foods and shows! We went to the newly reimagined Village Haus restaurant that was transformed into the Red Rose Taverne in honor of Beauty and the Beast. We had lunch there and tried the grey stuff...and it WAS delicious! We also saw the new Frozen stage show that replaced Aladdin (which was good, but I was definitely a big fan of the Aladdin show). We also tried ice cream nachos, which were really yummy! And, as a part of AP Days, we got to watch a TV special that was done on the Main Street Electrical Parade in the 80s!

In line for Radiator Springs Racers for the last time this trip

 In front of the Haunted Mansion in my Haunted Mansion-esque leggings!

On our last short day, we rode on a few of our favorite rides one more time (did I mention Pirates was closed for refurbishment? That was definitely a bummer!) and grabbed lunch and some goodies on our way out.

I love spending time with my hubby in our happy place! I can't wait for our next trip (whenever that may be)!

Oh Two. Two Oh One Seven

It's nearing the end of March and I'm just now getting to February! Life has been crazy busy but I wouldn't have it any other way!

February was jam-packed with lots of LuLaRoe goodness! I had multiple in-home pop-ups, I went to an amazing training (and met the founder of LuLaRoe!) and fell more in love with this small business of mine. It has required a lot of hard work and sacrifice but it has all been so worth it!

Me and the beautiful founder of LuLaRoe!

I'm learning more and more about being a safe person and how important it is to have safe people. I really think our pastor bringing this topic up when he did was such perfect timing, as I've been wanting to spend more time with people one-on-one.

We also celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary! It's so crazy to think that we've been married for 9 years! Even harder to believe how close we are to 10 years! Time really does fly by when you're having fun!

We totally forgot to take a picture when we went out to dinner so we had to snap a quick selfie in our pj's instead!

We also took our anniversary trip to our happy place! I'm planning to write a separate post all about that.

Two down, ten to go!

Oh One. Two Oh One Seven

I struggle often with what I should share in this space.

Part of me thinks blogging is a dying art and I should give up on it. After all, I use it mostly as a "diary" these days to give a summary of what we do each month. Posts about anything else are so few and far between.

And it's not because I don't have things I could share. I more struggle with the time to be able to do so. And knowing how much is too much to share.

So I've kept things very simple the past two years, because that is what has worked the best for me.

Many people started reading this blog after I started to share our journey with infertility. I always meant for this space to be somewhere where people could come and find encouragement or comradery or a safe place to land. And I'm not sure it's always been that place this past few years.

So with this new year, I've been trying to figure out if I'm going to continue to write monthly posts or try to use this space more for it's original intended purpose.

And I haven't really come to a good conclusion.

So for now, I'm just going to write when I feel like it and see what happens.

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We've been talking at church the past few weeks about being safe people for others. And how each of us should have 3-10 safe people in our lives. It struck my heart so much because I've craved those kinds of relationships my whole life. And because I strive to be a safe person for all of my friends.

I'm so thankful to have quite a few safe people in my life. I may not have had many (if any) in jr. high or very many in high school but I'm so thankful that I have many safe friends as an adult.

Being a safe person means being someone that listens, that gives their full attention, that is trustworthy and that doesn't try to fix things or offer advice immediately. Safe people are not judgmental and allow people to feel and express themselves as they need to.

One of my goals for this year is to spend more one-on-one time with people, as I have in the past. I want to be a safe person that people feel comfortable sharing their hearts with. And I think these two goals go hand in hand.

There's been so much division and hatred in our country in the last few months (not that it didn't exist before, because it obviously did. But it's come to the surface more in recent months). I just want to love people better. Even if I don't agree with them. Especially if I don't agree with them. And that starts with being a safe person.

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January has always been one of my favorite months. Partly because it's a new year (and right after my favorite holiday, Christmas), and partly because it's the month I was born. January just always makes me excited for the future and for the year ahead.

This January was a good one. It was a month full of birthday celebrations, for myself and for others.

 P.W.'s 2nd birthday party!

 Wine tasting for mine and A.B.'s birthdays

Me and my fellow January birthday friend

 Dancing with some friends for mine and R.J.'s birthdays

I'm so thankful for these moments and for these people. Here's to February!

Moving Forward

It's taken me awhile to find the time to write this post.

I've been meaning to do it for a few weeks now but life has been very busy.

I've been writing this post every January for a few years now. I'm not one for New Year's resolutions but I like to share some goals and hopes I have for myself for the year.

I feel like I'm still working on some of my goals from the past two years: balance and letting go of fears. Both are getting easier and easier, but I still struggle with both daily. I'm trying to focus on how best to balance my two jobs and normal life stuff. I was exercising 5 times a week for awhile there but I haven't been doing that on a regular basis since October. I'm still going to Pilates every week but that's only one day a week. I know I feel so much better when I exercise on a regular basis so I need to find a way to get it back into my normal routine.

I also feel like I need to make more time to connect with people. Facebook has that On This Day feature that constantly reminds you of what you did on that day in different years. And I used to spend a lot more time with people one on one. My schedule is kind of hectic these days and I don't ever have a day "off" anymore unless I purposefully schedule one, so I have harder time finding the time to set up those one on one hang outs. But I miss them and I miss connecting with people that way. So that is one of my goals that goes along with balance.

One of my hopes for this year is to continue to strive to look more like Jesus. I feel like my faith has been stretched so much in the past few years and I've learned a lot and grown in ways I never expected to. I've had ups and downs, and I feel like I've gained a lot of wisdom, but I know I have so much more to learn. It's hard to describe all of it, but I really want to keep pursuing and keep striving and keep moving forward.

2016 was a good year. We had a lot of fun, we spent a lot of time with friends and family and we experienced a lot of changes. Life always has its ups and downs, but I'd say 2016 was a year of growth. I'm looking forward to the challenges and good times 2017 is going to bring.