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.

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)!

Wrapping It Up

It's so funny to me that I felt the urge to write a blog post today.

I looked back on when I did this same post last year...and it was one day earlier last year! I think it has something to do with Christmas getting closer and with me realizing that the year is almost over.

I've been writing a post the last few years about what my hopes and dreams for the new year are. I will share mine for 2017 in a few weeks, but I wanted to go over the ones I had for 2016 to see how things measured up this year.

My first one was to figure out where I should be serving at church. After praying about it a lot, I was approached to be a part of women's ministry at my church. It's been such a huge blessing so far and I'm excited to continue diving into my role this next year.

My second one was to figure out a way to encourage women more. And that has been two-fold this year. Obviously, my new position in women's ministry is a huge part of that. The other has been selling LuLaRoe. I love being able to help women find clothing that makes them feel beautiful and confident, and I love encouraging them to step out and try new things.

I'm still working on balance and letting go of fears. Having two jobs has definitely been something I've had to learn (and am still learning) how to balance. I'm definitely having to learn how to carve out time for the things that I need to do, as well as things that I want to do.

And now a little recap of 2016 (so far):

We started off 2016 with a little New Year's Eve gathering at our house with a few friends.

I went out dancing with some friends to celebrate three January birthdays, and my friend S.W. and I had a combined Harry Potter birthday party!

We went to Disney on Ice with our niece, and I attended a baby shower for a dear friend.

We went to Disneyland again for our anniversary!

We went to a MuteMath concert, and I saw Wicked with two friends!

We did an escape room, and celebrated Easter with family.

We went on a weekend trip with some friends

We celebrated my sister's birthday, and did a wine stroll with a couple of friends

Josh and I had a spontaneous date day that involved wine tasting, a fun lunch, and a trip to a candy factory

We went dancing (and found out a friend was pregnant), and attended a gender reveal party for another set of friends

We attended a little girl's kindergarten graduation, and went blueberry picking

We went to a couple of graduation parties, and attended our niece's ballet recital

Our friends from CO were in town!

We went to a 4th of July party with some friends, and celebrated our nephew's birthday

We had a fun day out with some friends, and Josh took me on a special surprise date

I went wine tasting to celebrate a friend's birthday, and we attended a gender reveal party for some friends

We went indoor go-carting with some friends, and I went on a planning weekend with the women's ministry team

I went to karaoke for a friend's birthday, and we went to a Labor Day BBQ with some friends

We went on a cruise with some friends!

We celebrated our niece's birthday

We went on a fun trip to Disneyland and Universal Studios

We went on a train ride with my family, and we attended a co-ed baby shower for some friends

We went to a corn maze with some friends, and went to our friend's annual Halloween party

We went to a friend's birthday party, and had our 3rd annual Friendsgiving

We went to CO to see our friends

We took our niece to see Moana, and we went to our friends' baby dedication

I did a craft night with some of the females in Josh's family, and we had a little Christmas get together at our house

We have some other fun planned for this month! I'm excited for what the rest of 2016 holds.