2016 in Review

It's that time again (and with barely one day left in January--geez, I'm really pushing it this year): a year-end review of 2016! Complete with pictures and reminiscence and retrospective. Here we go!

So for me, last year feels a bit like a black hole in one sense. I think of it like a lost year somehow. I had a bunch of goals but I ended up not accomplishing very much. Just living my life (and raising kids and working and reading books and all the other things that one does when one is living life) doesn't feel like enough for me. I want to be doing incredible things and planning trips and exploring opportunities and building myself into a better version of myself. Because of this constant desire of mine and my lack of follow-through this past year, I feel like I wasted the opportunity of an entire year to develop into a better, more accomplished person. Naturally, I don't regret last year--it was a great year for me and my family. But I do feel as though I could have been better during it, and so I'm taking that lesson into 2017 with me and making sure I don't waste the time given to me.

In another sense, 2016 was a fantastic year! There were a lot of naysayers on social media complaining about how horrid 2016 was, and before that concept became a popular sentiment, I hadn't considered 2016 to be any different from any other year in my life. Good things, bad things, great things, terrible things, and mediocre things all happened in a hodge-podge melting pot of experience and adventure. It was what it was. If I had to assess it off the cuff, I'd say 2016 was fantastic. Wonderful things happened and I loved my life last year. So on to the pictures!

January was quiet. We didn't do anything particularly interesting or special. This is a picture of James getting into the toilet paper in our apartment bathroom, because it was particularly interesting and special to him to do so.

In February we had our semi-annual tooth cleaning appointments at the dentist. Scarlet was scheduled to be cleaned, but she sobbed the entire time, even when I sat in the chair with her and held her, so she ended up getting nothing done. She did score a new toothbrush, so it wasn't a total waste. At the end the month, we took her to Disneyland for her birthday (but I've already blogged about that, so...) just before she turned three years old. It was a great family vacation.

March was pretty fun. I drove the kids down to Las Vegas and spent a week working remotely so my kids could spend time playing with their cousins. We went to a splash pad on one of the days and I was reminded how perfectly suited Las Vegas weather is to splash pads. Even in March, it was boiling hot outside. Scarlet kept playing dress up and James wanted to copy her, so he was thrilled when I put a tutu on him. It cracked me up so much that I kept him in it for hours. Josh hates that he wasn't there to stop me, but I still smile when I see the pictures. That boy is a fashionista!

Us in our St. Patrick's day garb

Look how pleased he is!

Although less pleased to be in the water.

Scarlet, however, loves the water.

The kids had frequent movie parties with popcorn. It was a dream trip for them all.

In April we had a lovely Easter egg hunt at Josh's parents' house. Scarlet and her cousin Hazel scoured the ample yard and overflowed their buckets. When the weather turned nicer, we started taking the kids to the zoo more often. During the bird show, Scarlet was invited to dance on the stage with all the other willing children. At first she was swept up in the thrill of being allowed to leave her seat, but once she realized she was not accompanied by her parents, the enjoyment quickly vanished.

Then May arrived. For Memorial Day Weekend, we went up to Josh's grandmother's farm in Wyoming. She has this gorgeous working sheep farm with tons of animals and breathtaking views. Josh seemed to gather inner strength from being out in the fresh air so close to the Grand Tetons. I, however, caught a vicious allergy attack/summer cold and spent the weekend congested and miserable. It was pretty though.

We also went to this working farm north of Salt Lake, where they have a spring baby animals fair of sorts. We took Scarlet and James and Rachel brought Hazel, and the kids (and mothers) went wild for the baby animals. Scarlet got to ride a horse too, which was adorable.

Fearless

Notice how she goes straight for the goat's butt. Nice.

'Tis a baby chick

As the weather warmed, Josh and I tried to incorporate a few Saturday morning hikes into our summer. It was a lot harder with two kids, but we still managed to squeeze a few in.

June is James's birthday. We made him a James-sized smash cake (I had not heard of this fun little tradition when Scarlet turned one, so this was my first one!) and James spent a good ten minutes grinning and licking off the frosting one finger-full at a time. Then we encouraged him to really dig deep, and it got a whole lot messier and cuter!

Look at that happy one-year-old.

My sister and her family stopped by to visit us during the summer on their month-long tour of southwestern national parks. We all took a tour of the Conference Center downtown and shared dinner together.

Josh's work also hosted a potluck picnic at a park (alliteration!). James loved the playground and it ended up being a really enjoyable evening.

Then came July. For several months earlier in the year, Josh and I researched houses and built up our savings to purchase a house. While we were still in the research stage, we took another trip down to Las Vegas for the fourth of July. This is one of my favorite holidays, first because it's America's birthday and my country rocks, and second because it's *such* a fun way to spend a summer afternoon: fireworks, barbecue, balmy weather, and family and friends. I tend to idealize summer and the Fourth is the quintessential summer event. Josh never let us light fireworks in our apartment parking lot because he thought it was bad manners to risk scorching other people's cars (I still think they would have thought it worth it to watch a little patriotism light up the lot). Because of that, we never really did much for the holiday until this past year, when I insisted we go celebrate with my kin. My parents know how to do it right. We had a lovely barbecue and everyone brought their children to watch a fun backyard fireworks show. Josh seemed to come to life with excitement around the fireworks. He kept insisting that he enjoyed how much the older boys enjoyed lighting them (he was overseeing the operation), but it was obvious that he got a kick out of lighting a bunch of explosives too. He is such a boy hidden beneath those folds of intellectualism and maturity and responsibility and duty. I love that boy.

Look how excited Josh is. He pretended not to care that much but it was easy to catch his happiness when he wasn't looking.

In fact, most of the kids loved watching the fireworks.

Scarlet did NOT enjoy them. They scared her so much that she refused to watch them unless protected by the French doors with the other scared babies.

The boys kept a hose on hand and a big bucket of water and sprayed down the board that held the fireworks after each rocket. It's important to practice fire safety during such a dry activity during such a dry month inside such a dry state.

James was content to watch them from any angle.

At the end of the month, Josh and I closed on our house (wait, I blogged about that too!) and we started the arduous process of moving in.

James helped, of course.

Actually, it wasn't very hard at all. We moved five minutes away from our apartment, only needed to rent a moving truck for half a day, had an entire month to clean the house and update things before gradually moving things in a piece at a time, and had very difficulties transitioning from apartment to house. It was such an easy experience. I feel very blessed that we were able to have such a positive transition. The real stress and exhaustion came from the month after we closed, when we were still living in our apartment but we were spending every evening working on finishing the floors and installing door stops and ceiling fans and remodeling the kitchen and washing windows and cutting and installing window blinds, and any number of things that go along with buying an older home. It all feels idyllic now, but at the time, it was just exhausting. We flew one of my sisters in for the month of August so she could babysit our kids in the evenings while we spent hours at the new house getting it up to snuff. That is probably why the actual move was so easy.

At the end of August, Josh's brother got married! It was in the Provo City Center temple, which is inexplicably beautiful. I loved attending their special sealing, and I loved walking the grounds of the temple after they came out!

And then we were moved into our new house and fall was fast approaching. Before we had even imagined purchasing a house, I had planned a quiet little anniversary trip to St. George and Cedar City. After we bought the house, the trip was still planned, so we went. We saw a very funny play in Cedar City and then drove down to St. George and stayed in a fun hotel and went swimming and hiking and eating out at fun, fancy restaurants. We saw two Tuacahn plays (Hunchback of Notre Dame was amazing! It left me in tears and utterly emotionally spent. Of course I bought the soundtrack). Josh and I really enjoyed some alone time after spending an exhausting month working on the house. The kids spent a couple of nights with their grandparents in Kaysville and Josh and I spent a lot of time watching fun shows on the t.v. in our room in the middle of the afternoon or reading the book Quiet aloud to one another (very interesting book, btw). I look back on that vacation with absolute joy. It was a perfect sixth anniversary trip.

Look how fancy those soups are!

This was us at the fancy restaurant.

Waiting for my fancy soup at the fancy restaurant. It was housed in an art gallery with a southwestern Indian motif. Very Arizona-y.

Hiking

Still hiking

Still more hiking

Yummy dinner

This was the set for Tarzan. It was good but it didn't even compare to Hunchback. 

I paid top dollar to ensure we got the best possible seats for this show. 

It was so close, Josh could touch the stage. That's his foot.

Waiting for hunchback!!!

 I also happened to be in Las Vegas for my birthday and our Super Family Fun Day weekend, which was a huge smash hit of fun and family reunion-ing. In our family, all of the birthdays that fall in the same month are celebrated on Fast Sunday. I'm in line with my fellow Septemberians while we sing Happy Birthday at the top of our lungs.

Then Josh and I were right back at it, working on the kitchen remodel as the cabinets started arriving, and negotiating with the electrician and the plumber. We spent a lot of long nights keeping the plumber company as he worked on our kitchen during the late night hours after his regular work. He is a good friend and a very good plumber, and he did amazing work for us. I feel a lot of gratitude for how the issues that came up after we bought the house were resolved. We've been blessed ten times over since we bought this place. And I'm still desperately in love with it.

Before we stocked the new cabinets with pots and pans, the kids loved playing in there. 

Josh did a lot of tree trimming that first month.

Scarlet liked to sit back and watch.

Whenever I couldn't find James in the backyard, I'd know he was over in the farthest corner on the side of the house, digging in the dirt.

This is to show how tiny he was compared to that corner of the yard. It was so easy to miss him sometimes when I searched for him.

As the season turned to fall, I discovered new responsibilities as a homeowner: raking up the leaves in our front and back yards. We had to buy big black garbage bags and a rake. It was so strange to own yard equipment. Scarlet really enjoyed mimicking her father while he worked.

We had a ward trunk or treat at our new ward and I got to meet our new ward members as I took Scarlet around the parking lot. Scarlet was Rapunzel and James was a pumpkin. They were so stinking cute. I love Halloween three thousand times more as a holiday now that I have children. I was hoping to get more people at our door, but Josh was relieved that we didn't. He enjoyed watching a Halloween movie with me that night after the kids went to bed and didn't like being interrupted too many times to pass out candy.

The cousins all dressed up for Boo and the Zoo. It was a great experience!

It's hard to tell in this picture, but Josh is dressed up as Clark Kent. You can make out his Superman uniform underneath his unbuttoned shirt.

They played in their costumes a lot that month. Gotta get your money's worth!

One last hike before the weather completely turned and it grew too cold to go up in the mountains.

My sister and her family moved up to Utah in September, which was a surreal experience for me. Buying a house and moving my own family didn't seem like that big of a deal, but having one of my family members actually leave Las Vegas and join me in Utah, no less, was nothing short of a miracle. We helped them move in, and they have become our best friends. We love having the cousins play together and the only thing that could make their move any more awesome would be if other siblings would follow suit and join us up here. 

For Thanksgiving, we opted to stay local and shared a meal with my sister and her family. Richard smoked an absolutely gorgeous bird and we divvied up the remaining appetizers and sides. It was a delicious and enjoyable holiday. Allyse and I even sneaked away before dessert to check out Best Buy for their black Friday sale. We've never been black Friday shopping (and on Thursday, no less!) and it turned to be not much of a big deal. We didn't see anything that seemed worth buying and we left after half an hour. Now I know that there's nothing to buy, I won't ever feel tempted to leave again.

Adult table

Cuter table

Beautiful, beautiful bird

And then there was Christmas. How to describe one's first Christmas in one's first home? Imagine the magic of Christmas and then add to that the magic of Christmas with small children. Then triple said magic with the magic of owning a beautiful home and you have a trifecta of enchantment. It was so much fun to hang stockings on an actual fireplace and to place presents underneath a tree in one's own living room. We had my sister from Pennsylvania staying with us for Christmas, so she took a few pictures of our family opening presents on Christmas morning. Actually, it was the following Tuesday, because we spent Christmas in Las Vegas, where a huge crowd of siblings, in-laws, and four billion nieces and nephews ran amok in my parents' increasingly shrinking house. I love big, loud Christmas with all the family. It was a great holiday.

Upon her first  coming out of her room.

Just before we went to bed, after wrapping that ridiculous playhouse/tunnel.

Grandma and Grandpa bought Scarlet and James a great big ball pit to play with since they can't play outside during the winter months.

That's how I feel all the time.

Upon discovering her new playhouse.

Present time!

Christmas Eve buffet line

Upon James discovering his own playhouse.

James received a blow-up light saber.

James officially loves the princess castle more than Scarlet. He also plays with it more than Scarlet.

No Christmas is complete without umbrellas.

When I reflect back on the year, I can see so easily how wonderful and beautiful and exciting and eventful it was. Maybe I didn't accomplish everything I'd intended to do last year, but I had amazing memories with my family. I loved so much of last year and I'm still enjoying the blessings I received then.You can see why it's hard for me to relate to those who claim 2016 was a rough year. A lot of celebrities died, sure, and the politics were an absolute zoo, but in my small world of family and love, life was beautiful. Here's to another beautiful year in 2017.