Well, another year has come and gone, and rather then feeling the sadness I sometimes feel around this time of year, I am kinda glad its over. I mentioned this already on facebook, but in talking on one of my rougher days, Lester said that life is full of ebbs and flows, much like the waves of the ocean. He said that for the last little while, maybe I have been undergoing a fairly prolonged ebb. But all that means is the flow of blessings is coming, and I believe what he says. I am looking forward to this.

We spent our New Years Eve well. We enjoyed talking and eating shaved ice with some friends from our church, and that was really fun. When we got back, we finished up some cooking and cleaning and then welcomed several friends into our home for a party. Typically we tend to have lots of parties, but believe it or not this was our first one since we've been to Oklahoma-thank you pregnancy haha. Most of the people we invited were friends and coworkers from Lester's work. It was great b/c at least of few of them have kids really close in age to Addy. We pigged out on chips & dips, fruit and dips, brownies, pumpkin tarts, bacon wrapped brown sugar mini sausages, and lots of drinks. We also played catch phrase and mafia, all while watching the festivities on TV. At midnight, we banged on pots and pans, and ushered in the new year with lots of fun yelling and spousal kisses haha. It was a blast, and we are hoping to be doing many more get togethers in the near future.






Anyways, I always tend to get the blues right after all the holidays end, and then I over correct by making all these promises I don't come through with. Don't get me wrong-I meet alot of my goals, but some of them I don't. I think about this blog post here and realize that while I meant what I said, it was a huge 'easier said then done' kind of thing for me. I think I understand Lot's wife [from the Bible, the one referenced in the video] much more then before. You can try to dedicate yourself to being in a new place with new, huge responsibilities but you have to work at it rather then just expect or say its gonna happen. Its hard not to look back. But I can honestly say that when we do, we hold ourselves back and we miss out on so many things to do and people to be loved. I am now speaking from experience. As we look forward though, we find the world at our feet and so many new and exciting possibilities. I would like to say I don't regret anything that has happened this last year. For one thing, I have my darling girl and I would redo this a million times over to have her if I had to. Still, I am looking forward to this year being over. I suppose it is best expressed by Marjorie Hinckley's quote:

"There are some years in our lives that we would not want to live again. But even these years will pass away, and the lessons learned will be a future blessing."

I have learned this year to trust and depend on Lester and my family more, rather then just thinking I can do everything myself. I have and am still learning how to be a better wife and Mother. I have learned how to adapt to places that it may not be easy for me. I have learned for myself that there is good and bad in everyone, and sometimes we need to dig deeper to find the good. But when we do this, we always will. All these are lessons I needed to learn, and I am sure they will help me my whole life through.

So again, while it wasn't easy, we made it through last year, making us champs. I am so so looking forward to 2013 and all the wonderful things it will bring for me and my little family-I hope you are as well..if not, get an attitude adjustment like I did haha!