Wednesday, January 4, 2012

2011

I think 2011 was the best year I've had so far. It was full of fun, family, and happiness.

We had so many vacations and family gatherings that there was always something fun to look forward to!

  • A move in March to our current home.
  • Visits throughout the year: Rob's parents, my dad, Dan and Kim, Amber and Steve, and Reuben all came to our home this year.
  • A Salt Lake trip in July (just Collin and me).
  • Reuben and Dana's wedding in Ohio, where I was able to go, along with my parents and all my siblings.
  • Our DC/PA/NY trip that we had been looking forward to for so long!
  • Collin's first birthday
  • Katie and Justin's wedding in Washington, where all my family was in the temple together.
  • Our first Thanksgiving and Christmas on our own, in our home.
We have been so blessed this year! Rob loves being a student, and I love being a stay-at-home mom. We love each other, and we love our boy. We love our home; we feel peace here. And we love the Gospel, and everything that comes with it.

We have made lots of new friends this year. We're so lucky to be surrounded by so many good, fun people.


We didn't make any New Year's Resolutions at the beginning of 2011, but I feel like we have accomplished or improved on any goal we would have made. We have worked hard, and improved on many aspects of our lives, and this has brought us so much happiness. Here are a few resolutions that we didn't set, but that we are proud to have accomplished this year:

  • Running. Rob trained hard for and ran a half marathon. I reached my goal of running 10 miles straight a few weeks ago, and did it again today. We have loved getting in shape this year and have accomplished things we never would have thought we could do.
  • I gained a lot of confidence in the kitchen. Before we had Collin, I always worked into the evenings and never had time to really learn how to cook a variety of meals. I tried tons of new recipes this year, including a whole month of only vegetarian recipes, and got into good habits of planning ahead to have dinner ready at a normal time each day. 
  • Scripture study. Both of us have improved in our efforts to have personal scripture study in our daily routine. 
  • School. Rob has done a great job of balancing school, church, workouts, and donating plasma for extra money. He is always busy, yet he takes on lots of responsibilities when he is at home as well. He is the best husband, and dad to Collin.
  • Collin has learned a lot this year too. . . I think if there was one resolution I would have made for him at the beginning of 2011, it would have been for him to become a good sleeper. And he has! :)
I hope that in the future, I can remember that I am the happiest when I am putting forth effort to improve and progress, and when I spend my time doing things that are worthwhile. This year has been nothing but happy! So thankful for everything we have received this year. Excited to see what 2012 will bring!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

December fun and Holidays!

 Lots of fun festivities in December! 
The month started with the UWS Holiday Gala, which was an evening cruise along the river. It was so much fun! 
With the Kings and the Andersons
Collin continued to be as cute as always and started to love playing in boxes. His hair is still crazy and fluffy most of the time.

We went to see the Zoo Lights!
Collin loved the lights and kept pointing at them.

I made us some family stockings! And when I say "made," I mean that I bought plain ones and hot glued felt designs on them. Some day I'll learn how to sew nice ones :)
 

On Christmas Eve, we walked along Peacock Lane, a cute neighborhood that's famous for every house having lots of Christmas lights. 
Collin pointed at all the lights here, too.
Collin looked cute in his funny Christmas pajamas.
Christmas morning! Collin got a slide, which he spent most of the morning playing on, and didn't care much about opening other presents. We loved spending Christmas at home together this year! We had a quiet morning listening to Christmas music and opening presents and watching Collin play with his toys.
We made the most delicious muffins of my life- pumpkin cream cheese, recipe found from Kim's pinterest :) 
Collin took a break from sliding to pose for a picture with his bedroom art Lindsey made for him.
Cuddling with his new pillow pet
He also loves dumping out his mega blocks!
Christmas dinner. So maybe we like taking pictures of our most delicious meals, okay?
Christmas aftermath
A green Christmas bath
We celebrated our 3 year anniversary on the 27th. We went out to a nice dinner to celebrate. 
 We headed to Sunnyside for New Year's weekend. I only got a few random pictures, but we had a lot of fun visiting with Rob's family. Cory and Minnie threw a great New Year's Eve party at their house.
Collin loved Tiffanie and Jeff's dog. He even tasted some of her food when no one was looking.
He also loved his cousin Janai!

Cute picture of Collin and his Grandma Grimmer

Our family with Rob's parents