2013 in Review

It certainly was a very busy year. Some of the key things that happened include: celebrated our 3rd anniversary, celebrating a first birthday, me spending 2 months in Kentucky becoming a medic, coaching my soccer team to another state championship, finding out we will be 4, finding out it will be a 3 on 1 ratio, celebrated our second Christmas with children and deciding to sell our house and better our lives.

We have been married for 3 years, as of May 1st. It's weird to look back and think that even when we first met, there was something there that told me I would know Cory for a very long time. That saying "when you know, you know" hits home with this one. Technically we didn't really "date" until we had decided to get married. It wasn't one of those crazy fast meet and get married stories, but he did live a few states away and when we were talking about how our future would go, he was very clear that he wasn't moving to Utah to "mess around for a few months and then break up." Which was basically him saying that by moving to Utah, we were most likely going to get married. I was of course ok with that. I am greatly looking forward to this next year and the many more we will have.

Ok so here is some more detail on those. Let's start at the top. Ace turned 1 in May. He is growing up so fast. He has started becoming quite the little talker. He knows quite a few words, and tries to pick up a new one about every other day. When he doesn't know words, he sure tries to tell you anyway. At the beginning of the year we were pretty good with signs and trying to get him to talk a little. Now we don't use signs and can rarely get him to quiet down. He's pretty amazing.

I spent two months in Kentucky. It was awesome and horrible all at the same time. I have wanted to become a medic ever since I had a full time job with the Army National Guard's Medical Unit a few years back, but one thing or another happened (having a baby...) and it was just not the right timing. They called me in June and said if I wanted a spot I could have one, but I had to leave in July. After some rushing around and trying to decide, things fell into place and we went for it. Cory's mom came to stay with Aceson while I was gone and he was working all day. The training was amazing and I am so happy I did it, but being gone for so long and only being able to Skype at nights was extremely hard on me. Gave me a very new and very real appreciation for people that sacrifice being away from their families, particularly deployed soldiers who don't get Skype calls every night.

Being in Kentucky made me miss the first 3 weeks coaching my soccer team. The second I got back, I got right into it though. And eventually we made it to The Big Game. And we won that game. I have been coaching at Timpanogos High for 6 years. We have had 3 state championships in those 3 years. 1 runner-up, and many many important memories and friends made. I am currently planning to take a few years off. I will miss it on an extreme level, but with another baby due and some other plans and changes for the coming year, I think it's just going to be better. I will still enjoy going to watch the girls play and keep in touch with most of them, but my commitment will not be so extreme.

While in Kentucky (seems a lot of things involve Kentucky) I found out that 3 will become 4. Very exciting. This pregnancy hit the ground running and I spent 7 of the 8 weeks trying not to be sick and let anyone know. They would've sent me home if they found out, too much of a liability. Because I was so sick for so long, everyone thought it was a girl. I was excited for a girl. Even out the numbers a little. I think he was offended and kept me much more sick than I was with Aceson. And our numbers will certainly not be even. Baby boy Junck #2 will be making his grand appearance in March. Cory and I are both betting the 20th, but only time will tell.

Christmas 2013 was a great one. Aceson was spoiled rotten by all his grandparents. As if we expected anything else. He always is. Then again, so was I. Cory decided to surprise me with Real Salt Lake season tickets. Awesome! Now, we will just have to find a weekly sitter for two little boys so we can get out just the two of us. The one downside, we set a budget, and blew it completely out of the water. But still managed to find a way to actually save money this month... Hmm, don't know how we did it, but I'm ok with it.

Last, but certainly not least, and really not last either. Many things happened this year that I am just not writing about. Anyway, we have decided to sell our house. Not because we have to but because we want to, and it will make our lives infinitely better. As most Americans are, we owe people money. Credit cards, student loans, cars. Mostly the usual. And we are sick of it. Because we bought our home as a foreclosure, we have a bit of equity. The plan is to sell our home, use the equity to pay off our debts, rent for about a year and then evaluate getting into another home. We should be able to get completely out of debt in that time. Which will be awesome because we can really start taking advantage of the wonderful jobs and schedules that we have.

And that is our 2013 in review. We are so excited for this next year. Here's to the New Year!

Happy Birthday! and New family pictures.

Holy cow. I cannot believe my little man is already one year old. It is almost shocking. We went and took some really great pictures and I am so excited to share some with you.

Here's the catch. That is going to be all you get for now. I'm not sure how best to display these. I want to order a large canvas, but we have so many already and we are running out of wall space. Plus I think Cory will kill me. So until I figure out what I am going to do, you just get this little teaser.

Easter style Color Festival

For Easter every year, the Hari Krishna temple in Spanish Fork has a Color Festival. Basically they make a ton of colored corn starch and throw it around making a huge mess and raising all kinds of money for the next year. It's surprisingly fun. The whiter the clothes you wear, the better.

What better way to celebrate Ace's first Easter than to experience some colored corn starch. Yeah. I took my 10 month old to the festival. It was fun. He was safe. We stayed in the back. Don't judge me (see super cute picture below, how can you not want some of that?)

Most people were super respectful and would either drop a little color on his back, or ask me if they could drop some on him. I was very impressed with the people. Ace seemed a bit skeptical. He is a people watcher and very much enjoyed watching all the people. Grandma Juls came with us and we had a super great time! I very much would love to do it again next year. I don't think I would take a little baby, but a 10 month old who can walk (and stay in the back) is probably not a big deal.

Broken

Yep, my age is finally getting to me. I still think I am super woman. I love playing soccer and probably always will, I just need to learn to do it like I'm getting older, not like I am still 17. On a side note, I did stop the guy from scoring... Just saying.

Ok so here's the story. I broke my shoulder. That sounds worse than it actually is. I broke my arm bone, near the shoulder. I went to dive, awkwardly, really awkwardly, and heard a very loud, very painful "POP". And then screamed.

We spent the better part of a few hours at the ER. Which wouldn't be so bad if our game wasn't an 11 o'clock game. We didn't get home until about 2am. But I was drugged and fell right asleep. I woke up grouchy and in pain, but what can you expect?

So what actually happened? My super strong shoulder ligaments tore the bone from where they connect to my arm bone. Sounds painful? Is painful. Here's to a few months recovering and praying that the ligaments themselves aren't torn.

New jobs means mom gets to be home more!

So Cory got a new job over the holiday season and started the 2nd of January. Which means that mom got a new job too. We actually switched jobs, kinda. Cory got a really good job with doTERRA as the Diamond Club Project Manager.

Which meant a few things: a) we needed someone to watch the baby, and b) my dad was out an employee. LIGHTBULB! I can come home and work for my dad. Thus eliminating the need for a babysitter and my dad won't be down an employee. Double score. I decided to still go in to doTERRA Wednesday's when Juls could babysit and Fridays when Lynne could.

The extra cool thing about this: we have essentially doubled our income. Which is extra awesome because we dug a small hole while I wasn't working after the baby was born. We won't recover overnight, but I can see it on the horizon.

Also, Cory's parents have been out to see us. They absolutely love being able to spend time with their grandkids (and kids) they spoil us rotten. From M&M's for me, to dad time for Cory, to small to-do's around the house, to more clothes and toys for Ace than we know what to do with. We sure do enjoy having them around, not just because they spoil us, but because it is nice to be around family. I wish Cory's family wasn't so far and scattered. I think he gets a little overwhelmed with my family being here and around all the time.

Aceson has mastered the army crawl. He is really quick too. It's only a matter of time before we are going to have to get some gates and lock this kid in.

December: The busiest month EVER

So let's run down the list of things we have done this month. Family pictures with the Hill's. It's been years, well maybe we never have, since we have done good family pictures and we decided to make a big, huge canvas for grandma Millie. I am actually super excited. Now that she has grown kids, and grown grandkids, and even quite a few great grands, it's about time she has a good family picture to look at and show off. The only person who couldn't make it was little Riker. Good thing Alesha is pretty good with editing and added him in like he had been there the whole time. No one will be able to tell he wasn't there for real.

Next we had my work dinner. Which was a lot of fun. Like usual. Giveaway's. Drawings. Good food. Good friends. Cute babies. Sounds like a great time. And it was.

Ace is trying to crawl. Yep, trying. He's not quite there yet, but if I put things in front of him and just out of reach, he stretches and twists and tries with all his might. He is able to scoot a few inches forward and gets better and better every day.

Hill family Christmas party. Baby's first Christmas is fast approaching. We opened our first presents and mostly Ace was interested in the paper (shocking right). Grandma opened her picture and loved it. She was so excited and happy to have a family picture. She said she hasn't had anything like that ever. So I am very glad that is what we decided to do.

Grandma Juls stayed the night Christmas eve because she had no where else to go. I am glad she did. I think it was really special for her to be around for Ace's first Christmas. Cory basically set him in the middle of the room and every time we opened a present he threw the paper in a pile around him. It was entertaining for a while, then the pile got bigger and Ace got less comfortable. He had a pretty good time though. Talk about spoiled. All of us really. We got a lot of things we didn't need or deserve, but are grateful for non the less.

Thanks everyone for making our first real "family" Christmas a really great one.

September/October/November

September:
This month, Cory (and Ace) had their very first real temple experiences. We went to the open house of the new Brigham City Temple with Heath and Linlea West. Then of course went out for some breakfast afterwards. It is a gorgeous temple. And Cory really enjoyed getting to see the inside for the first time.

We also got Aceson blessed this month. Grandpa Ron did the blessing. Ace cried, well screamed, the whole time. Then we had a great family bbq. Cory's parents were in town so we had all the families together. For as much strife as we were expecting, there really wasn't much.

October:
Ace is finally coming to terms with the carseat. As long as we can get a bink in his mouth (which he's starting to like also) and maybe a noisy toy above his head. Sometimes he plays and sometimes he falls asleep. There is a lot less screaming anymore.

We also experienced the baby's first snow this month. We woke up to almost 2 inches one morning and had to run out to take a picture. Ace was looking around and smiling and not really quite sure what to think. We might just have a snow bunny on our hands.

November:
Mobility! Yep the little man is starting to roll tactically. I mean he has been rolling for a while, but he is finally starting to realize that he can roll to actually get somewhere or something, not just to roll.

Dad and Ace planned out a great birthday for me this year. Took me out to dinner with our wonderful friends, the West's. Then for breakfast we went over to Kneader's for their wonderful cinnamon bread french toast. THEN Danaca and Phil watched the baby so we could have a night out at dinner and a movie. I am so lucky to have such a great hubby.