2013 in Review

It's been a year, so let's review:

Connor got Baptized!  Whoop-dee-doo!!!

 He flew to Colorado so surprise his cousin Tyson,

 While the rest of us here saw Shave-Ice and just had to buy some!

 Carly graduated preschool and was treated like a rock star.

 Todd and I celebrated 15 years, he got to eat some lobster.

Abi also graduated from Kindergarten.

Dakota makes our hearts melt, even when he's rotten 

 We babysat a bearded dragon, we were sad when the relationship was severed.

The older kids took a week long break with cousins out in Denver 

I took a trip to New Mexico, when grandma Smith passed away. 

 Carly took some scissors to her hair, now bangs are here to stay!

 Another pet we got to tend was little tiny Rocky

 The school year started up again, here's Connor looking cocky.

 Abi begged to take an apple to her First Grade teacher.

 Carly couldn't wait for new friends to get to meet her!

 For Halloween Abi begged to be Frankenstein's Bride

 While Connor wanted to let out the sorcerer inside.

 Carly simply had to be a princess oh so dainty,

 Dakota wanted for months and months, to be a tiger with orange painty

Our darling ballerinas had their very first dance recital. 

 Dakota moved up from nursery to something much more vital (sunbeams).

 Grandpa Smith sold his home and moved on up to Murray.

 Dakota never wants to nap, but falls asleep in places that have me worried.

 The boys want to be ninjas,

 The girls would like to cheer.

All in all, I'd like to say, it's been a pretty great year!

Cute rhymes aside, I can't sleep because I have been battling a stupid flu bug.  I took a couple of Tylenol PMs a few hours ago, but they seem to be having the opposite effect on me.

We took so very many trips to the farm in 2013, and every time we went, we had a fabulous time.  What a gift to have a place to escape to like that.  Multiple times we went down with extended family and a few other times we took different ward members.

Here is a quote from a funny "Abism" I took from Facebook:

I have to write this down before I forget a funny moment from this afternoon!

Abi came down into the laundry/craft area as I was making cards. She asked me what I was doing, so I turned to her, and using air quotes said, "I'm doing laundry." To which she quickly replied, also using air quotes, "No. You're not." Then she asked, "Why do people even do that anyway?" Referring to air quotes. 

She's only 6.

I quit working at Sylvan in August.  The hours that they needed me to work no longer meshed with the hours that I needed to be a mom, so I made the decision that seemed best for our family.  Thankfully Chris was willing to take me on at Leatherby's.  That didn't last long though, as I wasn't prepared for the late nights and long hours on my feet doing such fast paced work.  It takes a very special person to be able to keep up with all of that.  But then the opportunity arose for me to go to Real Estate school and get my license, it felt like the right thing to do for our family, so I jumped on that wagon and crammed as hard as I could and 6 weeks later finished school and had my license.

So for now, I am simply helping Todd with Design Work for UL Studios when the need arises, teaching Zumba for 3M twice a week and 3 times a week at the church, and have yet to show anyone my Real Estate skills.  I have appreciated that time I have had at home, more though.  I love being able to keep the kids on a routine and being the one to help them with their homework, even if their Spanish is beyond my level (Connor and Abi are AMAZING with it).

Grandma Smith passing was a bitter-sweet trip.  I was grateful for her to be past her physical pain and it was nice to take a road trip and escape the daily chores from home for a while.  We missed Grandma's graveside service because we had to stop and get mom and dad some soda's...but we all laughed about it in the end.

I was so excited when Angie lined up an opportunity for me to fly out to Denver and stay with them while doing a design job for herself and a gal in their ward.  I loved being able to put my creative skills to work and see some project come to completion.

Came across this Connorism that he said sometime in September shortly after school started up again:

While asking the kids to get their pajamas on for bed, and reminding them that tomorrow is school, Abi said, "Why do we have to go to school?" To which Connor replied, "Because we are on a train called Life heading to a station called Another Day" Wise words from an 8 year old.

And one from Carly:

This afternoon, Carly had a bag of CornNuts. I asked her if she could share a few with me. She happily put a few in my hand and I popped them into my mouth. She then said, "Here, mom, have some more. Those ones were dirty." "Dirty?" I asked. "Yeah, I licked them."

This happened:

Modern Day Communication in the Riches' Household
Me (texting from the basement to Connor who is on Todd's iPad):
Dear Connor,
Please come downstairs and start a load of your laundry.
Love Mom

No Response

Me: Where is Connor? (too lazy to go upstairs and talk to him face to face)

Connor: I'm on the ipad.I didn't want to so I ignored you

Me: Thank you for your honestyx

Connor: Why the x?

He came downstairs to do a load of laundry, then he said to me, "You know, you could have come upstairs and talked to me in person. And you never answered me when I asked, why the x."

Me: Typo.

Another Connorism:

"Imagination is the best thing to happen to this world."

Todd's business is doing well.  We've been at this for almost three years!!!  I am so proud of Todd.  This has not been an easy journey for him.  There have been months where we weren't sure if we would be able to pay all of our bills, but I know that if it weren't for our tithing and our obedience to this commandment we would not be where we are today.  We have been blessed with no major health issues, no major problems with our house or our cars and have been able to keep our children fed and clothed.  We get through most of the rough times with laughter, which is the main thing that attracted me to Todd when we first met.  He could always make me laugh and he still does.

I am being stretched and pulled and trying to become the better person that I know I should be.  Some days are easier than others.  Some days I just want to pack everything up and move to the farm and become a recluse, and only worry about myself and my children, for fear of what other people might think of me and the way I am raising our family.

Not because I worry too much about these kids, because they are AMAZING.  They make great choices (most of the time) and surprise me often with the depth and kindness that is within them.  I want to keep these kids to myself and always have them around me.  I love listening to them play with one another, laughing and talking about their days and making up stories and games.  It is selfish of me, I know, to want to keep them all to myself.  But they are mine and I love everything about them.  No one will ever love them like I do.

2014 is in full swing and I don't look too far into the future anymore.  I never know what the Lord has in store for us.  I just live each day as it comes and wake up with a smile on my face, ready for the promptings to tell me which direction to go in the morning.