Saturday, December 30, 2023

Goodbye 2023

Well 2023 has come to an end.  This year has been a pretty good one I think.  That is until this last week when everyone got sick... This cold going around is brutal.  I think I was more sick with this than I was with Covid.  I had a fever for 3 days. Then I was okay for one day while I went to work. The next day though I was in bed again all day long.  This time I puked once.  Since then I have just been so congested and the cough made my throat hurt badly.  I am getting a little better each day now though which is great.  It is crazy how you can go all year without being sick but then spend the last week of the year in bed.  Anyway Logan also had a fever and a cough and then Colby got it again and had a fever for 3 days.  Yeah for sickness...  Hopefully it all gets out of our systems so we can enjoy our cruise in a couple weeks.  

Anyway I guess one week of sickness out of 52 week is not bad odds. I will definitely take it.  

As I was saying, 2023 was a good year for us.  We had a lot of fun as a family this year.  The year started out kind of crazy with record breaking snow fall for months.  We made the best of it though by building snow forts, sledding, attempting to snowboard on the sledding hill, and learning how to snowshoe.  As the year went on and Spring and Summer finally arrived, we made good use of our Lagoon Season Passes and went to Lagoon almost once a week.  We were able to ride every ride, some of them multiple times, and we also experienced Frightmares for the first time.  This made the summer even more enjoyable.  When Summer turned to Fall and school got back in session, we spent a lot of our time at the kids different activities.  There were many Mountain bike rides, Marching Band competitions, Football games, and music recitals to fit into our schedules.  Winter brought an amazing experience at the St. George Temple open house and Dedication.  Celebrating all of the fun experiences we have had made the year fly by.  It really feels like we just started 2023.  

As I look back at the goals we set for this year, I don't know how well we did.  I think I completed one of the four goals I set for myself.  I did my physical goal of learning how to swim, swimming a mile and completing an Olympic Triathlon!  Learning to swim really took some patience.  It was probably 3-4 months until I really got it down well enough to feel like I could do the triathlon without drowning.  I have kept at it even after the triathlon and feel much more confident in the water than I did this time last year.  Go me!  My other goals really just kind of fell by the wayside.  My spiritual goal of attending the temple more often kind of went flat.  I did go to the temple a few times this year but I definitely can do better.  As for my educational goal of learning how to to family history, yeah that didn't happen.   I didn't get the kids picture books done either.  My journaling was better this year for about 3/4 of the year but the last quarter has nothing.  I guess that one is not a total bust then but there can be improvements.  Next year I need to not focus so much on physical and work on some of the others.

Russell also completed his physical goal of completing a triathlon.  He even did pretty well in the run he was worried about.  

Emily turned 15 this year and became a high schooler.  She is really busy with sports and band and other fun things teenagers are involved in.  She is on the honor roll and has a 4.0 GPA.  Emily's goal for this year was to join Marching Band and have fun with that.  She definitely did that and she learned a lot from the experience.  I don't know if she has decided to return next year but we left that up to her.

Colby turned 12 this year and received the Aaronic Priesthood.  He does a great job passing the Sacrament each Sunday and takes that job very seriously.  He is now a middle schooler and is learning to play the trombone in band.  Colby is also on the honor roll and doing well in school.  He likes anything sports and has really improved in mountain biking this year.  Colby's goal of moving into his own room downstairs did not happen this year but I know that will remain his goal until it does happen.

Logan is 10 and loves life.  He is very social and makes friends easily.  He is enjoying 5th grade and likes being in the portable classrooms outside.  Logan's goal this year was do learn parkour tricks and he has done that.  He loves going to parkour and gymnastics and is a natural gymnast.  He has even learned a back handspring and other tumbling tricks.

Charlotte is 7 and loves first grade.  She just loves school for the friend aspect.  Charlotte loves to draw and play Barbies and dolls.  Her goal of learning to play her Ukulele didn't happen this year but maybe in the future.  She did learn how to play the piano though and is loving her music class.  She is getting better the more she practices.

Brooklyn is 2 and the life of the party.  She is so outgoing and friendly that everyone loves her.  She loves everyone too and considers everyone her best friend.  Brooklyn's goal for this year was to be potty trained and she did it in February!  No more diapers for this family!  Brooklyn is my little tag-along and my buddy. We do everything together.

2023 you have treated us right.  Thanks for the great year! 

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