2010 year-in-review

I don't think of myself as being particularly voyeuristic, but I do love hearing about the lives of my family and friends. For this reason, one of my favorite parts about the holidays are the Christmas cards, and more so, the family newsletters/updates that accompany many of them. It seems however, that with our busy lives these days, fewer families are sending out these newsletters. I'm guilty of this myself. This year I felt like I was lucky just to get the stamps on the envelopes (and I thought my head was going to explode waiting for Jonah to lick each envelope...one after another, after another...). There was no way I could muster a family update. But now the holidays are well over, and while you didn't find it in your envelopes this Christmas, you can read our year-in-review right here.

I thought about going through month-by-month so I opened up my trusty calendar, thinking it would be easy to pull out all the brilliant things we did as a family...

Ha.

The first 5 months of the year consisted of nothing more than battling contractors, pulling all-nighters at the D Street house, and for me, working on the weekends. At the beginning of May, we decided that come hell-or-high-water, we WOULD BE MOVING in June. We went so far as to set a date. The date was to be almost 18 months from the day we closed on the house. It was a busy, emotional few weeks as we scrambled to get the house livable. My sweet sister came out to help finish last-minute projects and somehow we were able to pull it together in time. But then we had to pack.

Oh.my.word.

I had been trying to pack unnecessary things here and there, but really, I was spending about 20 hours a week working at the house in addition to my 20-40 hours a week working for my clients, so I hadn't been able to accomplish as much in advance as I would have hoped. I had my last wedding on June 8th and we were scheduled to move on June 12th (and by scheduled, I mean the truck was reserved and the Elders Quorum had us on the calendar). Oh -- and Jonah's last day of kindergarten was on the 8th as well, which meant I had two kids that I needed to pawn off on wonderful friends. So I had three days to pack an entire house PLUS a business. On the 10th, it was pretty obvious I wasn't going to make it. This was tragic since half our work-force (Tyler's family) was only available that weekend. We told his family that we were throwing in the towel, at which point they rallied together and told us we were going to move on Saturday, and they were going to help. My sister-in-law, Maren, was at the house bright and early on Friday, and lo and behold, together we got the entire house packed that day. That evening, Clayton, Kylie, Jordan, Ashley, and Randy showed up to move Whimsy's inventory and coolers. They packed the moving truck to the brim and had it unpacked at the house a couple hours later. The boys were staying the night with my in-laws, and by 3:00 AM, Tyler and I had all the furniture taken apart and we collapsed in our sleeping bags. Everything was ready to go. The next morning, the guys from the ward showed up at 8:30 AM. I decided to take a load of personal stuff to the house at 9:00 AM, and by the time I got back, the truck was loaded. Amazing. We all drove to the house to unload the truck, and I think we had the Elders Quorum done and on their way by 11:30 AM? (One of the wives later told me that her husband said it was the most organized, painless move he's ever been a part of. Best compliment ever!) Our families stuck around to make beds and unpack the bathrooms, kitchen, and pantry, and we had a nice lunch and then sent everyone off around 1:00 PM. I couldn't believe how smoothly it all went. I was able to spend the afternoon unpacking, and even had time to drop off thank-you cards and loaves of bread from the bakery to our moving helpers.

As you can guess, the remainder of our year has been consumed by settling into this house. In addition to our continuing cosmetic projects, we've had some major headaches as well (like the time we were told we needed to replace our main sewer line...a week after we moved in!). But all the same, we love this charming little house, and this quiet little neighborhood.

Other 2010 happenings:

Tyler was promoted to "Clinical Scientist" this year, and shortly after we moved, he also started supervising his lab's evening shift. Can you say awesome?! I live in a world where my husband gets my son ready in the morning, takes him to school, chaperone's every field trip, gladly accompanies me grocery shopping, has time to tinker around the house and work on projects, and allows me to take off at a moment's notice -- child-free. I've been a lucky gal. In September, Tyler crashed his mountain bike on a rocky trail and consequently broke his elbow. He was banged up pretty bad, but that didn't keep him from ripping out and replanting the entire front yard landscaping before he even got the green-light from the doctor to remove his sling. What a [stubborn] stud.

I, on the other hand, remained a slave to my work for the better part of the year. I had an epiphany-inducing experience at the start of the year that really got me thinking about my priorities. I finished out the 2010 commitments to my clients and then chose not to renew all but one of my advertising outlets for 2011. After so many years running this business, its my desire to be more accessible to my children that has prompted me to pull back professionally. We're putting a lot of faith in the Lord that we'll be able to swing this financially. I'll still take a handful of weddings in 2011, but hopefully, Whimsy will now take its rightful backseat to the family. (That's not to say I'm not constantly thinking about new, less time consuming projects to bring in some additional income!) Other not-so-noteworthy things I did: cut my bangs (something I said I'd never do), joined a neighborhood "Joy School" group for Sam (something everyone else said I'd never do), and learned how to make a semi-decent dinner roll (something I never thought I'd do, but I'm still working on that one).

True to the previous 6 years of his life, Jonah's year was an eventful one. He finished kindergarten, learned to ride a bike, shared a room for the first time, kept the Tooth-Fairy in business, started the first grade, turned 7, became obsessed with all things Pokemon, finished the first five volumes in the Harry Potter series, upgraded from his Gameboy to a Nintendo DS, and won his grade's "Reflections" art contest. He's reading from the fifth/sixth-grade reading list at school, and he claims he plays basketball during recess. (What?!) He was diagnosed in early-fall as having ADHD, and we've spent the last part of the year trying to get his medications all squared away. As always, he's been a champ and has maintained a great attitude through it all.

Sam...What to say about this little monkey? He's adorable. Just adorable. And sweet. But stubborn. And hilarious. And exasperating. (Three year olds!) In 2010 he conquered potty-training and started Joy School, developed a fondness for Darth Vader and other villains, and devoted the majority of his time to terrorizing his older brother. He's always dressing up in some costume or another, he loves any and all forms of music, he prefers to always be on the go, and his favorite thing to do (outside of teasing Jonah) is eat. Breakfast, first lunch, snack, second lunch, snack, early-late snack, after-school snack, grazing, dinner, dessert, midnight snack. For Christmas he only asked for an Easy Bake Oven, which he received. He's a crack-up. And thank goodness, Sam is still a squishy little dude, which makes me want to cuddle him constantly...if only he wouldn't squirm so much.


So in 2010 we stayed close to home, but as it turns out, that's exactly where we wanted to be. It was a fun, adventure-filled year, spent in here in SLC. The kind that makes you look forward to years to come.