2013 In Pictures

Happy New Year (late)! How were your holidays? Ours were fast and furious and I can barely believe it's all here and gone. But you know what that means? It's time for the annual year in review via pictures. There are tons of pictures coming your way so here we go!

~January~

There was tons of snow and ice last January, remember? There were a couple of mornings that Dad would go out to get the car started and find a happy little snowman built onto the car. Our neighbor pal would ensure that Dad had Frosty as a companion for his commute to work. :)

 ~February~

Grandma Jack's birthday is in February and this year we thought it would be fun to surprise her by decorating the outside entry to her house the night before her birthday. All of us girls and Mom went over there when we were sure that Grandma would be asleep and we put up ribbons, streamers, and balloons all over, it was so fun!

                                                                            ~March~
This turned out to be quite a month. Of course we performed for St.Patrick's Day but I was sick for most of it and only got to come in for the last few. I also got to go to the temple and that was the best thing ever! It was such an amazing day and made even better by having tons of my family there as well as some of my best friends who have been such a major part of my life.

 Also in March I made my first lone road trip over to the beautiful land of Rexburg (it really is pretty out there in the country and someday I'd love to see it in the warm weather). Ben and Kim were great to let me crash their busy week and take the time to show me around! It was quite the adventure. We even got to do a session in the Rexburg temple, which was so awesome!

                                                                         ~April~
 One of the big things that happened in this month was our little cousin Morgan getting married. Ok, so she's 20, but she's still little to me. :) I got to be at their sealing - so neat to finally be inside for a cousin's wedding.

                                                                             ~May~
Kelani went to prom with Preston in May so I got to tag along to take pictures before they actually went to the dance. Those two are always cracking each other up so it was pretty entertaining. I think in this shot, Nani had just been ambushed by a fly or something and she'd freaked out for a second. Goofball!

 Also in May us three girls threw a Mother's Day brunch for Grandma, Mom, and her 3 sisters. It was fun hanging out in the kitchen all morning as we got all the food ready. These gals are quite the combo and we always find ourselves laughing at what un-expected things they'll say next.

 And Mother's Day was also the first time we got to see David since he'd left in November. We got to Skype with him for a little while and it was so fun!! Other than his hair style, I don't think he'd changed much - definitely as much of a smarty pants as ever; turns out I'd missed that more than I realized. :)

                                                                        
                                                                          ~June~
Looking back on all the pictures I have from June, it was pretty packed! Part of it was spent with two of our cousins while they stayed with us for a few days while our aunt and uncle were out of town. We filled those days full of different summertime activities like, going to the greenbelt, a picnic at Grandma's, and even a trip to the Emmett Cherry Fest where I had a dance performance, not to mention some intense rounds of "Just Dance" with them on the Wii.

 Speaking of the Cherry Fest, Mom, Nani, and I also got to play "fan girls" when we caught up with our longtime pals, Spencer's Own (who used to be called The Standards) during their performance one of the nights there. I've been listening to these guys since I was 10 or 11 and at this point I guess our family has become acquainted enough with them to even call them friends - if the fact that after all these years, and all their shows throughout the States, they remember us and spend time catching up with us after a concert qualifies as friendship, and why not? :)

Malia's birthday is in June so we had fun celebrating that, along with Father's Day, which is usually right around the same time.

                                                                            ~July~
In July one of our really good family friends, whose family now lives in Utah, had their 4th baby. We've been around for all their babies being born so it was kind of sad not to be close for this one. So Mom and I packed up and drove over to see them and help out for a few days. Since Machelle's mom was on a mission by then, we hoped we could be a little helpful, rather than in the way, and at least be around to play with the older kids. It was nice to spend time with them and make sure those kids don't forget about us! :)
                                              Garrett reading to Mom.

The whole crew busy playing with some of the toys we brought to try out with them. Look how teensy their new little sister is! I haven't seen her since then so I'm sure she's growing up way too fast! It was so nice of Machelle and Logan to let me take so many turns cuddling Baby to try and get my fill before we had to leave.

It was the 4th of July while we were there so we all went out on their driveway that night to watch fireworks and light a few of our own.

                                                                          ~August~
One of our other best family friends had their first baby in June so we were lucky enough to be invited to his baby blessing a few weeks later. This is another one of my favorite babies to spend time with, and these guys are such fun parents for him! It's always fun to see people you're close to as they become parents and start raising their own families.

In August we also had our big family reunion at the Farm, even though prep for it started a long time before it actually happened. Dad worked for months on his indestructible Hulk pinata and it really was a wonder by the time it was finished.

I think the food fight was one of my favorite activities, and I'd gladly do that again anytime!

Also in August we had a super neat opportunity to be part of with our Irish dance group. We were invited to perform at Maureen O'Hara's birthday party, which she was actually there for, right here in Boise!! If you don't know who she is, then you definitely need to watch at least one of these movies: "The Quiet Man", "McClintock" (both with John Wayne, who is also worth watching), or "The Parent Trap" (the original version). She's been in way more than those, but those are my favorites. It was just so surreal to be on stage and look out into the audience and see Maureen O'Hara looking back at you. Wow.

 At the end of August we performed in La Grande at their Highland Games, which we've been doing for the past few years. It's always an adventure and definitely turned out to be again this year. I was with our friends the Ingrams for the trip and we discovered (quite by accident) a...quaint old hotel in Oregon that we later found out had been featured on a show about some of America's most haunted buildings. The creepy part is that it still functions as a hotel now, but you'll never catch me checking in to stay there!

                                                                        ~September~
In this month we had a Labor Day picnic of sorts down at the greenbelt, which also included Dad and Malia both trying to float part of the river together on the same tiny tube. No bueno. But it was great fun to watch from the greenbelt. :)

We did our traditional Women's Fitness Walk and one of our friends even came with us this year. Grandma and Mom decorated BSU hats for all of us to wear, but the second we took the picture, all hats came off except for Mom and Grandma's. I guess the rest of us are just party poopers, but what can you do?

                                                                     ~October~
Another tradition we have is to watch General Conference in October with our friends, the Ingrams (and now Griggs). It didn't happen quite the same way as it has in the past, but we still got together and had a great time! The homegrown pumpkins were place holders in the pictures for our two missionaries who will both be home this year!! Their brother Spencer will be home from S.Africa in August and then David will be home from Brasil in October!!!

David turned 20 in October so we emailed him, asked what sounded like a good birthday dinner, then fixed it and ate it without him! :) But we did send him a picture so he wouldn't feel left out. Dad always claims that his plate of food looks "good enough to be on a commercial", but I guess the blog will have to do.

                                                                    ~November~
This is the month of Mom and Dad's anniversary so while they were out for their anniversary date, us girls made this poster and went and stuck it in the front window of their car to surprise them! Aren't we sneaky?

Hardy, the 4th cousin to serve a mission, left for Uruguay right before Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving I was excited to try my hand at making a cheesecake! Mom has pretty much already mastered it, so with some instruction from her I made a pumpkin cheesecake with gingerbread crust and candied pecans. It was so fun! Of course, you could only eat about three bites before your blood sugar shot through the roof, but I think it was worth it. :)

                                                                ~December~
We made it!! I couldn't fathom how December was all of a sudden here. Luckily my finals got over just in time and I was able to wrap up some last minute things for Christmas.
  On Christmas Eve we all went to Grandma Jack's house and had dinner and opened a few presents from aunts and uncles. One of our aunts got us these crocheted headbands so we decided they needed to be tried out right then. :)

Christmas day I think the thing we were all looking forward to the most was getting to Skype with David! He got on at 3:00 our time and we had a good little reunion via the internet. At his first sight of Dad he exclaimed, "Oh! You're getting chunky!" Ha! He hasn't changed much after all. We also got to meet his companion (who is the other guy in the picture) as well as half of Brasil. Ok, not that much, but there were people coming and going the whole time and they all wanted a turn in front of the camera. It was something else! But David is doing really good and we're looking forward to one last Skype on Mother's Day!

We went to the Farm the day after Christmas and got to spend a few days with our family there. This year for the name exchange, we did a book swap. I thought that was actually a pretty fun idea to change things up a little. Grandma Farns drew Dad's name and re-gifted some of Grandpa's old joke books to him. 

 

While we were in Jerome, my cousin and his wife moved back to Rexburg so on Friday we made an impromptu trip over there to check out the new house. My aunt is the one who will actually be moving there after she gets home from her mission, but she's invited anyone who wants to go to school at BYU-I to stay at the house. It's a super neat place right on Main St. as you're coming off the freeway, so it's nice and close to the school. Anyway, a whole bunch of the cousins and a few aunts, and Grandma all made the drive over and we ended up having yet another dinner party together before heading back to the Farm that night. Maybe I'll show some of those pictures in another post sometime.

Anyway, to end the year of 2013 we were asked to Irish dance at the Potato Drop downtown. It's amazing the kind of events we get into with our dance groups. It was freezing down there but we had a good time.

There it is - the famous potato! More than one of us was wishing it had been a real potato and that it somehow could have dropped through a grate and been made into huge fries or something... :)

 The Ingrams and I posed with the potato in the background then hurried back to their house to thaw, eat tasty enchiladas, and wait for the new year to start!

 This is really just a brief over view of what the year has been. Some things are hard to put into words or capture in a picture, because of the ways we grow on the inside. It was a year full of growth and challenges, and opportunities I'd never expected and wouldn't trade for anything. It was also a year to become closer and better friends with people I've looked up to and enjoyed as long as I've been able to know them, and I'm excited for all those friendships to continue and become stronger throughout this new year.
  And our family really has some fun things to look forward to this year with David getting home in 9 months!! So here's to 2014 and all the possibilities it holds!