I created this 4x6 collage photo with my Project Life app and then opened it in my Rhonna Designs app to add the text. I then printed it at Walgreens near my home. This was supposed to be my Christmas photo this year, since I didn’t create or order a photo card. BUT, all 80 of this prints are still sitting on my kitchen counter and there are exactly ZERO Christmas cards purchased or sent. I did look on Amazon for New Year’s cards but came away uninspired. My goal this weekend is to decide—I’m giving myself until Saturday night, to either purchase some kind of card OR throw the prints away, ha!

In the meantime, I’d LOVE to wish my blog readers a Happy New Year and recap a few of our 2019 highlights, as pictured above …

1. Taft, our youngest son graduated from high school. This is a big deal (obviously) for him as the culmination of his public school years, but monumental for me as well because I have driven a well-worn path between my home and Central Valley High School for years. There are so many places that become a part of our stories and then suddenly aren’t anymore. This was an end of an era that began in 2007. Our district is currently building a new high school, closer to us so Addie will attend there. She talks often about 4 brothers who were bears and their little sister who will be a falcon.

2. Geoff and I celebrated 30 years of marriage. Another big deal. We enjoyed a super FUN trip with our dear friends, Randy & Diane Smith, with whom we traveled to Hawaii in 1999 to celebrate 10 years. Since then we have discussed the amazing places we would go to celebrate our 25th or 30th anniversaries—the Smiths were married in June, 1989. We attended their wedding—on a date! Anyway, as it turns out Europe or some other exotic destination just isn’t in the cards for either of us right now, so we settled on the convenient and absolutely gorgeous red rocks of Southern Utah. The Smiths drove up from Santa Barbara, CA and stopped to pick us up from the Las Vegas airport.

3. Trey is currently serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is in the Hermosillo mission in Sonora, Mexico. I LOVE having a missionary out because of the growth they experience and the spirit that resides in our home when we are constantly praying for, thinking about and writing to a missionary. Gratefully, Trey will be home in September!

4. Addie and I started homeschooling together. I NEVER thought this was something I would do—nor did I ever understand WHY someone might choose to homeschool. I just never really paid attention to any of it—but, my sister Darci made the decision about a year and a half ago to homeschool her FIVE children and through her I found myself growing more and more curious. Addie has struggled in school for a long time and in spite of an IEP and the guarantee of great teachers and extra attention and help, I just didn’t feel good about her moving into middle school. I decided last May to go for it and the crazy thing is I LOVE it—and most days, Addie does too.

5. This family and our complimentary strengths. As my children are growing into adults I’m realizing how truly unique and distinct they are in their personalities. We thoroughly enjoy being together and we’ve decided we are really good at escape rooms—it’s something about the mix of word and number puzzles and quirky locks and logic and of course the time limit that puts us at our best and allows us to leverage our individual gifts, towards a common goal. We’ve now experienced four different themes or rooms and we’ve escaped three times—once after we purchased an extra 15 minutes!

6. We are going to be grandparents. THIS is probably the most exciting highlight of all. In June, when Clark and Lauren came to visit—for Taft’s graduation. Clark walked in wearing a baseball hat backwards. He asked if we had chips and salsa so I ran downstairs to bring some up—when I returned, he had turned his hat around and it took me all of about 3 seconds to notice the word, “Daddy” on the front. My reaction was swift and enthusiastic—I AM GOING TO BE A GRANDMA 👵🏼 and I couldn’t be more excited. Lauren’s due date is January 29th, so stay tuned!

2019 was another year filled with firsts and lasts and too many memories to count. I’m grateful for the BIG milestones and the small moments—I’m ALL in for all of it. This is my TopNine images on Instagram and it’s interesting to me how many of the same highlights from in our would-be Christmas care are featured here—as confirmed by ‘likes’ on social media.

I think if I had to choose a personal growth highlight it would be starting and sticking with my podcast—I published my 50th episode this morning. I’m teaching online again—kind of a dream come true.

Listen to Exactly Enough Time or learn more about my class!
AND, have a 🎉 Happy New Year!