2014 - the busiest couple of weeks ever!

 Oh, how the days have been whizzing by! How can we only be a few weeks into the new year? It feels like time has been going by in the blink of an eye and has taken forever at the same time. There's been lots going on!

1. Stroller Strides had it's ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! I know, insane. 2013 was a great year - it marked me hitting personal goals (opening and owning my own business and, dare I say it?? - experiencing some success! Pretty stoked about the whole shebang!). It also unexpectedly became the best role model program type thing for my family - I can't even believe that the way Carter and Kota "play" is by seeing who can do the most step-ups on the stairs! Not that I'm trying to produce psycho fitness freak children, but hey! That's pretty cool!

2. Today is January 24th which means that yesterday was my 26TH BIRTHDAY!! I know, nuts! I love my twenties - they've been filled with having a blast in college, marriage, babies, moving from one home to another (and another and another), REAL faith, friends, watching friends experience aforementioned awesomeness and just an overall amazing time! I've always thought of 26 as being a legit year, I have no idea why, and I can say with all confidence that I feel exactly how former Nicole envisioned it! So woohoo to that!

^We went to the LA Zoo a few days after Christmas and Carter was in love with Santa's reindeer!

3. I observed at Carter's preschool class yesterday on the big BDAY! Truly, it was the best way to spend the morning. I canceled Stroller Strides that day because Thursday is my slowest morning and I figured doing that once for personal reasons was darn OKAY - right?? Anyway, it was such a treat! To watch my big dude interact with his AWESOME teacher and all the other kids was so wonderful. I gathered that the dude is a super awesome hand-raiser, especially when he wants to tell the group about the shot the doctor gave him for his 4 year checkup, he has made a connection and LOVES to play with/gets along with ALL the kids in class! I swear - every single one! And he's just a darn great, happy, outgoing, non-shy big dude! He's the best! 

The giraffe family of 4 that Kota was in love with :)

^This was a telescope to see the monkeys closer with, but Carter immediately jumped up on it and YELLED, "Hey Mom! Check out this pewer (pewer = gun that goes "pew-pew, pew-pew")!! I'm going to pew all these MONKEYS!!!" Hahahaha

^Hey look, people! It's me pushing a stroller without workout gear on! It's a miracle!

4. I've become re-obsessed with checking out Zillow. I just can't wait for us to kick this year's butt in the name of house buying for 2015! Now that I wrote that out I'm probably jinxing myself, but you know what? It's always on my mind, that darn house buying! I can't wait!

5. Chad has become interested in nutrition and I really am reveling in it. The guy has been kicking bad foods to the curb and seriously feeling great. I'm so proud of him! Again, this is another thing I probably shouldn't have written out due to cosmic universe jinxing powers, but it has to be said that the dude is a machine when he puts his mind to it! Proud wife, proud wife!

6. Okay I just remembered: we visited the zoo the day after we watched that documentary Black Fish - I was having a heart attack the whole time I was there! All of a sudden, every animal seemed like it was going to kill it's trainer because he/she was stuck behind bars!!! I felt really bad for the tiger, just pacing around there looking for her next meal in the form of whichever human was responsible for her non-wild habitat! Hahaha I'm glad I remembered feeling that way - Black Fish for the win!

The month of never ending celebrations!

 This is it for December: the forever most busy month of our lives! Gosh dang that month, it is fun and IT IS PACKED! We celebrate everything within those 31 days - everything. So here's to remembering our very tiny celebration on the 23rd for Carter's 4th (his actual birthday!) and Kota's 2nd with some awesome friends. We sure are lucky to have these people in our lives! See that little dude right there? Gavin! Carter and him will be starting Skate School tomorrow at Ice Palace - their first step towards the NHL, I know! Lexi, Gavin and Carter are buds and everyone's little sister's are pals - Kota, Sienna and Cailyn!

 ^Kota started getting shy so she hid behind her big brother. :)

The rest consist of KOTA'S dear that was not allowed to be touched by Carter without a massive scream that would rip through the peaceful Christmas tree place. Yep, those were my kids! Loud as can be :)

I'm going to write these facts down, dag nabbit

2013, the year of 25, was so gosh darn eye-opening it almost feels like I'll pop if I try to describe every new thing it taught me. It's so cliche: girl has what she thinks are life-changing epiphanies and ponders very deeply about them, but dag nabbit is it true. I learned that if I'm interested in something, dangit I'll be me the most dedicated and excited person on the planet while pursuing it. I also learned that I have a very lazy part of my personality and if I open that door, it will be like trudging through the snow for months to stuff all that laziness back into where it came from.

I learned that sometimes stuff takes effort, not everything is effortless. Relationships have generally been easy for me, but that's not always true when you think the world begins and ends with MY life, MY kids, MY business and MY husband. (Not necessarily in that order, haha.) I learned that relaxing and letting things flow is okay here and there - none of those aforementioned faucets of life will tank if I chill out. Real, person-to-person connections are the most gratifying (another epiphany), so spending "the time" became a necessity, not a (sometimes) burden. 2013 was also the year of learning that hard, hard work makes me very happy and fulfilled. If I let the lazy monster thrive, I become cynical and annoyed and basically take an all around down-on-myself U-turn. 

I learned I want grace to rule me when it comes to child raising and husband-taking-care-of. 

2013 was also the year of some fierce faith. In 2012, I prayed for a job that would allow me to use the gifts God gave me and he delivered big time (the next day, might I add!). After realizing that if your heart is true God will answer, sometimes in very subtle ways only noticeable in hindsight, 2013 became the year of "hands off the wheel." Life is simple when you let God do what he's there to do and dag nabbit it's more enjoyable that way. 

I re-realized that I'm creative, ruled by emotion most of the time and one of those people who are "in need of outlets" - once realized, business became better. If I don't have some fun, let-me-express-myself time, I start to feel dead. It's like rejecting who I am! I never felt like I overly denied that I'm a right brainer, but I definitely spent the better part of 2013 trying to master the left side of the brain - there's no need to do that, the right side is good enough! And more fun.

Anyhoo, here are my hopes for 2014. They're pretty general and broad, but if taken to heart, I think will have quite an impact:

1. Work hard. Nose to the grindstone. It makes for a happier, well-rounded attitude. And when it gets tough to work hard, take it week by week, or day by day or hour by hour.

2. Don't let the lazy monster rule.

3. Not to forget that Jesus has this. And to teach my family that fact.

^All in all, remember what I learned about myself in 2013 and go for 2014 with ferocity! 

Woohoo!