A Look Back on 2013

What a year 2013 was!  

Last January we started off with Greg officially moving back home after having been in Texas for 6 months. We recovered so well that thankfully it seems like that time period of 2012 never even happened. Greg has continued to enjoy his job with the new company he moved to a year ago in July and he is moving mountains with the work he is showing he can do. He recently was promoted to a principle consultant and has a small team reporting to him. It's only a matter of time before we see more excitement for him in his career!  He also ran another obstacle run-braving super freezing temps and with blue hair. Took me back to the high school days for a bit!  

After 6 years of being in claims, I had a big career change this year and I wasn't even looking for it. Early in the spring I was asked to apply for a temporary job on a project team that is building a new claim system for the company. I was excited when I was asked to join the team but even more excited about a month ago when I was offered a permanent position with the team that will continue to support the business after we roll out the new system. It's brought about a new challenge for us as a family as I am now also traveling. In August, I started a full 10 weeks of being gone. Thankfully, that part is over and the travel will alternate a bit but it still has me being away about 1-2 weeks a month. But I love what I am doing and love my co-workers so it gives me a good balance. My even bigger personal news was having my first article published in TWINS magazine early last summer. I took a leap of faith and sent them a piece I had written and was so shocked when I received an email that they wanted to publish it. Even more shocked when I actually got to see it in print. Hoping that as I find some additional time in my life, I can continue to write inspiring articles that others want to read and print. 

Taylor has had some new excitement this year in that he's a TEENAGER!!!  And in the last 6 months has grown about a foot. This is no joke. He went from being in a child's size 12-14 to a mens large!!  His pant length is longer than Greg's and his shoe size has also surpassed Greg at a 9 1/2!  I'm hoping that the growing slows down a bit but with the changes happening in his voice and the sight of his big ole man toes (the girls keep telling him he has man toes) I think I'm going to lose this battle. We are also losing the battle of time considering we are spending the year going through all of our "lasts" at BLRA.  Next year he will be moving on to high school so we are savoring every last bit of his time in middle school. He is doing just fine with it of course but I am having a rough time. I just can't believe that after this year we will only have 4 more years with him at home. We finished out our last season as BLRA Stallions on the football team. We couldn't have asked for a better way to go being the only BLRA team to go the entire season undefeated and winning the championship. We were so proud of these boys and of our Stallion family that we have created over the years. We were also extremely pleased when we finally made a decision on which high school Taylor would be attending. It was a comfort knowing we had picked the right place that would provide him the same type of environment we find now and that we will get to continue with our BLRA family through the next stage of our boys lives. 

Kaylie and Alyssa have had a great year as well. And yes I am writing about them together....these two girls have grown so much in the last year. Not only have they grown so much individually but I have to call out the growth I've seen in them as sisters. It's amazing to watch the two of them a-no matter how much they evolve in their own skins, they continue to grow closer as friends. They support each other and love each other like nothing I've ever seen-they make me jealous I never had a sister growing up. It's such great fun to watch them talk with each other and laugh with each other. Both of them continue to excel at school. They are both in the talented and gifted program and can't wait to get to middle school where they can be pushed academically just a little bit more. They are also both in National Elementary Honor Society and Yearbook Club and participated in the talent show. Very involved in their school!  Alyssa did have a grand adventure in breaking her arm during recital week-thankfully she was still able to dance and was a trooper all summer long having to wear the cast!  Kaylie found that she would be perfectly content as a zombie or a super hero or a zombie-superhero....especially when she has her sidekick Remi by her side. They both are still dancing and looking forward to going to California again to dance on the Disney stage this spring.  

Other than all of that, we are just moving along in this thing called life.  We are excited about what is ahead for us in 2014 and hope you all enjoy the brief look back on our life in pictures through 2013. So many of you were with us along the way and we are so thankful to have each and every one of you be a part of our lives. 

(Sorry for the three different videos-I was taking the easy way out and not merging them together this year. I hope you take the time to watch each of them-you might just find yourself in one of them!)
Part 1-Family

Part 2-Sports and Vacations (catch the typo)

Part 3-Friends and More (watch it a few times-it's a little fast!)