2013

Did you wonder if we ever got a Christmas card worthy family picture??  We did!!

 As we rang in the New Year, it was fun to think about everything that happened in 2013!  Here are a few highlights by the numbers!

1 new niece!  We were so happy to welcome Evie into our family this year!  It's fun to have a little bit of pink in the family that has only had grandsons up until now!

2nd grade.  What a difference a year makes.  2nd grade has been so great for Alex this year.  He absolutely loves his teacher and is making a few new friends in his class.  He is so much more independent this year and even decided to join Chess Club after school.  We are so proud of him and so relieved to have 2nd grade going so smoothly!

3 states visited this year!  Our travel this year took us to some familiar places (which also happen to be some of our favorite places too!)  We flew to Virginia in the spring, drove to Nebraska in the summer, and made a couple of trips to South Dakota to visit my mom and Mark and the Badlands!

This fall, Joe had 4 surgeries to deal with a large kidney stone.  This was probably one of the lowest parts of 2013.  

Alex rode the giant slide at the State Fair 5 times this year!  Always one of his favorite things to do at the Fair and I love his excitement for these simple things in life!!

I have worked at Berean for 6 years now!!  Wow!!  I continue to enjoy my job at Berean Baptist Church as the Business Manager.  Things are always hopping and so I keep plenty busy managing the finances, IT, and other church business-y things!  Plus, and I have a great group of co-workers, who always keep things lively and fun!

7 years since Alex joined our family!  We love our 7 year old, and he loves school, our dog Jilly, Ninjago, Angry Birds, science, reading, math, soccer, board games, and legos!

8 is the official number of geocaches we found this fall!  After our end of summer trip to Bemidji, where we were introduced to geocaching (using a GPS to find hidden items), we've had a lot of fun going to parks and around our city and trying to find the caches so that we can sign the log inside!  It's a great activity that our whole family can be a part of and gets us outside, moving around, and working together!

9 ladies dancing... wait, oops... wrong list...

Joe and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary this summer!  It's hard to believe that we've already been married that long.... our wonderful, hot, memorable wedding day, doesn't seem that long ago!

Now we're ready for a really great year in 2014!!!

(Here is the Christmas card that Alex really wanted to send!!!)