2013 Review Extravaganza--Part 1

Once again I am linking up with Emmy mom for the 2013 Review Extravaganza--four posts over four weeks dedicated to reviewing my blog entries, one quarter at a time, for the entire 2013 year. I look forward to this every December, because it gives me a chance to reread all I've written about my family over the last year and remember.

January

I began the year with a resolution to ACT--act with purpose, act not react, and act in service to others every day.  It was a resolution that I managed to keep in my mind most of the year.

We took family pictures.   Yeah, we really are that crazy.

I learned a profound lesson from my three-year-old "Lessons from a Red Tricycle on a Slow Day."

Hyrum started (and quit) karate.

Evie bit her tongue and Brad produced an awesome video about it.

Brad surprised me with the biggest surprise ever--he had my kitchen painted white while we were out of town for a week.

I had a "favorite things" week, with the highlight being a review of my all-time favorite book.

And we had the hardest freeze in decades, killing most of the vegetation in our front yard.

February

Micah broke his collar bone while playing football in the front yard on Super Bowl Sunday.

I began a nine-week photography course, and from that point  on, I saw marked improvement in my pictures.

I went on a rare political rant about the state of our country and how we are losing perspective on the value of work. Then I had another rant about work spurred by an NPR broadcast.

Then I ironically went on a tirade about how hard it is to teach my kids to work.  No, the irony is not lost on me.

And it SNOWED in Mesa!  That is a day we may never see again.

I reorganized, repainted, and restocked my pantry.  This post had more hits than any post all year (4096, to be exact), because I submitted it to I HEART Organizing, and she featured it in one of her posts. I was quite proud.

Lily ran in her first cross-country meet.  I expect to see many more of these in the future.

I recapped my efforts to ACT in February, where I became more accepting of myself and forgave a young woman who rear-ended our Suburban.  I had totally forgotten this had happened, and that's the primary reason I love this extravaganza.

March

James came to stay with us for a few months.

I ran my first half-marathon in four years.  It was one of my biggest achievements of the year.

The auction fairy struck, and I got a steal-of-a-deal on an area rug for my living room.

I took one of my favorite pictures of the year--an assignment for my final photography class--Micah at the piano.

And another of my favorite images--of our peach tree in bloom.

We stayed home for spring break, taking the kids to the zoo and on a hike up to the wind caves.

 I gave a little update on me, and rugby started for the two big boys . . .

Lily got her final Christmas present--a week in Idaho going to culinary school with my sister and visiting Heidi's family, and our family participated in Mesa's annual Easter pageant.

I summed up the first quarter of 2013 with my third evaluation of my ACT goal--and looking back at these posts, I can see how much that goal changed me over the course over the year.

Thanks, ladies, for hosting this every year.  It takes so much time to review every single post from the entire year, but I loved remembering with you!