my golden year

25 has been so good to me.
it happened to be everything i needed
i don't know if everyone can say this, but i think i really came into my own.

my health finally seemed to balance out.

i worked on conquering my fears. i can confidently say i've mastered my fear of snakes. my heart no longer races when i come across them, i don't even run away. the true test of accomplishment was when we went hiking up grove creek and cezar happened to walk right over a very large snake and my foot was next in line.  we both held our ground and even turned around to get a better look at it and make sure it wasn't a rattler. i'm no longer baby stepping it... i'm taking giant strides. {i will say that holding them will never be on the docket... at least i'm no longer living in fear of them}

i never would have thought that my family roots/heritage would surface to the extent of it this past year. my grandpa is a farmer. i grew up around it. we even had chickens in the backyard of our house in springville. a small orchard and large garden. harvest season was spent with my momma in the kitchen canning and putting up goods for the coming months. preserving the wonderful bounty of the season. we would visit the garden center, occasionally join grandpa in the field for melon picking, or early morning raspberry picking with mom hoping to beat the heat. {we never escaped the mosquitoes though}. we played in the fields, climbed mountains of dirt and loved the animals grandpa keeps around for pumpkinland. i have incredible memories of those years.... but boldly declared that would never be anything i'd want to follow footsteps in. oh the endless amount of 'nevers' that i've eaten.... my heart is in the farm, the garden and everything that i enjoyed as a child but never thought would be my love in adulthood. my dream now is to live on the outskirts, have a couple acres of land, chickens, livestock, gardens... my own little homestead.

until then i'm making my little corner lot my little mini homestead. fruit trees, gardens, sustainable landscaping. and i'll spend the summer months bottling up the harvest season.




a few things that remind me that i'm turning into an 'old fart' --
comfort wins over style. our hybrid takes the cake over mitchel's past sports cars.
early bedtimes and waking up early to enjoy some of the day that isn't spent at work.
days off turn into catch up days at home
fire works are fabulous in the right setup otherwise i'm my father's daughter and they make me nervous
i may be the neighbor who also calls the cops on other neighbors for lighting fireworks off in june....
country music wins on the radio. the hip hop, rap, and what ever popular songs are just noise to me.

tomorrow brings another year. another year of discovery, challenges 

and learning a little bit more about myself. i don't find getting older daunting.

"another year older and wiser too.... happy birthday to me." 

update on this years goals....

2012

- finish the new flower bed along the south of the front yard. including a stone path a bistro table. -- i continued to work on the corner but didn't get the opportunity to polish it off.
- i wanted to get our photos taken professionally. -- didn't happen
- build a pergola over the back patio. -- far from happening. but mitch did build a big gate into our fence.
- be more creative and artistic. -- i made small progress here. i managed to make a few cards, craft here and there and even learned how to crochet this past week.
- scrapbook our wedding. -- i didn't even come close to accomplishing this goal. i did manage to get some photos printed off though. not necessarily wedding photos though. baby steps {?}
- read more books. -- check. granted it wasn't as many as i had hoped but more than i have in past years :)
- maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet. -- with mono and being hypothyroid, i started the year of needing to jump start this area. i feel like i incorporated new habits like drinking more water and being more active.
- exercise. go to the gym 3x a week. working out with mitch. be consistent in walking the boys and help jake lose some weight. -- i started the year off strong. i got into the habit of working out but slacked off during the busy season. i managed to keep my side of the goal for most of the year. jake still needs to lose some weight... 
- finish decorating my office. -- i'm not ready to check this off the list but progress has been made.
- paint our living room wall. -- check!
- finish decorating our home. -- didn't make too much progress here.
- nurture my marriage. -- i feel like i've made good progress here. naturally it will continue to be a goal of mine through the years.
- compete in a triathlon with mitch. -- no luck here.
- hike mt. timpanogos. -- no luck here either.
- hike the subway at zions. -- we checked this off our list. it was a grand adventure!
- vacation to disneyland. turned booked a cruise to the caribbean instead. -- no luck on either account. the cruise line cancelled our cruise and refunded us. we are planning on disneyland in 2013 though.

thanks for the memories 2012

2012 was quite the year for us. i had high expectations and gratefully the year did not disappoint. it really was my year.

january started out a bit rough.... mitch and i stayed home and rung in the new year playing games and spending time together. cezar injured his leg somehow new years eve and wouldn't use it. actually he could barely walk. a trip to the vet on monday showed no serious injury and seems to have sprained it somehow.  the jetta died on us at the car show mid january and we got lucky with an incredible deal on the Z. i also found out that i had mono on top of being hypothyroid.

february things started to swing upwards for me. i was still feeling the effects of mono and was learning how to deal with my health limits. we celebrated valentines and i managed to surprise mitch with a car full of ballons and a few gift cards to the car wash and his favorite smoothie place. work was showing all the signs of spring. which is undoubtedly my favorite time of year there. grandma holdaway was struggling with her health and we thought we were going to lose her. i was able to extend myself and help out at the house with her and grow to love her in a whole new capacity. i also started practicing yoga and it brought a new balance and happiness to my life.

march. all my spring shipments started arriving. i was feeling a bit better health wise. i located some darling baby silkie chicks which started my desire to have chickens. mitch and i finally conquered our main wall and painted over the not so lovely nutmeg color.

april i tackled more than i could handle. i was busy in the greenhouse trying to keep on top of everything. amy texted me to see if i'd be interested in helping her out again with the boys. i absolutely wanted to do so and figured out a way to squeeze her into my schedule. mitch was hesitant and i felt like i could be superwoman...... i quickly realized that 50+ hour weeks weren't going to be in my favor and that the garden center needed my full attention. not to mention i felt like i was taking way too many steps backwards in my health.

may. the busiest month of the year for me. april showers bring may flowers... and mother's day brings out all our customers. i managed to get my garden started and spent as much time with the boys as i could.

june. we celebrated mitch's birthday. spent time with friends and family. i was finally feeling on top of the world health wise {as much a possible} i was started to enjoy the first of my garden harvest. we squeezed a few hikes in with the boys. abby had my take her and russell's engagement photos too.

july was a busy month for us. we started out celebrating my birthday and having an adventure down in zion's subway. nanna joined us on our vacation along with mom and dad dayley and ashley and brendon. abby and russell got married on the 14th. plus we survived all the smoke in the air from the many many wildfires.

august i was thrilled with being able to harvest lots of goodies from my garden. we added a few new toys to the household - mitch got his fourwheeler and i in turn got a camera upgrade :) we attended the salt lake city farmers market. i got to being the 'photographer' for my cousins wedding. plus we managed to fit in a boating trip with joe and his girlfriend. on top of everything... i seemed to be the only employee that was able to work that month. everyone one had vacations and previous engagements.

september we celebrated cezar's 2nd birthday. made a day trip to idaho to surprise grandpa hatch for his 80th birthday and visit my grandpa taylor. harvest season was in full swing and i finally got to taste the joy of digging in the garden for the potato harvest. it's like a treasure hunt. finally manged to get back into the swing of yard work. the summer heat had taken it's toll on me and the yard. plus we had a overnight camp trip to the dunes with joe and alyson. it was quite the adventure sleeping under the stars, joe burning his hand on the camp ring and a fox sneaking into camp. it was the perfect little getaway.

october came and so did pumpkinland. the 2nd busiest season for me. {a double dose of birth control} our theme was alice in pumpkinland which was by far the most favorite from all the years. we also made an unexpected trip to idaho to be with family with grandma dayleys passing. we were grateful we made it in time to say goodbye. mitch was also studying for his 66 license exam. gratefully he passed even with all the current challenges. we also celebrated our 3rd anniversary. worked on conquering my fears of snakes and scary movies and haunted houses.... i'm better than i was. and we also traded in the Z for a hybrid. the Z was allergic to snow and we are old people now and enjoy the comfort of a full sized car ;)

november brought new changes to work. sanna left and i became the manager. there was a lot of clean up from pumpkinland to be done and getting ready for the holiday season. yay poinsettias. we went shooting with abby, russell and nanna. i got to try out my new gun. and it was a perfect way to dispose of some excess pumpkins. and of course we celebrated thanksgiving with the people we love the most.

and last but not least december. we had beautiful weather for most of the month. i managed to plant garlic around the 7th. i also got to take abby and russell's christmas photos/we are having a baby pictures. after 3 years of marriage we finally made it to temple square with the dayley family. enjoyed a wonderful dinner and mom dayley said we should offically adopt nanna into the family since she is always joining in on our fun. plus i am tickled to say that we had the best poinsettias sells in the past many many years. at least in the 10 years i've been working. it feels good to see so few at the end of the holiday. we also enjoyed a very wonderful and blessed christmas with each other and our families. and i've finished the year out with the week off and enjoying time with the boys!

2012 had some ups and downs and some health challenges. but i'm so blessed and have truly felt like i have come into my own self. i have to declare that it is the best year yet!! i am sure that 2013 will be filled with it's own challenges and good moments but 2012 has been very good to me. i may just be a tiny bit sad to say good bye to it. thanks for all the memories this year... and here's to the next. may you be just as wonderful and fulfilling!

Dear 2011

January

At work I spent the month cleaning and getting everything ready for spring

The boys made plenty of messes

Cezar lost his manhood.

Mitch also got a new job at an investment firm

February 

Beautiful valentine roses

Brunch with the hubby before work

March

We spent lots of time together

all my plugs started arriving... which meant I got really busy

We went to the home show up at the expo center.

It was fun and we got inspired

I painted my office a beautiful bright teal

April

Mitch passed his Series 7 and 63 for work

new Jeep and iPhones

I spent a lot of time at work

as well as helping my grandparents move into their new home.

oh the nightmares of moving someone after 50 years in a home...

{scary doesn't even begin to describe it}

I was called to serve as the Secretary in Primary 

May

my grandparents home was demolished.

it was heart breaking

I spent as much time gardening as possible

Nanna graduated from high school!!

She even walked with Honors

{just like me}

June

Mitch turned 25.

We took my sisters to Lake Powell for a mini vacation

Down side... the water was incredible cold 

and the weather was less then ideal

So we headed home a day early and took them to Lagoon

July

I turned 24

We spent a lot of time giving our kitchen and bath a face lift

Home renovations are... challenging but worth it

August

Start of the canning season

Dilly Beans!!

We joined my family in Yellowstone

Camping

sight seeing

eating food 

September

Canning season

Mitch and I managed a weekend getaway to Zions.

We even checked off one of our bucket list items...

Hike Angels landing

October

We took my girlfriend Jaclyn shooting...

She ended up scooping herself.

{Luckily her husband and son still let her hang out with us ;) lol} 

Mitch and I celebrated our 2 anniversary

we spent the weekend down in Las Vegas.

walked way to much, ate delicious food and did some shopping :)

November

We spent Thanksgiving with Mitch's family

Incredibly yummy food and excellent company

I also found out that I'm Hypothyroid.

which explained a lot of things health wise this past year

December

Every year we gather as a family at my grandparents and help my grandpa with his 'bag' program.

We fill little Christmas bags full of toys and treats

then my grandpa takes them to a school for the handicap

We had a very magical Christmas filled with lots of goodies and family.

2011 you were a good year,

even with all the ups and downs

Thanks for all the memories!!