The Best Moments of 2014 according to me

I have been thinking a lot recently about what a fun year 2014 was for my family.  We did all our normal daily stuff and visited some of the same places this summer.  Some new things happened and places were seen.  Not every moment, day, or week was great.  But overall, when I think about 2014 and look at all my pictures the good definitely existed and we had an awesome year. 

In January I took the girls on a surprise trip to visit Kelsey, Scott, and the girls. The little girls were so excited to see one another!

One week later I ran the Houston Marathon.  I had my fastest time yet and I really did enjoy just about every second of the race.  I was prepared, felt mostly good about my effort, and was happy with my time.  And, seeing these guys on the course and at the end is always special to me.

Then, believe it or not, we had "snow" in February.  I think it also happened in January too.  Either way the kids missed two days of school because of the "snow".  I use the word snow loosely because it wasn't quite snow, but the kids did not care at all.  They jumped on the trampoline and enjoyed every second of an unexpected day off of school.

In May I ran another marathon and FINALLY met Susan of blog fame here.  She is my too far away friend and I was so excited to share this experience with her.  I ran a personal best in Houston, but this marathon was special and rewarding in a totally different way.  I really hope we get to do this again some day.  I also got a space blanket.  It is sad how happy I was about that too!

We started going to Rice Baseball games in April.  It was something that everyone really enjoyed and all asked to go to more games.  So, we went to the Regional games in June which was a weekend full of games. It was so fun despite the lengthy rain delays, late nights, and Rice ultimately losing.  We all enjoyed it so much that we now have season tickets to the games. 

During our summer trip the kids and I hiked around Grubb Lake in Lancaster near my parents house.  It was such a silly thing to do, but we had a fun morning.  I took some of my favorite pictures of the kids from the year on this hike.  I think we will have to revisit this park yearly.

Drew joined us on our summer trip two weeks after the kids and I had left home.  We were all happy to have him with us.  This is my favorite picture of us from the year.

New Bern is one of my favorite little towns.  It is beautiful and quaint.  I am thankful we get to explore different parts of it every summer.

In August, on our way back home we stopped to visit my friend Susan and her family.  Finally, our family's could meet.  Susan planned a fun jam packed two days.  One of our adventures was going to a Pirates game.  Drew...hint!!!!

To end our summer I took the kids to the Houston Zoo.  It was an unbelievably hot day, but we made the best of it and still had fun.

We went to Galveston again over Labor Day.  The weather was yucky, but we managed to still get in lots of beach time.  The kids don't mind no sun and it made it less stressful for me worrying about sunburns.  Just being together before all the craziness of the fall began was wonderful. 

Samuel played football this fall.  It was a fun season for him.  Samuel turned into a running back touchdown scoring machine.  I loved watching his games. It is so much less stressful for me than watching Emma and Jonah do gymnastics!

In October the girls and I again headed to Bowie to meet Jack!  It was awesome to meet my sweet nephew. It was also great to experience a real fall!

At the end of October we went to a Parmalee and Jana Kramer concert.  It was such a fun day.  I am so glad my kids love music!  Meeting the band was a nice bonus!

Emma qualified for the level four state gymnastics meet.  That was her goal for the season and I am so proud of her for achieving her goal.  She worked hard!

In November my cousin Meghan visited us and Texas for the first time.  We played tourists a lot including a trip to Bucees!

Finally (just kidding Kelsey) the Hayes family came to Texas.  They were here during Thanksgiving break and it was a kid and fun filled house!!

At the end of September, I got a stress fracture.  That meant no running for what ended up being almost 8 weeks.  It was a long 8 weeks and definitely one of my personal bummers of the year.  My first week back to running happened to be when Scott was here.  That was a true joy because he is my favorite running partner.  I now have a renewed joy of running.  I am even thankful for the windy cold runs!

This is something I hope not to see in 2015.  It was definitely not a good moment for me as a mom and for Jonah as the competitor.  I hate seeing my kids struggle.  But, this was a good moment in that the coaches realized Jonah needs to be a level 6 gymnast this year.  Thank goodness!!! Jonah is happy to be in the gym again and that makes both of us happy!

 

The girls and I went to see The Rockettes in December.  Oh my was I excited to share this with them.

My 3rd annual My Favorite Things party was fun, fun, and more fun!  I already am thinking about 2015!

My sweet Elena turned 5 in December.  She is going to kindergarten in the fall so I have tried to really enjoy each moment with her. 

Christmas was awesome as always.  I love my family! I am thankful that we had many days together to hang out, prepare for Christmas, and enjoy each other.

Finally, there was the Texans game.  I said so much about that here...my Christmas present.  Man what a day!!!

2014 was quite the year!  I choose to remember the good.  We learned from the other and moved on to better moments.  I can't wait to see what moments we want to remember in 2015!  And, now I have a wonderful new camera to document all those moments. Thanks to our family and friends who made this year better and brighter for us!