2014 - Year in Review

2014 has hands-down been the most eventful year of my life so far. This year has definitely been exciting, full of changes and big adjustments. It's been a wonderful, difficult adventure of a year. So it's not all that surprising that I've only blogged twice in the past 365 days. Sad, but not surprising. However, I know I'll regret it if I don't record this big year so here are a few of the highlights.

Aaron graduated from BYU in April. I can honestly say I was way more excited about his graduation than I ever was about my own.  He worked so hard for his degree and I am so proud of him.  It was a great day to celebrate all of his hard work and sacrifices.  

Just a few days after Aaron's graduation, we moved out to the Bay Area.  It was so hard to say goodbye to our family and friends but we were excited for a new adventure.  I was eight months pregnant at the time and so we were lucky to have Aaron's parents help us move.  Not only did they drive our moving van, help with Hannah, and basically unload all of our stuff, but they made our trip so much fun.  

As soon as we made it to California, Aaron started his new job as a process engineer at Valero Energy Corporation.

After Trish and Sid left, we had about a month of down time until my due date.  To keep me from going crazy, we kept busy putting our new apartment together, along with going to Six Flags a few times, and celebrating Aaron's birthday and Mother's Day.  Our wonderful new ward even threw me a baby shower.  I loved this last little bit of one-on-one time with Hannah but at the same time, I was extremely uncomfortable and very ready to get this baby out.

On June 5 at 12:05 a.m. our sweet Hazel made her big debut.  She was 9 pounds and 21 inches long of precious, perfect, chubby baby.  She filled a gap in our family that we didn't know was there.  It was so fun to see how much Hannah loved her immediately and their meeting was one of the most sacred experiences of my life.  My mom came out a few days before Hazel was born and she took care of all of us for about a week.  Having her there was such a blessing to me.  She made me feel so loved and helped me gain confidence in being a mother of two by giving me lots of pep talks before she left.  We all had so much fun together.

The first few months after Hazel was born were honestly pretty rough.  Physically, my recovery was so good, but Aaron had some work emergencies at the end of June and had to work 12 hour night shifts and then go on several business trips.  I was overwhelmed with having a needy newborn, Hannah acting out for attention, being in a new place away from family, missing Aaron, and dealing with post-partum depression.  I'm so grateful for the wonderful friends who brought me dinner, sent texts, or came to check on me.  I'm also thankful for the power of prayer that got me through some dark times.  Despite it being hard, I loved learning to be a mother of two.  I remember cheering out loud the first time I got both of my girls in the car by myself, and again the first time I took them to the grocery store or to the park.  It was also a time that brought our family closer as we learned how to be a family of four.

In July, our families came out to visit and for Hazel's baby blessing.  It was awesome to have everyone here (minus my brother-in-law Dave, but he came to visit in August).  We had so much fun showing them our new life here as well as just getting some good quality time with them.

My sister, Heidi, and her two girls stayed a couple of extra days while Aaron went on another business trip.  It was seriously such a blast.  Our days were filled with with swimming and playing princess and after our kids went to bed, Heidi and I stayed up laughing, crying, watching movies, playing nertz, eating treats, and all other things awesome sisters do.  

In August, we experienced our first California earthquake - a 6.1!  Aaron and I woke up to pretty violent shaking.  I ran for Hazel and Aaron ran to Hannah and we met underneath our table.  It was such a scary feeling to have the ground moving beneath us and I am in no hurry to have that happen ever again.  But it was good to get one under our belts and showed us some of our home's safety hazards.

In September, Valero asked Aaron to go recruiting at BYU's career fair, so the girls and I tagged along for a little vacation to Utah!  We all got the flu which was super lame, but some of the highlights included: going to Silver Fork Lodge for sourdough pancakes, Hazel laughing for the first time, attending the Ogden temple re-dedication, going to my friend Melinda's bridal shower, seeing the Stevensons, and being able to go to the General Women's Meeting with my mom and sister, Amanda.  Oh, and I chopped all my hair off.  It was time...

The next month, we had a visit from our good friend, Emily.  We had a blast at Six Flags, going to the temple, and meeting up with our friend Bryce.  We loved it!

Toward the end of October, I was also able to fly to Utah for one of my best friend's wedding.  It was so good to be with friends and celebrate our lovely Melinda.  It was a short trip and just Hazel and me this time, but I'm so glad we got to go!  While we were gone, Aaron and Hannah went to the ward trunk-or-treat and Aaron won best costume as a mad scientist.

On Halloween, Hannah refused to dress up so instead of trick-or-treating, we went out for Krispy Kremes and saw all the pumpkins at Dr. G's Pumpkinitis, which was incredible.  Hazel looked adorable as a ladybug. 

We stayed in California for Thanksgiving and had a blast with Ben and Alicia.  I have to say though, I've never been so thankful for my parents for cooking Thanksgiving dinner for me for so many years.  It's a lot harder than it looks.  I'm pretty proud of us for cooking a turkey.

December was full of so much fun - Aaron's work breakfast with Santa, our ward Christmas party, seeing the lights at Candy Cane Lane, and going to Utah to be with family for Christmas (another post all about that coming later).

2014 was so, so good to us.  I'm so grateful for all of the blessings and miracles we have seen this year.  Here's to a wonderful 2015!

Congratulations if you made it to the end of this eternal post!  And that's why this year my New Year's resolution is to keep up my blog....