Year In Review

2014 is over. The big event of the year for us was that we bought a house in March, and we spent the rest of the year working on it. We are loving our new place. There is enough room for everyone. The yard is big, and Nate and the kids enjoy the riding lawn mower. In the last couple of months we finished my office and started on the playroom. We are still waiting for the couch to be delivered that will cozy up the family room. The basement is unfinished and the kids like to ride their bikes around down there. Beckett, when asked what his favorite part of the house is, will often declare that he likes that the basement is underground or that he is glad we have a garage. We also went to California in January and had visits from the grandmas in April and May.

Individual reports:
Nate worked like crazy this year. He got a promotion. He went on business to Connecticut and spent two weeks in China at the offices there. He would describe his life as "work and kids."

I also worked a lot. I taught a 5-week summer course that was a bit of a whirlwind. I went to an Art History conference in Florida in October. My sister and I really grew our book blog this year. And, of course, I spent a ton of time with the kids.

Beckett signed up for another year of preschool. He grew bigger and brighter. He is really curious about how things work. He's learning to read. He feel in love with LEGOs this year.

Felix's big accomplishment is that he learned to talk. He loves doing anything his brother does, and he has a great sense of humor.

Farewell 2013

On the way down to Williamsburg Nate and I were talking about how our family fared in 2013. Then today, as I was looking through the photos from the year, I realized how much we had done and how much fun we had. We took road trips to Philadelphia, Cumberland, Charlottesville, Manassas. We flew to Texas for Spring Break and to Utah in October. Paige's family came to visit in June and my parents came in September. The big bummer of the year was that we really wanted a house, and the real estate market out here did not cooperate.

Individual Reports:
Nate went to California, Connecticut, and Chicago for work and to Alaska for fun.
I went to New York in May, designed and taught two classes at HCC, and was inducted into the BYU Hall of Fame.
Beckett was potty trained, learned to dress himself, turned four, and started his second year of preschool.
Felix turned one, was weaned, grew curly hair (we are never cutting it), said his (very few) first words, and started playing with Beckett.

Looking back, I guess that 2013 was better than I thought it was while we were in the thick of things.

2013 at a Glance

On to 2014