Happy New Year, A Time to Reflect

Ahhhh, a new year has dawned!  I don't know about you, but there is something refreshing and wonderful about waking up on January 1 of a new year.  Feels like a clean slate, a new beginning.  Its exciting and full of hope!

Today I find myself reflecting back on all that 2013 brought us.  SO MUCH HAPPENED.  2013 can really be summed up as a year full of extremely high highs and very low lows.  Many of the months were rough considering I spent 6 of them in a relationship with my toilet.  For my own reflection I feel as though I should divide the year in half.  Vomiting and not vomiting.  That being said, I didn't want to just remember myself and so I thought I would give you all the highlights of the past 12 months in this time of new beginnings.

January- We started the year off with the passing of my Grandma.  I remembered her a lot on the one year anniversary.  I miss her.  Even though I was still throwing up my insides every day I managed to eek out a 10 mile race with the in laws.  We spent our last holiday season with Grandpa Vern and took Lily to her very first National Western Stockshow.

February- This month was utterly bittersweet for as one cousin brought a baby into the world already in the arms of Jesus, another brought a new little life into our arms.  I have never been so torn between tears of joy and tears of sorrow.  The end of the month brought a trip out to Texas to catch up with the Jessups.  It was such fun to be together with my dear fellow pregnant friend and run our first annual pregnant 5k!

March- This month brought more and more and MORE throwing up.  It felt like this month was the one that never ended.  We got to see our dear friend Traci and meet miss Elly Katherine.

April- Although still all consumed with my stomach, April brought a lot of hope.  Spring had sprung.  We got to travel to Nebraska for a wonderful wedding and accompanying babymoon.  After much prayer and searching, the Lord also provided a house that we would move into.  No more apartment living!

May- My big brother Mike Opatrny and his family visited with us for a week.  It was wonderful and a great distraction from the late pregnancy blues.  We celebrated Evie Frances with a wonderful mountain shower when we took a break from packing our house into boxes for the impending move.  While many would think moving 9 months pregnant silly, I didn't have to lift a finger :).   We also had a wonderful visit from Grandpa Longmire and Lily got her new bedroom set!

June- We moved on the 1st and 2nd amidst Braxton Hicks and final stretch exhaustion.  I have never been so grateful for an awesome family!  I decided it was time for me to attempt a garden, you know, cause I wasn't busy enough.  Evie Frances came beautifully into our lives on 6/11/13 in a birthing experience that forever changed my view of myself.  Gramma Jill came out to spend a month with us. Our family was complete.

July- Bob completed his first ever Double Triple Bypass, a cycling journey over 125 miles and 3 mountain passes (twice).  Whew.  I started the long journey back to my body and found just how heavy two kids and a jogger is.  We had a visit from Aunt Sue and enjoyed the final days before Gramma Jill went home.  Boy she was missed!

August- This month was the hardest on record.  Post partum depression was a constant battle amidst loosing Bob's dear Grandpa Vern, not sleeping real well and desperately wanting to fit into my jeans again.  We were able to take the girls to the Renaissance Festival which was a big highlight!

September- I started MOPS and was asked to be a table leader.  I have been blessed with the opportunity.  In an incredibly freak accident, we lost our cousin Curtis Powelson to a 70 foot sinkhole.  Sorrow and sadness seemed overwhelming.  I had a high moment when I did my first 1/2 marathon in honor of our fallen family member. The month finished with a surprise trip out to my dear friend Traci's baby shower.  I was able to spend time with my best girlfriends, Anna, Traci and Tara.  Wonderful.

October- Fall brought with it changing colors and hope again.  We went to Iowa for Grandpa Vern's Memorial and I ran my first 20 miler on the hills of Iowa.  We got the chance to see Chelsea and Michael following Curtis' passing as well.  Lily went trick or treating for the first time and was simply too cute as Minnie Mouse.

November- Our Lily turned 3.  Where does the time go?  Lily also made the big girl choice to say bye bye to her boo boos and started swim lessons!  Go Lily.  I launched my very own photography business, Bethany Jayne Photography and am so excited to see where it will go.  Grandpa Longmire got to meet his newest granddaughter and we ended the month with another trip to Iowa for Thanksgiving.  It was wonderful to see Great Grandma's new house.

December- Snow and cold came in like a lion.  The girls had to start getting used to the idea of running in 15 degrees!  I finished my first ever sub 2 hour 1/2 marathon 6 months after my 2nd baby.  What an accomplishment!  We enjoyed Christmas at home with Memaw and Papa and then finished our year seeing our friends Tara and Matt Weatherly at the wedding of Tara's sister in Colorado Springs.  Evie gave me the greatest Christmas and New Years present.  SLEEP!

2013 was a big year, and a hard one.  It was simply the year of highs and lows.  We are so blessed that Evie arrived and are excited to see what 2014 will bring us!

Home for the Holidays

This year Bob and I decided to keep our little family inside the Colorado borders for the Christmas season.  Even though I love traveling to see all of our extended family, the prospect of staying home for the holidays made me giddy.  We decided to spend Christmas as well as the days leading up to it with Memaw and Papa.  I love the mountains.  It is so nostalgic and special.  I LOVE it!  

This year Papa put up the train as well as the little snow village around the tree.  I remember when I was a little girl and just loved setting up the town with all of the figurines.  This year, Lily could not stop talking about all of the horses and carriages in the town.  She kept on wanting to show everyone.  "Now, this is the one carriage, and this is the other one.  This one is my favorite.  Yeah, I like this one the most."  It made me so happy and brought me back to many past Christmases.

Evie was in desperate need of a snowsuit so this year Memaw let her open one of her presents a few days early.  The little pink suit that came out of the box was absolutely perfect and so snuggly.  Evie looked too cute even if she was a little like a puffy marshmallow.  She was perfectly content in the cold air and loved being outside in her snug little suit.  Lily of course has no fear when it comes to cold and we could hardly convince her that she needed to wear a jacket AND boots.  We had such a good time one afternoon playing with horses in the arena and letting the dogs get some energy out showing us their "dog agility."

I spent a glorious 4 days immersed in my book while Bob fully entertained the two girls we call ours.  It was sublime.  

When the girls weren't sleeping or playing with Memaw, Bob got his workout on by flying them overhead.  Lily's latest fun is to see if she can touch the ceiling.  Bob has always been accurate, and as you can see she loves it.  Her delight is simply tangible when she is playing with her Daddy.  Evie has just started to love the flying game too and found herself mid air a few times.  The girls fly better at high altitude and Bob is only too happy to oblige!  Good thing he's nice and strong.

On Christmas Eve we all headed to my old church for the 3 pm Cowboy Service.  It is a really fun service and this year I got to help lead with my Mom and Aunt.  I love singing with those ladies and the entire service was wonderful.  Growing up I always looked forward to Christmas Eve at church because it meant I was that much closer to Christmas Morning.  Lily was tired and crazy so catching her in motion for a picture was challenging, but what a special time to spend with Memaw and Papa.  Two of the most special people.  I'm awfully glad my girls have them.....me too!

Christmas morning came and the baby gave me the best present EVER, she slept in.  Oh it was wonderful and we all woke up with smiles and "Merry Christmas" spirit.  The tree was layered in gifts for the two smallest members and we watched with giggles as Lily officially hit the "I'm overwhelmed" stage and sat quietly playing with her stickers and new "horse grooming barn" (way to go Gramma Jill and Grandpa Steve.  That little barn was the hit!).  Evie was completely content with her new toothbrush (Thanks Memaw) and was amused with little else.  She got an entire new wardrobe and I had a blast opening all of her little packages!

Lily got a new math learning game and Bob had too much fun testing it out.  The little pen lights up green when you are right and red when you are wrong.  He loved it.  Boy, as you get older you find joy in super simple things that you know you are gonna get right and a little dog pen will tell you, "Good Job, you are GREAT!"

As our holiday in the mountains came to a close, we had this amazing privilege of seeing some of the White family again.  This family is like my surrogate family.  They are a family of 11 kiddos and the two oldest girls were my best friends growing up.  Janet, the mom, is like a second mother to me and it warmed my heart to see her and some of the kids again.  So much life has happened since we saw them last and it did my heart good to hug at least a small percent of the White family.  Janet lost her husband Jim a couple of years ago and many of the kids have spread out over the country.  I guess a lot of life happens especially when you don't see someone for nearly 10 years.  I could not have asked for a better ending for our Christmas at home.