I'm starting a new
tradition this year! Instead of sending out a Christmas letter, we're going
green and doing a New Year's Letter! I hope to continue this tradition each
year, if I can. (Plus, I get to include way more pictures of
our adventures this way!)
First and most
importantly, we simply cannot send cards to everyone we know! We do love all of
you, though, so I posted our annual Christmas card above for anyone who didn't
get our card in the mail. :)
And now, I'll move on
into a review of our year!
2014 brought many
exciting new adventures, challenges, ambitions and fun!
Starting in January, we
got to see good friends and family at Auntie Angie's Wedding!
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Later in January, we got
to host our house-warming party (we closed in September, did some home
improvement projects, and moved in Thanksgiving weekend 2014). This party
turned into a playoff party, and Youth Group meeting at our house! Wowza, it
was a steady stream of people all day long!
We were blessed to get
to celebrate Auntie Janel's birthday with her this year, too! We actually
pulled off a surprise party for her!
We had a sleepover with
cousins at our new house!
Elizabeth got to go to
the zoo with all of her cousins from Robert's mom's family for the first time
later in January, too!
In February, Robert took
me to the Toby Mac Concert! (Elizabeth did not go; it was too loud for her).
 This is Brandon Heath & Mandisa at the concert! |
I also got to purchase
my {current} favorite CD in the world, "Blue Mountain," by Brandon
Heath! It's AMAZING.
This was incidentally
the first time I would see Ryan Stevenson in concert (quote from my blog post about that night: "Ryan Stevenson (I also didn't
know)" Lol!), and I would have NEVER guessed that I would get to know him
more as a friend later this year! (But more on that later).
On the very last day in
February, I went to my very first hockey game! Robert's co-workers all went,
and it was nice to get to catch up with them. We always have such a blast when
everyone gets together, but it doesn't happen often! The Silvertips won, and it
was a lot of fun!
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One of the major
highlights of 2014 was our trip to Las Vegas. My work sent me to the MGM Grand
for a big conference. Because Ellie Jo was a lap infant, she traveled for free,
and I was able to get Robert his tickets for less than I've ever seen them, so
we made a family trip out of it, and we went together!
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| Here's Robert and me in the Chihuly Garden in the Bellagio! |
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The most fun night of
our entire trip was getting to be with Mike & Shannon for dinner at
Caesar's Palace! We don't get to see Robert's cousins enough, since they are
now located in Vegas, and they had yet to meet sweet Elizabeth! We were so glad
to get to see them.
May was a major
milestone month for us! Our precious baby turned 1 year old!
We celebrated with about
60 family & friends at our house, and had a fantastic time! I got
Elizabeth the cutest little dress that looked more like a Quinceañera dress
(appropriate, since her birthday is on Cinco de Mayo - and yes, I know the two
have nothing to do with one another!), and her Great-Grandma Byers made her a
gorgeous matching cake! I should add that Grandpa & Grandma returned
home from their traveling 1 day earlier than Elizabeth's party specifically to
attend the party!
June was a busy month
for us all, with my Titus 2 group starting up and parades for work. The Titus 2
Bible Study is for junior high and high school girls, and we met every other
week during the summer. We brought in many guest speakers, including some of
our Awana leaders in Trek and our Pastor's wife, my friend, Stephanie. Our
biggest group was 21 young ladies here at my house! Here's a picture of
Elizabeth and Robert at the Strawberry Festival parade:
I had a (minor) health
scare in late June. I had been experiencing some upper back pain for a week or
so, and it wasn't going away. I told Robert, and he rubbed my shoulders and
back every night for a week. After another week (and continuing with running
and softball), I was really in a lot of pain. It reached a peak on a softball
night when I realized I wasn't able to take a deep breath. We made an emergency
trip to my WONDERFUL physical therapist late at night, and he was able to
quickly assess what was going on. He ended up digging a couple of my ribs
(which were out of place) out of the main pain point in my back and fixed me
up. He made a point to tell me that I need to call him MUCH sooner when I feel
pain like that. Oops. I learned! Thankfully, I was able to stay on top of small
doses of Ibuprofin and rest for a few days.
Robert and I both had
July 3rd off, and we decided to go to the MOHAI to celebrate his birthday,
since he missed our trip last year! Additionally, it was FREE admission (always
free on the 1st Thursday of the month!) Our good friend, Bambi, tagged along
with the Crombie kids for some super fun times at the museum!
In August, we had a HUGE
family reunion for my mom's family! On the same day, our friends Jessica and
Melvin got married! This meant that I was able to facilitate a reunion of
long-time friends, Jeff (our good friend and Awana leader), and my cousin, Brensen!
It was so neat to see them together, because they were friends growing up, and
now that Jeff lives here, they don't really get to see each other very often.
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| Jeff (left) and Brensen (right) |
Also in August, I got to meet Cisco Morris, as he was at a conference at my work! (I served on the Planning Committee).
We went
to the Evergreen State Fair! We got to see Auntie Ashley ride Braunze, and then
Robert and Elizabeth got to ride him back to his stall after he was done
competing!
This year, I entered
Blueberry Jam, Applesauce, 3 pictures and this restored 1940s child's lawn
chair! I won a lot of awards, and it was super neat to see everything I worked
so hard for out on display!
One sad moment this
summer was losing Uncle Bill. We miss him every day.
I decided to run my
first 5k this August, and I even had a special memorial shirt made to wear
during my race!
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Here's
me after my race!
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It was fun to run this
race, and get covered in dye! My mother-in-law, Leah, even volunteered and covered
me in color at one of the stops! I'd love to run more 5k races in 2015!
September was hands-down
our favorite month of the year! We got to return to Maui after 4 (long!) years!
I know, I know - some people don't get to go. And that's why we consider it
such a blessing that we were able to go!
We were ALL over
this island, doing everything from Haleakala at sunrise to Lahaina (twice), the
Road to Hana, the Ocean Center, tons of beaches and swimming, and much,
much more!
It was SO special to get
to spend my birthday, Robert's Dad's birthday and Auntie Sloane & Uncle
Brian's anniversary - all on the same day - in Maui! I couldn't imagine a
better vacation!
In October, our church
celebrated the Grand Opening of our newly remodeled Annex building, now called
the Ministry Action Center (MAC). To celebrate, I was able to bring in
Christian to speak and Ryan Stevenson (as mentioned above!), thanks to
Christian's help!
Here's
Ryan and me in the green room!
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The celebration was a
lot of fun, and it was awesome to get to put on my "Event
Coordinator" hat again! (I'll be doing this more and more, booking
recording artists and bands every month for The Well!)
October also saw
tragedy, with the MPHS shooting shaking up our city. My mom and I attended a
pep-rally for alumni at MPHS to welcome the kids back to school the following
week, and it was very surreal to be back there under such circumstances.
We had a fun Halloween!
Elizabeth was a lady bug, and Robert and I went "simple" this year,
with Phil & Kay costumes!
In November, we said
goodbye to Robert's Great Grandma Byers. We are grateful for the time we had
with her, and that Elizabeth got to meet her great-great grandma!
5
generation picture from 2013
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We got to have
Robert's cousins Josiah and Lydia visit in November and December! It was a lot
of fun to have everyone over for a Seahawks game, pizza, and of course - girl
time decorating!
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| Emma, me, Abby and Lydia! |
