2014 Highlights and Review

January-

We stayed home a lot with cold weather, snow, and Michael traveled out of town for a couple of trips.

Isabella had her first hair cut. Which was a little scary for her! 

February- Michael traveled more for work. We brought the snow inside to play, instead of braving the cold, and I plugged away at my 365 photo project.

Isabella saw her first in theater movie.

Michael and Isabella went to the father/daughter night at church.

March: The kids and I went to California to visit the Rollings while Michael had another work trip. (I'm hoping, hoping his work travels this year will bring us enough frequent flier points to go again!!) We had a family day to Meers and Mt Scott, spent a weekend in Dallas with Michael for work and went to the Arboretum, and Heather found out she was having a girl!!

April: Michael got a box of his books in the mail! Isabella went to the dentist for the first time, we had a great Easter, and Benjamin turned one!!

May: Isabella and I went to the mother/daughter night at church, and we had fun trips to San Antonio and South Padre with our families.

June: Benjamin got his first hair cut! Isabella took swim lessons for the first time, and we spent lots of time at the pool, parks, and splash pads. I took a weekend trip to Dallas with Mom and Heather.

July: We celebrated the 4th of July and went on a work trip with Michael to Chicago and visited the Blue whale on the way home.

August: We celebrated our 12th anniversary with a night away and the Michael Buble concert. Michael took a trip to St. Louis with his dad and brother to a Cardinals game. We took a daytrip out west, and I took maternity pictures for Heather.

 September: Jillian was born on Michael's 33rd birthday, and Isabella turned 4!

Michael had shingles for some of September and October. It was really awful.

October: We went to Tulsa for a weekend for a wedding Isabella was in, enjoyed all things fall and Halloween. Michael traveled to Portland for work.

November: We enjoyed more fall and playing outside with no mosquitoes before it got too cold. We enjoyed a season of giving thanks.

December: The last part of the year seemed to come quickly. We had a full month of holiday fun and making memories with family.

2014 is in the books. There were many great, just OK, and some not so good experiences. I enjoyed the trips we took this year and the many other fun things we did. I enjoyed taking pictures and the books I read for me and to the kids. I enjoyed Benjamin starting to say some words, begin to walk, and watching his personality emerge more. I enjoyed Isabella's vast imagination and the funny or sweet things she says sometimes. We started small groups at church and that has been good. I loved meeting my new sweet niece...  With small kids the days can be very long sometimes, and its also so true that the years are short. Another one has flown by. There were days that I was weary, not patient, and felt like I was failing in my parenting. And other days that I soaked the moments in knowing this is the good life.
I did not enjoy Michael's work travel so much (other than the points for free hotel nights and flights it brought). We had some issues with our old house and spent a lot of unplanned money on rent on two places and things that had to be fixed with frozen pipes and things that had to be done before we could sell. We sold the Hasley house in July and that was a little sad, but mostly a big stress gone. Michael's shingles were bad and went on for 3-4 weeks and then he threw out his back and was in pain for a week from that. I greatly missed how much he helps around the house and with the kids during that time!
I'm so grateful for this life we have been given and the family we have. 2014 was a good year overall and I'm looking forward to what is to come in 2015!

2012

 As we talked about 2012, we both said it was a year of traveling. Michael had a lot more travel for work than ever before and Isabella and I went on a couple trips, along with some family trips.

January:

We joined Michael in Dallas for a work trip over a weekend. 

The weather was unseasonably warm and we got to play outside a lot and go to the Zoo.

February:
Isabella and I went to New Jersey to visit my best friend while Michael was on a work trip.  While we were there we went to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and the Statue of Liberty.

Also in February: I went to the women's retreat at our church, we joined Michael in Fort Worth for a work trip, and celebrated Valentine's Day.

March:

Playing at the park with friends, we had such a warm winter and early spring!

We went on a long weekend to Michael's aunt's lake house. It was so relaxing! 

We also- Played outside a ton, celebrated my dad's 60th birthday, and had several fussy days with Isabella teething or who knows what!

April:

Easter was so fun with Isabella this year! 

Isabella and I went to Chicago and played with Ava during the day while Heather was in a conference. We have so many memories from that trip!

Heather and I ran the half marathon in the memorial marathon! Its hard to believe now!

Also in April: we used our pass to the science museum a lot, enjoyed the OKC Art's Festival, and went back to Dallas, again, for a work trip with Michael.


May:

 Celebrating Mother's Day. I've loved becoming a mommy...even with all of the sacrifices that come with that role.

We were at the beach with my family for Memorial day weekend. 

Also in May: We dropped Isabella's morning nap, and we went to the zoo, park, and myriad gardens a lot.

June:

 We finished up the first week in June at the beach with my family.

Michael's parents gave me whitewater/frontier city passes for my 1/2 birthday and we had fun swimming and riding the train at FC. 

We also: Went to the splash pad downtown and by our house- a lot,  celebrated father's day, and went to the aquarium in Jenks.

July:

 We had a great 4th of July! Isabella stayed up late for fireworks and we had fun at the parade.

 We went on our first RV trip with Michael's parents to Dallas and Ft. Worth.

We beat the heat in Oklahoma on a trip to Colorado with the Anderson's. 

Also in July- one of my good friend's came to town for a week, and we played at the park across from our house early in the morning a lot before it got deathly hot. 

August:

 We celebrated 10 years of marriage and had a night away.

 We found out we were pregnant the day we were moving to a new house.

We went swimming as much as we could in the neighborhood pool before it closed for the year. 

 We had our family anniversary celebration along with our couple celebration, and I started getting extremely tired toward the end of the month with being newly pregnant and getting moved. 

September:

 We had a great week at the beach in Florida with Michael's family.

 Isabella turned two!

Michael turned 31.
Isabella and I went to the state fair with family and friends, Michael had some work trips. I was nauseous a lot and didn't take many pictures or blog this month.

October:

 Isabella loved Halloween, and we had fun at Storybook forest, trunk or treat at church, and

 the pumpkin patch. Isabella asks about once a week lately if we can go to the pumpkin patch.

I went to my first OU game in a couple of years, we went to Dallas for OU/TX with Michael's family, and we went to the Day out with Thomas.

November:

 We had a great season of Thanksgiving.

At the end of the month we found out we were having a boy!

Isabella and I had fun making a pie together for Thanksgiving, we went to a Thunder game, we had a busy weekend with homecoming at OC and Isabella was in the parade with my parents.

December:

 The first weekend in December I went to Dallas for a girls weekend with my sister and cousins. We spent several hours in H&M, went to Ikea, stayed up late watching a silly movie, went to In and Out, and talked and laughed a lot.

Our Christmas season was wonderful. We loved having Michael home from work for a couple of weeks, spending time with our families, and all of the traditions we began and continued this year. Isabella cried the morning she woke up and the tree was gone.
I finally started feeling normal and stopped throwing up, Isabella enjoyed the tea party at church, we loved our night at the hotel downtown, I turned 31, and my nephew Carper Jude Hartman joined our family. 

2012 was a year of many blessings and opportunities. There were some challenges with Michael beginning and navigating a new position at work and traveling more, with Isabella being sick a few times, some rough days with toddler behavior and questioning how to best handle things, morning sickness, settling into a new home while being sick, and I'm sure some other moments that escape me. But on the grand scale of difficulties, the ones we experienced this year were not as difficult as other years or trials some of my friends experienced. This year leaves me feeling so grateful for our little (growing) family, our extended family and the love and time they pour into our lives, our many dear friends, and the opportunities we had to see other parts of the country this year. (And I think we needed some kind of frequent travel pass to Dallas...between the two of us we were there a lot).

2013 will be a year of staying closer to home for me with preparing for and having a newborn. Isabella's language seems to be expanding all of the time, and *most* of the time we have so much fun together. I'm looking forward to enjoying these last few months with an only child before our world changes once again. There are some goals I plan to accomplish and work toward this year, while also knowing I will have to be gentle with myself and my expectations of what is realistic with a new baby. Happy 2013!