2013.

I love the New Year. It is a time to hope of things to come. A time to change and make improvements to be better. It is a fresh start. But it is also a time to reflect back on the past year and see how far you've come.

2013 was good to me. I was really worried about it, mainly because 13 is quite possibly the worst number ever. There were of course some hard times, but overall it was a really good year. 

It was our first year of being puppy parents. Landon was ready to give them up on more than one occasion (they were really bad...) but I'm so glad he stuck it out. We seriously love those dogs like they are our own kids. They bring so much joy and laughter into our lives. We can't imagine life without them!

This was also the year where we learned how to sail and joined the sailing club! It's hard to believe that we have less than a year of experience sailing because it is such a HUGE part of our lives now. I guess you could say we fell hard for sailing. For the first couple of months we literally went sailing EVERY week, sometimes twice a week. We started in February, so it wasn't the most ideal time to be outside sailing but we were just happy to be out on the water--even in the cold rainy weather!

We also traveled quite a bit this year. Landon flew to Texas in March to surprise his family, we went to Disneyland and on a cruise in May, I went to Utah in July for my sister's wedding, we went to Texas for Daren's graduation in August, we spent a weekend at the beach in September, we went to Disneyland again in October, and we went to Texas for Thanksgiving and then a Disney cruise in December. What a busy year for us!

On top of all the places we traveled, we also had people travel up to Oregon to visit us too! We had my parents come for mine and my dad's birthday in June, our cute friends Jen and Dave came in September, and of course Daren came for Christmas. We love having our family and friends visit!!!

Another big milestone for this year was becoming a Scentsy consultant. It has been such a blessing in more ways than one. The extra cash has been really nice but it has also given me a bigger sense of purpose and something productive to do with my spare time. It really has become like a hobby for me and I love it! It is SO much fun. And guess what? I have been WAY more successful than I ever thought possible! In the month of November I was in the top THREE for the most sales in my group of 2,300 consultants. I still can't believe it! Thank you to everyone who has supported me in this new adventure!!!!

And of course one of the biggest things we did this year was buy two sailboats and Landon finished building Thumbelina. We bought our 18 ft Hobie Cat at the end of May. We had such a fun summer taking that boat out and learning a new side of sailing that is much more sporty and a lot more thrilling! We even had to be rescued on Vancouver Lake... I will never, ever forget that crazy experience of capsizing and being stuck in the middle of the lake! It is kinda funny looking back on it now but at the time... oh man we were scared!

I will never forget standing on the dock bawling my eyes out seeing Landon sail Thumbelina for the first time. I still can't believe he built that boat!

And then in November we bought our 37.5 Hunter Legend. We love her and can't wait until she is all put back together so we can sail and have adventures together!

Thinking about 2014 gets me so excited, especially looking back at 2013 and seeing how much we accomplished and all the fun times we had. I feel like every year passes by faster and they just seem to get better and better. I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store for us.

Happy New Year!!!!