2015 in Review.

Last year I dubbed 2014 as the year of adventure, and it really was. 2015 has always been the year of the roller coaster for me. It wasn't a "fun" year for us, we didn't go on any trips and there was a lot of stress and heartache... but looking back my heart is still so full of gratitude, especially now that I can see how things all worked out for the best.

The year actually started out pretty exciting. We were just starting to "try" having a baby, and I was convinced it was going to happen right away so of course I was SO excited! And that meant that we would have a baby in 2015 too. We were SO happy.

But then months went by with no luck, so it started to get pretty depressing. On top of that, Landon was VERY unhappy at his job. And on top of that, we decided we were ready to get out of Oregon and move back to Utah. But, we couldn't do that until we sold our huge 37.5 foot sailboat... And that whole process was definitely a roller coaster! We had multiple offers fall through at the last minute, we had our engine DIE in the middle of the river on a test sail with a potential buyer, we found out our boat had huge issues during the inspection....but we FINALLY sold it after 8 long, stressful months. Oh, and we lost 8k in the sale. Fun!

During that whole extravaganza, we had started applying for jobs in Utah. I'm talking 50+ jobs... Landon had a few phone interviews but nothing really serious. And we still weren't pregnant. It was rough. We did have a few little camping trips and visits to family in Utah and Texas that kept us busy. It also made us even more homesick and ready to be done with Oregon :)

And then on Father's Day we found out we were finally pregnant and we were SO incredibly happy. But you know how that ended. Heartbreak and sorrow like I've never, ever known. And then to find out my dad's cancer was increasing very drastically and that he would be starting treatments in the next month or so... we had reached our breaking point and decided we would sell our house and get really serious about finding a job in Utah.

Henry was not amused ;)

So we put our house on the market and a few weeks later we found out we were pregnant again with our miracle!  This is where our year finally started to look up :)

About 2 weeks before our closing date we still had no Utah job prospects. So we started looking for apartments in Oregon, so we wouldn't be homeless. But I just knew that we needed to be in Utah. So we took a HUGE leap of faith and moved to Utah, with no job and a baby on the way...

I still can't believe how perfectly everything fell into place after our move to Utah. It makes me cry. Landon found a job immediately (which he LOVES by the way!), we found our house and closed within 3 weeks, I found a job where I can work from home, and we are living by FAMILY and friends! It really is such a miracle and such a blessing! Especially after all we had been through, it felt amazing to finally have things falling into place.

The biggest blessing of 2015 is definitely this little baby boy who is kicking away in my tummy as I type this. He is already SO loved, and we haven't even met him yet. Every time I feel him kick, my heart could burst. He is REAL. I can't believe it!

I am so incredibly thankful for 2015. I learned and grew a lot during those hard times. One lesson that I feel like I keep coming back to is, "this too shall pass." Even when we feel like we are in our darkest or our lowest point, we have to remember that it will end and there will be sunny days ahead. I even found myself saying over and over in my head last night as I threw up 3 times, "this too shall pass!!!!" ha ;)

I really can't wait for 2016. The year we become parents and the year we get to meet our baby! I know there will be challenges, but I also know that it will be a year full of love. We are so ready for you 2016!!!