Saturday, January 2, 2016

Journal 2016

The other day my dad was telling me about how he had read in his journal back in 1994 about me bringing home a boy named Harold Nichols. It was fun to hear his thoughts and we reminisced about the events surrounding Harold's proposal and our wedding day.

A few days later, Harold pulled out his old journal and started sharing things with me. It was fun to hear about the little things we did together and as a family.

I was feeling a bit blue about my lack of journaling when I realized I had a terrific journal that I was pretty faithful to from 2008-2011 and it's THIS BLOG!

The original plan for this blog was to document my weight loss. That was back in 2008. And I'm still worrying about weight loss.

However, I've decided to start blogging again because the blog is my journal. I may not share everything on this blog due to it's non-private nature, but events and general feelings about those events are and will be shared. This is the easiest way for me to journal. I may share weight-related stuff...but only if it's super important to me that day. But I want to share the day-to-day stuff on here. I want some kind of record for my to look at when my memory is completely gone and hopefully this blog will spark a glimmer of recognition in my failing years. And I'd like my kids and husband to read about what was important to me and the goings on of our every day life.

Here goes, events of note:
1. I am going to sugar detox for 10 days. Jan 4-Jan 13, 2016. I am completely sugar addicted and I'm hoping this will boost my energy and hopefully curb some of those nasty cravings.
2. Harold started a new job on June 29, 2015 at LexisNexis. We are super glad for this change in his employment and despite a very large learning curve, he is really enjoying the new job. It is stressful, to be sure. But he is closer to home, getting a decent paycheck, and we are hopeful that this is a long-term employment situation.
3. Savannah started a cosmetology apprenticeship in Payson at Cloud9 Salon with Holly Despain Amuse. Holly is a great teacher and Savannah is loving her schooling. She will test for her state boards around May or June of 2017. The apprentice costs less but takes longer to complete. She attends the young adult ward and was called to teach 3rd Sunday Relief Society, which we feel will be a really great challenge and blessing for her. She is dating a pre-mission boy named Jacob. We are hoping he leaves during the first half of 2016 and are supportive of this desire. :)
4. Mack is midway through his junior year. He enjoys club and school soccer. He recently attended the NY Eve youth dance and loved it. He looked super fly in his new navy floral shirt with navy blazer and jeans. Best dressed kid there and the best looking. He is the 1st assistant in the priests quorum.
5. I am still at BYU and really love where I work, not just BYU but the dean's office of education. I work with hard-working people who are dedicated to their work and are really great people. They are supportive and kind. I was called to serve in the Stake YW back in September-ish and serve as the 2nd counselor. It is a BUSY calling.

2015 was a very eventful year for us.

Harold and I celebrated our 20th anniversary by going to Paris, France from January 30 until Feb 8. It was so very cold but we bundled up and just completely enjoyed our visit. We stayed in a small little flat we rented online and it was perfect! We ate great food, saw amazing sites, and spent some super quality time together. We went in the Louvre, walked down the Champs d'Elysees, went to the Eiffel tower twice (once at night and once during the day), toured the Musee d'Orsay, walked ALL OVER Versailles (the city and the palace grounds and saw the temple site/construction), took a day trip to see Chateau de Fontainebleau, and walked to the Sacre Couer. Amazing trip! We really stressed over whether to take this trip and Harold's defining moment was, if we don't do this now something could happen and we won't end up going ever. I'm so glad I listened to that advice because.....

Harold was laid off from the University of Phoenix on April 2 and was without work until June 29. He handled it pretty well and worked like a champ to gain employment. He was at the LDS Employment Center daily sending out resumes, making contacts, etc. He was offered the job at LexisNexis mid-June and since we had a couple of weeks before his start date, we altered our family vacation plans (originally scheduled for end of July) and.....

We took the kids to Seattle for our family vacation. We stayed with Britty, Wyatt and Ro. They are gracious hosts and we loved spending time with them. We went to the top of the Space Needle, took a ferry to Victoria, BC, Canada and toured Buchart Gardens as well as the touristy parts of town. We went to Pike's Place Market a couple of times. It was a great trip.

We were able to get new carpet in the house and Harold also tiled all the linoleum areas in our house (back hall and bathroom, two upstairs bathrooms). The new carpet and tile makes us feel like we are living in a brand new house and the feeling is fabulous!

Despite unemployment, financially we did just fine this year. And the only thing I can attribute this to is that we pay our tithing. Many would call us foolish for this belief, but we have always felt strongly that the law of the tithe is an essential part of our faith building and heaps blessings upon us. We have not always been blessed financially through tithes, but we do believe we still own our house because of our obedience to this law of God.

I have nothing bad to say about 2015. We had our share of stress, to be sure. But in the end, we saw God's hand in our lives daily and are grateful for the knowledge of the gospel that sustains us through our trials.


1 comment:

leisa said...

I always love it when I see you have posted and hope to see more this year. You are incredible and we sure miss seeing you guys regularly.