4. Brad: The last day of Trek. Brad, Stockton and I participated in Trek and my mom brought the girls to meet us and pick us up.
3. Kids/Myself: Birthdays
Sara turned 10 and she finally was double digits.
Grace turned 12 and now was in young women's.
Stockton turned 16 and got his drivers license.
I turned 40...it was all of the good, bad and the ugly :)
2. Family trip to Washington/Oregon. It was on every one's list. Brad and Sara specifically mentioned crapping in Netarts on our little steel boat...
1. And of course top of every one's list...HAWAII. Sara mentioned snorkeling and Brad mentioned the day we went to the North Shore and swam in the ocean.
It does make a parent feel good when the top things are when they spent the time and day with you. I know that friends are important to kids but by the looks of the list...its family that means the most and the time we spend together doing fun things.
Brad: He once again worked hundreds of hours of overtime. He did 3 projects at work that kept him on the day shift for the year. That was AWESOME. He went on Trek and we were the Ward Trek coordinators for the youth and he still serves in the young men's with his church calling.He suffered some sickness but hopefully is on the road to recovery soon. He always puts family first and we always know that we are the most important in his life.
Kim: I went back to work after being home for 15-16 years. And I love it! I work part-time only when the kids are in school. I still bowl on Thursday's and have this day off to get thing caught up. I had a hysterectomy/bladder repair this year. I have exercised regularly. I went on Trek, still serving in young women's but moved to the Mia-maids and went to my first girls camp EVER, and turned 40.
Kim: I went back to work after being home for 15-16 years. And I love it! I work part-time only when the kids are in school. I still bowl on Thursday's and have this day off to get thing caught up. I had a hysterectomy/bladder repair this year. I have exercised regularly. I went on Trek, still serving in young women's but moved to the Mia-maids and went to my first girls camp EVER, and turned 40.
Stockton: Made tough choices, about friends and school. Got 4.0 on report card and always gets all A's. Played high school football again after taking 4 years off due to soccer. Made the high basketball team. Turned 16 and now he is driving where ever he wants. Still the moral compass of the family.
Grace: Trying to make independent choices: quit dance and after 2 months, cried and we got her back on the team, so proof, she isn't quite old enough to do that :) Great student, working hard at piano, dance and tumbling. Currently taking a break from tumbling though. Went into young women's and for her first activity, she went to the temple to do baptisms. Wears her emotions on her sleeve.
Sara: Reading on grade level :) Works hard at school, piano, and dance. She is getting to be more social with friends but still would rather be home with mom and dad. Learned to snowboard and is excited to go again this winter.
We have watched others suffer greater than our family. But when it is someone you know, love and care about its hard not to suffer with them. My mom has suffered with illness this year and it hasn't gone away yet, so we hope that she gets better in 2011. We had a family and friends suffer things that I hope we never have to go through, but through their strength, I have realized that you do what you have to do to get by. We've seen people serve time, go through divorce and get diagnosised with terminal cancer. We have seen people suffer with financial difficulties and lose homes and other worldly things. So when I feel sorry for myself or circumstance, I try to remember that we are healthy, I have my family and we have jobs, and really does anything else matter? SO...so long to 2010 and we are looking forward to a better 2011.
Brad has had a hacking cough since March. Finally, I told him I wasn't going to kiss him until he went to the dr. So he came home from work and went and he was given some antibiotics. Then within a month, he was coughing again, but by this time we were busy getting ready for Trek, our family vacation and summer in general, so finally in September, he went back to the dr...more antibiotics. Then October came, coughing AGAIN- it was on the school 5K that we were all suppose to run, but I made Brad go back to the dr. and told him to make them do a chest x-ray, by this time I was nervous! They did the chest x-ray and then sent him for further test for asthma, they told him that he didn't have asthma and we thought we were in the clear. Then a week later we got a letter? That said, he didn't have asthma but there were spots that 'uncertain significance' and he needed to go back in and for further tests. HOLY CRAP! He happened to be off that day, so he called and went in that very day. The dr told him he needed to have a CT scan, he said if they can fit me in today, I will go. So they did. We went and met with the dr and he referred us to the pulmonary specialist. They believe he has sarcoidosis but they wanted to do a mediastenoscopy to rule out lymphoma, TB or a fungus. So Brad had the procedure 2 days after Christmas. They told him, it would be easy and he should have no problems and if he wasn't on vacation, he would have been able to go back to work the next day? Well they were wrong!! It has been painful and Brad is NOT a baby, he has walked around very sore and in a lot of pain. But when they rule out those other "diseases" we will have a great Christmas present but until then we still have a little bit of doubt. Sarcoidosis is a rare disease that is treated with long term steroid use. It can/will go into remission and Brad should feel pretty good. We should know the first week in January, after everyone gets back to work.
We have done Christmas Eve the same since we have been married. We go to my mom's and Scott's with all 6 kids together and their kids. This year the Anderson's went to Vegas, so they weren't with us. Everyone else came and we started earlier at 3 so some of the girls could go to their in-laws, etc... We had dinner and opened presents. Laughed and made fun of each other and then Jenn and her family, me and my family, Jaime and Mom and Scott rode the Trax down to Temple Square and saw the lights and wandered Temple Square and had hot chocolate. We had fun and continued laughing (mostly at Kate)....then it was time for bed so Santa could come!!
