2011 top ten

It has been kind of hard coming up with a top the for this year! We have had a nice quiet year, I guess but here it is.

10. The beaches of FL- we visited the beach as often as we could this year. We made it to Cocoa, Daytona, Treasure Island, and several smaller beaches on both coasts. We even spent Christmas Eve day at the beach!

9. Scouting-DB had a full year of scouting and earned his Wolf. He loves scouts, and I love that it gives us some good ideas for FHE!

8. WDW- if we ever had some spare time or a day off of school, odds were that we could be found at Walt Disney World! We live about 15 min from the gate (and will soon be moving even closer!) and definitely used our FL resident status to our benefit!

7. Mama and Papa Shoff-oh, how spoiled we are by our gramma and grampa! The came to visit us not once, but TWICE this year! We have such a good time when they come and I really appreciate the time they spend with us.

6. New car-we sold the Lexus SUV and were intending to buy a house here but have felt that we should hold off on that, so we bought a Honda Civic. It is perfect for me and the minions to run around in and will suit me great when I am commuting to school in 2012.

5. Joyschool-JT, SM and I participated in joyschool this year with some friends we have made here. I am not exactly sure how much learning happens sometimes, but we all have had some fun doing it.

4. St Augustine- when I got back from Utah this summer, Ben took me to St Augustine for my birthday. We had so much fun on our first trip without the munchkins in tow in 4 1/2 years! Thank heaven for Uncle David and Aunt Becca!

3. Broken elbow-ah, yes. The broken elbow. 4 days before coming home from UT....surgery, 1 sling, 2 casts, 7 long weeks-- good times. JT took it all in stride though and actually taught me a LOT about perseverance, patience, courage and the effect of a positive attitude.

2. Ragnar training-the last 5 months have been completely consumed by my training. My whole family has helped me in preparing. Ben has watched the kids in the mornings during my runs, dealt with random runs at the drop of a hat, DB has ridden his bike along side me, JT and SM stretch with me before and after runs...now let's hope they all get along while I am gone for 4 days next week!

1. Utah visit-we spent 5 weeks in Utah without Ben. That was so hard to be apart that long, but I was so grateful for the time it gave me to spend some good time with both sides of our family.
The kids did a good job on our flights, and we had some really great experiences while there.

2011 was a quieter year for us, but that just gave us time to cultivate friendships, learn, and grow closer together as a family. 2012 is knocking on our door with a LOT of enthusiasm already, so I am going to sit back, relax tonight and enjoy the last quiet moments of a year that has served us well.

Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful day today! It was so relaxing to stay at home and veg all day. We did manage to throw some church clothes on 15 min before church and make it there on time. The kids were all happy with their haul, and I got the biggest surprise of all this morning! I am actually entering this post from my present...an ipad! We have been considering getting one for a while, with me starting school and all, and I am excited to put this bad boy to use there. Meanwhile, we are cultivating a very unhealthy habit to angry birds. I put together a missionary book for Ben which has been a lot of fun to read through today. Those letters and documents have been buried in a Tupperware tote for many many years.

We are so grateful this year for all we have been blessed with. We have made some amazing friends here, we have family nearby that we get to see for the holidays, we live in an awesome place, we have food on our table and warm beds. We truly have been so blessed this year! Merry Christmas!

I am Grateful November is over!

Sheesh, that was rough posting every day! It was good for me to be grateful though. There were definitely days that I would have griped more than anything, and it was good for me to just ignore that and be grateful. My blogging experience bled out into my life and I really was a happier person this month simply because I was consciously thinking of being grateful. We are happy to be in the midst of December and the Christmas season. As stressful as it can get sometimes, it is fun to see so much excitement and anticipation on my kiddos faces.

We are definitely counting down until the big day, but meanwhile we are staying as busy as we can to keep everyone out of trouble.

I have had to ramp up my training for the race. It is funny, you know. This race has completely overtaken my life. I consider the race in almost everything I do. Everything I eat, how much I sleep, how much exercise outside of running I get, scheduling, everything! I think my teammates and I are all getting a Ragnar Christmas. This race has turned out to be much more expensive than I anticipated and, well, what do you do. Unfortunately I am that type of person that once I commit to something (except for a craft) I usually see it through, dang the consequences. Speaking of consequences, I finally went in and saw a doctor who is 85% sure that my knee pain is just from overuse. Knowing that, I am able to run through the pain and not worry about really hurting something. I ran 6 miles on Thursday and 8 miles yesterday. When I crossed the 8 mile mark yesterday, I even got a little teary-eyed. It truly is an amazing thing to accomplish an 8 mile run. I am going to me a blubbering mess at the end of my 15th mile, I assure you. (Whether that is out of pain or pride will be determined soon) I am pretty dang proud of myself right now. It is the good pride, though right? I have increased my Ibuprofen dose before my runs and that has helped. There are 34 days until the race. Getting closer! I am definitely worried about my leg. "4.2, 8.1, 2.7" is my mantra these days as I run. Scary. Thrilling.