We have been in Texas over a year now and we've grown to really love our new state. It was a year of exploring, sports, beaches and a surprise trip back to Utah that we never imagined would have happened at the beginning of last year or even just three to four months ago.
The kids all love it here, the weather is mostly great and it's going to be hard to one day leave New Braunfels. We had an amazing year. We built and strengthened new friendships that have only added joy to our year. We reached goals and fell short on others. We got a second job and Danny gained more experience teaching. Looking back on these past twelve months only bring back smiles which is nice to think about now because in hindsight I know we definitely had trials. It's good to know the overall feelings for the year outweigh the hard moments we might have had.
JANUARY - We experienced our first Texas January which basically is just a month of the most amazing weather. It's like a prolonged fall season. Instead of winter the weather stays around 75° although we did get plenty of days where it was in the 80's. It felt amazing. Grant went on his first ever bus ride for his school field trip. I was able to live out my mom dreams and chaperone him and his cute class. It was also a big month for the twins as we finally got rid of all the binkies in the house. That's a bittersweet milestone. It's weird to think that we won't ever have our own little baby needing those anymore.
FEBRUARY - After experiencing a very warm January we jumped right into the weirdest 'winter storm' where the kids basically had a whole week off from school because it was cold. It was pretty comical and one that we won't forget. We of course celebrated Valentine's Day and I did a cute little photoshoot with the twins because why not? Addie joined her first ever sports team playing soccer and the Olsens invited us to join them on an adventure to Palmetto State Park. February will always have a special place in my heart for the babies of our family who this year turned TWO! We didn't have a huge party but we did celebrate with a little Twincess theme.
MARCH - March was so fun! Danny's parents flew out here and treated us to an amazing spring break vacation. We thought that would be our only family vacation of the year and if it would have been we would have been very happy with it. It started off rough with some sick kids and cold wind but we're so glad it happened. We explored Corpus Christi and the surroundings and Grant still talks about that vacation house ten months later. We celebrated St. Patrick's day with a game based off my childhood traditions and hope to incorporate it into now the kid's childhood traditions. I turned 34 years old and we finally used that as an excuse to explore San Antonio as tourists do. We also experienced our first Blue Bonnet season.
APRIL - We celebrated Easter with our usual traditions and went down memory lane. We finally registered our cars in Texas and switched out our old Utah plates for new Texas ones.
MAY - I was able to join Hudson on his field trip to the Animal World and Snake Farm Zoo. Mother's Day was perfect and amazing. Addie graduated from second grade on the All A Honor Roll and we couldn't be more proud of her. The boys graduated from kindergarten and preschool with the cutest graduation ceremonies. The last day of school snuck up on us real fast and I was excited to have them home again.
JUNE - This month was full of water fun. We played at the splash pad, the beach, the pool, the water park, and also went to different rivers for Danny's birthday and Father's Day. Danny is now 34 and we couldn't be more blessed for the man that he is. He took on a second job that we believed would be temporary at the time however he's still currently doing it two nights a week. He sacrifices so much and we appreciate all of his hard work. Another little hard worker is our little Grant. He wants to be just like Addie and Hudson and has become quite the little reader. I love it so much.
JULY - We celebrated Independence Day with great friends and had a blast spending the day at Aquatica for Grand Bean turning Five! Some of the kids were able to join Danny for some one on one time where he took them to his campus for the day and I completed my personal book goals challenge.
AUGUST - We had an awesome month and also a little financial trial that I didn't get into any details about but it did make the second job stick around for a little longer. Turns out that job was a real blessing in disguise. But first we hit our year mark here in Texas where it's honestly been great. The twins had their first movie experience. Danny and I went on our first kidless vacation to celebrate TEN YEARS together and it was amazing. It was during that trip that we learned about a minor financial setback but we were able to set that stress aside and enjoy our time together. We got back in time for the kids to meet their new teachers and head back to a new school year. Addie is now in third grade, Hudson is in first grade and Grant is in Kindergarten. It's just me and the twins now at home. We were able to also return to Bobcat Stadiumfor Danny's work dinner. That's always a fun time.
SEPTEMBER - We jumped back into the world of sports as Addie returned to soccer and Hudson started flag football. Addie had a friend pool party to celebrate her birthday this year. I can't believe she's NINE!
OCTOBER - We might have started a new birthday tradition with lunch dates. School pictures were sent home. We watched the Annular Eclipse. I first started imagining a possibility of spending Christmas in Utah. We swam in the pool for the last time this season. We celebrated Halloween with possibly our favorite family theme yet. Doing Harry Potter ended up being perfect.
NOVEMBER - Addie and Hudson both finished off their sports seasons. Addie scored in her last game and her team went on to play in a tournament. Hudson's team had a fun undefeated season. We officially decided that we would be flying out to Utah for Christmas making it a first for four of the five kids. We don't regret this decision at all. Grant got his school pictures retaken and it turned out so cute. Also cute was Rylee's obsession with her hat. It lasted for months. We had our second Friendsgiving with the Olsens and this time it was friends of theirs that hosted us. Hudson and I celebrated his birthday a little early with our school lunch date.
DECEMBER - Hudson turned SEVEN! We were able to celebrate him a Jungle Jams. Felix returned on time. The kids met Texas Santa again along with the Grinch. We got our family portraits taken by the amazing Chelsea Olsen and they turned out fantastic. Hudson got accepted into the Gifted and Talented program at school. We celebrated Christmas early here in Texas and then headed to Utah for eleven unbelievable days. It was the perfect way to end this year we've had.
Last year I wrote about hoping to end the year of 2023 in good ol' Texas. I'm so glad that happened. It's been so great starting our second year here. We've recently started looking at jobs for the fall of 2024 and if that happens it would honestly be hard to leave this place. We'll see what happens. We have our post doc contract through the summer of 2025 so the next step is getting closer in sight which is crazy. I also wrote about how I was excited to celebrate our ten year anniversary and vaguely wrote about my vision of the video I had been working on over the last ten years. I was able to find someone to help me put it together and I'm so proud of the way it was completed. Last year we talked about taking time to explore Texas and we were able to do that starting off with our spring break in Corpus Christi; and then with our anniversary trip Danny and I explored bits of Austin, Houston, and Galveston. I was hoping to also maybe leave the state and head into Louisiana. I had no idea that the state we would leave Texas for was going to be Utah. It was incredible. Last year I set some fitness and financial goals as well. I didn't quite hit my fitness goal. Actually it was the opposite. I actually came home from our Utah trip weighing more than I did at the beginning of the year haha but you know what? I actually don't even feel bad about it. I'm resetting the goals and this year I'm hoping to achieve it. With our finances I wrote that we hoped to have the van paid off within fifteen months. I guess that would go into this March and we might actually still hit that goal. It would be amazing if we can.
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I'll carry those fitness and financial goals into this year. I have twelve months to really tackle some personal fitness goals and with our 2024 Halloween theme in mind I have some extra motivation haha. I would still love to have our van paid off by March and I think we can do it. Aside from student loans that is our biggest debt and then we'd really be able to focus on getting completely debt free. I can't wait for that day, although it won't be this year. If we can end 2024 with zero car payments and zero credit debt (we used credit for part of our recent flight expenses) that would be amazing. Those student loans will be the only thing in our way by the end of the year, I'm manifesting that now. This year I don't have any crazy trips planned out in my mind. I will be going to Utah for my brother's wedding and I almost got a ticket for Hudson to join me this time. It would have been amazing for us to go together especially since he is turning eight this year and Addie coincidently went me with to a brother's wedding the year she turned eight. However, we're still paying off our Utah trip that we just had or it would be a done deal. We do want to explore more of Texas. Specifically Dallas. I have a sister out there and it's about time we finally go there as a family, even if it's just a quick weekend getaway. We'd also love to take the kids to Houston and even to Galveston just as Danny and I had done. Will we be going to the neighboring states of Louisiana or Oklahoma this year? Most probably not but that's okay. There's still so much of Texas we haven't done. If Danny does get a job lined up at the completion of his post doc experience then we really want to see all that we can while we're here. 2024 we're excited to see how this year pans out because we loved 2023.
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