Life lately, VIA my iPhone

Took Tristan to see Frozen! His first movie theater experience! We had so much fun on our little date night. He was basically the cutest. He loved Elsa and the snowman...but was a little intimidated by the seats because it kept collapsing on him (so funny). He ended up on my lap, which was alright because I got to snuggle him :)

I finished school!!! YAY!

Testing out my AWESOME new running gear/Chirstmas gifts from my parental units. I'm one of those people that will find any excuse not to run. Now I have none...sooo I suppose I should be running daily.....

Sooo.... if you didn't hear. We kind of won the Superbowl. There were lots of "Blue Fridays" in our lives. These boys are either brainwashed or they got their football-lovin genes from Daddy. Tristan was even invited to the "Seahawks party" at daycare due to his Seahawks spirit. They made a poster with all the pictures from the party, which he is very proud to be on. He shows me the pictures every day...as if I have never seen them :)

PIMA FAM! Finally SENIORS!!

Tristan is such a good sport :)

Pre-Valentines Day Fun. Tristan asked me if I was making cookies for Santa... 

I said, "No buddy, these are for Cupid." 

He said, "For CUPID?"

"Yeah buddy. Mommy is trying to butter him up so that he'll shoot someone with an arrow and Mommy can have a man again"

Tristan says, "I want a man"

"Uhh... ok buddy"

"I want a cookie"

#toddlers

 My cuddle buddy. Somehow this kid either manipulates his way into sleeping with me every night... or ends up in my bed by 4am. I SURRENDER kid!

We had a couple days of just hanging out at home after I finished school while I waited to start my extern... things got interesting :)

MY VALENTINES!!!! They were so stinkin cute. I got a little knock at the door and these two little midgets with their backpacks on were standing there with flowers, "Happy Valentines Day Mommy!!" 

It was the best Valentines day yet. 

Last day of class in Stinsonville

I tried to get a picture of our Nike lovin' fam....but I got these cute little faces instead.

Sunday funday with my Wawa (aka Laura)

This is what he wanted to wear...wouldn't take his Nike's off for 3 days. Seriously. 

First day of extern!

Morning vitals <3

5 am is rough.

2013-- In Summary

Wow. Does it seem like I JUST wrote a big long Facebook status about how thankful I was to be DONE with 2012? Well, shooot... Cuz 2013... You beat 2012 with the challenges. Jokes on me!

Kidding, really. So I had a rough year. I ain't even phased. Because you know what? I'm just THAT much smarter, and the smarter I get... Oh boy, watch out world! I'm gettin super smart!

Before I tell you all how super smart I got this year, I gotta start with my obligatory list of sh*t I'm thankful/grateful for...


First and foremost, I'm grateful to my husband (I still get to call him that, right?). For loving me when I couldn't love myself, for standing by me when everyone else was against me, for following me while I was lost and leading me back, but mostly for not giving up on me. No matter the outcome, you will always be my rock. 



For my kids who kept me going, who kept me smiling through the tears, for making me laugh when I wanted to cry, for reminding me who I am, and who I want to be.

&

To those that understood my journey, thank you.

Some might not understand me or my choices and that's okay. I've accepted that some people will just never understand, and some people just don't want to, and that's okay too. To those, well God gave us a middle finger for a reason right?

So on to the next...

2013. 

Full of ups and downs. What a year. It was truly the hardest year yet, but here I am... I'm alive, my kids are healthy, we have a roof over our heads, a fridge full of food, a car to drive, and I'm getting an education. We are going places. I feel extremely grateful for all the hardships of this past year. I have learned so much about myself, about the people I surround myself with, about life, love... the list truly goes on. 

"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times... if one only remembers to turn on the light."


(I realize that a few people have already seen this, but for my friends and family that do not have facebook...as well as for the sole purpose of this blog--to document my family's journey)

There's always a few things to be thankful for...

Ok, I'm in a bit of a hurry because I have to get these monsters dressed and out the door soon, and I haven't even showered myself yet. So let's see if I can whip this list out. I apologize if it makes no sense. Sometimes my brain doesn't work correctly.

Anywho, thought I'd spend a little bit of time expressing gratitude for my crazy beautiful life. 

(See, Ke$ha & I were sisters in another life)

Ok, let's get to it.  Obviously I'm thankful for my two adorable, crazy, rambunctious, slightly insane, totally hilarious, too smart for their own good children. Seriously, if you think I'm crazy now just try to imagine what my life would be like if I didn't have any responsibilities. Scary, right? I feel ya.

I'm thankful for a fantastic baby daddy. This man can drive me more mad than anyone i've ever met, but at the end of the day I realize I cannot harm him because he is my children's father and a good one at that.  For real though, this man is stellar in the Daddy department. I'm a difficult woman and this guy does a pretty good job keeping up with me and my demands. So, yay! Let's hear it for Baby Daddy's! :)

My PIMA FAMILY; We laugh, we fight, we learn... We have definitely had our share of ups and downs together and it has been a wild ride, but oh so worth it. We are each other's dummies day in and day out. There's a certain level of respect and trust that goes into letting someone stab you with a needle for their first time. I don't know if I would have made it through the summer without these people, honestly. The thought of quitting crossed my mind, and then I showed up another day and I realized that these people were the ones keeping me going. I had a serious string of crap happening for awhile and these people just made me laugh, cheered me on, supported me and reminded me that it's life and we gotta keep going. They let me borrow pens and papers every single day until I could afford new school supplies after my car got broken into and the only thing they took was my backpack with all of my homework, they brainstormed with me on how to save my food when my power was out for 4 days, they've listened to all my boy problems and dealt with all of my Chive talk, cheered me on when I quit smoking, not said anything when I show up to class with no make up ;) But for real, the list goes on.  So these people, I am thankful for. I love each and every one of you!

New friends. Where would I be without all the new people I met this last year? Even the people who were in my life for just a short time, or for a few months, or whatever. They all inspire me to keep going. A friendly reminder that there is not just one person out there. There are plenty of fish in the sea, right? (Goes for both dating as well as friends, I think)

MY NEW NEIGHBORS! Yay! I love these 2 :) They've made my life a whole lot more interesting and less lonely. I used to spend my Saturdays & Sundays sleeping half the day away, sometimes wandering through trails or aimlessly wandering the shops and now I have these two boys to go on adventures with so I'm pretty thankful for them. Plus they spoil me ;) They make me get out of bed, and take me to movies and new restaurants, give me their wifi password, and make me coffee when I'm out of creamer. They drive me to school when I have a flat tire and then fix my flat tire because I don't know how. They're pretty awesome. Things feel a lot less hard when you have company to join you.

My list goes on, but my time does not. 

Happy Thanksgiving!