2014 Review

2015 is officially here!  I cannot believe how fast time is flying by each passing year.  2014 definitely had some highs and lows.  I try not to focus on the negative but I will admit I've had better years.  Thankfully my family is healthy so I certainly cannot complain.

Our family highlight of the year was most certainly going to Disneyland.  The kids were incredibly excited from the moment we purchased our vacation months in advance.  We decided to go during my birthday, which made it a little extra special.  I was able to wear my "It's My Birthday" pin the entire trip and received many well wishes from the park staff.  But seeing the kids' eyes light up made our very first family vacation even more memorable.  I think waiting until they were old/tall enough to ride the majority of the rides (if they wanted to) and not having to worry about a stroller or nap times was a great decision for our family.  We were truly surprised how well the kids did on the car ride.  Usually they are arguing/pestering each other or asking how much longer until we get to our destination.  We have a DVD player in the Suburban, so that helped out and we did take a few breaks during the 6 1/2 hour drive down to Anaheim.  Having them calm on the trip made me calm, which made for an easy car ride.  Happy mommy!  Three days was a long time (we did 2 days at Disneyland and 1 at California Adventure) and we were exhausted by the end of the trip, but it was worth every penny and ounce of energy we exerted!  The kids still talk about our vacation months after!

Another fantastic 2014 event was running a 5K in the Giants Race with friends.  It was an awesome experience and I did pretty well on time, considering I hadn't been doing any training.  I ran almost the whole thing, which made me feel proud of myself and the energy from everyone was exhilarating!  I can't wait to do it again and I am being talked into doing a half marathon this year!  EEEK!!!

I also added to my tattoos!  I had been wanting to get one to represent our son since I already had one for our daughter done years ago.  I knew what I wanted but wanted to find the right artist.  Eddy Reyes Jr. of Secret Sidewalk Tattoos in Tracy, CA was the man for the job.  I emailed him the idea I had and he added his little touch, which turned out incredible!  I am so happy and I can't wait to go back to him for more ink (they are addictive and you can't have just one).

David started football for the first time with the Manteca Buffaloes.  He didn't even make it to the first game before breaking his arm at practice one evening during drills.  We knew he hurt himself but didn't know it was broken (there were no bruises or swelling, so we just thought it was a sprain).  Then he was still complaining the next morning about it.  I sent him to school because I had Back to School Night that day at work and Jeff already took the day before off to do the first day of school stuff for the kids.  So, when Jeff picked the kids up after he was done at work, he went to the doctor and come to find out there was definitely a fracture.  He had a cast on for 3 weeks and he loved the attention he got from everyone.  He wasn't took happy afterwards when the cast came off and he was just regular David.  Needless to say, David was too afraid after that to return to the field after the doctor gave him the okay.  

Katarina had an awesome year with soccer.  She played Spring and Fall league.  In the fall she moved up to the U10 division.  She was more scared of the ball this time around (she's usually very aggressive) but worked hard and was eventually asked to be on the competitive team her coach was trying to put together.  Her team won 1st place in her division (a total shock) and went to District Cup.  We will have our first experience with competitive soccer this year and hope it all goes well.

These are just a few of our highlights from our year!  Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2015!  Cheers!