I'm way behind on the blog, by like, years, but I've gotta get my top ten of 2016 in! I'll write them in chronological order, The top ten most impactful events of the year, good or bad.
1.March 21 sweet little Jocelyn joined our family! She was a double rainbow baby. She's a happy, friendly, adorable, addition to our family. I'm so happy to have her.
2. We had Jocelyn blessed in church shortly after her birth. David gave a lovely blessing. She was blessed to have faith and to know that she's loved by Heavenly Father and Jesus, and that although there may be hard times of discouragement in her life, she will work through them and grow to be a woman of faith. She was also blessed to marry in the temple and have a large family. Much of my family was able to attend and my dad and brothers were also in the circle.
3. About a month or two after Jocelyn was born we decided to get a puppy! We found a border collie/standard Schnauzer mix. We named her Juno. Alli LOVED her puppy and Juno favored Allison. She was a very sweet dog and for a puppy, pretty obedient. Unfortunately she disappeared toward the end of the summer or early fall. Sad. I'm surprised at how much I actually liked the dog and missed having her around, never having really been a dog person.
4. In July we did our annual Martin family camping trip. It's always a fun week of camping with lots of family, but this year was especially memorable because of the crazy guy who pulled a gun on David and Chris and promised to chase us out of our camping spot. We had to get the sheriff from Mountain Home involved and ended up having to pack up our entire camp at midnight to go somewhere safer. Yet the guy who threatened us got to stay comfortably camping. It ruined a lot of our good camping time.
5. I like being at home. I like being with my family. Sometimes I don't love leaving my bubble. But this year I reached out and joined a homeschool co-op called Leadership Connections. I'm glad I did. It does add stress to my life and week, but it's great for Morgan and Lydia, and I enjoy having more acquaintances who have homeschooling in common.
6. We failed at dog owning, but we thought we'd give some kittens a try. So this past Fall we acquired two kitty sisters from a family in our ward. They were the friendliest kittens I'd ever seen, and I've known a lot of kittens in my day. We named them Mulan and Cricket. Shortly after getting them though, Cricket disappeared. Sad! Mulan was missing her sister and we were missing our pet, but we never found her. There's an eagle that hangs out in our tree in our field lately. We suspect it might have something to do with the disappearance. But we still have Mulan and really like her. She puts up with a lot of abuse from Allison and Jocelyn.
7. In November we got a new car! It's a Buick Enclave. It's a crossover. Not really an SUV but also not a car. We really like it and feel fancy having it.
8. In November we also sang a song as a family in church. We learned a lovely song called Gethsemane and practiced it a lot with David, Morgan, William, Lydia, and myself. Those kiddo's are pretty good little singers and it was fun to do that as a family. I plan for us to always be a singing, musical, family, and it's fun that they're old enough now to really see it happening. We even recorded it and put it to a video that we posted on youtube.
9. Owen turned 8 in November, so he was baptized in December! He was a little apprehensive because he thought the water would be too cold, since it's winter, but he was pleased to find it warm. :) It's a great step he chose to take, especially considering he isn't 100% supported from all family members. Since he was baptized he's eager to do things like fast on fast Sunday and read his new scriptures.
10. This year I lost 45 lbs! Now, I realize that's a little deceptive as I also had a baby this year, so some of that weight came off a little easier than at other times, but I didn't GAIN 45 lbs that pregnancy. I gained 30. Which means that by nine months postpartum not only had I lost all the baby weight, but an additional 15. This was a big deal for me because of my complete failure to lose any weight after my miscarriages. I feel empowered and like I DO have some control over me and that what I eat and do matters. I'm excited to lose even more going forward.
2016 was a pretty good year for us. No major disasters, some big milestones, and happy and healthy people. Let's hope we can continue this trend for 2017.
