Thursday, January 3, 2013

2012 Review

What a year 2012 was!

I feel so blessed to have had so much in 2012.  2012 brought a lot of new adventures for our family and we feel so overwhelmed and so grateful for the blessings that we received this past year.

In January we took the girls to Disneyland for a week.
We had a great time.
We started out our trip with a night stay in Las Vegas where the we took the girls to Serendipity for dinner and their famous frozen hot chocolate.  {YUM}
The next day we drove into California.  We took the girls to the American Girl store and Ava got her first American Girl and Elle got her 3rd.
Then Dave took us to Santa Monica Pier for lunch and to let the girls play a little on the beach before we went to Disneyland.
The next 6 days was spent at Disneyland.  We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and it was lovely.
We enjoyed watching the girls feel like princesses {because they are} when they got their princess makeovers.  We loved seeing their faces light up when they got their books signed by the Disney Famous Celebs....aka Goofy, Mickey, Minnie and the rest of the gang.
It was a fabulous week and the girls were devastated to leave.

In February I joined 3 of my dearest friends in Las Vegas for 5 days at WPPI.  I learned a lot and was overwhelmed by the bipolar photographers who taught many of the classes {do this, but don't do this....never say this...but always say this....}oh good gravy...make up your minds! But we had a blast.  We laughed a lot and hard and for a long time.  I left Las Vegas with a hangover...a laughing hangover...cause I don't drink.

My business really started to flourish much more in 2012 and I was so blessed with more weddings, seniors and fabulous clients.  I met some awesome photographers and some fabulous clients who are now amazing friends.  I filled my time with learning new photography techniques and teaching myself how to be a better photographer.

In May Dave graduated from college. YAY IT WAS ABOUT TIME!
I was so proud of him!
He now his BS degree {don't you love that...B.S BWAHHHHAAA} in Business with the emphasis in Business Management.

For his graduation present I booked a trip for our family to go to Maui.  We took a long my parents and my oldest niece {as she graduated too}
We stayed in a beautiful condo in Makena and we have decided that every other year as funds allow that we will be returning with our children to Makena.
It was the most fabulous and relaxing vacation..just what we needed.
I did a few photo shoots on Maui.  One client shoot and one commercial shoot.

In July I had my second annual Wish Retreat in Park City, Utah.  It was fabulous!  I was reunited with old friends and made some fabulous new friends.  I feel so blessed to have been given the talent of photography that I have a deep desire to teach and help others learn photography and this is one way in which I feel like I can do it.
My Retreat is one of the highlights of the year and I can't wait till my next retreat this June.

In July Dave and I ended our 3 year attempt at a 3rd child.  With prayer and much thought we knew that we were only meant to have 2 children of our own.  As we have infertility we decided that it was time to move on.  It was a extremely hard decision but it was time for us to focus on the beautiful 2 children that we have and focus on now raising them.
I have said many times to Dave how weird it feels that this is it...that we will only have Elle and Ava.  We have a partly unfinished basement that we were going to finish as bedrooms when we needed them because of more children and its weird that we don't have to do that now if we don't want to.
There's so many other facets that seems so strange to me about only having 2 children {I wanted 4} but I am grateful that I have 2.  They both are extreme miracles and I count myself lucky.

With deciding that we were done having children it allowed me to focus on my body in a positive way. My mentality changed.  It finally clicked that I don't need to make myself purge to lose weight and that I don't need to exercise 4 times a day to lose weight instead I just needed to make healthy lifestyle changes and so I did.

Elle started the 3rd grade and she loves her teacher.  She is getting to be a good reader and she is improving so much.  Elle continued to be requested by boutiques to model for them and me photograph them.  She is a natural model and she loves it.

Ava continued to be as hilarious as ever and she is growing and learning so much too.  She has a giant imagination and she is going to be a fabulous artist one day.  She loves to draw and color as you can see her work located on my couch and wall...viewings are held daily...oh that child!

In August Elle was Baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It was such a great day.  She was ready and excited to take that leap of faith.  We are so proud of her.

At the end of September Dave and I went on a cruise with Janet and Sean {Daves Sister and Brother in Law}.  It was a fun week in Mexico for sure.
We enjoyed the sun, playing Phase 10 daily and of course the Chocolate Melting Cake every night....

In November I went to North Carolina to attend a workshop.  I was so scared to go and so much almost stopped me from going, but I went.  I met some amazing women and I am thrilled with the new friendships I made.

At the end of November I had a tummy tuck and felt like I was hit by a truck.  I am just now starting to feel good.  However I am excited for the results.
I have lost almost 60 pounds now.

The holiday season was really laid back.  We enjoyed the company of our families and teaching our children more about the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

We feel so blessed to have met so many amazing and fabulous people this year.
Dave has reconnected with his friend Sekoa and he has been a humbling addition to our lives and we feel blessed to have in it.
I have strengthened old friendships and made some amazing new friends.
My business has grown so much and it has blessed us so much.

My relationship with Jesus Christ has grown this year as I have accepted more responsibilities in our Church to serve the Lord. I have vowed to be a better person this year.

We are so excited for what 2013 has to offer us and what we have to offer 2013.
Here we go! Ready for our adventure!




















































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