2012 in Review

I've been reading all of the end-of-the-year posts, and I thought I would try to put something up, even though I've only blogged here about two times this year.

January 2012...I do not have one photo of January. I don't know what we did. I know we were in Greer, SC for New Year's day, and then we came home.  

February 2012 It snowed for exactly one day.  We did not get any snow the rest of the winter.

March 2012...Katie turned 8! She requested a strawberry cake from Southern Living.  It was a beast.  She had a little family party with neighbors and an Easter Egg Hunt, and then her one big wish was to go horseback riding, so we did that as a family.

 Katie is really into long dresses, long tresses, and cowboy boots.

We also went to the Kansas City Zoo.

April 2012 is brought to you by baseball season, and a band concert.  

  June 2012 included probably the most adventurous family vacation we've ever taken, to South Dakota.  We spent the night in a little cabin at the Laura Ingalls Homestead, which was AWESOME.

 Then we went to Big Bend National Park, where a hailstorm knocked over our tent and soaked everything in it.  ON MY BIRTHDAY.  So we drove 30 miles to find a hotel.

The rest of our visit was lovely.

 We were fiercely photobombed at Mt. Rushmore- that place was crowded!

And then we stayed in a cabin at Custer State Park for 3 nights.  That was my favorite place of the trip, actually- it is so beautiful there and there are lakes and bison and all kinds of pretty views and wildlife.  It was amazing.  We also took a side trip to Wind Cave National Park, which was pretty cool, too

.  On the way home from South Dakota, we stopped for the night in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.  While on paper it looks like a beautiful and historic venue, in reality it was 101 degrees and the air conditioner in my car decided to die.  So we hiked in 101 degrees to see the monument and then we drove across Nebraska for 12 hours in 101 degrees.  I feel that I have experienced the pain of being a pioneer.  And oh my goodness, the sweat.  My car smelled like a Six Flags ride for weeks.

Not a happy pioneer.

Another thing that happened in June is that I went to work full time at State Farm.  I had been part time there for about a year, and while I've enjoyed having the extra income, it has been hard to be away from my family for 40 hours a week, especially in summer.  We found a great babysitter, so that helped, but it is still not an easy transition.  

The rest of the summer was good- we had some visits from some Dallas friends and we took them camping at Roaring River State Park- one of my favorite spots to go, and only an hour or so from the house.

In September, my in-laws came to visit, and I took exactly one photo:

And of course, school started.  My kids are in 3rd, 4th, and 6th grades this year.  How is that possible??

 

I should probably call it quits for now, hopefully I will be back soon to finish out the year.