(I’ve been doing this since 2005.)

2012 in a nutshell: Life and more life. or All of the things. or The year I got addicted to caffeine. or I became a football fan.

Heart
I’m not quite sure how many times I wrote in my journal, THIS is the final step in my transformation. At this point, I’m pretty sure that there isn’t a “final step” and that I’ll always be changing and growing. But 2012 saw lots of steps for sure. 2012 was, for me, about being alive. I got to live more life and experience more things in this year than I had in the previous 5 years. This was the year where I started really dating, quite a bit, having so much fun and a little heartbreak too. I fell in love (a couple of times) and started to see what I actually had been missing all of those years prior. I got to answer some big questions about what I wanted for my future and started to hope that I could have all of the things I couldn’t ever imagine for myself, but my friends promised me were out there. I very solidly reveled in my second chances, knowing that I was rescued from SO very much. Also, I learned to be content with where I was rather than hope for what was to come.

2012 was also about community. I got to walk through some very significant things with several of my friends. It was good to be the person giving instead of the person needing. We saw the expansion of our little community, welcoming some bright and shining people who have added so much. I realize over and over again how special this group of people is and how very loved I am. And so safe.

Looking back, I can say that 2012 was the happiest year of my life.

We celebrated:
• Eden’s birthday
• Danielle’s baby shower
• the Kentucky Derby at Amy’s
• Caleb’s Birthday
• Carrie’s birthday in 3 parts:, breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• 4th of July with Brooke & Brian and their kids
• Megan moving to Africa with about a week of parties
• My 31st birthday with a huge party in my backyard
• Halloween with a pumpkin carving party and then a costume party the following night
• Thanksgiving at my house with the whole fam and Josh.
• the birth of Amy’s third baby.
• Christmas, decorating the house for the first time ever
• Christmas with the community at Amy’s Epic Christmas Party
• Christmas for my employees at Tangle and Christmas for the clinic volunteers at my house
• New Years Eve with poker and friends and special videos

Rafted
• Shoshone twice
• In town once, with the kids
• Moab daily once and invented Riverball in the process.

Kids
• celebrated Easter for the first time
• Went to church camp. It was Honor’s first time.
• took Dexter to compete in the Wiener dog races. He lost.
• adopted a pet black widow for a couple of days
• went to Denver on the train for our Christmas Break get-away.
• moved into (part-time) a house with their dad and his girlfriend and took a lot of comfort in the stability it provided
• learned how to paddle the ducky when we were camping at Reudi Reservoir

Eden
• recorded the silliest song with her dad
• turned 10 years old
• spent an evening in the ER getting staples in her head
• ran a 5k with Girls on the Run
• was rewarded with a pet snake for keeping her room clean for an entire month.
• experienced true loss when the pet snake died
• graduated 4th grade and started 5th
• got a pet rat to replace the snake. Then got another pet rat to keep the first company. Penny and Paris respectively.
• played basketball

Honor
• wrote some poems
• also became a football fan
• graduated 2nd grade and started 3rd
• turned 9
• got really good a building legos
• also playing Mindcraft
• had a hard time adjusting to the changes in his life
• got a best friend

Me
• became a football fan
• sewed 2 quilts
• was in a commercial that Seth filmed for the church
• started to learn to fly fish
• discovered beer-garitas
• helped Seth direct a commercial for Pollux
• Got away with Amy, Rickelle and Carrie for a life-changing retreat in the mountains.
• judged the “Heritage Arts” section of the Mesa County Fair for 4H
• turned 31 with a huge party in my backyard
• went away to the mountains for the weekend on a retreat with the church staff
• went to my first Broncos game with Brooke and watched the Raiders LOOSE!
• celebrated the 1 year anniversary of being divorced.
• went away with a bunch of friends to Powderhorn for the weekend to “help” Seth shoot a promotional video.
• participated in, and won, the 21 day challenge. Lost 7lbs in the process.
• got a boyfriend. The first since I was 18.
• painted the windows for the church’s upcoming coffee shop
• learned to snowboard

Tangle
• got a letter from our Senator thanking us for our hats for the troops project.
• sponsored Knit on the Corner for the third year
• had some pretty epic windows
• turned 6 years old
• celebrated the end of the year with 15 teachers and staff!

Community
• began a badminton league which consumed many of our evenings and weekends until it got too cold
• instituted Football in the Garage, moving my TV to Caleb and Rickelle’s wood stove-heated garage every game so we can all watch together
• said goodbye to Seth and Carrie when they moved to Ft. Collins and hello to them when they got pregnant and decided to move back home
• did dreamboards with the girls

House
• front steps got a new coat of paint
• gave the backyard a total makeover, installing a path, lots of wood chips and contributing a large pile to the City’s landfill
• planted a garden
• rearranged my room for a new bed

Good Samaritan Clinic
• consumed a large part of my life as we got it running smoothly and on the road to financial sustainability
• moved into a new home which required an intense week of set-up and organization.
• I became the Director of the clinic in August.
• operated one free clinic a month.
• introduced a video that Seth made about the clinic to the city.
• ran multiple fundraisers each month: farmers market booths, concerts, hot chocolate booths, donation boxes, church presentations
• launched a partnership program designed to create financial sustainability
• passed the 500 patient mark

Some of my favorite tweets from the last year: