2012

The following photos may not be much, but it gives a quick visual overview of how we spent 2012.
It  begins with the end of 2011 as we celebrated our anniversary visiting of all things, a farm. We drove up to Heber and toured a local dairy.  We enjoyed the cheese samples and learning about their cows. We went on to have a picnic in Midway.

In December I co-hosted a musical house party with some of my favorite women. It helps to have a lot of musical friends. I think it's the perfect way to celebrate Christmas. This was our fourth annual party.

At the start of the new year, Bret became Bishop of our ward. He has learned a lot and has enjoyed getting to know the wide variety of people he works with. It's been a good experience for both of us. I continue to serve with the Young  Women. Here is a photo of them and a few of their mothers coming by our house for treats after one of their activities. 

In the spring my brother Stephen graduated with his Masters. Bret was off that day so we were able to attend the festivities. My niece was the photographer and this one was the least blurry. We were sad when later in the summer his family moved to California so he could live the dream of working for Dream Works.

 Also in the spring, I went on my annual road trip with my good friends "Plewe" and "Mrs. Simmons." This year we went to St. George. Besides little walks in town we also explored a nearby ghost town and learned some interesting history.

We also bought a new car! It just so happened we bought it the same day my friend Diana bought the exact same one! Later in the fall I managed to distinguish ours from hers by backing into a tree and denting the back side.

 We also spent a lot of free time with family. Here Bret is reading to one of the nephews. Besides losing Sarah's brother, Stephen to a move, we also lost her sister Alicia, and Bret's brother Dane. When we have family dinner now, on both sides, it feels a bit lonely.

One of our last large family dinners on Bret's side involved playing the candy bar game. I recommend it for all ages!

Summer time brought fun family visitors, though. Both Bret's brothers Nate and Seth came to town. When Nate and his girls were in town we went on more local adventures, like hiking Mount Timpanogas and exploring the caves at the top. The hike up felt never ending, but we persevered and were rewarded with a stunning view.

 We also visited Kennecott Copper Mine. 

One week of my summer brought Girls Camp. I attended each day, but went home at night since that was the week I began giving myself shots as part of our IVF attempt. I never thought I could give myself a single shot (let alone dozens) but I did it! The first night of camp we all broke through our fears by literally breaking through a one inch board with our hands. I only wish I got a clearer picture.

After a month of self inflicted shots I went in for the procedure. My favorite part of the whole experience was feeling the love and support from so many friends and family members.

IVF wasn't cheap so we entertained ourselves with a lot of trips to the park and other free dates.  We discovered the Jordan River Trail and spent one afternoon walking as far as we could. I felt like the bear that went over the mountain, as all we saw was more river and more trail.

 It had some beautiful spots, though, where we took breaks and enjoyed watching the water flow. One of our favorite parks sits alongside it and we go walking there often.

At the end of summer we decided to take a road trip to Texas and surprise Sarah's grandma for her birthday. Sarah's mom came along too and it was a fun adventure.

Besides visiting Grandma we also visited Sarah's brother Ron.

Since Bret and Sarah both once lived in Houston we drove through the old neighborhoods and found our old houses.

Sarah's childhood home is on the left and Bret's is on the right. It was fun remembering and telling each other our stories.

The we drove on over to San Antonio to visit Bret's brother Seth.

We loved our tour of the River Walk and the Alamo. We had both visited it when we were children, but decided it was worth seeing again, and we were right.

On the drive home we went through Ponca City, Oklahoma and saw where Sarah's mom spent many years of her childhood. We saw the "Pioneer Woman" that is the historical focal point of her home town.

Once home from our adventures we had the usual yard work that comes with fall. Besides canning grape juice and harvesting tomatoes, we cleaned the gutters the day before a large snow storm was due to arrive. These leaves belong to the tree that damaged our new car. Bret is all the more anxious now to cut it down.

The snow storm came on the morning of our first annual Adoption Walk. We made signs and wore orange shirts advertising for Families Supporting Adoption. We've loved our time being a part of the organization and have learned a lot from all our new friends. The walk was a lot of fun, despite, or because of the snow. We made new friends, and connected with old. We're hopeful about our future as adoptive parents.

At the end of summer we decided to become herbivores. We've enjoyed the changes to our health and have been pleased to find so much food we like. At Thanksgiving we treated ourselves to a LOT of olives.

After the large meal Sarah went to the park to work off some of those olives. She and her niece decided to try "planking." She suggested we start out easy, on a bed of sawdust. Sarah was grateful.

Well, those are our stories for the year. We leave you with a hearty "Merry Christmas!" May you enjoy this season of celebration as much as we do.