GOODBYE... 2011 .....HELLO ....2012

It is now New Years Eve and I am sitting here reminiscing about all that has happened in the past 12 months. This post may look vaguely familiar to some as I included most of it in the dreaded Christmas letter. Sorry to be redundant.. I really don’t know how we fit everything in. I do know this blog is not for you, but for me, so I can remember all that is good in my life in the past year. It’s been a full and busy year and sometimes I lose track of things. This helps me remember! There have been lots of huge changes in our lives, some good, some great and some not so good.
I was able to make 4 trips to Ogden this past year to see Scott and Jaclyn. January to celebrate my 61st birthday, July to deliver a quilt I made for a new baby, September to attend a baby shower for Jaclyn, and the last one to hold my new granddaughter, Hadley LeeAnn before she was 24 hours old…Hadley arrived 3 weeks earlier than her due date of 11-11-11 and arrived on October 26th.
I completed 8 quilts this past year.

My time spent sewing is my favorite time, quiet and rewarding. I attended three quilt retreats in 2011. What fun to spend an entire weekend with friends doing what you really enjoy doing. Most of my quilts were gifts for new babies or weddings but I did manage two just for me.

Those two are still waiting for the final touches because I plan to enter them in our local quilt show in July of 2012. I still have lots of time. I have several new projects planned for completion in the next year and have signed up for an advanced sewing class starting in January. It’s time to push me out of my comfort zone and learn something new.
Craig and I were able to do a bit of traveling this year as a couple too. February was our annual trip to Yellowstone Park. We stay in Gardiner and enjoy soaking in the hot springs at Chico and do a small amount of cross country skiing inside the park. We share the weekend with good friends and it’s always a fun time. The winter scenery is the best and again this year we had great weather with sunny winter skies.
Craig and I also made three trips to Anacortes, Washington. Craig completed his retirement dream of one day owning a boat. In late March, while making plans to charter a boat, he heard that a boat he had been drooling over since 2009 was being offered for sale. By 4pm that same day he owned the boat, a 2001 C-Dory, named Salty. We went to Anacortes in April to finalize the deal and see it in person. Because of some upgrades Craig wanted, we had to leave it but returned in June to actually “get our feet wet” and put Salty in the water for the first time. We spent a few days getting comfortable with salt water boating and enjoyed every moment.

Salty spent the summer months here in Montana. With everything happening this year we were not able to get out to the Montana lakes. That’s a new chapter for 2012. We returned Salty to Anacortes in October for winter storage. Our plan is to return in the spring to spend another week in the San Juan Islands before bringing it home again.

I hope you all don’t think we have given up on the rural western lifestyle. We also did a lot of horseback riding this past year. We are so fortunate to have a really nice horse trail system just a few miles from home. We can load up and be on the trail in less than 30 minutes. The horses will always be a part of our lives until we can no longer get on. Our sad news this year is the loss of Katie, the last donkey. It came as a huge shock and was unexpected. 26 years of owning those beautiful long ears came to a very sad end. With a lot of soul searching I made the decision to sell off all the driving gear and so far I have placed all of the buggies and all but one set of harness. In 2012 we do plan to get back into the wilderness areas with the horses. It has been a few years but we want to return to our summer fishing camp in the Danaher Meadows and maybe even get a full blown pack trip in too. This year, time got away from us with a slight delay in our summer haying process due to summer rain. After this year’s crop was cut, baled and stacked we managed two trailhead campouts with the horses.

We still have 4 horses and 3 mules. Alice the old girl will be 37 in January. Oh my! My Barney turns 21 also. We are not quite ready for rocking chairs yet and still enjoy the slow pace of a good trail horse.
The dogs are all doing well too. They all are still up for any type of outing and Craig takes them hiking every chance he gets. Annie is slowing down a bit. She is showing signs of arthritis and I know it is just a matter of time before she will have to remain at home with me. Tess and Charlie are both in their prime.

All three are good dogs, and great traveling companions. They all loved the new boating lifestyle we introduced them to this year. I don’t know what we would do without them in our lives.
Well that is our year in a nutshell. I have been blessed with many things this past year. After many years I have reconnected with family in mid America including two of my cousins. I am blessed to have family and so many good and caring friends from all over the country, coast to coast, North to South. You all mean so much to me and I hope you all know how important you are. Even those I have never met face-to-face. - I have fabulous family to be thankful for, too and now having a new granddaughter to spoil is just the fluffy icing on my cake.

I am thankful for my health and the ability to do everything I want to do, when I want to do it.

Take the time to sit and write down what you enjoyed most this past year. Also jot what you enjoyed the least. I think you, too, will find that most of your best memories didn't include spending a lot of money and that the list of bad things wasn't all that long.

Here's my lists.......

THE GOOD

1. Getting to hold my granddaughter before she was 24 hours old.
2. Playing board games with my son and his friends and having a Football Potluck.
3. Backyard BBQ ’s in Utah
4. Riding 4 wheelers on backroads of Utah
5. Ogden Farmers Market Day. Not spending a dime!
6. Watching dolphins while having a picnic lunch on Salty.
7. Horseback rides with friends.
8. Camping with the horses and doing day rides
9. Quilt retreats with friends and acting silly.
10. Buying 2 new cars…. (this is also on my sad list)
11. Favorite smells ……fresh cut hay, rain on a hot day, the ocean, sweaty horses , and sun dried sheets
12. Finishing a quilt project
13. Eating pizza and watching an old movie with the "girls"
14. Sunday Sew Days with the Schoolhouse Girls
15. Helping with our newborn calves

THE BAD

1. A very long winter including alot of snow
2. Spring rain and more rain and mud...lot's of mud
3. Having to put Katie, my last donkey friend, to sleep..This was the worst thing
4. Selling off all my harness buggies and driving gear.
5. Buying a new car and determining it wasn't the "right" thing to do.
6. Fender Bender with the Tribeca..ouch!

As you can see, my sad list isn't that long. I think if you take the time to write it down, you will find yours isn't either. We all have bad things happen but we need to focus more on the good memories to get us past the sad.

So my New Years Resolution is to focus more towards the positive and to enjoy whatever I have. I am truly blessed to have many great friends and wonderful family. I hope you all know how very special you are to me. We are all feeling the crunch of the everyday life whether it be financial or emotional. Love each other! and remember this last thought......

THE MOST IMPORTANT "THINGS" IN LIFE AREN'T "THINGS"

HAPPY NEW YEAR!