I love these New Year days. Over the last few days, I went through our pictures from the last year and tried to remember some of the things we were up to in 2018. Mostly I noticed that the beginning and ending of the year were very much work-focused for our family. And all the middle months were very much enjoying our beautiful Logan-focused (that part is probably just because that's when I took the most pictures!)
Here are some of our Brough Family happenings of 2018 (according to my photo library :)
JANUARY
LostMyName/Wonderbly was struggling and let Jordan know they could keep paying him for about three more months (!) so we jumped into some intense job searching.
Also:
Jordan and I went to the Silicon Slopes conference in Salt Lake, and Kathie flew up on short notice to play with the kids. Owen and Landon played basketball with the North Logan city teams. Ellie had a Blueberry Birthday Party, and Porter had a month of tumbling classes at the local gym.
FEBRUARY
Jordan was here, there, and everywhere with a month packed full of phone screens, technical screens, phone interviews, and coast-to-coast (and back again if I remember right!) on-site interviews.
Also,
Lots of job search discussions and brainstorming and decision making. More basketball for Owen and Landon (plus cheering for the rest of us). Ellie participated in the science fair with her friend (what happens when you change the amounts of baking soda in her favorite muffin recipe?) We made Valentine's for the kids' class parties. The kids enjoyed our snowy Logan world, and I got to see my favorite Dar Williams in concert here in Logan!
MARCH
Jordan started work for Teachers Pay Teachers, and our family had a really wonderful visit to New York!
Also,
We had a day in Salt Lake and visited Temple Square before we left for NYC. Jordan stayed in New York and worked his first week at TPT while the kids and I came home. Landon, Ellie, Owen & Porter did swim lessons at the University (Porter's first - and he was an amazing little swimmer! Owen finally felt comfortable and started with real strokes, and Landon started kick turns and some diving!) Landon and Owen finished up basketball. Ellie had her Odyssey of the Mind competition. Jordan hung hammocks in our front yard that were enjoyed all Spring, Summer, and Fall. We had a lego robotics demo day with the team we'd worked with through the school year. We had our first family campfires and campouts of the year, and we enjoyed watching General Conference.
APRIL
We had two fun trips to Provo - one at the beginning of the month to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday and one at the end to celebrate Nathan's graduation from BYU. (And I realized at his graduation that it was just about the same amount of time from when I graduated (2005) until our kids will start graduating (2030-ish) wow!)
Also,
We celebrated Easter at home with our family, played basketball at the church and enjoyed some Springtime bikerides. Owen turned 7. We went ice skating a few times, Owen started Spring Soccer, I was a delegate for the Republican caucus. We had our last 'kid party' play group of the year for our house, and more fun preschool time with Porter and his friends. April came for a visit and we got to celebrate her birthday with a fun Green Canyon campfire .
MAY
Also,
Jordan had fun helping with a kayaking field trip with Landon's classes. Owen played more soccer and had a late birthday party with friends. Landon worked hard on a research project for band. Owen started Logan city track and the rest of the kids started "Dad track". We had fun at Hillcrest's Portuguese celebration (and I contributed by making hundreds of Pão de Queijo). The boys had a Father/sons campout (I can't actually remember this, but I think that's what the pictures must be!) We finished up with Lego Robotics, and the kids finished school for the year!
JUNE
We started our summer break with a road trip to see April in Montana! We had a fun time staying with her and getting to know Missoula a little better too.
Also,
Porter finished Upstart (his online preschool). We celebrated Jordan's (40th!) birthday with another all day bike adventure with stops for pickleball, playgrounds, and fun food. We went camping and had some other fun hikes, and we celebrated Isaac turning two!
JULY
JULY
Ellie and Landon loved going to Harry Potter camp and were such great buddies coming and going each day. And we all found our groove a little better for our summer school time.
Also,
we celebrated Independence day here in Logan and trying something new watching fireworks from the school field. We visited the American West Heritage Center (where Jordan and Landon both tried milking a cow!) Jordan and kids went camping. We had a fun visit to Tony Grove with kayaking and picnic-ing. Ellie was part of a kids arts & crafts fair with her friend Aria. We had some fun kid days with bowling and jump zone. We celebrated Pioneer Day with our ward's annual parade, etc. We celebrated Landon's 12th birthday kayaking with his friends. Landon spent a week in California with Grammie and Grandpa. We filled a basement wall with fabric squares like I'd seen at a shop in Brazil, and we did some more hiking and walking.
AUGUST
We got a short term membership at the gym and I took the kids swimming as much as we could.
Also,
We eased up on our summer school days and enjoyed a more relaxed summertime schedule. Landon went to scout camp for the first time, and Jordan joined him for the last few days. We had an end-of-summer camping trip to Bear Lake and other fun walks/hikes/adventures. We celebrated Porter's birthday with a super-hero party. We did a fruit-fly catching experiment (after lots and lots of delicious summertime peaches). The kids all went back to school, and I started back in to my favorite morning walks.
We enjoyed another beautiful Logan Fall with lots of outside time.
Also,
Landon and Jordan prepped for (throughout the summer) and rode in the Bike the Bear challenge (50 miles around Bear Lake). Ellie started playing cello. Jordan and the kids went kayaking. Our little garden had a few good things ;) Owen and Porter started Fall soccer and we had lots of great hikes, walks, and bike ride adventures.
OCTOBER
We had a wonderful Fall Break in Livermore and Jordan and I celebrated our anniversary while we were there with a trip to San Francisco.
Also,
We enjoyed more outside time with walks and bike rides and other adventures. Owen and Porter played more soccer. Jordan went to New York for "Camp TPT" and some work time too. Isaac fell and hurt his eye - "Mine eye is all better now!" The kids loved raking and playing the leaves. We visited the American West Heritage Center again. We carved pumpkins, I helped with a class party, and we celebrated Halloween with a great Uncle Sam, Pigicorn, Mailman, Bat, and Tiger.
NOVEMBER
Jordan jumped into the big tax project at work, and we felt grateful for the time we still got to spend together!
Also,
We voted. We enjoyed a longer Fall and the beautiful place we live. Porter and the boys discovered shoulder angels and caught Jordan for a minute whenever they could to practice their climbing. We got to watch our nephews when our new baby niece was born. We joined with friends in their Service Scavenger Hunt. We had some sick days (welcome winter!) We celebrated my birthday (with a pinãta even!) The kids were thrilled with the first snow, and we filled thankful trees for our Art of the Month project.
DECEMBER
We enjoyed a lovely Christmastime!
Also,
Our kitchen became a pizzelle factory for a day or two with everyone working together to make pizzelles for our neighbors and friends. Ellie played in her orchestra concert. We got to go the temple with Landon for the first time. We had a few fun days in Provo and celebrated Nathan and Rachel's wedding with them! The kids made themselves graham cracker houses for after school snacks a few times. Jordan worked hard to get things done in a great way for TPT and ended up getting to take some time off for Christmas Break even - hooray! We celebrated Christmas at home with our kiddos. We had a happy Christmas break with lots of game playing, race track playing, and snow time, and we had a Happy New Year's Eve celebration playing games and ringing in the New Year with Brazil (at 7:00 :)
