New Year, new milestones

"I took my love, I took it down. Climbed a mountain and I turned around. And I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills. Til the landslide brought me down..." I don't know everything the great Ms. Nicks had in mind when she penned this tune, but it definitely has at least something to do with getting older.

With the advent of 2011, I've been feeling a bit... I don't know the right word - pensive? reflective? sentimental? Perhaps all of them.

We had a quiet New Year's Eve/Day. New Year's Eve was a family pizza, malt and game party. On New Year's Day Isabel and I saw Tangled (loved loved loved it! I'd go again tomorrow and see it again it was so fun), and the rest of the day we spent organizing, watching football and eating Brian's chili. Every year since we've been married Brian makes a bit pot of chili on New Year's Day; some years he invites some guys over to have a bowl and watch a bowl game, some years we lay a little lower and it's just us. This year was just us. It was good.

I was thinking back to New Year's Eve 10 years ago, which was less than 2 weeks before I got engaged. It was spent with many friends, a lot of whom are still my dear friends today. Monique and Wendie, do you remember this?:Amazing what 10 years can do. As I look ahead to 2011, I realize how many milestones my little family will celebrate. Brian and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage. 10 years of ups, and downs. Of laughing, and crying. Of blessings, and trials. Of living, and loving. Of bringing four precious spirits into this world. And now, we are entering a new phase in life, in which our family is complete, and the focus is on raising those children to be happy, well-adjusted people who contribute to the world in a positive way. It's most certainly a new chapter. One that we are looking forward to.

"But time makes you bolder, even children get older. And I'm getting older, too. Oh, I'm getting older too."

Other milestones we look forward to this year:

This one starts playing on a basketball team, turns 8 and gets baptized, and starts Cub Scouts.











This one starts kindergarten.
This one becomes a Sunbeam in Primary and starts preschool. He was so excited to start Primary today, but church was canceled just as we were walking out the door, as a result of a power outage. Hope he can maintain his enthusiasm another week!












This one turns 1, and slips quietly (or not so quietly) into toddlerhood, leaving babyhood far behind. I am happy about this. I am sad about this. Time is measured differently as your last child grows, don't you think? I think that's when it really starts to run away from you.





So here's to 2011. I think it's gonna be a good one.