saying goodbye to 2013 and hello to the New Year

2013 has been a great year for our family.

It has been one of a lot of ups and downs but overall we have been so richly blessed.

The girls have grown in confidence and in their talents and it has been a joy to watch.

I still enjoy helping at the kids' school, watching them in their activities (Hailey started piano this year, Aimee started dance again and she is STILL going, Sarah continues to compete on the RSA gymnastics team and little Lily started a mom and me gymnastics class as well as one day a week at preschool). I have had some successes in the crafting world, being published and getting new opportunities, even getting paid a little for what I like to do. I loved my little class of 5 year olds at church and will miss them. I did really well to lose some weight and am ready to re-commit myself to getting healthier in the new year.

Don't we always say that?

Matt has taken on new responsibilities at work and while he might not yet feel like he does a great job, I know that he does, and we are so proud of him and grateful for how hard he works for our family. He has started working at the temple and that will help to bring some peace into his sometimes-stressful life.

We have taken a leap of faith and are getting ready to adopt...right now, though, we are still waiting, waiting, waiting for all of the paper work to go through. Hopefully by the end of 2014 we'll have our new little girl. Aimee is such a sweet girl- she prays for her new sister every night. I need to remember to have such faith. There was so much to do so quickly and now we are at a standstill. It is hard for me to be patient and often times it is in the way back part of my mind because of the things going on here in the present.

I will share a few of my favorite layouts from this year. Not as many as I usually do, probably. I don't even know which ones I'll pull up until I go to search in a minute ☺

Thank you to those who read my blog still. It warms my heart to know that people enjoy what I create. If you could leave a comment today and tell me where you are from I would love that!

I hope to be able to create more in the new year.

These aren't in any kind of order:

(Created for the Scrapbook & Cards Today Scrapbooking Planner 2014)

Some created just for fun, not for an assignment:

My Creative Scrapbook kit club:

My Creative Scrapbook kit club:

A couple more just for fun:

American Crafts design team work: 

 

Bella Blvd Design Team work:

Pebbles Inc. Design Team: 

Okay, so I picked a few more than I was planning to but it's fun to see some of these again. 

Thank you for sharing 2013 with me! 

♥♥