Tuesday, January 14, 2014

2013 recap

Ok, I have really been slacking on my blogging lately!  So I just thought I would post a recap of our year, and share our highs and lows.

In January, Ashlynne turned 10, which I was VERY emotional about, however, soon the pre-teen attitude set in!  This dried up my tears rather quickly!

In February, Russ and I went to Florida with his parents for vacation.  When we left Abilene, there was not a drop of precipitation on the ground.  However, the next morning when we were preprint to leave, literally 2 feet of snow was dumped on the ground, stranding us in KC, and delaying our flight for a day, thus forcing me to consume entirely too much wine!  We made it the next day, went to the NASCAR race, where we witnessed a horrible wreck on the last lap resulting in an engine flying into the stands and multiple fans being injured literally rows in front us.  We left in a hurry among all of the ambulances and panicked spectators.  The highlight of the trip for me was getting to see Krista, a long time friend who moved to Orlando the previous April. This was the longest I had ever gone without seeing her.  We went to Epcot Center and spent a day catching up.  On the day we were to leave, Kansas got slammed with another snow storm, delaying our flight home by a day.  I was so ready to get home at this point it wasn't even funny!

April brought Breckyn's 2nd birthday and a visit from my Aunt Carol.  She was able to be here for Breckyn's birthday party, which was very much a bonus!

In May, we held a fundraiser for FIRST at a Royals game and had a week long visit from our good friend Jordan.  When we wrapped that week up, Russ and I traveled to North Carolina to see Alexis and Danny. I blogged all about this amazing trip, but it was still worth a mention again!  This was definitely one of the highlights of my year!

We had a great summer with the kids full of ball games, swimming, and little "mini vacations" to Omaha and to Kansas City. I treasure my time off with the kids dearly. While it can be very stressful, I wouldn't trade it for the world.  The summer ended with the official start of school on Gavin's 8th birthday!

After school started back up it has been a flurry of activities. The older kids are doing great in school, and both had great conferences.  Then we had Halloween, and of course Thanksgiving started the official holiday season.  That means extra hours and lots of business for me at work.  It is an exhausting time, but I love the holidays.  Logan turned 5 December 8th, and we also had him the week between Christmas and New Years.  It's so nice when we have him for longer than a weekend and can really enjoy our time with him.

2013 brought a lot of changes for me with work.  My job has become more demanding of my time with changes in the hierarchy of our company.  All I can hope is that some day it will pay off.  Sometimes I question whether or not it is worth missing out on as many of the things that I do, but I love my job and my clients, and the girls that work for me, so for now, I will keep plugging away!

I hope that 2014 is as good to us as 2013 was!  We have 2 trips planned for the year, 1 to Vegas in February, and 1 to Indianapolis for the FIRST conference in June.  Other than that, we will see what the year holds for us!  But each and every day, I am reminding myself to count our blessings, we are all healthy, and together, and at the end of the day, that's what matters!

Happy 2014 from the Cossels!

A few tips from your friendly neighborhood hairdresser during these crazy times!

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