Good-bye 2014

Yep, that's how I spent my New Year's Eve. 

It was heaven. 

I watched an amazing fireworks show from my bedroom window while sitting on my bed drinking my tea. I went to bed before midnight. Nope, didn't even smooch my man. I gave him a kiss before bed, that counts, right?

Before I headed up I spent a couple of minutes on the couch taking in the Christmas tree, the lights the fire, one last time for the year. (Yep, it's all down and put in storage. Only thing left is a bare tree waiting for the city to pick it up and the outside Christmas lights but they won't come down for awhile - we don't turn them on they just stay up). 

The end of the year is bittersweet, and I guess that is how it will always be. Next Christmas, next New Year's it will be different by the mere fact that my children (against my wishes) are growing and changing at a rapid speed. 

It's fun watching them grow and discover new things, but it just means they are one step closer to leaving you. And that is what you want as a parent, right? To raise well adjusted adults who don't "need" you per se? Need you for your advice, need you because they want to be with you, need you because they love you, but don't need you to survive. 

Letting go isn't easy and even at this young stage I am in, it is a stage I am already dreading.

These little creatures have taught me the love of a mother (a parent) is fierce and never ending. Now, they might make me question my sanity on a daily basis, but my love for them never.  

Now, with that off my chest. It's been a good year. We have been able to travel a lot (our biggest trips being Lake Powell and Hawaii), and enjoy our little family. 

Here is our Year in Numbers:

156 gallons of milk

10 new teeth we survived coming in

0 ER visits

1 new job (yep Brad changed jobs in November)

12, 055 miles traveled  (does not include Brad's travels)

3,922 stairs hiked (illegally) on the Haiku Stairs a.k.a Stairway to Heaven in Hawaii 

2 dogs who are now at senior age

2 dogs who don't act like seniors (thank goodness)

2 bouncy, energetic blondies full of life

1 artificially blonde wife, who loves being a mother but hates cleaning

1 bearded husband who makes us smile and sometimes roll our eyes