So Long, 2012. Bring on the 2013!

Wow....it's been just short of a year since the last time I posted. What a year of ups and downs this has been. Just after Reagan's birthday last year, my father took a turn for a worse. The tumor was growing again and the oncologist advised that there was nothing more that could be done and his treatments stopped and he was put in hospice care. Darrell and I made a deal with him that we would let him be by himself until we knew that he was no longer to take care of himself. After only about 3 weeks, he hit that point and it really did come over night. On February 25th, we went to his house and he was not really talking. We called the hospice nurse in and they went ahead and brought a hospital bed to the house. It got there about 2pm that day and he laid down and went to sleep. we lost him on Monday evening, February 27th, right around 9:30 in the evening. We were so thankful that he got to be in his home and that we kept him as comfortable as possible.

The next few days were days of hurt, pain, loss, and disappointment in others that I thought would be there in that time. There were so many things to get taken care of, loose ends tie up, a house to pack up, fix, and prepare to sell. Darrell, Reagan, and I spent so much time back and forth between our house and Dad's to get everything taken care of. By the end of May, Dad's house was ready to put on the market. We just closed on it on December 20th.

Not long after we put Dad's house on the market, we decided to put ours on the market as well. We had seen houses in our neighborhood move pretty quickly and we had been talking about moving for a while so that we would be in the neighborhood we wanted to put Reagan in school at. After 4 days of our house being on the market, our house was sold, which left us scrambling to find a place to live.

After having a week between the time that we closed on our old house and closed on our new house, we had to move into Dad's house for a week and then move again a week later into our new house. That was a whole lot of moving and I am hoping not to move again for a very long time.

We are very happy in our new home. We love all of the extra room and we really love the new friends and neighbors that we have. Living on a culdesac is has been really great and we are really enjoying living in a neighborhood that has young families and such wonderful people around us. We are now only a couple of blocks away from Reagan's daycare and the elementary school that he will go to is only a couple of blocks the other way.

I have traveled for work quite a bit this year. I went to a class in St. Louis, MO for a week in April. I've been to Houston a couple of times for a class and for a day of agency visits. I've been to Park City, UT for an Under Forties Leadership Class. I've been to Atlanta, GA for a week for an industry conference. My last trip of the year was to Oklahoma City for an agency visit and a Christmas party for one of our largest agents. Work is going well...my boss will be working 3 days a week this year and pushing more and more of the day to day duties on to me as he begins to make his transition to retirement.

Darrell, Reagan, and I made a couple of trips up to Dallas to spend some time with my family, which I am so thankful for. After going up there for the first time in a long time, I lost my Great Uncle about a week later, so I was so very thankful that I got to see him one last time. He was a very special man and he and my Aunt Winnie have been like a second set of grand parents to me.

We enjoyed Halloween in our new neighborhood with lots of our friends coming to a Halloween party at our house and all going trick or treating together.

I ran again this year. Last November, my friend Amanda texted me that she had registered for the San Antonio Rock and Rock Half Marathon this year. I promised her I would cross that finish line with her. I had run her first 5K and 10K with her and I told her I wouldn't miss running this one with her for anything. I was so glad to get back into training with my running group and just be out moving again after taking the last year off. I am so proud of Amanda for working so hard to achieve this goal. Knowing that I needed to be there to support her during that race made me work hard and get back into the grove of things.

We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving with some great friends and then headed to Dallas to see my family again. We made it back to Austin and on Sunday after Thanksgiving, we were in a car accident and totaled my car that was only 4 years old. We were very lucky not to have been hurt very badly, though I had a pinched nerve in my shoulder and Darrell's shoulder was dislocated. We got a new car and I think I'm driving overly cautious these days.

Christmas this year brought the flu for the Farr house hold. Darrell got sick on Thursday before Christmas, Reagan got sick on Saturday, and I got sick on Sunday. The boys were on the back end of it by Christmas and my goal  on Christmas day was to stay awake and eat, which I was able to do. Other than being very tired and week, we did have a really nice Christmas.

We brought in the New Years with some great friends at our house yesterday evening. We stayed up way too late, ate lots of food, and laughed alot. Today, Amanda and her family came and spent the day with us. I loved the smell of good food, the sound of the kids laughing, and the conversations with great friends.

I am hopeful for 2013. I know that there are great things in store for our family. The Senate will be in session this year, so that will mean long hours for Darrell at work. Balancing that and my busy work load will be a challenge for us, but I know that all will go well. I hope to keep on running and I have a couple of more half marathons to get through these next couple of months. My sweet little boy is almost 4 and we are busy planning his birthday party. I am so thankful for the love and support of friends and family over the past year and don't know how I would have made it without them.

Here's to you, 2013...please provide us with health, safety, life, and love.