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.

3?? How can that be??

Happy, Happy 3rd birthday to our sweet little man. I can hardly believe that it has already been 3 years since this tiny little boy came into the world and changed our lives forever. Now we are constantly laughing, chasing, answering why, feeding, singing, reading, playing every kind of sport possible, and loving our precious boy. He amuses us on a daily basis with his sense of humor and all of the interesting things that he comes up with. We had a great birthday party for him this weekend with lots of friends and some family in attendance and plenty of love for the birthday boy. Today was his actual birthday and I took cupcakes for him to enjoy with his friends. He said he had a good day at school and his friends sang "Happy Birthday" to him. We had dinner and headed out for some birthday ice cream at Amy's. I love this little boy more than I ever could have imagined!!

Happy 2012

As we start 2012, I am hopeful and confident that we will have another good year. Darrell and I were both lucky enough to get new jobs, despite the not so great economy. It's so funny to know that a quick meeting at a Christmas party last year that I almost didn't go to has lead to a new job with new friends, adventures, and alot of promise for growth in my career. I am so excited to see what this year will bring with my new job.

Darrell's job has been good and has given him the experience that he has been looking for to do what he really wants to do, which is not be just the computer guy, but actually get to work in the legislative process. We are looking forward to seeing what the next year has in store for him as well.

We have had our ups and downs with my Dad as he continues his battle with cancer. We are now getting close to a year and a half since he was first diagnosed with his unoperable brain tumor and we he's still around. We have had a few bumps in the road, but overall, we have been very, very lucky that he has responded resonably well to his treatment. We are hoping for continued good results and another year of having him with us.

We have really enjoyed getting together with our friends this year during our monthly play dates, birthdays, and last minute get togethers. It has been really nice to be able to hang out with adults while the kids are playing and happy. We have been sad to say goodbye to some of our old friends and we have welcomed some new friends and have a few more new friends to welcome in the New Year as we await the arrival of new babies.

Speaking of babies...it is hard to believe that our sweet boy will be 3 in just two short weeks. It seems like just yesterday that I was anxiously awaiting the holidays becuase that meant only a few short weeks until we would get to meet our baby boy. Each year since, I find myself being more excited about the holidays merely because I can't wait to see his joy and happiness from all of the small things that each day of the holiday brings. I love this little boy more than anything I could have ever imagened and we can hardly remember what life was like before him. We are looking forward to celebrating the big 3 with him and our friends!

I'd like to say that I have some resolutions for 2012, but due to such a busy life and not wanting to set goals that I can't keep, I think I'll just try and do small things to make life easier. I want to drink more water, eat a little better, move more, and keep enjoying every day life with the folks around us that we love the most. I want let the positive things that happened last year spill over into this year and just take it a day at a time.

Happy New Years to Everyone!

Christmas 2011

We had a great Christmas at home. I told Darrell that when I was a kid, we were always at our house on Christmas morning and I want to make sure that Reagan is always at our house on Christmas morning as well. How else would Santa know how to find Reagan?? We brought Reagan downstairs and he was so excited to see all of the goods that Santa had left. Back around Thanksgiving, we had gotten some random toy magazine in the mail and Reagan has been fixated on three things from that catalog: a golf set, a hockey set, and a Snoopy Snowcone Maker. He has mentioned these items at least once, every day for the past month. Luckily, Santa was able to bring them all, along with some other stuff. He was very happy with all of his new presents. We opened more presents and then Grandma came over and we opened more. We had a great Christmas lunch and then went over to my Dad's and took him food and presents. Reagan had a very long day and did not have a nap until late in the afternoon.

It was really nice to have all last week off of work. We had 2 days off and with the 4 days I took off and weekends, I had a total of 10 days off. So very nice considering I have only had 2 days off work since I started back in March!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent in San Antonio with our friends the Wimmer's. It was a chilly and rainy day, so we were glad to be in the warmth of their home. We got down there right before 11 AM and our day was filled with food, laughter, and the kids playing. The kids even got a little bit of a nap! We decorated a gingerbread house, made Christmas ornaments, and exchanged gifts before we left. It was a great way to spend Christmas Eve!

We got home about 7:30 and hung out for a while and then got Regan ready for bed. We put him in bed around 8:30 and he didn't go to sleep until closer to 9:30. He kept saying that he was scared that Santa was going to "get" him. I assured him that he wouldn't even know Santa was there and he was just going to come in, drop off presents, and would be on his way because he was very busy delivering toys. He finally went to sleep and Santa was able to bring the toys.

He woke up again around 11 and again at midnight. By this time, we were exhausted and I told Darrell just to bring him to sleep with us. Once he was with us, he was fine and we didn't wake up until around 7:30 on Christmas morning.

Here are some of our Christmas Eve photos.

Christmas at the Capitol 2011

Some Winter Pics

The picture of Reagan and the little girl is from the night of the Open House at his school. That is is sweet little friend, Bella, that he loves so much.

We went to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live. That was the first thing like that we have taken Reagan to see. He didn't even know what to think. He was pretty spell bound for a long time and then he decided he wanted to go on stage with them and we had to explain that he couldn't.

The day after Thanksgiving, Dad was feeling well enough to go golfing for the first time in very long time. So, Darrell, Dad, and Reagan loaded up and headed out to Lockhart for a little golf. This was Reagan's first time on a real golf course. He had been on the putting green before, but this was his first official golf outing. Dad and Darrell said he did really well, once they explained to him about waiting his turn and staying out of the way. They made it through about 6 holes and both Dad and Reagan were tired, so they headed back in to town.

Reagan also bowled for the first time this morning. My youngest niece, Morgan, had her birthday party at a bowling ally and Reagan and I bowled. We had the bumpers out and the first couple of times, we used the ramp to roll the ball down and then Reagan decided he didn't need the ramp and wanted to roll it down there himself. He really enjoyed it. Again, another experience for him to learn about waiting his turn and staying out of the way.

And the last photo...Reagan and I enjoying some hot chocolate that Darrell made for us. :)