The year is 7 days old, and I have lots to say!

It has actually been a while, or at least it has seen like forever, since I have posted anything on here. Sometimes you don't realize how quickly time goes by until you slow down and pay attention. I don't really want to recap the last few months because I feel as though I want to look forward and focus on the future.

Although, let me share a life lesson that we ended 2013 with.

 Last year we learned so much about being a strong family, how important prayer and scripture study is, how to truly be humble and forgive, and remembering what is truly important in this life.

We have struggled for a while with our finances and we continue to do so( it is expected for a college family with a husband applying and interviewing with medical schools while still working AND get a 4.0 for the semester---ya, intense last semester), but as stressful and frustrating as it is I wouldn't want it any other way. We have learned from this experience the importance of our family and how unimportant material objects REALLY are. It's always nice to have things that make life easier and more enjoyable, but for the past 2 months we haven't purchased one thing that we didn't need for survival and we are perfectly happy without them. I catch myself saying, " we need to get this" and then realizing, we really don't need it; however, not having the funds to purchase those unessential items has made that realization a lot easier to grasp. Overall, it has been more of a purification process for us and I am extremely grateful for it.
It was hard during Christmas knowing we couldn't get anybody a gift not even our little angel( some may call us cheap for that-but it was how it had to be). But it was so nice taking that energy that we usually waste rushing and stressing over gifts, to reflect on the real meaning of Christmas. We were blessed with a few people finding it in their hearts to help us in any way they could to make our Christmas and transition back to CA as enjoyable as possible. We are forever grateful.

I really hope that our experiences we have had can be a true life lesson for our family and not just brush them off as only important for our unfortunate circumstances now.

[Sidenote: There is nothing wrong with having money and buying things you want--this was a self-reflection]

Anyways,

This would technically be my first post of 2014 so....HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! 2013 was a tough year for us, and I am not expecting to 2014 to be easier, but we are just hoping to find new things to be grateful for and look forward to.

I guess our first thing we can look forward to is bringing our second little munchkin into this world! We STILL don't know what we are having, but I know when we find out it will be soo exciting! Alexa is going to be such a good big sister. She loves babies!!! She gets this urge to give hugs and kisses to all the little babies in the world. Her siblings will either LOVE her because of it, or be absolutely annoyed by it haha Either way, they are stuck with all her love she has to give!

Another exciting adventure we get to look forward to this year is going to medical school!!!
Cameron was accepted to a school in Arizona, so from the looks of it, Arizona- HERE WE COME!!!
However, I will not be looking forward to moving there in the middle of July...haha...we seem to love to move places at the most inconvenient times of the year( we packed up in Utah to move to CA in the middle of winter haha---it was a cooooold and loooong day)

Although I will not post it on here, we have another potential surprise that we are looking forward to as well this year. It's still not a for sure thing, but it's something we are hoping works out.

We also get to celebrate our 4 year anniversary! We cannot believe it has already been that long ( we moved to Utah a few months after we got married) haha so Crazy!!!

ALSO! Alexa gets to start nursery in 1 month!!! 18months with this little girl has made my life an adventure that I hope never ends!! :) I love that girl.

To top it all off, we are being so blessed to spend time with family for the next 6 months! For the past 4ish years, we have hardly had the privilege to visit family and friends at our convenience--now we can! It's extremely odd to think we don't have to go back to Utah, but I am definitely not complaining.

With that said, I am looking forward to our future endeavors! Medical School, a growing family, moving, more financial struggles, and much more!