Looking Back, Looking On

Top 11 of 2011

 11- This year William became a Sunbeam and started attending primary, and Isaac started attending Nursery.  They both love their church classes and have had fantastic teachers.  William participated in the primary program and did a great job on his part and singing with the Primary.  They were both quite disappointed on Christmas day when we only had Sacrament Meeting.

10- At the beginning of the year I played in a recital with my friend Halsey.  It was really fun to spend time rehearsing with her, despite the hardships of doing that with 3 kids.  It's so nice when I get to spend some time developing my own talents and doing something I love.  I also continued to teach piano lessons and tried some new things with my studio this fall.  My students all worked hard and performed so well at our Christmas recital.  I love moments as a teacher where you can just sit back and watch your students live up to their potential.

 9- Chris attended school this year, and did really well, even in his Chemistry class, which he was worried about.  At the beginning of the year he was attended ISU, but because of several things he was able to transfer back to BYU-I to finish the rest of his prerequisites.  This has been a huge blessing in many ways and we are grateful it worked out.

 8- Chris, of course, caught a lot of awesome fish this year. Although his school/work schedule didn't allow him to go on any steelhead trips this fall, he was able to get in a fair amount of fishing between classes since the Teton River is five minutes away from campus.  William is turning into quite the fisherman, and we even got to go a couple times as a family.  Chris is doing quite a bit on a fishing blog he started.  You should check it out! http://manyafish.blogspot.com/

 7- Sunday dinners with the Cutlers!

6- I spent a lot of time running with my friend Kristel this spring/summer, and as I found last year as well, this proved to be such a great release for me.  Since I ran a marathon in 2010 I decided not to do any sort of long mile race this summer since it takes so much time in training.  Instead I focused on running a huge hill in theBone and Back Relay which was really fulfilling, but also just enjoyed being able to run out of the house, meet Kristel down the road and have 1/2-1 hour of time to unwind and de-stress. 

5- One great thing this year was that Isaac finally got old enough for the boys to really play together.  It was a really nice and noticeable change. It was especially fun this summer when they could just go outside in the backyard and play in the dirt or the water for a long time. 

4- Chris went on a backpacking trip in July with the scouts and had an amazing time.  They hiked the Bighorn Crags and went to a bunch of high mountain lakes.  The scenery was beautiful and the whole thing was a really really neat experience for him.  We hope to be able to go on a backpacking trip together sometime.

3- We had so much fun raising our chickens this year.  We raised them from baby chicks, and Chris built a luxurious chicken coop for them.  We've all become very fond of our ladies.  They seem like part of the family. 

2- Chris and I had so much fun taking our very first little vacation away from the kids. It was the first time I had ever left them over night and it was so much fun to have a few days away to be able to just have fun together and with some good friends.

1- First ever Stephen and Valerie Hall Family Reunion!  My siblings and I planned this as a Christmas surprise for my parents.  We rented a vacation home in Bandon Oregon and in August we all got together and spent a few days on the coast. It was the first time my whole family had been together in at least eight years, probably more.  It was so nice for the kids to be able to get to spend time with their cousins that they don't see very often (and so fun for us to meet Sapphira for the first time!) and just so nice to get to spend time and catch up with everyone.

Things To Look Forward To in 2012

1- Having a baby! We are expecting little Cutler #3 sometime toward the end of June. We are looking forward to this with excitement and trepidation.  You know when the kids outnumber the adults you are in trouble!

2- Chris finishing all his prerequisites and hopefully (cross your fingers for us!) getting accepted into PA school for 2013.

3- Me getting to use my new ipad2 (I got totally spoiled for Christmas) for lots of awesome stuff!

4- Chris is looking forward to catching a lot more fish and fishing mountain streams. 

5- Using the "getaway certificate" my parents gave me for my birthday.  Chris and I will definitely take advantage of another weekend without the kids before the baby is born!

6- Purchasing a vehicle that will better fit our growing family.

7- Continuing to love each other and have lots of fun spending time as a family.  We are excited to see what else this year will bring!