2017 in a Nutshell

I hardly blogged this year! I think the main reason for that is due to it being a year full of ups and downs. We went through not one, but three miscarriages (technically chemical pregnancies, but still a miscarriage nonetheless). So to be honest, this year was just mainly a blur that I want to forget about! Definitely no fun. However, there were a lot of ups in 2017 as well, and I want to remember the good times. Here is a quick recap of how our year went:

We celebrated out third anniversary on April 4th. Can't believe we have been married for three years already! This year also marked 9 years since we started dating back in high school.

As a late anniversary trip/fun vacation that we definitely needed, we spent five days in California enjoying Disneyland with my family, and Universal Studios with just the two of us. I was on Cloud 9 being at Disneyland with Geoff, because he has never been! So it was pretty neat to explore the happiest place on earth with each other. He didn't enjoy Disneyland as much as the rest of us, but he did make his own lightsaber that he still plays with to this day. Crazy kid! He enjoyed Universal Studios a lot, so that's better than nothing :)

A couple short weeks later, my cousin found a possible job opportunity for Geoff in Seattle. We had the idea of moving back to Washington to be closer to family at some point, since 2.5 hours sounded a lot better than 12 hours of traveling to see them! Geoff applied, had a couple of interviews, and before we knew it, he was hired! We moved back to our home state of Washington at the beginning of July, a lot sooner than I thought we would. Although we miss Utah a TON (best food, best friends, best environment), nothing beats living closer to family. Geoff is a Computer Technician for the Riverview School District and loves it.

September was a busy month! Geoff and his siblings all got together for the first time in five years (not easy with missionaries going out one after the other). Geoff's brother, Mikenzie, returned from his mission in July, and Jaxon was ordained a deacon in September, so we took the opportunity and got together with everyone. It was wonderful!

That same week we were with all of Geoff's siblings, we were asked to be Seminary Teachers, a calling that I never thought I would be asked to do, especially at my age! We accepted and have been enjoying reading through the Book of Mormon with our 22 freshman ever since. It is a LOT of work, and some days I just want to throw in the towel, but we try our best and hope our freshman are at least learning something! I still feel so inadequate compared to some of the other teachers in our building. We'll hear about them having these amazing lessons and cool activities, while most days we are just trying to stay afloat! But I keep reminding myself that unlike the other teachers who get to rotate weeks and get a whole extra week to prepare lessons, we literally have the day before to plan since we both work full-time and don't ever get a break like the other teachers do. I try not to envy them too much!

I should also mention just a couple weeks after we started teaching, we got rear-ended, by the brother of one of our seminary students! Not a fun experience to go through, but I'm grateful we weren't the ones responsible, and their insurance paid the $5,000 it cost to replace our bumper and one of our mufflers. Our first little fender bender, and I hope it's our last for a long while!

I believe that sums up the most eventful parts of 2017. We're looking forward to what 2018 has in store!