The State of Me

It's that time of year again, when presidents, governors, and Joey's prepare their annual comments on the state of how things are going.  Unlike past years, I haven't done my research to know what kind of topics I should be covering.  I don't even have any quotes and wording to steal from the president, himself.  2014 The State of Me may read a little more unorganized than past years.  Fortunately, I can still imagine crowds of you standing and applauding after each sentence, as if what I have just said will change the future for millions of people.  Also, in the imaginary crowd, there are those who don't clap, or have ugly scowls on their faces.  The right-wing nut jobs.  Let us proceed.

2013 was a banner year for the Tracy family.  After 23 months of waiting, a letter arrived from the Office of the First Presidency giving Jake and I permission to be sealed in the temple.  On February 13, 2013, we had a wonderful evening at the Brigham City Temple.  It was a beautiful experience and the support we received was incredible.  2013 will hold a special place in our hearts forever.

At the end of March, we sold the Roy townhouse and moved to Riverdale as a stepping stone in our negotiations for our future forever home.  One of the best parts about being in Riverdale (and there are lots) is that Abbi can hoof it to school.  She loves that and frankly, so do I.

As far as scheduling, I over-did the summer.  When Abbi's school let out for summer, the kids were in swimming lessons, Abbi was in volleyball and started Karate, Noah started tumbling, and Abbi played another summer of softball.  The same week of swimming lessons, I started a new job.  Not my best mom work but I just wanted to get it all over with.  The kids loved it and we all lived.

Noah celebrated his 4th birthday while we were in Bear Lake.  The naughty monkey brothers from Diego stole all of his presents and the children had to go on a rescue adventure to find them.  Then, they all worried about these monkey getting back in the cabin.  Luckily, Jack (my five year old nephew) said he would stand guard and kill them as soon as he saw them.

The children and I {with my parents} traveled to California so that I could endure my 30th birthday.  We had a really fun vacation.  Aunt Becky and Uncle Steve are wonderful hosts.  Noah danced with Donald Duck, rejected a kiss from Ariel during the parade, and was an easy going little traveler.  Abbi rode California Screamin' and loved it, found a love in guacamole dip, and was a fun traveling companion.  My mom and dad did pretty good too.  

Abbi turned nine in November and seems like she is going to be taller than me before the next State of the Me Address.  She recently has been a thief of my shoes because it makes her so happy to be able to fit into them.  Little does she know, while she was at school, I wore her shoes the other day.  Fair is fair.

2013 was a big year for us, filled with lots of blessings.  It had a few challenges mixed in but those turned out to be stepping stones toward our future.  We are all looking forward to what we have planned for 2014.  We enjoy health and happiness and can see how blessed our lives are.  Best of luck.

Turns out, this wasn't a very fun State of the Me.  Sorry, maybe next year.  {In the first paragraph, I hope you weren't offended my the "right-wing nut job" bit.  I just had to say it to blend my state of the me in with the state of the union.  Besides, in college I wore a shirt at least once a week with George W's face and the words right-wing nut job.  I loved that shirt.}