MLK March

 We had a cool adventure, maybe a new tradition, of taking the bus downtown on MLK day to head to the MLK March with the kids.  It was a very educational and adventurous experience that I was grateful to give the kids.  We met the Freeze's down there and then were able to grab lunch with them after - A really fun day!

Dominican Republic with Joe!

Joe and I had the opportunity to get away just the two of us for just about a week.  We had the BEST time!  We have not been away this long together since our honeymoon (10 years ago!).  We had our parents staying with the kids (3.5 days/grandparents) and it worked out so well!  The kids missed us a lot the first day and we missed them, but then I felt like we all settled into the routine.  Joe and I stayed at an all-inclusive in the Dominican Republic and it was so beautiful!  Our everyday looked about the same and was exactly what we dreamed!  We slept, exercised, read books, took beach walks, read more books, played in the water, played tennis, played cards, ate a lot of delicious food, and enjoyed soo many yummy drinks! We reconnected and just really enjoyed each other! I will never forget this trip!  we are so grateful to our parents who made it possible and so easy for us to get away!!

New Years Eve 2022!

 The tradition continues to have my family over for New Year's Eve!  This year The Meyers and Zhupikovs spent the night and Mom and Bill hung out until well past midnight!  We played games, ate yummy food and talked about each of our top 4 favorite/most memorable moments/events from 2022.  It was cool to hear everyone's answers and inspiring to think about making positive memories in 2023!  I really enjoy my family and having my sisters spend the night is even more special!!

The highlight of the day though might have been the 4 of us girls attending the XU basketball game vs. UConn!  The 4 of us have not been to a game together in years and the game was absolutely incredible!!  XU was ranked 22nd and UConn was ranked 2nd.  XU played an incredible game, and it was close the whole time and then we pulled away and won by 10 - maybe the best game, arena energy, excitement I've ever experienced at an XU game - huge highlight of the week!!!

I took so few pictures from the whole day!  I also started my New Year's Eve with my incredible running community.  We got in our long run and then spent time together eating breakfast and planning/organizing out all our workouts for our upcoming training cycle.  Running and the team I run with are such a huge part of my health and happiness and sanity.  I owe so much to that community for the ways they push me and challenge me and love me!

Cheers to 2023!! May it bless us in all the ways we were in 2022.  May we grow in our faith, appreciate our family, be challenged and grow as parents, approach situations and moments with gratitude and continue to learn to love each of our kids the way they need to be loved.