Laura Vegas

i feel like i should do some reflective post tonight … looking back over the past year and everything that has happened. but i’m not really like that. lol! i will take a few moments to sum it all up … for journaling sakes.

• family. been a good year for the family. girls are growing up so fast. sarah turned 8 … finished 2nd grade and is halfway through 3rd grade. alyssa turned 11 … finished up 5th grade and is halfway through 6th grade. both girls had an excellent soccer year. their 5th year playing soccer … fun to see them grow as players. alyssa did year-round soccer this year … while sarah took another try at softball. both have done great at awana’s at the church … participating in a few choir programs also. joe’s doing good. still working hard at safeway … doing the night shift. stepped down from night crew manager a while back … but has taken over more responsibilities with ordering and displays. umpired another year for high school baseball … getting ready to start up again soon. golfing whenever he can … with tournaments every month.
• work. work is good. we’ve seen 5 new kids this year come to our daycare. we’ve been able to see 3 seperate babies growing up right before us … sharing in their little lives. we did have a few kids leave us … and we miss them. had some changes this year that we’re still trying to figure out … but will probably never understand. but overall … a good year. crazy year though … in a "tons of kids running all over the place and driving me crazy" kind of way. lol! but it’s all good … love them all!
• health. this one is a tough one. still hard dealing with having a "chronic pain disease" that i know will never go away … and will probably get worse. and yet … i am so thankful that for the moment i’m getting by. i go through my days and do all the things that i’ve always done. i may be in pain … but i can do them. i think in a lot of ways … i’ve mentally accepted that the pain is a normal part of my life now. so i deal with it. and while it’s not great … i’m glad it’s not worse for the time being.
• friends. i am so thankful for all my friends. the ones in my everyday world … and all the friends i’ve made online. unfortunately i have had a few friendships change recently … maybe for good. but through the bad times … i have found that my true friends have been there for me and supported me. i appreciate them more than they know.
• photography. wow, has my photography seen quite a year. not to sound full of myself at all … lol! but such a difference between the photos i took at the first part of the year … and what i take now. i still have tons to learn … and sadly, i am not that good about getting in there and getting serious about learning. but i have learned some valuable tips and skills … and i do believe it shows. i’m grateful for all the mini "photo-shoots" i have had this year. love to be able to practice on my friends and family. so glad they let me shove my camera in their face time and time again.
• scrapbooking. been such a great year. i feel like i came into my style so much this past year. i owe a ton to my mentor … she took the time to give me some advice and help … and inspired me to start printing my own photos. may not seem like a big deal … but it has changed the way i scrapbook. i have had some amazing opportunites this past year … and i am so thankful for every single one of them. and i love that the opportunities have been so diverse … love being able to work on so many different kinds of projects and seeing how they all work. while it’s hard to keep quiet sometimes about stuff that is going on … i am so thrilled that i have "stuff" to keep quiet about! lol!
• blogging. i blogged a lot this year. just last week i decided to start my "blog book" … and i uploaded all my posts from 2007. i knew it was a lot … but it turned into 440 pages worth! love to go back and read all my old posts … to see what was going on back then. i have made so many great friends through my blog … i appreciate every single comment that is left here … and i love finding new blogs to read through those comments. and while i’ve been told that i blog about things i shouldn’t be blogging about sometimes … i wouldn’t change any of it. this is my journal … and i like to keep it open and honest … i don’t want to pretend the bad moments don’t happen. besides … the good stuff far outweighs the bad stuff.
• cooking. how can i leave this one out? lol! it was a year ago that i got my rachael ray "30-minute meals" cookbook. it has changed the way i cook. seriously. i hated to cook before. and while i’m still not always thrilled to do it … i have realized that it really doesn’t take that long to cook up something good. it doesn’t have to be hard or time-consuming.

i think that sums up things pretty good, don’t you think? i’m sure i’m forgetting something … but i can’t think of it right now. no big plans tonight. joe is working as usual … he’ll be at the store to ring in the new year. just the girls and me here. i’m not sure if they want to stay up until midnight. they’re realizing that they have to get back on schedule for school … they go back on wednesday after being off for almost 6 weeks. we’ve been sleeping in a lot more lately … so we need to get back to our routine. alyssa keeps telling me that "i don’t want to stay up until midnight" … and i had to explain that she doesn’t have to … it’s not a rule or anything. lol!

so … here’s to 2007. and like sarah said today "goodbye 2007 … bring it on 2008!!!".