This post has taken me FOR.EV.ER to put together. Which is why I'm posting it so late! But I love looking back on such things so I'm putting it out here anyway.

12 Favorite pictures from 2017:

1: The start of running selfies

Because I was a Skirt Sports ambassador this year, I took a lot of running selfies. This is one of my first ones and also still one of my favorites (even though you can't tell what I'm wearing!).

2: Easter afternoon

Jake went through some real struggles this year. This photo, taken on Easter, represents so much to me, but mostly the feeling I had when I saw him that afternoon: that he would be OK.

3: Palm tree reflections

At Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park in Hawaii. (See 11 memories for more details!)

4: Soccer

Maybe my favorite soccer photo I've ever taken!

5: Does this photo make my hair look grey?

Kendell grew a beard for awhile this spring. I made him take a selfie with me before he shaved and it's one of my favorite pictures of us.

6: Cute boys

All the boys on Father's Day.

7: Before she drove home

A scruffy snapshot before Haley left to go back to school one weekend after she'd been here to visit.

8: Central Park

A passerby offered to take this for us. I wish I'd moved the Lindt Store bag out of the frame! We didn't see this part of Central Park when we went there last year.

9: Playing catch

Before school on spring mornings, sometimes Kaleb and I would hang out and play catch while we waited for his carpool. Lots of good conversations while tossing the ball.

10: Bryce Canyon hike

Another photo taken by a passerby! Kendell and me in Bryce Canyon.

11: The lovely Green Sands Beach

(Before things got terrifying!) I hiked up to this ledge overlooking the beach while the kids & Kendell started swimming. It was so colorful there, even if the "green" sand isn't really super green. 

12: Family pic

From Thanksgiving day. Usually I get everyone to wear something that sort-of matches. This time I didn't have the energy. I still think it's a great pic!

11 Favorite memories (in no particular order):

1. Snorkeling with dolphins. We took all of the kids to Hawaii this year, and I wanted to do something adventurous while we were there. So I signed us up for a snorkeling excursion. Part of it was at Captain Cook, but before we got to that harbor we snorkeled with dolphins. It was…well, words like “amazing” and “magical” can’t begin to describe it. The blue, blue water and the dolphins swimming past, so close some of us actually touched them…at one point I looked around and realized all of my family was right in front of me, swimming with their hands drifting down towards the dolphins and I was filled with so much love for each of them.
2. Walking on the Provo River Trail in February after a big snow storm. It was a turning point for me in my depression. I had the trail entirely to myself and it was so cold and peaceful and snowy, with birds landing on trees every now & then, making snow drift down as if it were still falling. Like walking in a snow globe!
3. Helping Haley finish the clean out of her dorm last April. She was the RA and so responsible to get it really clean. We went up and helped her pack up her room and then get out ALL of the stuff the students had left behind (there was a TON of stuff). We all laughed a lot and it was, despite the boxing and carrying, a really fun experience.
4. Eating lunch with my nieces. One day in late winter I was thinking about cousins and aunts and nieces & nephews…extended family. I wish I had a relationship with my cousins but aside from Facebook likes, I really don’t. I also wish I were closer to my nieces and nephews and to their kids. So I organized a lunch with everyone. We met up at Café Rio and just ate together. The coolest thing was that my niece who lives in Arizona surprised us and also came, and I got to meet her new baby. My vision of doing that once a month or so didn’t come to pass (yet!), but I’m glad I got it put together.
5. Running my half marathon. In August when Kendell and I were tossing around the idea of going back to New York in the fall, he suggested I find a race to run while we were there. After many switching of the dates we’d actually be going, I picked the Brooklyn Fall Half. It wasn’t my best half marathon time, as I didn’t have enough weeks to train, but even though I was tired it was such a fun experience. It’s the first race I’ve run outside of Utah, the first one that was made up of laps (four circles around Prospect Park in Brooklyn), the first race I road the subway to the start, and the first race I actually placed in (second in my age group…I still get a little giggle about that!).
6. Wrapping presents this Christmas. I did almost all of my Christmas shopping fairly early, right around black Friday, so I got everything wrapped about December 18^th or so. While I wrapped I got caught up on Call the Midwife. Nathan got home from school when I was almost done, so he came in and helped me finish up.
7. Playing “What’s in Your Purse?” with Becky & Suzette. My mom went in to the hospital on December 9 with intense stomach pain. She had diverticulitis and ended up having two surgeries (she’s still in the hospital; it’s been a difficult time!). During the second surgery, which happened on extreme short notice and started at about 11:30 p.m., Becky asked me if I had any nail clippers in my purse. I was feeling punchy and tired so I went through the entire contents of my purse. (I need to clean it out!) (I did have clippers.) Suzette and Becky also shared what was in their bags (Becky, oddly enough, had a paper cutter!). Even though we were scared, tired, and worried, it was so lovely to laugh together.
8. Hiking in Bryce Canyon. Kendell and I decided to take a detour on our trip to California and spend a day hiking in Bryce Canyon (we also camped overnight). After much discussion, we decided to hike the Fairyland trail, which we’ve hiked once before, but this time we did it clockwise. Just as we got on the trail, the clouds bunched together and it started raining. It wasn’t pouring…just a gentle rain, and it was magical. Bryce is one of my favorite places to go, but Bryce in the rain, with the dramatic clouds and the thunder echoing off the canyon walls? It was just incredible. We never got entirely soaked, just damp, so we were never really cold, just a little bit chilly. It was one of my favorite hikes ever.
9. Sorry, another Hawaii moment. I wanted to walk around Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, or Place of Refuge. This is a national historic park that is a sacred place in Hawaiian history. The kids didn’t really want to go (and Haley had already seen it), so Kendell took them snorkeling on the other side of the bay and I wandered around the park. It was almost closing time so there was almost no one else there—I only saw two other people. I followed the path and stopped at every marker and listened to the information, then looked at the items at each place. At first I was kind of annoyed that no one wanted to come with me, but very quickly I realized that being by myself meant I could really savor it.
10. Reading my first published essay. I have an essay in the anthology Baring Witness: 36 Women Talk Candidly about Love, Sex, and Marriage. In February I went to a reading, along with several other contributors. We ate dinner together first (slightly terrifying to just show up for a meal with people I didn’t know) and then walked in the rain to the book store where the reading was held. I was slightly nervous…but only for a second. When I started reading, I quickly got to a spot in my essay where it feels like I’m saying something funny but it turns into something dark, and I managed to vocalize it just right so that the audience went around the curve with me, right into the tension of the essay. It felt like…a performance, somehow, in the best sense of the word.
11. Finding Kaleb. OK, I guess one more Hawaii memory. We hiked to the Green Sand beach, and due to miscommunication we lost Kaleb on the way back. I ran all of the 3+ miles back to the car, desperately hoping to find him, but I got to the car and he wasn’t there. So then I started pacing back and forth along the paved part of the trail that goes from the parking lot to the beach, absolutely terrified and not sure what to do. When I saw my family in the distance and counted—five of them!—I burst into tears. I was so relieved he was OK. (This is actually both my worst memory of 2017 and one of my favorites. Horrible because that was a terrifying half hour of not knowing if he was safe or not. But the feeling when I saw him!)

10 Hikes we hiked in 2017 (I set myself the goal of blogging about every hike I did this year. I blogged about none of them…but I took lots of photos just in case. Maybe I should make a goal to blog about them all before spring gets here!?):

1. Kilauea Iki Trail in Volcano National Park with all the kids.
2. Red Lake Trail in Nebo Canyon with Kendell.
3. Squaw Peak Trail with Kendell.
4. Stewart Falls with my friend Wendy.
5. Rock Canyon to the campground with Kendell.
6. Primrose Cirque overlook with Kendell.
7. Fairyland Trail in Bryce with Kendell. (Every time we go hiking, I try to take a good selfie with Kendell. This one is finally a good one!)
8. Red Rock trail in Los Padres National Forest with Kendell.
9. Potato Harbor and Scorpion Canyon loop trails on Santa Cruz island (please note that Kendell and I did the Scorpion Canyon loop the opposite way than is recommended, which means we went UP the steepest part, instead of down. I love steep trails and wow: there was a lot to love!)
10. Battle Creek Canyon overlook with Kendell (I learned after that this point is also called Brush Mountain. It snowed—very lightly, but still snow—while we hiked, but it hasn’t snowed there since).

9 Holiday highlights:

1. Anniversary: our 25^th. We ate dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant. I wanted to plan a trip somewhere—maybe Florida? just a weekend in San Diego?—but we ended up not being able to get away in February. Which is fine because we “celebrated” all year. Trip to Hawaii? Totally a 25^th anniversary trip! California this summer? We should eat somewhere nice for our 25^th anniversary! etc.
2. Valentine’s Day: we made sugar cookies and had homemade pizza for dinner.
3. President’s Day: It’s become a tradition to eat at a local Chinese restaurant. It was just me, Kendell, and Kaleb this year, which was a little bit lonely for Kaleb, but still delicious.
4. Easter: The first one with only Kaleb and Nathan at home in the morning (which was sad but instead of focusing on sadness I just enjoyed the difference of it). Also our first one at my mom’s new house. I look forward to our Easter dinner all winter…it’s when it feels like spring is really, really here. I wasn’t sure if it would be disappointing at the new house, but I loved it.
5. Memorial Day: Kendell and I went to the cemetery and put flowers on my dad’s grave. I’m so glad he’s close so I can visit!
6. Fourth of July: this was our last family party at my sister Suzette’s pool, as she sold her house this year. We swam, we barbequed, we made sure no one drowned. I’ll be sad next summer to not have her pool for our parties. Later, Kaleb and I went outside and did fireworks with our neighbors.
7. Halloween: Kaleb did not love Halloween this year. He wanted to do something seventh-grade-ish and grown up, but all the plans fell through. So, he helped me pass out candy for a while, and then went downstairs to watch TV and be annoyed. Nathan went to a party with his girlfriend Bailey. I finished reading It.
8. Thanksgiving: held at our house, and I made the meal by myself. This is my second try at doing this and it went much better this time (ie: we ate by 4:30, not at 7:30 like the first time!) Pies were perfect, everyone got along, Haley liked her tofurkey. The turkey was a little bit dry and the potatoes, which I cooked in the crock pot, were a little bit gummy. But it was a great meal!
9. Christmas: All of the kids slept at home on Christmas Eve. I could say something about the fabulousness of the gifts and the fantastic-ness of the meals or whatever…but that is what meant the most to me. Everyone slept at home.

8 Songs that will always remind me of 2017:

1. “Something Just Like This” by the Chainsmokers & Coldplay, definitely one of my favorite songs to run to.
2. “Allison Road” by The Gin Blossoms. When we drove to & from Seattle, I heard this song at almost every gas station we stopped at. Which was strange…what are the odds, especially considering we stopped at stations in Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington? I was super frustrated by the time we got home because each time I only heard part of it, and I didn’t have it on my phone. (I don’t know why I didn’t think to just, you know. Buy it and download it from my phone, except I always buy music on my computer.)
3. “Cloudbusting” by Kate Bush. This song brought me a sense of peace during my Narnia winter. “I just know that something good is going to happen, I don’t know when” was a refrain I sang to myself when things were especially dark.
4. “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins. Because Kendell and I listened to it on repeat three times in a row driving through the California desert.
5. “Let the Music Play” by Shannon. Someone mentioned this song on Facebook and I thought, hmmmmm, that would be fun to run to, so I bought it and yep: Great running song.
6. “Piece of My Heart” by Big Brother & The Holding Company + Janis Joplin. When Kendell and I were in New York, this song came on one night when we were drinking peppermint hot chocolate at the Starbucks on Roosevelt Island. Sometimes a song is part of your psyche except you don’t really pay attention to it because you’ve heard it a million times. But then you do listen. It will now always take me back to NYC, which was far colder than we planned for, and that long first day when we just had to stay awake a little bit longer. (Surviving the red eye is not for wimps, let me tell you!)
7. “Something to Say” by the Connells. We have a newish radio station here that plays nothing but alternative 80s music. I’ve been reunited with tons of songs I forgot I loved. This one has stuck with me especially. “Once you believed you had something to say and it’s so deceiving…”
8. “Sober Up” by AJR. I listened to this song three times in a row when I was running my half marathon. It’s one of those songs that I don’t relate to the lyrics very much but it’s super fun to run to. That violin bridge!

7 Favorite runs:

1. Running with Becky this fall on a path by her house. The sunflowers were blooming; it was cold and windy but lovely.
2. Running on the coastal trail in Ventura. Beach running is the best, and this was especially nice because there is a paved path.
3. The day I found a new trail, which winds through what used to be a golf course. The hills were awesome and it was a perfect day.
4. My last long run before my half marathon. I did it on the Murdock Canal Trail through Pleasant Grove and American Fork. I had the path almost to myself and it was one of those runs that felt effortless, like running in a dream.
5. Running with my scrapbook friends when I went to the Scrap Gals retreat in April.
6. The 10k I ran on the 4^th of July with my sister Becky and my niece Kayci. It was so fun to run a race with people I know!
7. My half marathon. I ran the Brooklyn Half, which was four laps around Prospect Park, when we were in New York. I wasn’t fully trained for it (my longest run before it was only 8 miles) and I am still doing a run/walk combo. But I finished! I decided that I want to find a race to run every time I travel somewhere. It made the trip so much more fun and meaningful to me. After the race we wandered through Prospect Park, which is gorgeous.

6 Family accomplishments:

1. Kendell had NO SURGERIES. That is a miracle!
2. I didn’t fall all year. I did pull my popliteus muscles (both of them!) during my mad dash across the Hawaiian coast, but I didn’t sprain my ankle in 2017!
3. Haley really found her groove this year. She impressed professors, got papers published, got great grades. 2017 was her last full year of undergrad!
4. Jake went through some really tough things in the winter. He is still trying to figure stuff out but I am proud of him for not giving up. He’ll find his way!
5. Nathan discovered a new sport. He made the basketball team during his freshman and sophomore year, but he just was not loving it. He didn’t feel like he fit into the team and the coach had nothing but disdain for him (the last straw was when he sprained his ankle during a practice and the coach didn’t even come over to check on him, so his teammates had to help him up and over to the bleachers). Instead of getting gloomy or frustrated, he switched sports, to volleyball. And he loves it! When I went to his first volleyball game it was like watching an entirely different kid. He plays volleyball with happiness, unlikely the anxiety that swirled around him during basketball games.
6. Kaleb took control of his body. He’s been going through that pre-pubescent weight gain and it was making him miserable. So all fall, he’s been working on exercise and eating healthier foods. And he is losing weight. I’m proud of him, not exactly for losing weight, but for working so hard to gain control (if that makes sense).

5 Things we bought in 2017:

1. A new car (and we sold our minivan, which was a sad day for me!)
2. A dishwasher (which I HATE; whomever designed it has apparently not ever actually put dishes into a dishwasher)
3. Boots. These were all for me…my 14-year-old Dr. Martens had to be replaced, and I might’ve “replaced” them with 4 pair (but if you know me you know I wear the heck out of my boots, so it’s not like they’ll just sit on a shelf)
4. A new roof. My favorite way to spend a whole bunch of money!
5. New cell phones. When Kendell switched jobs he had to get a new phone…and as they were buy one, get one free, I got a new one too!

4 Favorite Albums from 2017:

1. Re-Covered by Dan Wilson. The song “Closing Time” by Semisonic was written by Dan Wilson (who was the lead singer), but he wrote a ton of other popular songs, too, that were first sung by other bands or singers. On this album, he sings songs he wrote for other artists. I LOVE this album; I knew all the songs, even though they’re from all sorts of musical genres, and hearing them remade gave me a deeper appreciation for them.
2. Gone Now by the Bleachers. My favorite song on the album is “Don’t Take the Money” (I love the line “’till I saw your face and hands covered in sun and then I think I understand”) but the whole thing is pretty damn good!
3. Colors by Beck. I haven’t liked a Beck album for a long time, but I like this one!
4. Signs of Light by The Head and the Heart. This feels like a very 80s-inspired album to me. It just makes me happy.

3 Vacations we took:

1. Hawaii in May. This was a long-promised reward for Jake’s 4.0 during his senior year. All six of us went. We haven’t done a family trip with everyone since we went to Yellowstone in 2011. (We’ve done other trips…just not with everyone.) I was a little bit nervous about how it might turn out, but it was fantastic. We snorkeled, we swam, we saw the volcano. Everyone got along. It was fantastic. My only complaint is that we didn’t stay long enough. We stayed on the Big Island, and if I were to do it again, I’d plan a few days sleeping in Hilo instead of spending all the time in Kona. There was so much we saw but still so much we didn’t get to see.
2. California in July. I wanted to take a vacation with me, Kendell, Nathan, and Kaleb. So I planned a trip to California…and then Nathan didn’t want to come because he had a volleyball tournament, and Kaleb didn’t want to come if Nathan wasn’t going. So I shifted the plans around a bit and turned it into a hiking vacation for me and Kendell. We visited Bryce Canyon on the way, and then drove to Ventura the next day, where we hiked in the Los Padres mountains and on Santa Cruz island. I missed having the kids along, but it would’ve been a different trip if they came (much less hiking!). It was lovely to have some time alone.
3. New York City in November. This was our second autumn trip to NYC. We just didn’t feel like we saw everything we wanted to when we went last year. It was a fantastic trip, aside from the cold; we went to Staten Island, saw two Broadway plays (The School of Rock and The Lion King), wandered around Brooklyn (including into the Brooklyn library), walked around Queens looking at murals, wandered around the Bronx. The highlight was touring the Basilica of St. Patrick’s cathedral, but the best part was getting to spend time with our friends the McAlisters.

2 Medical Things: (This was SUCH a light year for us!):

1. Nathan’s hernia surgery
2. WARTS. Kaleb had one that would NOT go away, after every treatment the dermo tried. We finally made him switch shoes (he is the kind of kid who likes to just have one pair of shoes and then just wear them out) and as of January 8, he is finally wart free. Jake’s hands are covered with warts and he’s being doing a bi-weekly wart treatment since June. It’s taking forever, but can I confess: the wart appointments are a great reason to see him!

1 big change:

Kendell got a new job! He’d been at his previous job since 1991. 1991! He’s still adjusting to the newness. But it’s been great for him.

And that's probably a wrap on my 2017-recap posts!