2012.. we're sad to see you go..

i honestly think 2012 may have been one of the best years EVER! i don't know why it was so much fun, but it just was! secret and i had many opportunities to adventure and enjoy time together and it was such a blessing! being in business school has proved to be just such a delight!

as secret and i talked about this year and some of our highs and lows, we thought it would be good to write them down and share them with our friends and family! we are grateful to have the opportunity to reflect on all the blessings of 2012.


secret kicked off 2012 with a school trip to saudi arabia! boy did it start off with a bang (i think subconsciously the bar was set high on this trip, because the rest of the year only got better...:)! he spent days going to meetings and riding camels in his super cool thobe (yes, a thobe)! i'm glad he had such a unique opportunity, but i was happy to have him home after 10 days!

 

 

secret sure does know how to make a birthday the best! in april, he surprised me with a trip to paris and the loire valley! when i found out i started crying, that's how much i love france. haha we spent our days driving from chateau to chateau, eating baguettes and watching the beautiful fields of flowers outside our windows. i couldn't get enough!! EVERDAY i wish i was there!

 

later that spring, we had a little miracle come to us! while driving home from school one day, we spotted a cat chasing a baby bunny across the road! (naturally) we stopped the car and ran to save the little guy! after crawling under a car and shooing the cat, we brought our little bunny home and called him "bolt" (because he was super fast getting away from that evil cat)!!

 

 

though, after much research about how to care for bunnies, we found out that he would probably die if we kept him (they need to be in their natural habitat, and since he was still so young, he needed his mom's milk...). so i drove him to the wild animal shelter (i was bawling my eyes out) and they took care of him! we still talk about bolt and miss him lots!

 

we spent our summer days in the big apple! i spent my weeks in montauk working and secret spent his days in the city also working! we survived by adventuring together on the weekends! it was a good "tester" summer in ny, as we might be there for the next couple of years!



the end of summer brought warm weekends of football games! there is nothing quite like being swarmed in a sea of football fans all screaming for the same cause! we will miss those weekends!!

 

we try to have little "fieldtrips" as often as we can! one of our fall fieldtrips was to muir woods, just north of san francisco, and it was so fun! the beautiful redwood trees are just epic! they are enormous and fragrant and just something that the bay area does -so well-. it was a great place to visit and we would recommend it to anyone!

 

november brought lots of interesting policital conversations to our dinner table! we loved being involved in the election and playing our part by voting! we were constantly listening to the news and reading new polls, almost to the point where it became a joke. it was a fun season, but we were happy to return to normal radio stations!

 

 

we spent our thanksgiving truly being thankful for the things we have! we spent 9 days in peru and every day brought a new humbling experience. there was not a day where i didn't go to bed totally surprised by what we experienced that day! i mastered the spanish phrase "hola nino, un dulce para ti" (hi little one, a sweet for you), after saying it 200 times, each time accompanied with a sucker for a little child.

 

we spent 3 days in the city of cusco, surprised by the homes made of mud and sheet metal. then 4 days in the amazon... spiders the size of your head and birds from dr. seuss. and ended the trip with a tour of machu picchu! the entire trip was just such an experience and we were so grateful to have been a part of it!

 

 

we ended our year in utah with my family. we have spent our time playing board games (we are addicted to board games), skiing and laughing our heads off. what a great way to end the year!

 

happy 2013 to everyone! we can't wait to see what the next year brings and what adventures will come our way! we KNOW 2013 will be completely crazy with all the things expected and unexpected coming our way. we can't wait to see where it will take us!!