2014 Year in Review

Mike and I had a ton of adventures this year! In fact, I became infamous at work for being on vacation nearly every Friday. So I've dubbed this past year as the year of the Weekend Warrior.

Christmas

This year for Christmas, Mike went home with me and it was so fun to have him there. We did the usual that my family does - nice dinner Christmas Eve with Mom, Jill, Mike, Jen, Parker, Chandler, Justin, Amy, Alec, and Andrew; and then Christmas day at Jill and Mike's house. Lucky for me this year, Spencer called a little later in the day so it was fun to see and talk to the missionary! Then the day after Christmas I took Mike up to Idaho City and we went snowshoeing. Thank goodness the Christmas Eve storm put down some fresh snow.

Helping Mom put on her Christmas apron

Christmas Eve dinner at Mom's

Christmas Day at Jill & Mike's talking to Spencer on his mission

Snowshoeing up by Idaho City

I Passed my Senior Professional in Human Resources Certification Exam!

For the past three and a half months I have been studying and preparing to take the Senior Professional in Human Resources certification exam. And yesterday that day I was preparing for came and went. I was so nervous because I had dedicated so much time to it - what if I didn't pass and all that time was wasted?! But thankfully.... I PASSED!! I wanted to cry afterward just for the relief of it finally being done and not hanging over my head anymore.

To celebrate, Mike made me tacos for dinner and bought sparkling cider for us and served it in some margarita glasses! And then he also bought some of my favorite desserty-treats: dark chocolate covered blueberry-flavored acai berries. Yumm!

Mountain Biking in St George

Mike and I took a quick trip to St George to get out of dodge and go mountain biking! We left early Saturday morning and met up with our friends Steve, Tessa, and Joel to ride Bear Claw Poppy and Zen. I'm pleased to report that I wasn't as discouraged after riding Zen this time around because I think I actually did ride a little more than half of it as opposed to walking my bike over all the technical parts.

Then Steve totally surprised me and Mike and let me keep his brand new Santra Cruz Nomad to try out and ride on Sunday since he knows I'm on the hunt for a full-suspension mountain bike. It was heavenly and so fun to ride a full suspension! I was much more confident to do technical spots in the trails. Mike and I rode Barrel Roll and then Prospector and Church Rocks, and then we headed home.