2011 Recap

As this is the last day of 2011, it seems appropriate to put together a little recap of everything that happened this year...so, here goes.

After a wonderful Christmas in 2010, Eric and I decided to not wait any longer to start our family. We were both ready and willing to turn our family of two into a family of three. January 3 marks the official day I stopped taking BCP and we started TTC.

We took the most amazing vacation to Cancun in April with my side of the family (Bro, Sis-in-law, Aiden, Mom, and even Dad) for my mom's 60th birthday. It's been so long since any of us actually took a real vacation, and the Costco price was right for a 3 bedroom, town home villa. We stayed at the Omni Hotel right on the beach. The view was amazing from our room! We spent most of our time relaxing at the pool, drinking fruity drinks (hey...all-inclusive is the way to go!), and catching some rays. We dipped our feet in the Atlantic Ocean once or twice (I didn't realize before we went how choppy the water is there. They have red flags up all the time basically saying it's not safe to swim in the water.). We also took a day trip to see the Mayan Ruins at Tulum (so hot!). It was amazing to see what people built so long ago. We celebrated my sister-in-law's birthday on our trip, which took us to Dolphinarus and the water park to swim with the dolphins. I have to say this is one experience that is so NOT overpriced and I would repeat in a heartbeat. I would actually pay more to swim with them for longer. All in all, the week we spent in Cancun was way too short, and I can't wait to go back again.

May and June are always busy months for me at the dance studio, but so worth it in the end. The Dynamics show was one of our best ever...Charles and I had people talking for weeks about how great the show was. Recital was successful also...all the dances always seem to come together on stage.

Without a break, Charles and I took the Dynamics girls to nationals in Florida. They competed so well and I am so proud at how well we held our own in a competition of big shot studios. I feel the dancers really took something away from taking classes from big name choreographers and watching the other studios compete. Some of our girls even met the Dance Moms cast at the ice cream store in the hotel. After the week at nationals, it was time to reward all our hard work for the year and spend 5 days in Disney World. Eric and my mom, and several other studio families, flew out for the 2nd week in Florida. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to go to Disney World and all I can say is 4 days is not enough. I cannot wait to go back again!

August brought our trip back to Minnesota for my cousin Nick's wedding. Eric had met several of my MN family during our wedding, but this was a chance for him to meet the rest of the fam and see where I visited when I was younger. We got to meet my other cousin's 8 month old daughter and celebrate with extended family as Nick and Katie got married. It was great to see everyone and hopefully we'll get to go back again real soon.

October through December swamped me with dance stuff...fundraising with Dynamics again, teaching classes, and directing The Nutcracker this year. In one of my last posts, I told you how Nutcracker went, so no need to do that again. I'm just glad I was able to pull everything off!

It's been pretty hard the past two weeks, having time off from the studio, and allowing myself time to think about everything that's happened the past year. Most of the stuff has been really good...but I still dwell on the fact that I'm not pg yet. Cousin-in-law, Kevin, and his wife Kindra had a beautiful baby girl on Wednesday, Avery Rose. I am beyond excited for them, but I just can't help feeling like that should be us. I mean we were trying when they conceived, so it could have been us. Yet here we are, 12/31/11 and not a baby in sight. I go back and forth between feeling hopeful and feeling completely defeated. I always thought that it might take a while for us to get pg, but I secretly hoped it would magically happen right away...and I could be that person that would say "we were just lucky, I guess." I'm wondering if God has some master plan for us, like maybe he's trying to send us a sign to slow down...or me at least. I feel like I've done everything I can to help us get pg. Is there something I'm missing?

And so, on to 2012...I normally make new year's resolutions to eat healthier and lose weight, but that hasn't done much over the past few years. All I can hope for is that 2012 has as many highs as 2011 did, and that our family of two will grow very soon.