2011 Year In Review
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| Friday Night Pizza and Movie With Friends, June 2011. (While mom was in Samoa) |
Each night at the dinner table we play a game called "High/Low." (I think I learned about it from a movie about 15 years ago, and we've been doing it ever since.)
It's really simple, each person just shares one "High" (good thing) from the day and one "Low" (not-so-good thing from the day). And that's it.
I think there are about 2.7 million reasons I love "High/Low."
But the main reason I love it, is that it helps us know what's going on with everyone in the family (and helps us know where people need support, sympathy, congratulations, etc.).
But I also like "High/Low" because it reminds me/us:
1. That you aren't alone.
You share your life with lots of people--and your life matters to a lot of people (your family, for one).
2. That life is filled with BOTH highs and lows.
No matter who you are, life is going to have highs and lows--every day.
3. That you can reframe the way you look at life's lows.
Since lows are going to happen, learning to cope with them is a really valuable life skill. You can laugh at them, cry about them, or GROW through them. Your response to life's lows is your choosing.
Anyway, my point.
You should do "High/Low" with your family.
Ha. No, that's not my point.
Really, I just wanted to tell you that I'm posting my list of "2011 Highs/Lows" here on the blog today, as a way of reviewing the year and giving thanks for all of it: the good, the bad, the ugly, and the funny.
(PS: You can skip reading it. I just want to post it here because the blog is really like a journal for me. But, if you do read it and think some of these are wonky, remember my motto: "Don't judge, just love." I'm still learning. Go easy on me.)
Happy New Year friends and family.
I love you and am so grateful for your love/support.
Dawn's 2011 Year in Review
(in random order)
Highs
* The Survivor adventure. The whole enchilada--casting, preparing for it, playing, watching.
* Traveling to Samoa (for both Dave and I).
* Having family support while I played Survivor. (Dave. You are my hero.)
* Spending time with the Janae and her family.
* New perspective on life after playing the game of Survivor (needs/wants/family/goals).
* Dissecting the cow-eyeball w/ Janae's dad. (Who knew your eye was THAT incredible?)
* Running the Logan Mud Run.
* Indian dinners.
* Safe travels.
* Bagels and hot chocolate on Saturday mornings.
* Jay and Jr. hiking Southern Utah with Jeff/Janae
* Bam and Papaya taking their first solo airplane trip (to see Jamie GaGa and Uncle Mike).
* Bam and Papaya spending a week with the quadruplets. (Seeing Golden Gate Bridge.)
* Jay and Bam taking The Pioneer Trek with our church youth group.
* Winning immunity in Survivor.
* Receiving a letter from my family during the game.
* Reading and memorizing Dean Karnezes quote about a life worth living. (Thanks, Dave.)
* Going on the Sliding Rocks Reward with The Savaii Six--thanks to Jim/Keith pulling out a win.
* Touring the Vet Clinic as a fieldtrip.
* Selling our home.
* The BEST tuna fish sandwich of my life @ Sliding Rocks in Samoa.
* Having lunch with Julie R.
* Reading. (Breakfast With Buddha, Real Simple Magazine, and Man's Search for Meaning.)
* Watching the kids learn to dive off the high dive (thanks to Ozzy).
* Papaya learning a back-hand-spring. (Spell?)
* The BEST carmelized banana pancakes of my life @ Ponderosa (thanks Chef Simon).
* Working out with NeYoda.
* Spending time at the library.
* Time with my parents.
* Baking bread (lots).
* ZuZu and LuLu's baptisms.
* Time with our pets.
* Ella Fitzgerald. Dean Martin.
* El Azteca chicken burritos.
* Learning to bench-press more than my weight.
* Learning to live with less (thanks to Survivor).
* OVERWHELMING kindness and support from friends/family/strangers re: Survivor.
* Spending time with Whittney C. (And having her be our kids' fave aunt while I was away).
* Dave's job. (LOVE his employer.)
* Steven S's friendship. Lynne S.'s faith/commitment to me. Jeff P.'s influence in my life.
* Teaching Primary (we love our church primary leader--Janet E.)
* Meeting Survivor cast members from previous seasons.
* Blogging.
* Making lifelong friendships with the cast for Survivor South Pacific.
* The FUN Survivor viewing parties each week. (At Briscoe's, Malawi's, w/ Rick, DCC, Debi's.)
* Good health for our family.
* Our family's trip to Hollywood for the Survivor finale'.
* Bam beginning guitar lessons.
* Celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary.
* Disneyland trip (Club 33).
* Jay learning to do a 360 on his bike.
* Spending time with Pat, Beth, Dane, Juanita.
* Jay repairing bikes.
* TONS of help from NeYoda, Janae, Jeff, Whittney, Jason ... during Survivor.
* Jay getting his drivers license.
* Church/Temple.
* Modern Family. Cake Boss.
* Jr. playing football.
* Reading Captain Underpants out loud w/ kids. (Matched, too.)
* Books. (Super Rich is one on my mind.)
* Santa Monica Pier (with grandparents, cousins, friends).
* Our new congregation/ward.
* Great neighbors.
* My parents taking care of my Great Uncle.
* XM Radio (we listen every day).
* Twitter. Facebook. Email. iPads. Laptops. Cellphones. The Pioneer Woman site. Zappos. Amazon. Accuradio.
* NPR.
* My black heels for the Survivor Finale'.
* Finding my bible/scriptures after they were missing for 3 years.
* Freedom/change/democracy in so many nations this summer (Egypt).
* BYU (teaching there, bowling there, the students there, the Wasatch mountains, everything).
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| Disneyland, 2011. (Our family w/ Ian Stewart--Cubs baseball) |
Lows
* My BFF having ALS/Lou Gehrig's. (The High is that she's the strongest person I know.)
* Car problems. Lots of them.
* Having to put braces on Jay for a second time.
* Not getting out to see my family more often.
* Cochran's flip at the merge. (Yes, it's just a game, but it was a MAJOR low point at the time.)
* Not taking the kids to NYC as-planned.
* Losing my tooth/molar in that pork challenge in Survivor. (And having to have oral surgery when I came home.)
* Getting a major infection AFTER my oral surgery.
*"Celebrating" our 20th wedding anniversary ... apart. (Though we were both in Samoa. Ha ha ha.)
* Not completing my goal of meditating for 15-30 minutes/day.
* Losing 3 packages to the USPS this year.
* The tsunami in Japan.
* Negativity in TV/News. (Why do you have to LOOK so hard for positive stories?)
* Not getting LuLu and ZuZu into gymnastics.
* Packing for our move. (Don't mind moving; can't stand packing.)
* Dave not getting out to see his mom this year.
* Breaking commitments. Good intentions, but not always great follow-through.
* The cranky lady at the library who asked me if I was a "guardian" to all of the "different" kids with me. (Uh, first of all, "WHY do people call any other people DIFFERENT?" That's so derogatory. And yes, they all are MINE. It's called adoption--and this is 2011 FOR THE LOVE.)
* Being impatient. (See above.)
* Not keeping in better contact with friends/family.
**I know there are more, but how much do I wanna dwell on the past? Not much. LOL.
