Top 10 of my 2025
No one asked for it, but I have decided this is a good exercise in gratitude!
10. Grass - I finally spent the money to get good, drought-resistant grass installed in my yard. It was EXPENSIVE and I'm still worried I'm bad at taking care of it but it made my summer SO much better. One because I can actually hang out on my grass and two because my dogs aren't constantly getting weeds stuck in their fur. FYI, it is a Bermuda grass hybrid that was developed by Utah State and had to be legalized before it could be sold and used, so I'm really living on the edge.
9. Gardening - I spent a good amount of time and money and energy on growing a garden this year. This was maybe a weird year to do it because I was gone for so many of the summer months, but it was such a great thing for me. Gardening is something that not only gets me outside but allows me to focus on the process instead of just the product. It has been so therapeutic for me in addition to providing me with tons of kale, peppers, and tomatoes that are so much better than they are in the store.
8. '24-'25 SBOs - Now obviously I love all my students (I mean mostly...) but my SBO's for the year '24-'25 have a special place in my heart. Partially they were kind and fun SBO's after a really hard year for me where I didn't connect very well to my SBO's. But also they were just the graduating class I had the most fun teaching in general and seeing them become leaders and have fun all year (even though they weren't always great at their jobs...) was so wonderful and fun. They carried such a joy and a light to them and their interactions with others that was so influential to me.
7. Gym - I have been going to the gym semi-consistently for probably about 6 years. However this is the year that the groundwork I had been laying for those first 5 years started to actually pay off. I have an incredibly weak core and have had to modify exercises significantly for years because of this - this year that has rarely been the case. In years past I have stolen lots of workouts from influencers and bounced around trying lots of different things. But this year I wrote my own program (again, only because I could after 5 years of groundwork and knowing really smart people that helped inform me) and made so much progress. I have started to see my strength go up, my endurance go WAY up and in general have enjoyed the gym so much more this year than ever before. I even started talking to people at the gym kind of sometimes, which is big for me.
6. Weight loss - I have been lucky enough to have laid the groundwork for not only my consistent gym habit, but a healthy eating habit (which has been in the works since like literally my sophomore of college and boy howdy that has been a journey), and a therapy journey that has made this possible. This year I have been able to fairly consistently eat in a calorie deficit and have lost about 20 pounds. I'm not going for lots of weight loss quickly, just wanted to slowly and sustainably get my body to a place that was more comfortable and where I could move more easily. In fact this has happened slowly enough that I honestly couldn't even really tell the difference until I compared my Christmas dress this year with my Christmas dress last year. I still have more I would like to lose but this is a marathon for me and not a sprint so we'll just see how it goes!
5.5 - The Jazz - I always love the Jazz but this year they did their opening scrimmage at East High and I almost died of joy. They are so tall and so young and so adorable. This was very close to being the best day of my life.
5. Sister trip - Last year we started doing regular family meetings and we did a lot better job of keeping in touch with each other as siblings. This year we really amped it up and did a sister trip! All of the original sisters (no in-laws this time) visited Patti in Michigan and it was absolutely fantastic. The best part was that it was the first time for my sisters to go on a trip where they weren't "mom" and no one was relying on them or asking them to do anything for them. We had an amazing time and are already planning on how we can keep them going. I feel closer to my sisters this year than I have since living with them!
4. Stray Kids - I feel a little bad putting this before the sisters trip but...My 2024 year was one of serious healing and changing. It started out as a terrible year and ended up much better. And one of the things that got me through that time was Stray Kids, a K-Pop group. Listening to their music and watching their content was something that really helped me when I was not emotionally capable of reaching out to other people or God. So when I saw they were going on tour I knew I had to go. I didn't expect to go three times...but I did just that. First I saw them in Seattle with Elaine - who first got me into Kpop. Next I saw them in Orlando with Jessica who I have known since college but was meeting in person for the first time. And finally, the grand finale, I saw them in Chicago, my favorite city. I was in the pit, only about 3-4 feet from the stage, and it was absolutely fantastic. Not only did I get to see them very close but I made some great friends and then got to spend a few days in Chicago which I always love.
3. Amber's birthday surprise - Birthdays are hard, and birthdays as a single person can be especially hard. While I have plenty of wonderful people in my life I don't have anyone that prioritizes me over others in their life (for good reason, they have their own families and spouses and I'm delighted for them). This is why I always make sure my students know when my birthday is and heavily hint about it, which always works in my favor, haha. But this year I had a birthday surprise for perhaps the first time in my life. My best friend in the whole world, Amber, kept telling me to make sure to check my porch when I got home. I assumed she had sent me something and was worried it would get stolen off my porch. But no, she came to my house and decorated my porch and it was genuinely the sweetest thing I think anyone has ever done for me. I have lucked out having a friend as good as her and she has gotten me through some of the worst moments in the last few years. She has seen me ugly cry countless times over Marco Polo and she still talks to me! This moment was so wonderful to me.
2. Dad's 80th - My dad turned 80 years old and I tell you what, that's crazy. We planned a surprise birthday party for him and he was genuinely so surprised! It helped that it was in the summer even though his birthday is in March... My brother Andy put together a program that involved all kinds of fun and impromptu performances, we made it Brazil themed since my dad served his mission there. I got to learn how to make pao de queijo which got added to my favorite recipes pretty quickly. And my mom invited some of this friends from Plain City throughout the years as well. He was surprised and pleased and we were all so happy. And the craziest part to me is that at 80 years old, this man kneeled on the concrete to get a picture with his cake and then stood right back up like it was nothing. His Scandinavian genes are really going strong.
1. Testimony - Without going into many details, I had purposely set aside my testimony for about the last four years. I didn't abandon it or lose it, but I needed to step outside of it for a while to deal with some issues I had. I always knew I would come back to it when I was ready. This was the year I was ready and it has been so comforting and exciting coming back to it and remembering the joy and peace I get from the Gospel. It has been a slow journey and I'm still not back to the depth of testimony I was before, but I'm being patient with myself and I have found so much joy in the rekindling I've found.
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