Christmas - Just Us

Remington and I got back home to Indy on Friday afternoon. We were so happy to see Dan! 

We decided to have our Christmas soon after I was home. I was kind of done with Christmas festivities at this point, but I tried to remember that Dan had not really had much celebrating and had been working the entire week.

Mainly the Christmas with just the three of us include the gifts Dan and I had gotten each other, my parents gift to Dan, and of course Remi's gifts to us.

Nice wrapping job Dan!!

Dan's gift from Remi!!

My new IPhone 5 running armband... although I haven't got my IPhone 5 yet!

Some of my gifts from Remi!

Dan's gift from my Mom and Dad... some sort of multi-tool??? He loved it so that is all that matters :)

And of course... our attempt at Christmas family photos :)

Well, I think I'm all caught up on my Christmas posts!! As you can see, we are extremely blessed! I couldn't ask for anything more than what I have! Hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday as well!

Resolutions for the New Year

It's that time of year again! I'm ready to make my new goals for the year. I was looking over last year's resolutions to figure out which ones I completed and which ones I failed miserably at. Let's see...

Run a Mini Marathon - failed at AGAIN!
Pay off debt - successful... we definitely made a nice dent in our debt this year
Focus on finishing Masters degree - successful... only 2 more classes to go!
Walk Remington more - failure
Be more thankful - successful... I focused on being thankful for something special each week on my blog

Now for my 2013 Resolutions!!!

#1 - Run a Mini Marathon... I'm serious about this one for 2013. So serious I actually signed up for the largest one in the country!!! Here I come Indianapolis Mini Marathon!

#2 - Continue to Save... We have been doing pretty well with trying to save money. Any extra money that we get goes straight into our savings account. I want to continue this throughout 2013. We are striving to save up a nice sized down payment for a new home in a nice neighborhood!

#3 - Live a Healthy Lifestyle... Recently, I have been thinking more and more about how you live while you're young affects how you will live when your older. I would like to focus on trying to live a more healthy lifestyle both physically, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually.

#4 - Read More Books... When I'm enrolled in a class it is hard for me to keep up with reading for pleasure. This year however, I would really like to strive to read more books just for fun... even if I am in a class for school.

#5 - Don't sweat the small stuff... This is a struggle that I live with every day of my life. I worry constantly about the most unimportant things. Even though I feel I have been doing a little better with this, I hope to continue to NOT sweat the small stuff in the new year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

Feel free to share any goals you have for the year!

2012 Rhoton Recap

Every year since I have been doing this blog I strive to do a little recap on what has taken place over the past year. As always it has been a time full of busyness and fun! Below are the highlights that our family shared with you in 2012!

Blonde to Brown (click for full post)

I decided I wanted to dye my hair back to its natural color, whatever that is, so I went from blonde to brown in hopes of reaching it. This change didn't last long because every time I looked at myself in the mirror it just didn't look like me. I went back to blonde shortly after.

Super Bowl XLVI (click for full post)

The Super Bowl was actually in our city this year. Dan and I went down to Super Bowl Village to celebrate. It was a cool time to be a part of Indy!

Carmel 8K (click for full post) & P-town 8K (click for full post)

I ran two 8K's this year... both which were pretty darn cold!  But I did complete them which is what matters!

Gatlinburg Vacation (click for full post)

For vacation this year we went to Gatlinburg and even took the dog. We had the best time with our little family of three! My favorite part of the trip was visiting Parrot Mountain!!!

Discovery of a Baby Deer (click for full post)

Dan runs across some crazy things in his job. This year during one of their calls they discovered a tiny baby deer who had just lost it's mother.  The officers took it in and gave it to an animal sanctuary where it will grow up healthy and happy!

Dan joins F.A.C.T Team 6 (click for full post)

Dan joined this team at work this year. Basically, he goes to any accidents in the city that could be a possible fatality.  Him being on call the first part of each month definitely makes life interesting.  However, he is blessed to get more experience with the world of law enforcement.

Dan's 15 minutes of fame (click for full post)

Dan experienced being famous after he arrested a guy running out of a convenience store with the cash draw.  Dan was just going in the store for his nightly drink.  The story and video made national news.

Remington gets a brother... for a day (click for full post)

I found a stray dog at work and brought it home until I could find a good home for him.  Remington loved having a little brother for a day!

Grandma celebrates her 90th (click for full post)

In October, my family and I celebrated my Grandma's 90th Birthday with a huge party in her honor! It was a wonderful day and hopefully something she will always remember. We love her dearly!

Well that wraps up the year of 2012! I'm looking forward to what 2013 will bring!

Christmas in P-town

Remington and I decided to head to P-town for Christmas with my family on Sunday evening. Dan couldn't come with us because he was going to be working most of the week. Bummer!

When we got to P-town we found out that a lot of people in my family were sick. Both of my Grandma's and several of their friends had walking pneumonia. Oh my! So I must say that Christmas was quite different this year.

Usually our first Christmas would be with my immediate family and my Grandma Fowler. Instead it was just with Mom, Dad, me, and Remi.

Remi in front of Mom and Dad's baby tree...

Watching everyone open presents.

Remi opening gifts.

Dad finally made my serving tray!!!!

Remi was pretty tired after all of that excitement, so he decided it was time to take a nap.



The next day we had our second Christmas at my Aunt Ingrid's house. It was really nice to see everyone and also eat lots of good food!

My cousins got their Mom and Dad brand new bikes! They were very surprised!

After all the Christmas festivities... it was time to relax! Remi and I had no problem doing that. I enjoyed reading, sleeping, and watching TV.

Remi took quite a few naps and played with all his new gifts!!

One day we even had a blizzard come to town! Remi was so happy to see some snow!

"It's snowing Mom!"

Before...

After!

It was a pretty good Christmas is P-town! We are planning on heading home tomorrow morning to see Dan! YAY! Remi can't wait to see his Dad and I can't either!

Our third Christmas post soon to come!

Thankful Thursday (Last One)

Today is my last Thankful Thursday! Last year I made a resolution to be more thankful. That is where these posts came into to play. Can you believe that I have been doing these for a whole year! I have a lot to be thankful for!

Today I'm looking forward to a new year with new goals! But I'm thankful for this past year and all the moments I have been blessed with!

Here's to my last Thankful Thursday!

Christmas in Ohio

Our family usually has three separate Christmas'. Our first one is with Dan's family in Ohio... our second one is with my family in P-town... and our last one is just with Dan, Remi and I.  Dan and I usually don't get to spend Christmas together because he is working most of the time, but we always make time to do our own little Christmas with just the three of us.

We left for Dan's family Christmas early Thursday morning. We were planning on staying with Dan's Mom and Dad, but unfortunately Dan's Mom came down with the flu. Instead we checked into a Hampton close to them. I'm not gonna lie. The hotel was really nice. It had a pool, hot tub, fitness center, and an awesome breakfast bar every morning.  While we were in Ohio it snowed abour 4 inches! YIKES!

Our first little Christmas get together while in Ohio was with us, Dan's brother's family, and his Mom and Dad. It's always so fun to watch the kids open their stockings and presents. They are a joy to watch!

We had to take a little break to take family pictures. One of us with the Mallory and Elliott, one of Bryce, Ali, and the kids, and one of Dan's Mom and Dad with the kids.



Then it was back to opening gifts!!



Our second Christmas get together was the next day. This involved the entire Rhoton clan coming from all around to join the festivities.

I love this picture of the girls and their Mace! Great gift as they get ready to go off to college!

After opening gifts we all decided to take pictures with Grandpa. One of him with the great-grand kids, one of him and his kids, and one of him and the grandkids.



After that it was time for our White Elephant gift exchange!

It was more like a booze exchange because there was so much alcohol involved!

We ended up getting home late Saturday night and picked this guy up early Sunday morning. As you can see he was pretty tuckered out from three nights at Barkefellers. We were so happy to get him back home with us!

Our second Christmas adventure to come soon!