2011 in Retrospect

A little summary of last year...

Wildman started into his Master’s program, going for a master’s in Mental Health Counseling.  He is doing really well, and so far has earned a 4.0 each semester.  He is still the Produce Merchant at Macey’s, and survived the company’s first ever mass layoffs.  He is the Cubmaster for our ward, and is doing great-- he simplifies all the meetings and people love the shortened versions.  He ran his first ever races this year, first, a 15k Freedom Run on the 4^th of July, then the Smithfield “Not yo Mama’s” Half marathon, then later the Top of Utah Half.  He is eagerly looking forward to running his first relay, the Red Rock Relay in Moab, in May of 2012.  He is such an amazing husband and father.  We are so blessed to have him!

Wildgirl has entered the 5^th grade this year, and thus the world of pre-teen angst and drama.  She often wonders why her friends have become so fickle and manipulative (those are my words), and I pray for her tender heart and open-book personality to make it through these rough years okay.  She is growing faster than I thought possible, and everyone (including her parents) finds themselves making comments about how tall she is getting. She loves school, with geography being her favorite subject, followed by science.  She is still in piano lessons, and accompanied the primary kids in the annual Primary Program at church this year.  She, along with the other Activity Days girls performed a medley of songs from Annie, for a stake crowd of about a 1000 people, and brought the house down! I was so proud of her, she faced her fears of speaking into microphones and sang her solos and spoke her parts like she was made for the stage.  WG still loves flitting around the house and yard in….”dress-ups”…and I don’t want to rush her out of that stage, either.  She is really good with little kids, she is still able to enter that imaginary world—and the kids adore her.  We adore her.

Wildkid is now in the 3^rd grade, and doing really well. He has become quite the decorated cubscout, and loves having his dad as cubmaster.  He has discovered a love for the xbox Kinect Dance Central 2, and thrives on doing the dances all on the hard level.  I love watching him dance, it is way too cute cool. He is halfway through the Fablehaven series and loving it.  He, too, is still in piano, much to his mom’s delight.  He is even starting to transpose songs he’s learning into different keys.  The other day, I heard him playing Pirates of the Caribbean, and wondered when we got the sheet music.  It turns out, we don’t have the sheet music. He was playing by ear, just like his Dad!  WK loves to play frisbee and anything with a ball, he and the dog get along really well.  WK is such a joy.

Rio: the horse.  Rio is doing much better, his stifle injury healed enough that he no longer limps or favors it.  What a relief.  I missed out on a lot of riding this year, and look forward to making up for lost time this year.  Rio is fat and sassy, and I love having him here with us.

Phoenix: the dog—aka “Dug”. Phoenix is just plain goofy. He is certainly not the best trained dog, or the brightest. But what he lacks in brains he makes up for in exuberance. He desires, above all else, to play ball/frisbee.  More than getting his ears scratched or belly rubbed, he wants to be chasing and retrieving that ball. His next favorite activity would have to be chasing squirrels. Sometimes, those squirrels look more like big mule deer prancing through the yard, or they might look round and prickly, resembling a porcupine…or they might even look like a small, red laser dot.  He doesn’t understand that real squirrels hibernate, therefore, he is always checking the local “hangouts”, hoping for a glimpse of a bushy tail.  He just knows they are sitting in those woodpiles, mocking and jeering.  “…that joke is funny because the squirrel gets dead!”  says Dug.  Oh, yeah.  Phoenix is very patient with us.  Sometimes, he will repeatedly drop the ball at our feet, knowing that eventually, we’ll catch on and throw it. 

Me? Well…I just try to keep up with my little family.  Interspersed among all the domestic chores, I still dabble in photography, horses, and yoga.  I have tried to write this year and it has been SLOW going…but I am determined.  This Fall, we took a trip to Canyonlands and did some new hikes.  Along with the kids (who can now officially out-hike me), I finished my longest hike yet, post-accident, at 12 miles.  WM, of course, was just getting warmed up…;)  That man is amazing. I am still our ward choir director, and really enjoying it.  I’ve learned tons, but still have a long way to go. This last year has been a loaded one, for all of us.  Looking back, I can see how we got a few of our more rough edges knocked off, and though the process was certainly painful, we are better for it.  As a dear friend recently stated, “we are living the lessons we learn next”.  We hope and pray that this year finds all of you a little happier, a little healthier, and that maybe some of our upcoming adventures mingle with yours. 

With Love,

The Wilds