Favorties of 2014: Part 1

This blog post started out with the intent to post one picture from each month that captured a favorite event of the month for 2014...but when I have hardly blogged at all in the past year and missed capturing so many wonderful experiences choosing just one picture became impossible for me to do.   So instead there are lots and lots of pictures and I'm splitting the year up into two posts.  

January:

We celebrated Bret's 38th birthday

We enjoyed a plethora of snow/ice days.  We had a total of 14 snow days off from school.  I was not one to complain!

Abby performed in the All-Distrcit Choir and did a beautiful job

February:

Zach did well in the pinewood derby race at scouts coming in fourth place over all!

A large majority of weekends between January and May were spent at volleyball tournaments with Abby.  It was so fun to see her grow, progress, and increase in confidence and ability.  

March:

One of our favorite things we discovered was to go to the Jefferson Memorial on a Sunday afternoon to watch the sunset.  There are no crowds and it is an incredibly beautiful and peaceful experience. 

McKenna had her Cotillion Spring Ball.  Her jokester of a father showed up to dance with her with his buck teeth in.  Good thing she's got a sense of humor and roll right along with it.

Just a moment I happened to capture.  My heart is full of gratitude for siblings! 

After saving and working as a family we went on a Disney Cruise.  This is something I happened to blog about so I'm just re posting a few of my favorite pictures.

Spent a day at Universal Studios/Harry Potter World after the cruise.

April:

In April Bret and I were able to go to Utah to attend the funeral of his wonderful, sweet Grandma Ruth.  She is a remarkable woman and I am blessed to have known her and loved her.  Most of her grandchildren were able to attend the funeral.  That in and of itself is a tribute to the woman, mother and grandmother that she was.  This is Bret's dad and his siblings.

The originial Crane crew...

I was able to stay in Utah for a few days to spend time with my parents.  It was wonderful.

Our first time seeing the Cheery Blossoms in DC were beautiful.

Abby and McKenna read the Book of Mormon together over Spring Break in 24 hours!  I was so very proud of them.  They finished at 5:00 in the morning.

We had a wonderful Easter with our dear friends in Charlottesville

May:

I'm so blessed to be the mother of these five great kids!.  

Bret and I had a glorious week in Hawaii celebrating our 15 year wedding anniversary.  Ok, Bret was really there to present at a conference and I tagged along because it just so happened to be our 15 year anniversary the following month!  We sure had some wonderful adventures while we were there.

We went shark diving...one of the scariest and most awesome things I have ever done!!!

Jumping off the side of a waterfall...

Bret took a surf lesson from these sweet 60+ year old man

and he got up on his first wave!

I even braved cliff jumping

Our kids were in the wonderful hands of my niece Elisa and her husband Marcus.  They had so much fun that I don't think they even missed us at all!

We got back from Hawaii just in time to make it down to Charlottesville for Bret to officially walk in graduation.  Even though he officially defended his dissertation and graduated in August of 2013, I felt strongly that I wanted him to walk.  After all...I wanted pictures of the event!

Bret's parents came into town for the weekend and it was wonderful to have them with us.

We knew that two different ceremonies and 4+ hours would be too much for Grayson to handle, so some good friends were kind enough to watch him for us so that we could really enjoy the day with Bret. 

 Words cannot express how deeply proud and grateful I am for Bret.  This was a huge leap of faith on his part to undertake earning a PhD a little later in life then most, and with four kids to start out with and 5 to end with.  Hands down they were four of our most wonderful years of life.  I will forever be grateful for our PhD years in Charlottesville and all that we were able to experience.

The very end of May I was able to travel to Utah again for my Dad's 80th birthday.

All of my siblings came into town and we had a family dinner at my sisters home.  I'm grateful for this family of mine.  

Being in Utah gave me time to have lunch with my parents and sister.

Best date night ever...Segway tour in DC

June:

June brought the end of the school year and Gavin graduating from Kindergarten.  McKenna was a helper in his classroom all year and the two of them loved working with each other in the classroom weekly.

It also brought about a graduation for McKenna from elementary school.  Middle School here she comes!

Her wonderful teacher Ms. Puckli

Last day of Kindergarten!

Zach's friends that came over for our last day of school party.  

I was able to go to Utah a third time for a girls weekend with my mom and sisters.  My mom spoiled us with a day at the spa!  It honestly was one of the most incredible things to be there and get multiple treatments.  I could not believe how relaxing and wonderful it was.  I am so blessed with such wonderful women in my life.  

The major event for me in June was girls camp.  I really need to go back and record more about this experience.  I was girls camp director in our ward and girls camp was on a ward level this year.  It was the hardest and most wonderful experience of my life.  I have never felt so sustained and directed by the Lord.  We had 28 young women attend and it was really a unifying experience for the ward.  We went white water rafting and horse back riding.  This picture was taken at the end of our hike where along the way they collected quotes all about being children/daughters of God.  At the top of our hike we shared what quotes we liked the best and why.  At the end of our discussion I passed out the parent letters to the girls.  The spirit was so strong it was amazing!

I could not have pulled it all off without these wonderful women.  Christine Roney, Stacy Sorenson and Rebecca Smith were awesome to have at camp with me!

I love these young women!  So grateful I got to spend this week with them and share my testimony with them.  And it was a blessing for me to be there with Abby for her first year.