2012 In Review

I love doing a review of my year so I can see it in one place.  I also like to make some of the main events from each month in bold.

January 2012:
*Picked my One Little Word for the year ~ HOPE
*Christine came over to watch football w/ us and made her famous caramels
*Mom & Nick & I went and saw Sherlock Holmes 2 (SO GOOD!)
*Autumn & I helped Papa replant some shrubs
*We went to lunch at Cheddar’s w/ Pam & Dave & Colton
*Mom & Autumn & I went to dinner at Logan’s Roadhouse
*Mom got an “Aunt Jill” haircut
*We played human “Broomkey” for a combined activity w/ the Young Men
*Did “Mini Missions” with the Young Women in the ward
*Autumn turned five
*Learned how to use a new database program at work
*Became addicted to Downton Abbey
*Finally put away all the Christmas decorations & tree
*We played “Human Battleship” for our activity in Young Women’s
*Went to the local high school’s production of Music Man
*I went to the temple
*Autumn & I started reading the Book of Mormon together
*Autumn & I made sugar cookies together
*Watched The Bachelor at Christine’s house every Monday night

February 2012:
*Autumn went on her first official Girl’s Night Out w/ Liz & I to Olive Garden
*I got sick w/ the crud
*Watched Downton Abbey instead of the Super Bowl
*I stayed home from work b/c I was sick
*Autumn & Andrew got to have a sleep over w/ a bunch of other kids on a farm
*Lexie & I went and saw The Vow
*Valentine’s Day
*I won a giveaway for a print & bookmarks & magnets of Pres. Uchtdorf’s “Forget Me Not” talk
*Had to have a tooth cavity filled
*Autumn & I got a set of fancy tea cups (just for fun) from Goodwill
*I printed off over 300 pictures from the 1st 1/2 of 2010 for Project Life
*We had the missionaries over for dinner
*We had Young Women’s New Beginnings
*The people that bought the lot from us are building a new house there
*We rented the movie “Courageous” and watched it together as a family
*We went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse as a family
*I started watching Joel Osteen on Sunday mornings
*Papa tricked us into thinking there was a snake in the tree by the garage
*We celebrated Leap Day
*Autumn lost her 2nd tooth

March 2012:
*Printed off 421 pictures for the 2nd half of my 2010 Project Life album
*Papa & Autumn went on a date to Main Event
*Mom & I went to the “Women At The Well” production at the church
*Liz & I went to dinner at Chili’s and then went to the “Women At The Well”
*I won a giveaway on the One Happy Mama blog
*3/7 ~ Autumn had to get 3 stitches in her chin
*I had to have a cavity filled & also a root canal
*I had Mom cut my hair 6” shorter
*Autumn jumped & played in some big rain puddles
*We had a pizza picnic w/ the kids up on the fort in the backyard
*3/13 ~ Brenner reminded me that it was exactly 10 years ago today that we went to the MTC
*Dad took out Autumn’s stitches at the kitchen table
*We had a pajama party w/ the kids and they slept on the floor in the living room
*Andrew freaked out when some leprechauns turned the pancakes & water in the toilets green for St. Patrick’s Day
*We went to the lake and had fun throwing rocks
*Mom & Dad went to Utah for a week
*3/22 ~ I registered Autumn for Kindergarten
*Liz & Liberty came over for dinner
*Went & saw the midnight showing of the Hunger Games w/ the girls
*I took Autumn to visit the outside of the temple for the 1st time and we ran into Pres. & Sis. Packard
*Autumn got to sit in a limousine
*Mom showed me how to create a Genealogy fan
*Had 2 more cavities filled
*Celebrated Karri’s birthday at Chili’s and then went to see Mirror, Mirror
*Went on a lot of nature walks around the neighborhood
*Mom & Dad got the windows replaced at their house
*Watched General Conference

April 2012:
*Autumn tried riding a bike w/out training wheels
*Papa caught a tarantula
*There was a severe tornado in our area
*The kids had a Daddy/Papa sleepover at Aunt Sandy’s farm & the girls had a party at the house
*We had an Easter egg hunt at the farm
*Mom & Dad went to the temple together
*Genelle came to visit so we had a shrimp boil
*Autumn painted the garden bear statue
*Ducks tried hanging out in our swimming pool for a few weeks
*I went to the temple w/ the youth in our ward for baptisms
*I got some great shots of Autumn in the bluebonnets
*Autumn gave a talk in Primary
*We found a neighborhood near our house that’s based on a Croatian village
*We had a girl’s night at Karri’s & had a blast playing on the Kinect
*Mom & Dad went to the Sand Contest in Port Aransas
*Autumn went w/ me to get my nails done
*Liz & Liberty came over
*Happy 25th Birthday to Nate
*Started reading the Tiger’s Curse series
*Autumn used her gift card to get some Barbies at Toys R Us

May 2012:
*Autumn had a ballet recital
*Went to Top Golf for a youth activity
*Autumn & I played in the sprinklers
*I broke Nick’s passenger side mirror
*I mowed Mom & Dad’s lawn
*Mom went down to Austin to visit Lexie & crew
*Karri & I helped Dad get stats for Scout physicals
*Dad cut holes in our walls to find where Nick’s shower is leaking
*We got 2 hermit crabs, Peter & Parker
*Autumn & I had “Muffins With Mom” at her daycare
*We skyped w/ Nate in Japan
*Mother’s Day
*I watched the series finale of Desperate Housewives
*The Bachelorette started up so we are going to watch it at Christine’s again every Monday
*The BYU International Folk Dance Team came to our youth activity & taught some dances
*I lost my camera at the activity on Wed but found it on Sunday!!!
*5/18 ~ 1 year anniversary of the Durango being rear ended & a tender mercy
*Autumn & I went to a play date at the park w/ her friend from daycare
*Autumn & I had a picnic in the driveway
*Dad got a new gun & took Mom to the shooting range and she did awesome
*Had a surprise party for Liz’s birthday
*Our youth group served at Special Olympics all day today.  It was great!
*Autumn & Andrew & I had a sleepover in Curt’s tree house
*Memorial Day & shrimp boil w/ the Monzingo’s
*Autumn & I helped Sis. Lee decorate the Senior’s doors
*Autumn “graduated” from Preschool

June 2012:
*Britt let us ride his brand new cherry red Vespa
*Dad took his 10 hour mandatory hand gun training
*Nate came home from Japan on a few weeks leave
*Sis. Lee & I went out for dessert w/ the Laurels that are graduating
*My fingernail broke off about 1/2 way down my nail bed.  OUCH!
*Liz & I went and saw Snow White & The Huntsman
*Curt’s Dad died, so we shined their shoes for the funeral
*6/9 ~ We went through the temple together as a family for the first time
*I took the kids to watch Monsters, Inc on the big screen at the baseball field
*Lexie & I took the kids to see Madagascar 3
*Liz, Liberty, Nick & I were invited to the Mesquite Rodeo & got to sit in suite w/ catered food
*Tyler’s annual Flag Day party
*I had a Pest Control Peeps swim party at Mom & Dad’s
*Father’s Day
*Nate’s Air Force friend, Nic, came to visit for the weekend
*I met up w/ Mom & Dad & Nick & Nate for lunch after they went to Kelsey’s endowment session
*Mary & Christine & their kids & I went and saw the midnight showing of Brave
*Nate showed us how to dissect a squid
*Mom’s 56th Birthday
*Autumn & I babysat Cole while Pam & Dave went to a Ranger’s game
*Lexie’s 29th Birthday
*Took Mom & Dad & Nate to the airport
*Mom & Dad went on a 2 week Scandinavian cruise & tour of Russia
*Saw our city’s fireworks display (they do it the Saturday before 4th of July)

July 2012:
*I started putting together a video to try out for the Biggest Loser
*Liz & Liberty & Liz’s family came over for a pool party to celebrate the 4th of July
*Autumn took swim lessons from Ms. Cis
*Papa & Mimi got home from their trip
*Karri & I kept time at the Pinewood Derby combined youth activity
*We tried to rescue a baby rabbit from the swimming pool, but we were too late
*One of the pictures I took at the Special Olympics was is in the newspaper
*The Bishopric in my ward changed
*7/21 ~ I tried out for the Biggest Loser, but didn’t make it
*Autumn & I went to Utah for a week so she could visit her Dad & siblings
*Had a Hatch family get together
*Met at Brick Oven for a Johnson Family dinner
*Celebrated Aunt Jill’s birthday
*Had Josh give a major hair cut
*Got to see Bubzy, Justy, & Jewelsy
*Spent the evening w/ Brenner & Jonesy
*Watched the Olympics at Aunt Jana & Uncle Keith’s house
*Spent a day w/ Ashley & Bianca
*Autumn got lice!

August 2012:
*We found a zipper spider and started feeding her grubs from the garden
*Birthday party for Uncle Robert & Tyler at Tyler’s house
*Our zipper spider laid an egg sac
*We ended up having to give Autumn 3 lice treatments to get rid of them!
*We celebrated Jackson’s 1st birthday early
*Andrew stayed w/ Papa & Mimi for a week
*We had Pres. & Sis. Jones over for a shrimp boil
*Dad’s childhood friend, John M. came to visit
*Went to dinner at On The Border w/ Liz
*Kourtney & Kim came to visit on their way to take Kourtney to college
*Nick & Autumn & I went and saw ParaNorman (DUMB MOVIE)
*YAY for football season starting back up
*Aunt Jeri came to visit indefinitely
*Our ward boundaries changed and we have 2 new wards in our stake
*Autumn & I went to Meet The Teacher Night
*We did a bunch of puzzles w/ Aunt Jeri
*8/27 ~ Autumn started Kindergarten!!!
*I got sick
*Our zipper spider died
*We went to the 1st football game at the new $6 million stadium

September 2012:
*Autumn & I stayed home from church b/c I was too sick to go
*We did a lot of puzzles
*On Labor Day Aunt Jeri had her first shrimp boil & dove off the diving board
*I read the new book in the Tiger’s Quest series
*Autumn had some major melt downs in the evenings b/c she comes home from school exhausted
*Autumn & I went through every article of clothing she owns and put away the ones that are too small
*I went to Homemaking and Sis. Atkinson gave an awesome talk & we had a fun craft
*We played sand volleyball for our combined youth activity
*Dad’s 57th Birthday and Autumn & I took doughnuts to seminary to surprise him
*Dad & Jon & Andrew & Autumn went to the local high school football game
*Mom got called to be a Scout leader in her ward
*I was in charge of the decorations & food for the regional Single Adult dance
*Aunt Jeri taught Autumn how to knit
*Dad played the piano for the opening song for FHE
*We found curlers that actually keep Autumn’s hair curly for longer than 2 hours
*We found some old home videos from when Mom was a little girl
*Nick turned 27
*I got Aunt Jeri hooked on Downton Abbey
*I typed up 2 of Rufio’s journals from 1945 & 1946!!!
*During our Girl’s Night at Christine’s we helped her & Melanie make Homecoming Mums
*Pizza picnic at the park w Liz & Liberty & Jacob
*4 year anniversary of Tara’s death
*We had a toilet paper fashion show for our combined YW activity
*I got to eat lunch w/ Autumn at her school
*9/27-9/30 GIRL’S WEEKEND IN GALVESTON

October 2012:
*Started watching Downton Abbey Season 3 online
*We had our first pumpkin pie & eggnog of the season, feels like fall
*I won a giveaway on Elle’s Studio blog for some Project Life supplies
*Autumn had a huge full blown melt down
*I found the cutest witch hats in the $1 Spot at Target
*We decorated some cute fabric cupcakes that Aunt Jeri made
*We watched General Conference on Saturday & Sunday, Elder Holland’s talk was my fave
*We had scrapple b/c Mom was going to make it for Dad’s birthday but didn’t
*Papa & Autumn carved a pumpkin and made it look like it was throwing up
*Emma is getting old and having a hard time jumping up on the couch
*We had our annual “Fall Fest” for the YM/YW combined activity
*Happy 10/11/12 day
*Aunt Jeri & I went to the regional Single Adult Conference
*Dad & Nick & Autumn & I played croquet in the backyard
*Aunt Jeri got a snazzy new hairdo
*I watched “Standing Bear’s Footsteps” which is about a chief from Autumn’s tribe
*Mom & Aunt Jeri made the cutest Halloween cupcakes for Mom’s Scout meeting
*Aunt Tafta & Uncle Kerry came to visit
*Big Tex at the Texas State Fair caught on fire and burned to the ground!
*We had a big Johnson Family shrimp boil
*The Girls & I hosted a Halloween party at Christine’s house and all dressed up as the Pink Ladies from Grease (Mom did my hair and it looked AWESOME)
*Ben (a kid in Autumn’s class) and his family had us over for dinner and then we went Boo-ing
*Happy 33rd birthday to me
*I signed up for and started Project REAL Life
*Autumn & I went to a Halloween party at Bobbie’s house (a lady from work)
*Autumn was in the Primary Program at church, Aunt Jeri & Mimi came to watch her
*Aunt Jeri left w/ Aunt Tafta & Uncle Kerry to go back to Utah! SNIFF! SNIFF!
*Super Storm Sandy hit the East Coast and shut down NYC
*We met Cassie, Rich, Jennie, her girls & Aunt Sandy’s crew at Trail Dust
*Autumn’s class went to a pumpkin patch
*I took Autumn trick-or-treating for the 1st time this year w/ some other families from church

November 2012:
*The girls treated me to Cheesecake Factory (& their caramel sauce) for a belated birthday
*Autumn was student of the week so we made a few posters about her
*I got an Xbox & Kinect and Just Dance 3 game
*Autumn got sick
*The dishwasher broke
*I voted
*Autumn got really brave and climbed a really high ladder
*Nick is employee of the month at work
*Dad went to Autumn’s school and talked to her class for Veteran’s Day
*Autumn went down to Austin w/ Papa & Mimi
*I chaperoned a youth dance
*Mom made some adorable Thanksgiving treats
*Sis. Wright came over to quilt
*We had Young Women In Excellence
*The girls & I went and saw a double header including the newest and last Twilight movie
*I lost my iPhone but one of the employees at the theater turned it in the next day
*Gas dropped below $3 a gallon
*Papa & Mimi went to Autumn’s Thanksgiving feast at school
*I won a giveaway on a blog
*For our girl’s night we played card games at Karri’s
*Mom went to Autumn’s daycare dressed as a pioneer
*Helped Mom make butterhorn rolls for Thanksgiving
*Went to Uncle Robert & Aunt Sandy’s for Thanksgiving
*Let the kids play in a pile of leaves & took them to see the musical tree
*Had the kids do a bunch of fun crafts
*Lexie & I put up the Christmas tree
*Autumn went up in the attic all by herself to get our Christmas decorations
*I had the Laurel’s over to my house for a YW activity
*I got a really painful eye infection
*I met up w/ Monique & her new boyfriend for dinner

December 2012:
*I was an ambassador at the crèche &then helped Mom & Dad take down all her nativities
*Rosy Posy came back this year
*Autumn & I were the recipients of some fun Christmas treats from the Relief Society
*Mom started volunteering in Autumn’s class on Thursdays and takes her lunch on those days
*I was invited to an honorary dinner at PF Chang’s for all I do at work
*Mom came & helped me decorate my work for our 1st company Christmas party and it was a LOT of work!
*I was invited to a special Christmas brunch w/ some ladies from church
*Nick & I put up lights outside our house
*Autumn & Nick & I went and saw Rise of the Guardians
*I took Dad’s Corvette to church to use as an object lesson about education
*Happy 12/12/12 at 12:12!
*Autumn & I decorated a gingerbread train that Sis. Wright made for us
*12/14 The Newtown shooting where 20 kids were shot and 6 teachers
*Ward Christmas party
*Mom & Dad got us a new dishwasher
*White elephant Christmas party at Berrett’s
*Mom was in charge of the food for her ward’s Christmas party and I helped her.  It was exhausting, but a huge success
*We met  up w/ Liz & Liberty & Jacob for some free hot chocolate
*The world didn’t end on 12/21
*Caleb got baptized
*Johnson Mele Kalikimaka Christmas party at our house
*Lexie & I stayed up until 2:00 am putting together a present
*Mom got me new red silky pajamas like the ones I had as a little girl!!!
*Christmas was wonderful & Autumn got a big Barbie house
*It snowed
*Lexie & I went and saw the new Les Mis movie
*Aunt Jana & Uncle Keith came to visit for 5 days on a spur of the moment thing
*We did puzzles and ate tons of food and dyed our hair (Jana & I)
*Mom & Jana & I made cream cheese bread, scrapple, egg rolls, sweet & sour sauce, and fried rice
*We rang in the new year early (around 9:30) so the kids could go to bed early

2012 was a really good year for Autumn & I.  It’s crazy for me to think that she’s already in Kindergarten, b/c it seems like just a year or 2 ago that we moved back to Texas after my divorce and she was just a baby.  I’m thankful we got to go up to Utah in the summer to spend time with family and friends.  Just as in 2011, I am so thankful to have a job, to have my health, to have an incredible family and support system, and to have my faith in and testimony of a loving Heavenly Father and my older brother, Jesus Christ.  I HOPE that 2013 is just as wonderful as 2012.