"If you stop learning, you stop growing. The moment you stop learning is the moment you start dying."
So what have you learned this year?! Some things that 2023 has taught me are that:
- Costco will give you a full refund for a broken electric fireplace 4 years later.
- It takes 4 hours for one person to put a Home Depot fireplace together. Thanks Kyle!
- Only after your vehicle dies in their car wash parking lot, will Nissan believe that your car doesn't just need the battery to be charged.
- It takes the Nissan dealership 3 weeks to replace an alternator.
- Skull King is the same game as Rooke...
- It's not even raw egg that supposedly makes eating raw cookie dough dangerous. It's uncooked flour? Never knew
- Having elevated blood pressure will not allow an induction date to be moved up by 2 days, but will require 5 hours of musical doctors offices to get various labs done.
- Portable oxygen tanks, using a .2L flow rate, last about 8 days, the oximeter battery can last up to 4 hours if you turn the screen brightness down and the tubing cannot reach past our front room chair.
- Oximeters are $16.50 a night to rent and if you put it on Kohen's finger or toe then the results will be inconclusive. It takes 4x to find out that Kohen doesn't not qualify to have his tonsils removed.
- You only have 30 days to enroll a new dependent with PEHP health insurance, but adding a new dependent during open enrollment doesn't add said new dependent to you current health insurance plan and they don't tell you that until day 32...
- Kasen can finish an entire King Kong Kone from Maceys all by himself.
- Eagle Mountain Utah West Stake will not give you a baptism time until 2 weeks before the baptism date and shipping baptism invitations priority costs double the amount of the invitations themselves.
- If you have a ladder then it only takes 2 people to put a gazebo together instead of the recommended 6-8 people.
- 5 days in the NICU costs $40,000, but if you have health insurance it's only $152. The total cost to bring Kolt home was $5,489.08. Thanks to Unified HR getting Kolt added to our insurance after the 30 days.
- We paid $674 more than our $6,000 out of pocket max for the year... Still don't know how that works.
- It is possible for Kolt to stay asleep during an entire Flaming Gorge lightning storm, while the rest of us get pelted with hail stones and the boat makes a mad dash back to dock
- Nobody actually knows which campsite to cut through to hike down to Lion King. Or what a Chalet is.
- The reason I look like I am drowning when I try to swim is because I actually have no idea how to put my face in the water and breathe in order to swim.
- Don't lick the cinnamon sugar off of a Costa Vida table unless you want to get strep throat and then pass it on to your mom.
- Moms with strep throat are still capable of getting up in the middle of the night to nurse, while simultaneously helping a second child throw up in the toilet.
- Walmart will not give you your groceries if you are even 3 minutes later than 10pm to pick them up. They will send an employee outside to tell you that though.
- If your power goes out and trips a GFCI outlet, while you are out of town, then you will come home to a melty meat mess dripping out of the bottom of your deep freezer. Otter Pops can survive that. 228 ounces of breastmilk cannot.
- A beta fish can live 10 days without food, but then only about 2 more months after that.
- Campgrounds in Utah close in September, even though there is hunting going on all throughout October.
- Seeing an annular solar eclipse is worth a 2 hour drive.
- It takes roughly 4 years of 3 kids jumping on the arm of a couch for it to totally and completely break off inside of the couch.
- I can pack 6 people, for 2 nights, into 1 suitcase.
- Students are not allowed to wait for 45 minutes at the school while their siblings participate in Chess Club.
- What homemade pumpkin pie tastes like and how to make homemade cinnamon rolls.
- Target will exchange Cat and Jack pants when they get holes, within a year of buying them, but conveniently for Target, the numbers on the pants don't actually match the numbers on your receipt.
- How to make the fancy homemade ice cream, over the stove with eggs etc. but that I prefer the simple chocolate recipe better.
- The bumps on Kohen's belly, that are like warts, but that are not warts and are more contagious than warts, take 2x and counting to get rid of at the dermatologist.
- Apparently getting Christmas pajamas through customs is impossible, so even if you have them shipped twice since November 15th, they will not arrive before the new year.
My Top9 for the year!
-Kolt arrived and is happy, healthy and oxygen free.
-Kohen is potty trained with near zero accidents. I loved making his Halloween costume this year.
-Tai got to try playing basketball and cheering this year, she had her very first ever haircut and tried cliff jumping.
-Kasen got to be baptized, accepted to the A.L.L. class at school, win the Reflections Award of Excellence, play flag football and win the playoff game, do Chess Club and run his first 5K race.
-Kyle got to go fishing in Texas, to a GreenBay game in Denver, had a vasectomy and PAID OFF the truck! Only took 2 and a half years. Debt free Par-tee!!
-and I got to go on a fun girls trip to Idaho before Kolt arrived and read 39 books this year!
2023 Stats:
10th tooth lost for Kasen
8 temple trips (The Saratoga Springs Temple was dedicated!) and 8 basketball games
7 hikes and Tai lost her 7th tooth
6 flag football games
5 nights in the NICU and 32 days on oxygen
5 movie theater dates
4th baby born and 4th baby quilt made
3 camping trips
2 5k races
1 annular solar eclipse
My hopes for 2024 include:
-Convincing Kolt to sleep through the night,
-Convincing Kohen to keep underwear on at home, keep a seatbelt on in the car and get him excited and ready to go to Preschool, Primary and start him in swimming lessons,
-Start Kasen and Tai learning to play the piano,
-Help Tai prepare for her baptism,
-and to try real hard to stop yelling at my kids, make them more full balanced meals and say more personal prayers.
I also want to go on a trip to Oregon, read more books, run more races, hike more hikes, camp at more camps and take Kyle on more dates. Maybe be able to do 50 pushups?...
Pretty much just keep loving life and experiencing it all with my family!
Cheers to 2023!
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