Top 10 of 2011

I'm a little late, but chalk it up to work, and silly IPhoto!

It was hard to pick my top 10 favorite pictures from this year, but I've at least tried to categorize them into related themes. So, in no particular order, here we go!

1. Trips home to see family. I was blessed to be able to fly home 2 or 3 times in 2011. I got to go skiing, see my brother off on his mission, and welcome a new nephew, and most importantly, spend time with my family.

2. Kansas City trips. We went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum, which was phenomenal and FREE!!! The birdie is a Kansas City icon. We spent an afternoon there, and hit up Oklahoma Joe's. We also saw the WWI museum this year, and stayed overnight near Liberty on our way out to Brazil. We saw some of the flooding that happened at the beginning of the summer from all of the snow the mountains had (it had to travel a long way, no mountains here!) I always enjoy our little excursions to KC. We also had the opportunity to see the new stake center and our NEW TEMPLE!!

3. We celebrated our 5th anniversary. It's hard to believe that 2012 will be our SIXTH anniversary! It has gone by so fast, and been so fun. We've moved a lot, traveled a lot, and we are still learning a TON about each other :)

4. We survived the great tornado scare of May 2011. I was cowering in the closet, Todd was cooking dinner. He handles near-disaster much better than I :) In all seriousness, this was the same storm system that created those terrible tornadoes in Reading and Joplin. We were lucky that the funnel cloud passed us over and only left us with (LOTS of) hail damage.

5. I taught summer school for the first time. It was so fun...I taught fourth grade. It was for a half day, and down below are my lovely 7 students :) I loved the small class size, the field trips, and the kids were all really well-behaved, which was a welcome change from what I was used to :)

5. BRAZIL! Of course, that made the list. I loved being in the temple twice a week, doing FHE with the senior missionaries, meeting the wonderful members of the Church there, and seeing the MTC.

6. Starting a new school year! The beginning of the school year is one part fun, one part nerve-wracking. So far, this year has turned out to be equally, if not more so, challenging. However, my sweet students are REALLY sweet, and I feel needed. Oh, to have the patience of a saint though. I need all I can get with this bunch!

 7. Huff N Puff Balloon Rally. We almost didn't go, since getting up early on a Saturday morning is not really my thing, but we are so glad we went! We got to see them set up, take off, land, and try to hit a target. It was a great morning!

 8. I ran another 5K. I am such a slow runner, but it felt so good to run for a cause (Race Against Breast Cancer). Our school had a team. I was one of the few runners from our school, and I beat my time (my veryyyy slow time). So, that felt really good...it was a beautiful day!

 9. Seeing Sis. Dalton. What a fun and spiritual night. Even the drive there with Shannon and Kristen was so much fun. Sis. Dalton's message was great, and we felt like we were meeting a Mormon rockstar! I guess I can lump in my calling with this...I am still enjoying being in Young Women's...I am trying to grow as a teacher of the youth, and they are fun to be around!

 10. Todd's graduation....proud wife moment! His family came out, so it was fun to show them around our life here in Topeka. And it was awesome to see Todd walk and get hooded (ignoring the fact that they didn't announce his MBA OR his Pro Bono Honors OR his certificate!

2011 was a great year, and they just keep on getting better!