2012 in a Rather Large Nutshell

This is long, I know. If you want a summary of our whole year, then read on. If you've read everything I've written before, you don't have to.

Happy 2013!

We started 2012 living in Nampa, ID, located near Boise. It was a warm, mild winter, something we weren’t expecting. It only snowed twice, and the snow never stuck! We loved the Boise area and had many adventures walking the greenbelts, going to the zoo, touring museums, shooting at Pickle Butte, going to Cabela’s and the mall, and eating at great restaurants. The big Chinese buffet was our favorite. Nampa and Boise also have wonderful parks and thrift stores. We visited them often and got some really great finds.

James did his student teaching at Skyview High School in Nampa from January to April. He taught both history and biology classes. He officially graduated from BYU – Idaho in April.

We loved our ward in Nampa. We were both given callings to teach the 16-18 year old Sunday School class. The calling really intimidated me, but James felt right at home.

On April 5th, we welcomed a new son into our family. Kenneth James Head weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 21.5 inches long. I loved my doctor and actually looked forward to seeing her at appointments. I’ll never have another OB like her. The only horrible part of the whole experience was having a baby 3 days late. Mom was still in town, luckily.

After student teaching, James did several jobs for the Nampa School District, including subbing and security at night school. It was a tough schedule for us to get used to. Both jobs lasted through the end of May when school got out. James looked diligently for other employment, but he was unable to find anything. He did some volunteer work at the Old Penitentiary in Boise. We were left with our meager savings and loans from June until the end of September when James received his first check as a teacher. During this time, we relied on the Lord even more than usual. We lived off of food storage for 6 weeks, which turned out to be a wonderful learning experience. I wrote a whole blog about the experiences we had so others in our situation can benefit.

Brinson visited us in May, and we had fun showing him the Boise area (including Big Jud’s). The Heads also visited us in May, and they celebrated Joseph’s 2nd birthday with us. James received many rejections and finally a job offer in Vernal, UT, teaching 8th grade history. We drove to check out Vernal and see what we were getting ourselves into, and he accepted the job.

We celebrated our 3rd anniversary on July 3rd with a nice dinner. On the 4th of July, we took our boys to the parade. Nampa’s summer temperatures can only be described as miserably hot, but our complex had a pool that we used often. Joseph loves swimming.

We attended two family reunions, one for the Heads and one for the Lees. The Head reunion was held in Ashton, ID, and the Lee reunion in Rigby and surrounding areas. Both were lots of fun. It was especially good to see the extended Lee family, because they live far and wide across the country.

We moved to Vernal in mid-August after months of searching for cheap housing. We soon fell in love with the area. The Heads visited us in October, so we showed them many of the sights: the dinosaur museum, the quarry, and petroglyphs. We love the small-town feel, our ward, and the brand new library and rec center. We use both of them often. Our ward didn’t waste any time giving us callings. I play the piano in Relief Society, and James is the 2nd counselor in the Elder’s Quorum.

We visited the Heads, also in October, and had a chance to see Bear World. We visited again in November for Thanksgiving week.

In December, we took a trip to Salt Lake to see Emily Larsen’s wedding to Rodolfo in the Salt Lake Temple. The trip also included a great dinner at Tucano’s, Temple Square lights, a ride on a train for Joseph, and a trip to the Church History Museum and Ikea.

We spent a wonderful week in North Carolina for Christmas and also had a chance to see my grandparents, Ed and Rita Schillemat, who drove from NH. The week was filled with family dinners, too much chocolate, sleeping in, and all the lazy things that make up a great vacation.

Our little boys have grown fast. Kenneth is now 9 months old, can say “mama” and “dada”, feed himself, and is trying really hard to starting scooting. Joseph speaks like a little adult, and he is a great source of entertainment. Both boys are fiercely independent, but Kenny is definitely still a mama’s boy. They’re both just as cute as can be.

As 2012 drew to a close, I reflected on the great changes that took place for our family. Looking back on past challenges makes me breathe a sigh of relief now! James has a great schedule: no working nights or weekends unless he wants to! He gets paid on a regular basis for the first time since we’ve ever been married, school is over, and we didn’t move at Christmas for the first time in 4 Christmases. We have much to be grateful for, and I suspect that the stability of our situation will make 2013 the best year yet.