I don’t know about all of you, but we experienced some great moments and some rough ones in 2013. Those rough moments were hard to deal with, and often left me crying and wondering “How much more can I/we take?” Somehow, though, we made it through all the highs and lows, and here we are….better because of all the experiences we’ve had. While I could focus on the bad things that occurred last year, and there were plenty, that’s NOT what this post is about. I want to reflect on all the positives I experienced, as well as we, as a family and couple, experienced. 
- The biggest and most memorable part for all of us this year was when my kids and me moved into my boyfriend’s house with him and his two children. Though it didn’t happen as soon as we wanted it too, the wait proved worth it. And we are slowly making this into our home…and you can see bits of me throughout the house.
- We climbed Mount Major as a family. What a beautiful and challenging day that was.
- We went to the SEE Science Museum, as well as the McAullife-Shepard Discovery Center over April vacation.
- I had a lovely birthday dinner at my parents’ house in July.
- We took my kids to the Polar Caves.
- The boyfriend and I went and watched comedian Bob Marley for the first time. It was a fun night full of laughter.
- We visited Tarbin Gardens. What a beautiful place!
- We went apple picking and to a corn maze.
- We vacationed at a lake house near our home for a week during the summer, and it was absolutely wonderful. We did a bunch of stuff as a family, including taking a ride on the M/S Mount Washington. We also took a ride on the Hobo Railroad, which all of us enjoyed.
- We road on the Cog Railway up to the top of Mount Washington. It was my first visit ever, and I fell in love with the scenery. We can’t wait to do it again this year with all four kids this time.
- We visited the Gift of Lights at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
- We picked out a Christmas tree together.
- We made Christmas ornaments. And we decorated cookies at a friend’s house.
- All six of us were together for Christmas morning.
- We had a wonderful family gathering the weekend following Christmas where my parents met my boyfriend’s father, sister, brother-in-law and niece for the first time. I cooked a lot of yummy food that everyone pigged out on, including my Scallop-Stuffed Mushrooms.
- We attended activities as a family for all four kids, including a Winter Concert at the school, which the three oldest participated in.
- We took my children to York’s Wild Kingdom. I hadn’t been in years.
On a professional level, I saw a great amount of growth and success. Since I finally had the time this year to actually concentrate on growing my site, I ended up achieving great things AND I reached some important milestones.
- I reached 15,000 pageviews, and then I hit 50,000, followed by 76,000. That’s a HUGE growth from 300-500 pageviews per MONTH.
- I became a member of the Social Fabric Community AND had my first sponsored post through them.
- I reviewed some amazing products.
- I published a post called A Tale of Love, featuring Open When letters, that made my pageviews skyrocket. That was a first for me. And that post is still kicking butt!
