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It's been soooo long! But, by golly, I want to give this ol' blog another shot. 

It's been a long but fast year.  When I think back, I'm not sure where 2014 disappeared to.  We were on vacation in Colorado in April, went to Catholic Heart Workcamp in July, then Thanksgiving and Christmas were here and gone.  And I have very few pictures to jog my memory...not usual for me.

Married life has been great. My husband continues to grow in faith since his return to Church and it is very special to me to attend Mass with him. We have made an effort to spend some extra time together over this last year and it has helped us grow closer.  I am thankful for his love and support everyday!

Our daughter, Kayla became the store manager at the FYE store in a local mall. But they just recently found out they are going to close.  We are so proud of her for accomplishing all that she has and know she will take what she has learned to another employer and continue to build her career.

Our son, Hunter started his Junior year of high school. His schedule is heavy with some Advanced Placement classes, but he is a smarty-pants and does well. He knows it is important to work hard to accomplish his dreams.  We had a visit at Clarkson University to see if he would be interested in completing his senior year simultaneously with his first year of college.  It is a great program, but we opted not to do that. But we did find out how much we love the Computer Sciences department at Clarkson.

Work has become even more crazy, busy over this year. There is SO MUCH going on in healthcare these days, it is hard to keep ahead of it. And often times I feel like I am barely keeping up. Two of our primary care practices were re-recognized and Patient Centered Medical Homes, and we are currently in the submission process for five more of our primary care practices to be recognized also as Medical Homes. Between all the government quality programs, it really takes a lot of work to stay up with it all. And thank God I have a great team.

I had the opportunity to attend a Leadership Academy at Cornell University in collaboration with HANYS (Healthcare Association of New York State). It was a six week course with two on-site, three full lecture days at Cornell.  It was a great experience and I learned so much. I am very thankful that my organization chose me to attend and sees a leadership future in me.

Christmas was very nice this year. We had some really nice family time with our NY family, but missed our Colorado and Germany family very much.  We are planning another vacation to Colorado next summer and hope we can coordinate it with our Germany families visit again. 

And what kind of blogger would I be if I didn't include some pictures...

The best part of Christmas morning was Hunter's present to Kayla. He had the idea to disguise his gift (an Alex & Ani bracelet) in a big box with a log.  He then composed a letter to her telling her how the gift could provide her with much warmth. And Mr. Smarty-pants that he is, went into detail about BTU's and whatnot. Then the gist of the letter was the best way to keep warm with this one log was to walk upstairs with it, toss it out of a window, then run back downstairs and retrieve the log, and repeat as often as necessary to stay warm.  It was hilarious listening to Kayla read it between giggles, and just as fun to watch Hunter with it.  It may not seem that funny, but it is kind of a family joke about how much Hunter knows about energy (and other things) and how much the rest of us don't. It was great to laugh like that with all of us.

Our religious education classes and their families get together on the first Sunday of Advent and make an advent wreath.  This was mine and Hunter's.  It is always amazing how they start out as a pile of branches and a Styrofoam circle and they turn into beautiful creations, no skill required, just the beauty of nature that God gave to us to enjoy.

Well, I will call that a good start back to blogging and hope that you get a little entertainment out of my blog. 

Here's to a blessed 2015!