Merry Christmas!

We hiked Y Mountain in the Snow over Thanksgiving.

 There is just something about writing and checking in with all of you that fills a little creative void and I can't wait to get back at it... That's right folks, I'm hoping to resurrect actual, regular blog posts in 2017. I'm actually going to pencil in the time to do them too in hopes that they will actually happen (i'll be taking lunch breaks starting in the new year which will be a perfect time to unplug from the day and spend time with all of you once more... but more on that later).  

We have still managed to track our spending for the year within $300 I would say, and with a toddler running around to keep us busy, I think that's exceptional tracking in my opinion. We may not have itemized everything, but we did in fact track it!

We are still managing to keep a budget and enjoy time with our toddler man, but we were hit with quite a few "oh mans" at the tail end of 2016, including multiple Car repairs costing around $3K to keep "Stitch" (our 2004 Camry) in running order... But November also gave us the joy of a trip out to Utah to visit family, and holiday fun. This is one of the main reasons i'm so thankful we budget. Three thousand dollars in car repairs could have meant no thanksgiving vacation to see family, or Christmas for that matter, but we had our car repair and slush funds to rely on so our holiday vacation went as scheduled. We didn't even have to pull funds from our emergency fund, making me feel quite blessed and fortunate.

We have re-committed to re-stock the reserves early in the year with our tax return and hopeful profit share check, as well as a commitment to our budget and conservative spending.

I'm also in the running for a significant job promotion at work that I find out about hopefully today... It would be an amazing opportunity for our family, but either way i'll be jumping into a whole new scope of my department as I embrace the world of Tennis and move to a new facility regardless of the job outcome. I'm excited to see what 2017 will bring our family.

Wishing you and yours a happy holiday!