Some of our favorite moments from 2013

So many things happened in 2013 it was hard to me to narrow it down to only {what seems to be 50} pictures.  Although 2013 has had its difficult moments, looking back through these pictures reminds me of how many wonderful things happened and how we have so much to be grateful for- including God's grace in bringing us through the difficult ones.  

I love taking pictures whether it's of our trip to New York or Jake playing around in his room.  I read a quote a while back that says to find beauty and creativity in the small things, and taking pictures helps me do that.  It helps me to slow down and change how I view the world around me.  And that in turn reminds me of God's goodness.  These pictures remind me that He is present in our life.  He has given us the precious gift of our son and we have had the wonderful privilege of watching him grow into a little boy.  He has given us life long friendships even though we moved 12 hours away from Chicago.  He has given us the gift of family and provided us with the money needed to travel to visit them.  And He has provided for us here in New York with a home, new friends, and a new job for Dan.

I am so thankful for 2013.   My only hope is that in December 2014 we can look back and see that no matter what happened, we know that we clung to God and grew closer to Him through all of it.

Dan ran the tough mudder with some Chicago friends in the spring!

Jake grew...

and grew ...

and grew :)

We finished our first project in our first home in Chicago just in time to put it on the market!

I sadly said goodbye to all of my friends and co workers at Trinity

We celebrated Jake's first birthday!

Jake started walking around 13 months! (this was the only picture I took around that time :)

We took our last trip to downtown Chicago right before moving to NY

We said goodbye to lots of great friends :(

And then some more.  But we made some great memories :)

We went on a vacation with my family to Captiva Island!

Jake started to do his great "show me your muscles" expression :)

That same trip Jon and Holly announced that they were expecting a BABY in March of 2014!

Jake experienced his first trip to the beach!

We took Jake to his first golf tournament and realized why people don't take babies to golf tournaments... meltdowns close to golfers putting on the green are very much frowned upon.

We moved into our home in NY :)

We spent lots of time on our porch

Our awesome friends and family came to visit us in NY!

The whole Cinadr family was together from CO, TX, and NY to be in Ohio for Dan's cousin's wedding

We continued our tradition of taking an annual shot on Dad's birthday

We did TONS of Fall activities and Jake found a love for apples

We visited Dan's family in TX :)

We started making our home in NY "our home"

Jake was superman for a night

We took our first trip to New Hampshire to visit our friends Zach and Caroline!

Dan got a new haircut... for the first time since middle school :)

We met famous people in NYC

And last but not least we are already getting a feel for New York winters :)