2015 In Review

As I look back on 2015, I can’t help but smile.  This is the year our beautiful daughter was born.  After a long journey to become pregnant, we met our sweet miracle girl on June 30^th, and our lives were forever changed for the better. 

So many wonderful things have happened in 2015, including the following:

Births and Announcements

• My cousin, Rach, had her twin boys in January
• My friend, Lisa, had her baby girl in March
  
• I had Gracie girl in June
  
• My cousin, Aysha, had her daughter in July
  
• My friend, Amanda, had her son in September
  
• My friend, Koko, had her son in October
  
• My friend Viviane, announced she is having a baby boy in January 2016
• My cousin, Maliha, announced she is having a baby boy in January 2016 too

 Celebrations

• My daddy got married to a wonderful woman who I absolutely love!
  
• My big brother got married to a wonderful woman who I adore!  Love my new Sis!
  
• My friend, Ali, got married in NY in July; unfortunately I couldn’t go because Gracie was not even 2 weeks old
  
• I was lucky enough to have 6 baby showers!
• New York baby shower with my college friends
• Pink and sparkly shower with my family
• Star Wars themed shower with my in-laws
  
• Pink and gold Twinkle Twinkle themed shower with all of my mom’s best friends
• Pink baby shower by the beach hosted by my step-mom
  
• Baby shower at work
  
• *Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to blog about all of them, but they ALL were equally as stellar and special!!!

Travel

• January:  NYC to visit all my college friends
• February:  Montana with family to go snowboarding, although I had to sit this one out since I was pregnant
• April:  Palm Springs with my hubby for our baby moon
• August:  Montana with the family including all the babies...Grace's first vacation and first time on an airplane!!
  
  
  

Misc.

• Gracie celebrated some of her first major holidays, including, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas
  
• I celebrated 6 years in my career at Molina Healthcare
• My hubby and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary with dinner at Morton's followed by the Ducks game (we had glass seats too!!!)
• Ran/walked the Turkey Trot this year with 5 month old Gracie in the BOB jogger stroller...my first 5K post partum and her first 5K ever!
• Dad sold his house, which is the house my brother and I grew up in...we had a final farewell party that was pretty epic! :)
• Gracie took swim lessons for a few months and loved them! 

I'm sure there are other exciting happenings I forgot to mention, but I will just blame that on my mommy brain :)  2015 was an incredible year filled with so many blessings and new beginnings.  I look forward to see what 2016 has to offer!  Until then, have a safe and happy New Year's Eve tonight!

2014 in Review

As I sit here and reflect on 2014, I am blown away with all the occurred during these 365 days.  We definitely had our share of obstacles, mainly with the emotional and physical turmoil that comes with IVF, but we also had numerous celebrations with family and friends including weddings, pregnancy announcements  traveling the world, and more.  This year was memorable to say the least!  Here are some of the highlights from 2014:

Family

• I’M PREGNANT!!!  Grace Patricia O'Neil due June 2015 :)
• My husband and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary!
• Our puppies both turned 2 and our kitty turned 3
• My brother-in-law and his wife welcomed their second son into this world on December 15^th and I am one very happy Auntie!
• One of my cousins is due any day with twin boys!!
• Dad underwent bypass heart surgery a couple weeks ago and is healing tremendously!  He had the BEST thoracic surgeon (it was all robotics, no chest cracking necessary) and was only hospitalized for three days.  Now he’s up walking and driving again!
• One of my cousins got married!  We celebrated for three days in traditional Pakistani style and elegance
• One of my cousins graduated high school and is now attending UC Santa Barbara
• Remembered my Mommy on her 2 year Angel Day in March and my Grammie on her 3 year Angel Day in January

Friends

• My best friend is pregnant and is due three months before me!!
• My dear friend and college roomie, Danielle, got married in March!
• My other friend, Amanda, said her vows to her husband in September!
• Kristin, one of my college roomies from NYC, came to CA for her first time and to visit us!
• And too many wonderful dinners and outings with friends to count!!

Hobbies

• Completed the Spartan Sprint, which was one of the most difficult races I’ve ever participated in (perhaps even more so than running my marathon!)  AROO!
• Planned, organized, and participated in the Hope, Steps, and A Cure 5K and Walk in support of MDS for the third year in a row.  Team Pat Reep raised over $20,000!
• Attended numerous Ducks hockey games!  We now have season tickets!!
• Saw Jamestown Revival in concert at the Troubadour…twice!
• Sean started playing ice hockey and absolutely LOVES it!!  His team won the Stanley Cup in their league!
• Walked the nnual Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 5K with the fam (my first workout in months after finally being cleared by my Dr to walk and it felt great) 

Travel

• March:  NYC for Danielle’s wedding!
• April: Montana with family and friends to snowboard for my husband’s 30^th “Dirty 30” birthday!
• June:  Drove to Santa Ynez with Sean for a romantic weekend of wine tasting and fabulous dinners
• July:  Montana with family to celebrate the 4^th!  Spent the long weekend jet skiing, boating, tubing, hiking, playing our annual croquet tourney, and relaxing.
• August-September:  Iceland!!  We traveled with my dad and his girlfriend to West and South Iceland climbing volcanoes, hiking some of the largest waterfalls in the world, exploring black sand beaches, playing with Viking horses, bathing in natural hot springs, and absorbing all that nature has to offer!
• September:  Vegas to meet up with my college roomies to see Britney Spears’ “Piece of Me” concert at Planet Hollywood! 

Career

• Promoted to Program Manager of our enterprise-wide CAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) Program
• Celebrated my 5 year anniversary with Molina (a FORTUNE 500 Company) and was recognized with a service award
• Successfully developed and implemented some challenging projects and as a result, saw our company CAHPS scores improve significantly year over year
• Celebrated many holidays with my team that involved potlucks and games! 

The Little Things

• Started working on Gracie’s nursery, including building the crib (thank you hubby!!)
• Finished remodeling our home office and it's perfect!
• Watched the entire Sons of Anarchy series in a month; it was phenomenal and up there with Breaking Bad in my opinion 
• Began knitting again, which I haven’t done in ~12 years (baby blanket is in progress!)

What’s next for 2015??

• Traveling to NYC, Montana, and Maine
• Having our miracle baby!!!

2014 was quite the year, and I am more than ready to say hello to 2015.  This is the year we get to meet our little miracle baby, Grace, and that day in June can't come soon enough :)

Cheers to a marvelous 2015 filled with love, adventure, joy, and excitement!!!

2013 in Review!

This year was quite a busy year!  So many things happened in 2013, some good and some bad, but they all were memorable.  I think it’s important to remember not only the wonderful things, but also the not-so-wonderful things.  Those are what make the good moments much more precious and reminds us that life is to be celebrated and lived to the fullest.  Without further ado, here is my 2013 in review by category (because it’s just more organized that way :) ):

Family

• Celebrated my 2 year wedding anniversary
• Rugby and Juno (our pups) both turned 1
• Tantalum (our kitty) turned 2
• Birth of my handsome nephew, Aiden
• My younger brother graduated law school, passed the CA Bar, and got a job
• Underwent a bone marrow biopsy and learned I have Familial Platelet Disorder with a Predisposition to Myeloid Malignancies (predisposed to MDS or Leukemia)
• Had surgery for the first time and "went under" for the first time (completely unrelated to my diagnosis above, and I’m OK!)
• Cousin graduated from high school and started college
• Cousin turned 21 and the family went to Vegas to celebrate
• Big brother got a new job in consulting that he loves
• 1 year anniversary of my beautiful Mom’s passing
• 2 year anniversary of my incredible Grammie’s passing

Friends

• One of my oldest and dearest friends got married, and I was honored to be a bridesmaid
• 2 friends got engaged
• Lots of incredible dinners with friends

Hobbies

• Attended to Lakers games
• Attended Angels games
• Attended Galaxy games, including the International Champions Cup tournament
• Attended Ducks games including playoffs
• Trained for a marathon
• Ran my first marathon in memory of Mom while raising awareness and funds for MDS
• Raised nearly $10,000 for the AA&MDS International Foundation
• Had my first radio interview with 100.3 FM talking about the AA&MDS International Foundation
• Rode our bikes during the summer to our local park for concerts and movies in the park
• Learned to snowboard
• Saw Justin Timberlake in concert for his 2020 Experience Tour

Travel

• Traveled to Montana, Las Vegas (a couple times), Catalina Island
• Drove cross country (south to north) on a 22 hour road trip, non-stop (and drove back)
• Bought a new car (SUV)

Career

• Successfully completed some challenging projects at work and saw our company CAHPS scores improve significantly year over year because of those projects
• Moved up the ranks on the FORTUNE 500 list

The Little Things

• Organized our home office and guest bedroom (they were filled with boxes and donation items)
• Started watching some awesome new TV shows like Breaking Bad, Masters of Sex, How I Met Your Mother; and kept watching amazing old shows like Dexter, Game of Thrones, True Blood, Walking Dead
• Hubby and I got tattoos of a quote from one of our favorite books with our wedding date, “And in that moment, I swear we were infinite. 12-3-11”.  I got mine on my rib cage; he got his on his bicep.

What's Next For 2014

• Hubby’s 30^th birthday
• More snowboarding
• Iceland
• Friend’s wedding in NYC
• + more!!

Cheers to a memorable 2013!