2013 marks the best year since 2008. We had incredible changes to our life, mainly because of Nixon.

 nixon Nixon Arrives!
Our little guy was scheduled to come on Ron Weaver’s Birthday. But, he said… “NO way! I want my own day!” And he then arrived July 16th. With Nixon, I now understand something that I would have no way to grasp before July 16th. Having kids is hard (esp. for Moms. Bridget is an amazing mom.). It’s freakishly scary, and it re-prioritizes your life and your time in ways you couldn’t fathom. But, overall life has a bit more meaning because of it. He adds such a better smile to our family.
Finally, because we named him after Trot Nixon, the Red Sox also decided to win the World Series in the Boston Strong themed year. Such a cool story.
 firsts Many Firsts and 7’s
Nixon has already enjoyed many firsts that I hadn’t even thought about before I was 20. Here’s the quick list:

  • First Trip Out of Town (< 1 Month) – We visited Nevada City for a quick trip to this fun, hippy town with wonderful crepes. 
  • First Baseball game (1 month old) – Nixon wanted to go see his Sox play and beat his Opa’s Giants.
    The Red Sox beat the Giants, 7-0. (This is fitting since Nixon was born in July. Trot Nixon also was #7.) He loves his 7s.
  • First Apple hill trip – We rented a cabin in the middle of nowhere to go to Apple Hill. It was fun.. well… except the drive down to Placerville and back up to the cabin was a bit windy. 
  • First Airplane Trip (3 months old) and Zoo – We went to San Diego for a quick trip (which was amazing!). We went to San Diego Zoo, where Nixon really enjoyed the Gorillas and Giraffes. 
  • First Christmas – Yes, this was a lot of fun for us. Here, we started to build our traditions. Next year will even be more fun. But, Christmas is now re-energized. 

And much more firsts to come. I can’t wait!
 5 Five Years in the Making
Can you believe this year marks five years that Bridget and I have been married? What a fun and incredible adventure. From Greece to Egypt, Reno to Seattle and back again, and from the kitchen sink to landscaping, we’ve done and changed a lot. And next year, Bridget and I will have been dating 10 years. Crazy how time flies. I still can’t believe we’ve lived in our house for more than than five years. But, we celebrated five years and now forever to go.
 ama AMA Presidency
I wrapped up my year as president of the AMA. I worked with an incredible board and we accomplished a crazy amount this year. We hosted three major events – including a new event (ACE Awards, Mingle Bells, and Mar-ket-ing workshop at UNR), ten luncheons, and we got nationally recognized for our membership. We even were a profitable organization this year, helping additionally support UNR students this upcoming year. We had a great year and we had a lot of fun!
floors Re-did Floors on Rental
This one was interesting. At Hinton, we decided with a new tenant that we wanted to make a drastic update to the rental. We were tired of the disgusting, pee-soaked carpets of the rental and we replaced them with a PVC hardwood floor. This was about a month before Bridget was due, so I worked two weekends and week nights to get it done as fast as possible.
With a lot of hard work, I got the job finished before Nixon arrived! And so far, everything has turned out great.