The Best Post of 2014

This joke never gets old.  It's the best post of 2014 because it's the only post of 2014 so far.  You get it?  It's funny because it's not that good of a post.  Hilarious.  amirite?

It's become a tradition on my blog for the first post in a new year to chronicle a few of the highlights of the previous year.  2013 was a pretty fabulous year.  Here are a few reasons why.

1. Became Scuba certified.

We totally have cards to prove it.

2. Saw a moose in the wild.  At least as wild as Park City, Utah is.  But the moose was wild, so it totally counts.

3. Voted for the Hugo award  The Hugo award is essentially the reader's choice award in science fiction and fantasy.  It's been a goal of mine for a long time to read every work that was nominated, and cast my vote.

4. Saw a whale in the wild  How wild Park City is (above) is debatable, but this was in the ocean in Alaska.  It's legit.

Robyn took this photo

5. Went on a cruise.  I had never been on a cruise before.  We went to Alaska, and it was amazing.

Remember how cute we were on the cruise?

6. Went ghost hunting
7.  Lost 65 pounds  At least that was the count before Thanksgiving.  After Thanksgiving and Christmas it was more like 60 pounds, but I did lose 65 pounds at one point in 2013.  I also gained about 5.  The good news is that the end of holiday treats has come and I'm back on the wagon.

Me in January 2013

Me in December 2013 (With a statue of a pelican)

8.  Walked 519.5 miles  That's just the walking that I tracked during my exercise.  That doesn't count just walking around the house.

9.  Lifted 5.7 million pounds.  That's the sum total of all the reps I did at the gym.

10.  Read 68 individual works (some were novellas or short stories) totaling 17,735 pages

11.  Travelled 19,994 miles.  I'm an avid Foursquare user.  This is the sum total of the distances between my check-ins.

12.  Went inside 2 new temples

Reno Nevada Temple

Seattle Washington Temple

13.  Was diagnosed diabetic, and successfully reduced my blood sugar to non diabetic levels.  For those of you who understand these numbers, I was diagnosed diabetic in January with an A1C of 10.7.  My last test was in August with an A1C of 5.7.

14.  Got approved for adoption  We've been trying to adopt for a while, but this year we completed our home study and got through the approval process.  Help us spread the word to find birth parents who are looking to place.

15.  Travelled to 2 new states  I had never been to Alaska or North Carolina before this year.  Alaska was way more awesome, but North Carolina was on a business trip so it may not be a fair comparison.

16.  Celebrated 5 years of marriage  It's hard to believe I've been with the love of my life for 5 years.  In some ways it seems like it's been longer than that, because I can hardly remember what life was like without her.  In some ways it seems like it's been shorter than that because it's gone by so quickly.

As you can see, 2013 was a good year.  The biggest changes were probably in my health, but there were plenty of other fun things as well.

In 2014 I hope to continue to improve my health.  I also hope to utilitize my Scuba certification a few times.  I plan to read lots of books, travel some more, spend time with great people and have lots and lots of fun.

Here's to a great new year!