At the close of every year, I love to look back and reflect upon what this year brought- the good, the bad, the crazy…
2017 was a busy year for the Logsdons!
We rung in our new year in Minnesota with my family and have hit the ground running ever since!
Work
Trent is still working at IDEA Judson, where he is in charge of Special Education, RTI and 504. As if that doesn’t keep him busy enough, he has also been working on getting his real estate license!
I am staying busy at home with Jedidiah, now 2 years old. I’m teaching Spanish I and II on Thursdays for a national homeschool co-op. I am still passionate about health and fitness and my job as a Beachbody coach. This year Trent and I have teamed up to work for EF (Education First) where we match exchange students to host families and support them for the duration of their exchange year. We’ve already had so much fun meeting all of these students from all over Europe and Asia! We also help host monthly activities for the students and their host families.
Travel
Unfortunately, in this phase of life- being a stay at home mom and living on a single teacher’s income, our travel summary isn’t quite as exotic as it used to be. But we’ve still managed to go to some fun places together as a family! We were in Minnesota at the beginning of the year as well as over the summer. We always enjoy spending much needed time with the family! 
Having cousins close in age has also been such a blessing. Jedi and Evie, although they don’t see each other often, just seem to pick up right where they left off. They are sweet with each other, although very different. And it was special (as it always is) to watch the two of them together this summer!
While we were up there we were able to attend a Minnesota Twins game, which Jedidiah was absolutely enthralled with! He absolutely loves baseball!
Shortly after returning from MN, I headed off on a solo trip to New Orleans for the National Beachbody convention. This was my first time away from my boys since Jedidiah was born… and for 4 days at that! But it was much needed time to hang with my team of amazing ladies, renew my passion for life change, and recharge my battery. I got to work out with the stars of the Beachbody workouts- Shawn T, Autumn Calibrese, Chalene Johnson, Joel and Jericho, Chris Downing <3… ahhhh, it was so much fun! Total #fangirl right here!
This summer also held a trip to Corpus Christi, to spend some time at the ocean. Despite a rough start (a flat tire on a 100 degree day), we all loved it! We stayed with our good friends and, in addition going swimming and playing in the sand, we got to take Jedidiah kayaking and fishing for the first time! It was such a nice, relaxing trip!
Big Changes
When we decided to work for EF (Education First), we also decided that we wanted to host an exchange student this year. But, in our small little house, we weren’t sure it would be possible. It certainly took some fandangling, but we ended up doing some renovations on the “man-cave,” which made it possible to move the office/music/storage/random stuff in the spare bedroom out there and open up a bedroom for us to use, well… as a bedroom!
In August, we geared up for the big change in our home and in our family as we welcomed Yi-Han, our exchange “daughter” from Taiwan, for the school year. For the first week, we also had Clara from Germany stay with us. We were able to show both of them around San Antonio and the surrounding areas.
Yi Han has been such a wonderful addition to our family! She is wonderful with Jedidiah and he absolutely adores her. She is a huge help to me around the house and she has become Trent’s buddy for all the Spurs games. She’s gotten involved in Student Council, is running the lights for theatre (and sometimes church), and helps us out at church.
One of the biggest changes that came about for our family this year is that it not only grew by one teenager, but it will also soon grow by another baby! Trent and I are expecting a baby boy in early May!
Family
Trent and I celebrated our 6th year of marriage this year, and although we didn’t do anything major to celebrate, we did have a little fun reenacting some of our favorite wedding photos! You can read about that here.
Jedidiah is our busy 2 year old that never stops moving and loves all things boy: cars, busses, trains, balls, jumping off things, bike rides, climbing, etc.
His biggest passion (currently) is baseball. All he wants to do is hit the ball or throw it up and catch it in his glove. We put his love of baseball to good use during our gender reveal for this new baby. Jedi got to be the one to hit the special baseball filled with colored powder to let us know if baby #2 would be a boy or a girl. After a few swings, we found out that it’s a boy!!!
In March, we hosted my sister Christie and her husband Ryan and their daughter Evie over spring break this year! We had such a great time just watching the cousins play together. They enjoyed the San Antonio spring weather, and Ryan provided much needed expertise and help with our man-cave renovations! It took all week, but the end result was totally worth it!
Other Activities
Trent and Angie are still very involved at Revolution church, the church they’ve called home for the past 5 and a half years. They lead a small group, serve as prayer partners, greeters and I also help lead FPU (Financial Peace University). We were just recognized this December as their volunteers of the month! Oh, and we made it on TV in one of the Revolution Church ads!
I have started attending MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) every other Tuesday, I watch my now 4th grade flower girl, Baylee, every Monday and Wednesday afternoon, attend Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) each Wednesday and I’ve been volunteering to watch the leaders’ kids at BSF once a month.
Outings and such
Other than lots and lots of playdates, we have been intentionally going on at least one “family date” each month. These “dates” have brought us to a great many places this year! Also having Yi-Han here has forced us to get out and actually DO some of the things we’ve been talking about doing for quite a while.
Some of those things have been traditional “tourist” things, such as visiting the Alamo, walking along (and taking a riverboat along) the Riverwalk, seeing the Tower of the Americas, going to La Villita, River Center Mall, visiting the Missions, driving to Austin, etc…
Other things have been more exotic, such as going to the circus (where Jedidiah got to ride an elephant) or visiting Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, which is basically a hill-country safari in the middle of Texas.
One of the things that’s been on our bucket list for quite a while was going camping. We bought a Texas State Park pass this year, on the recommendation of a friend, and we’ve already been so glad that we did! We’ve been to Guadalupe State Park a couple of times, including once to see the solar eclipse. We also went to Garner State Park (where we camped for 3 days), Lost Maples State Park, Enchanted Rock State Park and Padre Island National Seashore down in Corpus Christi.
Trent and I went on a couple of solo outings- I surprised him with a zombie escape room for his birthday. That was tons of fun! We also went on a hill-country winery tour with some of our best friends from China (who just happen to live in Austin, TX) and also joined them for a pirate murder mystery party. We took a date day to Schlitterbahn, where we enjoyed the water rides, kid-free! It was my first time going, and we had a lot of fun! We also managed to score free tickets to the opera! We saw “The Barber of Seville”… go figure-o (figero). 😉 We were also able to enjoy a night of comedy at Comedy Sportz.
Additionally, we visited the Pearl Brewery and splash pad, Splashtown (a water park), the San Antonio Zoo, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, a friend’s strawberry farm, Landa Park, the Como Zoo (MN), Lake Nakomis, Lake Harriett, Chuck-E-Cheese, the Doseum, the Witte Museum, the Japanese Tea Gardens, the McKenna Children’s museum, the Asian Festival, a Star Wars convention, the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, and the Folklife Festival.
Races and Walks
Although no half marathons were in the cards for me this year, we did run and walk our share of 5K’s and such. I ran the Chosen Super Hero 5K with Jedidiah in tow, Trent and I walked with Jedidiah in our yearly MS walk and even made the cover poster for their walk advertisement! We’re practically famous! We spent Martin Luther King Jr. day walking in the largest MLK walk in the country with some friends. And finally, we did the World Vision Global 6K for water!
Other noteworthy events
In August, I decided that after 7 years of long hair, it was time for a change! I cut it drastically, but I’ve really enjoyed having short hair again!
Hurricane Harvey left us without power for a weekend in September. Although inconvenient, we were thankful to have been spared from what more of South Texas and Houston experienced. We passed the time making a fort, sitting on our porch and watching the wind and rain and spending time with family and friends that still had power.
Another weather phenomenon- it SNOWED here in San Antonio for the first real time since 1985… 32 years people! It was Yi-Han’s first time seeing snow and although it wasn’t Jedidiah’s first snow, it was the first time he’s enjoyed snow! We all had a lot of fun building snowmen and making snowballs.
All in all, 2017 was a year full of laughter, smiles, and family memories, of taking new risks, and enjoying new rewards.
Wishing your family a blessed, prosperous and joy-filled 2018!
PS. If you’ve ever considered hosting an exchange student, let us know! We’re always looking for great potential host families. Also, if I can help you with your health and fitness goals, hit me up! I may be preggo, but I’m still rocking that game!
Logsdon's big adventures! 