For Auld Lang Syne

What a year 2014 has been!  I'll be sad to leave behind this year filled with wonderful (and not so wonderful) memories, but I am also excited for the new year to begin.  Here's a look at what my 2014 looked like!

January

We saw the king of country himself in concert!  This was one of Aaron's Christmas presents last year and it was such a good time.

February

We went to Kansas City to watch PBR.  This was also the month I started having some health problems which have since resolved-yay!

March

I received a call from a former professor asking if I would be interested in being a clinical adjunct for my alma mater.  I was beyond flattered and so excited! 

April

I turned the big 25!

May

My sister-in-laws threw me a fabulous bridal shower and I enrolled in a graduate statistics class.

June

I participated in the Alzheimer's walk with my momma and we bought a house!

July

We remodeled our house in a little over a month so we could move out of our duplex.  This was one of the most taxing and stressful months of my life with finishing up wedding details, packing, remodeling, and finishing up my graduate statistics class .

August

We got married!  It was such a beautiful day that I was always remember!

September

We went to Europe for our honeymoon and had the time of our lives!

Honeymoon Days 1&2

Honeymoon Days 3&4

Honeymoon Days 5&6

Honeymoon Days 7&8

October

My best friend got married!

November

We went to Arizona for Thanksgiving with my family and bought a car!

December

We went to Minnesota to visit family and celebrated our first Christmas as husband and wife in our new home.

It's been a wonderful year and I can't wait to see what 2015 has in store!



Our Big Day Part II: First Look, Family Portraits, and Ceremony

We're going on 4 months of wedded bliss, so it's time I bust the rest of these posts out!  For time's sake and for our photographer's sake, we opted to do a first look before our ceremony. Here are a few photos for your enjoyment!

I had asked Aaron multiple times to guess what my dress looked like and his response was a)it won't be strapless and b)it will cover my tattoo.  He was correct.

We took family portraits and wedding party portraits next.

When 2 o'clock rolled around, it was time to walk down the aisle and say our "I dos."  We were married in Aaron's church he grew up in by a priest he has known for years.  His sisters did our readings and sang.  It was a wonderful ceremony.

Next up, the bus ride to Topeka and our reception!

Choosing your anniversary trip destination 101

Before I share the greatest bit of advice you'll ever receive, you should check out my new "About" page by clicking above!

Moving on, we've been discussing where we should go for our one year anniversary trip since our honeymoon.  Each of us would toss an idea out there, but a decision was never made.  In my line of work, we have to apply for leave plenty of time in advance so I told Aaron on Thursday that we needed to make a decision.

I decided we would each choose two destinations, write them on a piece of paper, and then we would draw one out of a hat.  We had a few requirements:

1. It must have a MLB team

2. Stay on this continent

3. A state neither of us had been to before

With the above requirements and the narrowing down to two places per person, Nashville, Savannah, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, Yellowstone, Salt Lake City, and Maine became:

My choices-Seattle, Toronto

Aaron's choices-Seattle, Philadelphia

So, where are we going you ask!

...........................................................Drum Roll........................................................

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SEATTLE!

Photo courtesy of Trip Advisor

We could not be more excited to begin planning this next adventure!

#4, #7, #86, #98

It's been a while since I've updated you on my progress with my 101 things in 1001 days list, so I thought I would write a post encompassing all of the things I have checked off recently!

#4-Buy my first car

We finally bit the bullet and bought a new car for yours truly!  I've had my 1995 Honda Accord since I started driving at the age of 15.  Ten years people!  It was time to say goodbye (sort of-we still have the Honda just as an extra vehicle) and get something safer and more up to date since I drive a fair share on a daily basis.  I am now the proud driver of a Subaru Forester!

#7-Add at least three more states to the places I have been

You can read all about our trip to Arizona over Thanksgiving here and the first weekend of this month, we traveled to Minnesota to visit family.  One more state to go until #7 is complete!

#86-Send out Christmas cards

Our Christmas cards were done and in the mail the first week of this month!

#98-Take a picture in a sunflower field

We actually took a few pictures in the sunflower field for our wedding.  Here are a few!

You can follow along with my progress by clicking here to see the page!

Thanksgiving Getaway

The last few weeks have consisted of four plane rides, going from 80 degree weather to 20 degree weather, lots of time spent with family, and a case of strep throat (wasn't the tonsillectomy I had at the age of 5 supposed to help with that!).  Needless to say, we have been busy!  Five loads of laundry later, we are starting to get back into our normal groove.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we flew to Mesa, Arizona to spend the holiday with Ryan's family.  We stayed in a beautiful house, went on walks and hikes, visited the zoo, saw beautiful Christmas lights, went to a Broadway production of White Christmas, and went to a Phoenix Suns game.  It was a wonderful getaway and my first time being away from home over a holiday.  While it was very strange to be wearing shorts over Thanksgiving, I could definitely do it again!

Here are some pictures from our trip.

The view from our rooftop balcony.

The backyard of the home we stayed in.  It had a pool, spa, and putting green.

Overlooking Canyon Lake on our way to Tortilla Flats.

The whole family. 

My sister exploring at Canyon Lake.

The Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple.

Looking up at the mountain we were getting ready to hike up in Usery Mountain Regional Park.

Our hiking group.

The bee hive at the top of the hike.

The view from the Wind Cave at the top.

Stay tuned for details from our most recent trip and another installment of our wedding day!