2012 in Review

Yes, here I am with a cliche post about what the past year has held. But really, it has been a wonderful (and difficult) year.

We kicked off 2012 with my sister-in-law and her then-boyfriend. We went out to eat and then went to murder mystery dessert event. It is the same thing as the murder mystery dinner, but since we only ate dessert it was half the price :) . Pictures of this even exist somewhere, but like almost all of my other pictures from this year, they are scrambled somewhere between our new computer, our external hard drive, and other various flash drives.

That was also the week we first spotted our new house. You can read more about that journey here.

In February I ran my first 5k on Valentine's Day weekend with an impressive time compared to all my training runs. Unfortunately, it wasn't because I suddenly became really fast, but rather it was because it was negative two degrees outside and I knew if I stopped running I wouldn't be able to start again.

In March we spent all of spring break moving into our house. We could not have done it without all of the help from our families and friends. Also in March, we welcomed Scarlett into our lives! She has been such a joy, and we cannot imagine life without her.

April flew by, and in May Will graduated with his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.

We also celebrated the marriage of some long-time friends, Seth and Jordan.

At their rehearsal

June and July were both wonderful and miserable at the same time. Will moved into our house and started his new job, and I stayed in Canyon to work and take a few summer classes. I was able to go down there for a few weeks and tackle a lot of projects.

In August I finally left the hometown I've known all my life and headed south to start a new life with my husband. While there have been so many incredible things about living down here, I still get homesick every so often. I miss my family and friends the most, but sometimes I also miss the traffic (or rather, the lack thereof) and the customer service.

In September, we welcomed Lucy into our home, even though I had sworn I never wanted another cat. Once again, I can't imagine our life without her. During September, I also celebrated my 21st birthday. Honestly, though, I was so exhausted from beginning student teaching that we stayed in and celebrated with Will making me a homemade dinner and dessert.

In October, Will celebrated his 23rd birthday and continued to melt away in the Houston heat.

In November, I finished my student teaching and passed both of my certification exams. The hunt for a job commenced.

And lastly, December was our busiest month of the year! I graduated with a B.A. in English with a secondary ELA certification, and received a job offer to teach sophomore English and Speech/Debate at a coveted high school in the school district where I student taught. Will's parents and my sister-in-law and her fiance all came and stayed with us for the Christmas break and for my sister-in-law's WEDDING!

My SIL has been planning this wedding for quite a while, and I think the evening turned out perfectly. It was so beautiful and personal- but most importantly, two people deeply in love were able to join their lives in holy matrimony.

Now all of our guests are gone and we both return to work tomorrow. Our house seems awfully quiet after housing seven adults, three dogs, and three cats for the past week. We enjoyed 2012, but we are ready to tackle 2013. I can't wait to see what it has in store for us.

Cheers to 2013.