It's that time again, we've reached the end of another year. I'm always surprised at how fast each year seems to go by, and 2012 was no exception. In fact I think every time you have a child time speed up a little more!
Something fun that Bryan and I started on our first anniversary is a memory jar. This is a picture of our current one. I can't take credit for this idea, I stole it from Pinterest. It's one of the few pins I've actually acted on. The pin I saw was meant for New Year's but that didn't happen so we started on our anniversary in June. I made the first jar and filled it with memories from the past year like our wedding, finding out we were pregnant, and every time something on his car broke (which is often and whole other post.) On each anniversary we'll read the previous year's jar/jars and look back at all the fun, hard, and weird things we've been through. Since this blog hasn't been around to capture all of our adventures for the year today I'll share 12 of our most memorable moments from 2012.
So here they are in no particular order....
Something fun that Bryan and I started on our first anniversary is a memory jar. This is a picture of our current one. I can't take credit for this idea, I stole it from Pinterest. It's one of the few pins I've actually acted on. The pin I saw was meant for New Year's but that didn't happen so we started on our anniversary in June. I made the first jar and filled it with memories from the past year like our wedding, finding out we were pregnant, and every time something on his car broke (which is often and whole other post.) On each anniversary we'll read the previous year's jar/jars and look back at all the fun, hard, and weird things we've been through. Since this blog hasn't been around to capture all of our adventures for the year today I'll share 12 of our most memorable moments from 2012.
So here they are in no particular order....
12. I could easily think of 12 memorable things to write about having our newest girl Elly, but I'll share a few of my favorites on one. There's the obvious ones like finding out we were pregnant, finding out the gender, and hearing the heartbeat for the first time etc. One of the best memories was her arrival. She decided to come a week before I was going to be induced and right in the middle of the night. A long-ish story I'll hopefully share later. And of course since then we've had fun adjusting to having two kids, watching her grow, her first smile, and the beginning of giggles.
11. My big girl! This year Izzy turned 4. I'm not a huge fan of my kids growing up but I have to say 4 is pretty fun! She always has us laughing and on our toes. This year she wanted to have a "Rumble" Birthday Party. Rumble is the Thunder's mascot so we got lots of Thunder decorations and presents. She was so excited we had to leave the Happy Birthday sign up for two months! She also LOVED the holidays. Doesn't matter which one as long as it's a holiday. Halloween and Christmas were extra fun this year, and I'm sure will be even better in 2013. I wish we could pause her here and keep her this way forever!
10. This year Bryan got to go to NYC and Philly for work. Not exactly exciting for me, but I'm glad he got to go on such a fun trip. He got to travel around the two cities and shoot videos which is a great time in his book. I got some special alone time with Izzy and that's always a good time.
9. I'd have to say quitting my job was a highlight this year. While I enjoyed the 4 years I worked there it's so nice to be able to stay at home for these first few months of our little one's life. I do plan on going back to work or school soon but I'm only applying for jobs that I truly feel called to. No more working for the dollar, even if that means pinching on some pennies in other areas.
8. For our anniversary this year Bryan and I went to Dallas to visit Ikea, romantic right? Neither of us had been before and we were in desperate need of new couches. Our old ones were my parents from when we were kids so they were 20+ years old! They lived through my brother's first apartment and house and it was our turn for the ugly blue couches. Honestly I can't complain that we were blessed with free furniture, they are just a fun joke for our family. Thankfully we found an awesome grey sectional and chair at Ikea that we both loved. Correction: Bryan loved the sectional I was apprehensive, but it was pretty. :) We then had a hard time trying to find a UHAUL to get them back to Oklahoma. *NOTE TO READERS* Always rent a UHAUL in advance if you're only going one way... trust me! And now the old couches are back in storage waiting for my little sister to move out and be broke so she can give them one last hurrah!
7. Speaking of Dallas, one of the funnest things we did was on a whim, which is hard for me, we bought tickets to a Thunder playoff game in Dallas one morning and drove down with our awesome friends Justin and Erin for the game that night. I'm not gonna lie it was a little scary to be Thundered Up with all the Mavs fans around, especially after we put a beating on them, but it was definitely something I won't forget. I'm so thankful for great friends to share experiences like that with.
6. This year we celebrated the 4th of July with my family in OKC. We always end the night shooting off fireworks in their cul-de-sac. Well this year my mom got some fireworks from a shady character and he threw in a couple of free ones. He must have thought she was good lookin', which is true (hi mom! do I get a gold star for that?) Anyways shady man must have given us some duds because a few them weren't going off right and finally one shot sideways and caught their neighbors bush on fire. Luckily no one was living there at the time, but now I feel extra bad because I know the people who bought the house.... if you're reading this we're sorry your bush is burnt and dead and won't be pretty in the summer. Oops.
5. In August we took a trip to Branson with my family and I must say even though I wasn't excited about Branson in August while pregnant it really was fun! We went non-stop and we all had a blast. And now anytime the word vacation is mentioned Izzy automatically thinks Branson.
4. I guess I should throw in one lemon from this year. Our air conditioner broke. It was the beginning of summer and it just went out. We knew it was old but we've only been here a year! Well long story short we went round and round with a few people trying to get something worked out and luckily a guy I worked with had just started his AC business and gave us a great deal! It was definitely a good ending to a bad situation but my goodness I never want my AC to go out ever again! Side note; if you ever need someone to come check out your AC in the summer when everyone and their dog is having problems, telling them your wife is pregnant and you have a small child can get you bumped up the list pretty quick. Neither of those statements were lies and sorry to anyone who had to wait in the heat longer because of us.
3. Not sure how I feel about this decision, but Bryan and I decided to get another dog in September. We already had a Golden Retriever, Charlie, who can't help but want to be right next to us at all times and has a little bit of separation anxiety, just our luck. In an effort to help divert his attention from chewing our house or tearing up endless amounts of toys we'd buy him we rescued a dog, again on a whim, hoping that when Elly was born he'd be okay having someone to play with. Rumble (guess who picked that name,) is our new dog and they are quite the pair. While they can still be destructive I can't help but love them. Our best decision? That's questionable, but they're family now. No matter how many times we have to replace the siding on our house.
2. This year on Bryan's side we added another baby to the family. Our second nephew was born in August! His big brother is Izzy's best friend and now he gets to grow up with Elly! We love our nephews to pieces, the only bad thing is how far away they are! They're just across the border in Arkansas so we don't get to see them as often as we'd like to but when we do it's a great time!
1. One of my favorite things this year was Christmas. It was Elly's first, Izzy was super into it, and we got to see all of our family. It's not often that we're able to get together with everyone. Bryan's brother's both live in other states and his parents are about 2 hours from us so getting all three kids in one place can be a task sometimes, but we did it and I can't think of a time where we've had more fun together! My family is all in/around OKC but with jobs and conflicting schedules we're also not all together very often and I'm glad we can still make time to be with each other for the holidays.
So there you have it, our year in review. Hope your 2012 was a success and 2013 brings lots of joy to all of you!
Taylor
11. My big girl! This year Izzy turned 4. I'm not a huge fan of my kids growing up but I have to say 4 is pretty fun! She always has us laughing and on our toes. This year she wanted to have a "Rumble" Birthday Party. Rumble is the Thunder's mascot so we got lots of Thunder decorations and presents. She was so excited we had to leave the Happy Birthday sign up for two months! She also LOVED the holidays. Doesn't matter which one as long as it's a holiday. Halloween and Christmas were extra fun this year, and I'm sure will be even better in 2013. I wish we could pause her here and keep her this way forever!
10. This year Bryan got to go to NYC and Philly for work. Not exactly exciting for me, but I'm glad he got to go on such a fun trip. He got to travel around the two cities and shoot videos which is a great time in his book. I got some special alone time with Izzy and that's always a good time.
9. I'd have to say quitting my job was a highlight this year. While I enjoyed the 4 years I worked there it's so nice to be able to stay at home for these first few months of our little one's life. I do plan on going back to work or school soon but I'm only applying for jobs that I truly feel called to. No more working for the dollar, even if that means pinching on some pennies in other areas.
8. For our anniversary this year Bryan and I went to Dallas to visit Ikea, romantic right? Neither of us had been before and we were in desperate need of new couches. Our old ones were my parents from when we were kids so they were 20+ years old! They lived through my brother's first apartment and house and it was our turn for the ugly blue couches. Honestly I can't complain that we were blessed with free furniture, they are just a fun joke for our family. Thankfully we found an awesome grey sectional and chair at Ikea that we both loved. Correction: Bryan loved the sectional I was apprehensive, but it was pretty. :) We then had a hard time trying to find a UHAUL to get them back to Oklahoma. *NOTE TO READERS* Always rent a UHAUL in advance if you're only going one way... trust me! And now the old couches are back in storage waiting for my little sister to move out and be broke so she can give them one last hurrah!
7. Speaking of Dallas, one of the funnest things we did was on a whim, which is hard for me, we bought tickets to a Thunder playoff game in Dallas one morning and drove down with our awesome friends Justin and Erin for the game that night. I'm not gonna lie it was a little scary to be Thundered Up with all the Mavs fans around, especially after we put a beating on them, but it was definitely something I won't forget. I'm so thankful for great friends to share experiences like that with.
6. This year we celebrated the 4th of July with my family in OKC. We always end the night shooting off fireworks in their cul-de-sac. Well this year my mom got some fireworks from a shady character and he threw in a couple of free ones. He must have thought she was good lookin', which is true (hi mom! do I get a gold star for that?) Anyways shady man must have given us some duds because a few them weren't going off right and finally one shot sideways and caught their neighbors bush on fire. Luckily no one was living there at the time, but now I feel extra bad because I know the people who bought the house.... if you're reading this we're sorry your bush is burnt and dead and won't be pretty in the summer. Oops.
5. In August we took a trip to Branson with my family and I must say even though I wasn't excited about Branson in August while pregnant it really was fun! We went non-stop and we all had a blast. And now anytime the word vacation is mentioned Izzy automatically thinks Branson.
4. I guess I should throw in one lemon from this year. Our air conditioner broke. It was the beginning of summer and it just went out. We knew it was old but we've only been here a year! Well long story short we went round and round with a few people trying to get something worked out and luckily a guy I worked with had just started his AC business and gave us a great deal! It was definitely a good ending to a bad situation but my goodness I never want my AC to go out ever again! Side note; if you ever need someone to come check out your AC in the summer when everyone and their dog is having problems, telling them your wife is pregnant and you have a small child can get you bumped up the list pretty quick. Neither of those statements were lies and sorry to anyone who had to wait in the heat longer because of us.
3. Not sure how I feel about this decision, but Bryan and I decided to get another dog in September. We already had a Golden Retriever, Charlie, who can't help but want to be right next to us at all times and has a little bit of separation anxiety, just our luck. In an effort to help divert his attention from chewing our house or tearing up endless amounts of toys we'd buy him we rescued a dog, again on a whim, hoping that when Elly was born he'd be okay having someone to play with. Rumble (guess who picked that name,) is our new dog and they are quite the pair. While they can still be destructive I can't help but love them. Our best decision? That's questionable, but they're family now. No matter how many times we have to replace the siding on our house.
2. This year on Bryan's side we added another baby to the family. Our second nephew was born in August! His big brother is Izzy's best friend and now he gets to grow up with Elly! We love our nephews to pieces, the only bad thing is how far away they are! They're just across the border in Arkansas so we don't get to see them as often as we'd like to but when we do it's a great time!
1. One of my favorite things this year was Christmas. It was Elly's first, Izzy was super into it, and we got to see all of our family. It's not often that we're able to get together with everyone. Bryan's brother's both live in other states and his parents are about 2 hours from us so getting all three kids in one place can be a task sometimes, but we did it and I can't think of a time where we've had more fun together! My family is all in/around OKC but with jobs and conflicting schedules we're also not all together very often and I'm glad we can still make time to be with each other for the holidays.
So there you have it, our year in review. Hope your 2012 was a success and 2013 brings lots of joy to all of you!
Taylor
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