dancing in the minefields: 11 about 2011

Saturday, December 31, 2011

11 about 2011

What a great year! New Year's always serves as a great time for reflecting... Here's a little recap of our 2011:

11. Louisiana Tech made it to the Poinsettia Bowl! It was such a good game (although we were robbed!). We are both so proud to be alumni of such an incredible school, and we were super happy to cheer on our Dawgs in this huge game for them!

10. I was lucky enough to be able to plan and chaperone the trip to Washington DC for my students again this year. It is such a great trip and I am so grateful to be able to learn about our country's history in such a hands-on way. Plus, I made some great memories with my kids :)

9. Hunter went to the NRA conference in Pittsburgh with my dad and had a blast. He's gotten really interested in guns and his hobby is growing. We finally broke down and bought the safe this year for all of his toys, and he is even in the process of building one right now.

He also got to meet Dustin Ellerman, the winner of Top Shot this past season. Pretty awesome

8. SO many of our friends got married this year! Seriously, between March, April, and May we had 6 weddings and the closest one was in Lake Charles. We had another spurt this past month. It was just crazy! We couldn't make it to all of them, but we were just so happy for all of our friends making this big step!

7. The biggie of those weddings for us was Hunter's middle brother, Blaine's. He and his now wife Lindsey got married at the end of May and it was absolutely beautiful. We're so happy to have her in the family (especially me! Another girl--and one that I like at that = big score!)

6. We found out I was pregnant in February! After talking about it for a while, we finally decided we were ready to take the plunge (so we thought--are you really ever ready?!).

5. We also had SO many of our friends get pregnant and/or have babies this year! Among those were some of our absolute best friends. I'm so excited for our kids to grow up together and the memories we will get to make as families.

My dear friend, Melissa had this little cutie in September!

My best friend Rachel, 7 months preggo! She's expecting a sweet boy at the end of February (he and Bella are already betrothed...ha!)

My beautiful friend, Shellye at 30 weeks! She's also expecting a sweet little man at the beginning of March!

4. After learning we would be parents soon, we decided that it was in the best interest of our family for me to stay home with our child. So in May, I turned in my resignation as a teacher. It was a difficult decision and it was hard for me not to go back in August. I miss my kids and teaching (but not all of the paperwork and red tape...), but I know that my most important job is at home. Maybe I'll go back one day...who knows.

3. I had to have my gallbladder removed on December 7. That made two major surgeries in the scope of 6 weeks--no fun. But I finally feel good for the first time in a long time. Between my four scars from that, my long one from my c-section, and stretch marks, I look like Harold attacked me with his purple crayon...

2. We celebrated four beautiful years of marriage. It's so hard to believe it's already been that long--time really does fly. I love him more every day, and it so incredible to see how our love has changed and grown since we've become parents together.