Last year, I reviewed the year by posting the first sentence of the first blog of each month. I wanted to do that again this year. It showed me a lot about my blog and reminded me of everything that happened the past year.
2010
January: Happy New Year!!! 2010!!!! "Welcome to a new decade!!!"
February: Let's Talk Wedding: The Dress, Part 4 "I had found my dress!"
March: Renovations, Part 1 "Renovations of our home started this week!!!"
April: The Beating of a King "Tomorrow is Good Friday."
May: Let's Talk Wedding: My Hair "I knew from the beginning that I wanted something classic!"
June: 4th Annual Girls' Trip "Well, sadly, our 4th annual girls' trip came and went."
July: My Heart "Right now, God is really...I mean, REALLY....working on my heart."
August: Texas Vacation: Day One "Well, day one consisted of Ken getting off work at 10:30pm and us having dinner (yep, that's right) at 11pm."
September: Happy Birthday!!!! "Happy Birthday to my bestest friend in the whole world, Michelle!!!!!! :)"
October: Our 1st Anniversary "One year ago today I married my best friend."
November: 30 Days of Thankfulness, Day 1 "Its finally November and the holidays are just around the corner."
December: Christmas Time Is Here... "This is my most favorite time of the year!!!!"
What I love about doing this is I can see what my heart dwelled on. It was the beginning of a new decade and I can't say that this last year went the way I expected it too. There have been some hard things that we've gone through, but as I look back I can see that God took care of us and did the unexpected! I love looking back and seeing how God moved. Most of the time I'm so caught up in the moment that I don't stop to see what all God has done. I love that I celebrated my wedding and marriage this last year. I am a big procrastinator and I see that I took WAY too long to finish blogging about my wedding. So, I am commiting January 2011 to finishing that. I know all you out there in blog-land are just SUPER excited about that....but I want to get it finished. Its my way of "scrapbooking". I'm also reminded of my faith. That even when a year doesn't go the way I wanted it to or when I know I've had a year where I've struggled to find what God is doing, that I never lose sight of Him. No matter how hard it got or how mad I was on some days, He remained right there in my life! I love that about my God! He never leaves or forsakes me! I praise Him for that! I see milestones that I will look back on through out my life: my first home with my husband, our renovations to make it OURS, celebrating life, taking vacations with people I love, and celebrating my beautiful marraige as we closed the door to our first year! God has taught me this year that He is bigger than any problem I have or person in my life or cirmcumstance that could EVER come my way! He's powerful and wonderful and I'm blessed to call Him, "my own". He's shown me to be thankful in amazing ways and I can optimistically go into 2011 knowing that God will go before us!
Bring in the NEW YEAR!
Friday, December 31, 2010
2010: A Year In Pictures
January
We had more snow than I've ever seen in 2010!!!!! It was CRAZY! We had it up through March...and not just a few flurries, I mean crazy, blizzardy snow! It made for some great "stuck indoors" time! Ken still had to work on most of the days, but I enjoyed the time I got with him!
February
Kim's birthday was the most fun I had!!!! My brother recruited my help to throw her a big surprise 40th birthday party! It was great!!!! I had so much fun party-planning and getting to be there for the fun!
March
I couldn't just pick one moment for a lot of the months...and March is the first of more than one memorable moment! One of my best friends, Emily, got married! I was so blessed to be a part of her big day!
The second, was getting to watch Ken do what he LOVES....fly!
April
Celebrating our first Easter was great! It was weird to not be with family, but Ken's work schedule just didn't allow that. The blessing??? I was able to be at my home church on Easter for the first time!
May
Celebrating weddings and anniversaries! :) It was so nice to have Ken at Nicole and Chris's wedding. I was so thankful he could be there...and excited to be a part of the wedding. Nicole sang at our wedding and I was able to return the favor. I posted this picture of Ken and I instead of a picture of the happy couple, b/c its one of the last pictures we have of Ken in uniform.
My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary!!!!!! What an extraordinary example for Ken and me!!!!
June
More weddings!!!! :) Tia's wedding was a blast and started the month off with fun! Yet again, I'm thankful I was able to be a part of her wedding...and stand up there and support her!
PRAISE THE LORD we finally were able to move upstairs!!!!! The renovations took longer than we thought, but it truly was a blessing to finally move in! We still have a few touch up things left, but I have really enjoyed having a master suite upstairs!
July
A new business with Arbonne has truly brought new friendships and new adventures. And, character building! :) I have loved the people that God has brought into my life because of this!
Our BIG fun in July was being able to keep Finley for a few days while her mommy and daddy were in NYC! It was so fun to have her and get to spend so much time with her! We just love love love that little girl!!!!
August
VACATION!!!!!! Ken and I looked forward to August ALL year!!!! We couldn't WAIT to get back to our favorite State.....TEXAS! The trip was so wonderful and we were able to see so many parts of Texas! The roadtrip was fun and it was definitely the highlight of the year!
September
We had more snow than I've ever seen in 2010!!!!! It was CRAZY! We had it up through March...and not just a few flurries, I mean crazy, blizzardy snow! It made for some great "stuck indoors" time! Ken still had to work on most of the days, but I enjoyed the time I got with him!
FebruaryKim's birthday was the most fun I had!!!! My brother recruited my help to throw her a big surprise 40th birthday party! It was great!!!! I had so much fun party-planning and getting to be there for the fun!
MarchI couldn't just pick one moment for a lot of the months...and March is the first of more than one memorable moment! One of my best friends, Emily, got married! I was so blessed to be a part of her big day!
The second, was getting to watch Ken do what he LOVES....fly!AprilCelebrating our first Easter was great! It was weird to not be with family, but Ken's work schedule just didn't allow that. The blessing??? I was able to be at my home church on Easter for the first time!
MayCelebrating weddings and anniversaries! :) It was so nice to have Ken at Nicole and Chris's wedding. I was so thankful he could be there...and excited to be a part of the wedding. Nicole sang at our wedding and I was able to return the favor. I posted this picture of Ken and I instead of a picture of the happy couple, b/c its one of the last pictures we have of Ken in uniform.
My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary!!!!!! What an extraordinary example for Ken and me!!!!
JuneMore weddings!!!! :) Tia's wedding was a blast and started the month off with fun! Yet again, I'm thankful I was able to be a part of her wedding...and stand up there and support her!
PRAISE THE LORD we finally were able to move upstairs!!!!! The renovations took longer than we thought, but it truly was a blessing to finally move in! We still have a few touch up things left, but I have really enjoyed having a master suite upstairs!JulyA new business with Arbonne has truly brought new friendships and new adventures. And, character building! :) I have loved the people that God has brought into my life because of this!
Our BIG fun in July was being able to keep Finley for a few days while her mommy and daddy were in NYC! It was so fun to have her and get to spend so much time with her! We just love love love that little girl!!!!AugustVACATION!!!!!! Ken and I looked forward to August ALL year!!!! We couldn't WAIT to get back to our favorite State.....TEXAS! The trip was so wonderful and we were able to see so many parts of Texas! The roadtrip was fun and it was definitely the highlight of the year!
September Ken passed his financial investments/insurance test!!!!!! This was an entire year in the making!!! And, when he passed a lot of decisions were made and its been life-changing ever since.
Happy FIRST Anniversary!!!!! We celebrated one year in October! It was a beautiful year of marriage and I love Ken more and more everyday!
We also took our first business trip! Ken turned in his two week notice and made a huge career change. Its been amazing and we love it! There have been some hard days, I'm not gonna lie, but we see blessings in this change everyday!
We were able to make an impromtu trip to Minnesota. Sadly, it was for a funeral....but it was fun to see family and friends!
Ken's mom came for a visit!!!! She was our first REAL houseguest!!!! It was fun having her and introducing her to COWBOY athletics! :) 
Thanksgiving in Tulsa! My favorite tradition (which we were able to do this year b/c of Ken's career change!!!!)....Lights On at Utica Square!
Our 2nd year of picking out and cutting down our Christmas tree!
December
My First Annual Ladies Brunch!!!!! I loved this day! I was sick and just prayed God would get me through the day, but I absolutely LOVED celebrating my favorite holiday with some of my favorite women!!!! I can't wait to do it again next year!!!!
Celebrating my Saviour! This year, its been very real to me that we get to celebrate the Saviour of the WORLD!!!! I love that we have the freedom to celebrate Christ! Christmas was wonderful this year!!!! 
My Family
Last Christmas, everyone chipped in to pay for a family photo shoot for my mom. She has always wanted a big, group family picture and we finally gave it to her!!!! We set the date in September and were thankful for beautiful weather! We used our most favoritest photographer in the whole world!!!!! We met Sarah when she took pictures of Ken and I for our engagement. We enjoyed her so much (and the fact that she called Ken a cartoon character made Ken think she was the BEST) that we requested her for our wedding...so she was lucky enough to spend our ENTIRE wedding day with us! :) Check out her website here and her blog here. She's amazing and we love her so much!
My brother, Mark, and his family: 
My brother, Jeff, and his family: 
Ken and Beth (even when we're silly): 
The grandkids: 
The boys: 
The girls: 
The FAMILY: 
Christmas Day 2010
Christmas Day. The tradition that I've created with my parents is to wake up, get coffee, and then see what Santa left under the tree. Under NO circumstance am I allowed to go into the living room without my parents. I love that they still LOVE Christmas morning with their kids...now matter how old we are. :) This morning was no different. I woke up before Ken and headed for coffee. I have to pass the tree on my way to the kitchen, but you better believe that I have my hand covering my sight of the tree!!!! I'm not kidding!!!!! I love surprises (well, to some degree) and I don't want to spoil anything!!!!! And this year (my 2nd year married) doesn't change anything! I waited patiently for Ken to get up, so we could get our Santa-gifts together. I love waking up at my parents' house and sitting with them while we all discover what's in our stockings! Having coffee and just talking!!!
This morning we decided to go see Lavalle at her house. Lavalle is my adopted grandmother. When I was in 3rd grade, I met her. Her husband had passed away and she had no children. I asked my dad if I could adopt her into our family....she's been a part of it ever since! We love her! She usually spends either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day with us, but this year she wasn't feeling her best. She was suffering from an inner ear infection. We knew she wouldn't enjoy being out in the cold and around 17 people!!!! So, we decided to take our gifts and breakfast to her! AND....we took little Ruger along too! Lavalle was SOOOO excited to see him!!!! It just lit up her face! :) It was so fun!!! I made monkey bread and mom made sausage. Breakfast was yummy!!!! Our visit was so nice and she just loved all the clothes we gave her for Christmas! She gave me the sweetest necklace! Its a gift box and it came with this poem that talked about a grandmother's love. It was so sweet! She doesn't get out to shop very much, so it just meant a lot to me that she got it for me. 
Ruger wouldn't leave her side. He had to sit right at her feet the whole time! 
Once home, we took showers and got BACK in our brand new PJ's! That's one traditional present that we all get every year from my parents. New PJ's!!!!! Christmas night, everyone shows up in their jammies and we have some kind of themed-food night! This year it was heavy appetizers! We had two different kinds of cheese dip, cheese balls, little smokies, blue cheese pull apart biscuits, homemade salsa, pies, cakes and cookies! It was all soooo good!!!!! :)
I like this night b/c we're all comfy and just us! I love spending time with everyone! I love the food. I love the Christmas music on throughout the house. I love that a football game is on the TV in the den. I love that all the kids have fun playing together. I love watching them all grow! I love that the two oldest are becoming young adults and you can see it every year that passes. I love seeing their faces when Grammie and PaPa give them something incredibly special....making these two moments some of my favorites!
We even heard the Christmas story through the eyes of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang. I love that "A Charlie Brown Christmas" actually has the TRUE Christmas story! My mom read the story and all the kids got to push the buttons to hear the Peanuts characters tell parts of it. It was a cute little book. 
It was a little long and some of them started getting a little restless, but still cute! :)
I love my neices and nephews so very much. Everytime I get to see them, I just wish I lived closer so that I could be at all their birthday parties or take them to lunch or shopping. They are growing up so fast. I am so thankful that Cannon is celebrating his first Christmas.
I'm thankful that we still have a baby around and that not ALL of them are grown up! Its so fun to experience Christmas through Kylie, Caleb, Cannie, and Cannon. 
But its also fun to watch the older ones grow up and experience their Christmases as young adults. Every stage has been fun...and I can't believe that my oldest nephew is 14!!!!! Its so crazy to think that 14 years ago Mason was a little baby....celebrating his first Christmas! It seems like yesterday! I pray that one day God will bless Ken and I with sweet children to experience every detail of their lives with them! But, for now, I'm thankful I get glimpses of this through Mason, Raley, Spencer, Kassie, Cade, Kylie, Caleb, Canadee, and Cannon.
I'm so thankful that we get to celebrate the birth of Christ with family! I'm so blessed by each person that God has put in this family and love them all so very much! They each grow us in different ways and show me God's character and grace on a daily basis! Its been a beautiful Christmas season and I'm blessed beyond anything I could imagine!
This morning we decided to go see Lavalle at her house. Lavalle is my adopted grandmother. When I was in 3rd grade, I met her. Her husband had passed away and she had no children. I asked my dad if I could adopt her into our family....she's been a part of it ever since! We love her! She usually spends either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day with us, but this year she wasn't feeling her best. She was suffering from an inner ear infection. We knew she wouldn't enjoy being out in the cold and around 17 people!!!! So, we decided to take our gifts and breakfast to her! AND....we took little Ruger along too! Lavalle was SOOOO excited to see him!!!! It just lit up her face! :) It was so fun!!! I made monkey bread and mom made sausage. Breakfast was yummy!!!! Our visit was so nice and she just loved all the clothes we gave her for Christmas! She gave me the sweetest necklace! Its a gift box and it came with this poem that talked about a grandmother's love. It was so sweet! She doesn't get out to shop very much, so it just meant a lot to me that she got it for me. 
Ruger wouldn't leave her side. He had to sit right at her feet the whole time! 
Once home, we took showers and got BACK in our brand new PJ's! That's one traditional present that we all get every year from my parents. New PJ's!!!!! Christmas night, everyone shows up in their jammies and we have some kind of themed-food night! This year it was heavy appetizers! We had two different kinds of cheese dip, cheese balls, little smokies, blue cheese pull apart biscuits, homemade salsa, pies, cakes and cookies! It was all soooo good!!!!! :)
I like this night b/c we're all comfy and just us! I love spending time with everyone! I love the food. I love the Christmas music on throughout the house. I love that a football game is on the TV in the den. I love that all the kids have fun playing together. I love watching them all grow! I love that the two oldest are becoming young adults and you can see it every year that passes. I love seeing their faces when Grammie and PaPa give them something incredibly special....making these two moments some of my favorites!
We even heard the Christmas story through the eyes of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang. I love that "A Charlie Brown Christmas" actually has the TRUE Christmas story! My mom read the story and all the kids got to push the buttons to hear the Peanuts characters tell parts of it. It was a cute little book. 
It was a little long and some of them started getting a little restless, but still cute! :)
I love my neices and nephews so very much. Everytime I get to see them, I just wish I lived closer so that I could be at all their birthday parties or take them to lunch or shopping. They are growing up so fast. I am so thankful that Cannon is celebrating his first Christmas.I'm thankful that we still have a baby around and that not ALL of them are grown up! Its so fun to experience Christmas through Kylie, Caleb, Cannie, and Cannon. 
But its also fun to watch the older ones grow up and experience their Christmases as young adults. Every stage has been fun...and I can't believe that my oldest nephew is 14!!!!! Its so crazy to think that 14 years ago Mason was a little baby....celebrating his first Christmas! It seems like yesterday! I pray that one day God will bless Ken and I with sweet children to experience every detail of their lives with them! But, for now, I'm thankful I get glimpses of this through Mason, Raley, Spencer, Kassie, Cade, Kylie, Caleb, Canadee, and Cannon.
I'm so thankful that we get to celebrate the birth of Christ with family! I'm so blessed by each person that God has put in this family and love them all so very much! They each grow us in different ways and show me God's character and grace on a daily basis! Its been a beautiful Christmas season and I'm blessed beyond anything I could imagine!
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