2011: A Recap

This has become a blog tradition of mine. I like to end the year with a look back in pictures AND a little blog overview (I take the first line of the first blog of each month and post it here). So, here we go. :)

This year, I'm posting two pictures. One will be of something that reminds me of friends or family events. The second will be something that was special for my and the hubs. A look-back in pictures:

January
Celebrating Caitlin's birthday:
Date night at the Melting Pot: February
Jude Eli Born: Celebrating Ken's birthday: March
Taking my parents to Ft. Worth: Being in our favorite place EVER! April
Throwing Jude's Sip 'n' See: Lexis' annual shave: May
Annual Girls' Trip: Family Walks: June
Mason's first year at OSU Football Camp: . Trip to Eureka Springs: July
Keeping Finley: Impromptu road trip: August
Celebrating my birthday: September
Amy and JK got married! FINALLY closed on my house!!! October
Finley turns 3! AND, Sandie came to visit: Celebrated our 2nd Anniversary: November
Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt: Texas Trip: December
Annual Girls' Brunch: Tree hunting tradition: Here's what my blog posts show for the year (first sentence of the first post of each month):

January: "Let's Talk Wedding: Downtown Picture - I'm so thankful that Ken and I had the whole day to take pictures together." - It was my goal to finish all things "wedding" in January...and I did it! :)

February: "Snowmegeddon 2011 - Well....It finally came." - Seriously, the craziest blizzard in years!

March: "Looking Forward To... - SPRING Clothes!!!! :)" - I was DONE with snow!!! haha!

April: "K & S Engaged! - I had the privilege of taking pictures for my friend and her fiance this last weekend." - This was the first of many photo shoots that I did. It was a fun year of documenting life for my friends.

May: "SSMT #2-7 - Romans 12:9-21" - The first half of the year, I did really well at learning my verses. I loved having scripture on my mind at all times.

June: "I'm A Guest Blogger!!!! - I'm guest blogging over at, my friend, Abby's blog today!" - I got to guest blog at my friend Abby's blog a couple times this year. This was the first one.

July: "Impromtu Road Trip - Summer is here and the weather has hit temperatures that are too hot to be outside all day." - Crazy HOT summer!!!!! We were inside WAY too often! I did so many projects and we were going to on little road trips all the time!

August: "Wedding Showers - I know, you all thought I was finished with wedding posts." - But, I wasn't :) I wanted to blog about my showers too!

September: "Celebrate!!! - Today is one of my favorite days b/c every year I get to celebrate the life of my best friend, Michelle!" - Always start the month off pretty fantastically getting to celebrate my best friend!

October: "31 Days of Relationships: Day One - There's a writing challenge taking place among some bloggers: To write every day in October about something you are passionate about." - This was an incredible challenge for me, but I finished it and really enjoyed it.

November: "30 Days of Thankfulness - Its that time of year again!!!!" - My blog tradition of writing every day about what I'm thankful for.

December: "Texas Vacation: Day 1 - We took a small trip to Texas this year." - Our last trip of the year! It was the 4th one we took (Ft. Worth; Eureka Springs; Ft. Worth; and Frisco/San Antonio). We were very blessed with getting to travel so much!

Its been quite a year and I'm so thankful for every blessing! We look forward to 2012!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I pray you have a beautiful Christmas celebrating the most wonderful gift, our Savior! He is worthy to be praised!!!

Our Tree

This is the 3rd year we have hunted our Christmas tree and cut it down. We love this tradition!!! We went during the week so it wouldn't be so crowded and invited Michelle and her kids to go with us. This year was so fun b/c Finley actually understood what we were doing. We all had such a good time together! :) We have two other trees in our house as well. My favorite tree is the one in the guest room. We put it there b/c there is a big window that faces the street. The tree sits in front of it so we can see it as we drive by. Its my favorite b/c it has all the ornaments on it from my childhood, the new ones my mom buys us every year, and the two I get for us every year. Here are our new ornaments this year. Our other tree is upstairs in a window. Its a little tree that is decorated all in John Deer. I bought the tree and all the decor the first year that Ken and I were dating. He didn't have any Christmas decorations and I definitely thought he needed some. :) This is my nutcracker collection. My mom buys me one every year! I love it! I try to get one every year too, but it doesn't always happen. These are the other decorations we have throughout the house.

"F" Family

Our neighbors wanted to get some pictures in before the holiday season. Despite a few minor issues (the horse wanting to be in the pictures, the bull overly interested in my camera bag, and the sprinkling rain), we had fun and got some good shots for them!