2012

We started our year in two different places. I celebrated with friends in Lexington and John rung in the new year working in the ICU in Northern KY, but we had a few great adventures this year! 

The first major thing that happened was that his sister gave birth to our FIFTH niece, a little cutie named Elena. 

I started my last semester working for Christian Student Fellowship at the University of Kentucky. It was really weird knowing that it would be my last time doing everything there. In all honesty I’m pretty sure I was in denial about that fact the entire time. 

In March John joined me and a crew of students and staff from CSF for an alternative spring break mission trip to Joplin, Missouri. We loaded up in 15 passenger vans--and yes I drove one of those suckers all the way there and back--and helped do some clean up and re-building after the devastating tornado that came through a little under a year before we came. 

I was so blessed to have multiple wedding showers and got to celebrate our soon-to-be wedding with friends, family, and soon-to-be family. 

When April came so did the NCAA basketball championship. We cheered on our Kentucky Wildcats in the heart of campus and then went and celebrated in the streets with tons of other college students. Don’t worry neither of us set anything on fire. 

In the middle of April we celebrate two years of dating with a picnic in the Arboretum, painting pottery, and dinner at a hibachi grill!

April was quite the busy month for us. Not only was it a month before our wedding but we had been training the past few months for the Kentucky Derby Festival relay marathon with friends from our church. So two weeks before our wedding we both ran in our first race. I ran a 10k leg and John ran the final 12.2k leg. 

My sister graduated from UK!

I ended my 7 year life in Lexington and on one of my last mornings I went to my favorite bakery and enjoyed my favorite treats. An almond croissant with southern pecan coffee. Then we loaded all my stuff up and I made the move to NKY. 

We got married! 

We honeymooned in Mexico! 

Then came the real world again. We started to settle into our tiny apartment. (We still feel like we’re still settling into it.) John went back to work, and I played housewife until I could find a job. 

My brother graduated from High School!

Our summer wasn’t super jam packed. We watched Netflix a lot and I cooked dinner every night. We would go to different firework displays, enjoyed hot dogs at the ballpark, and even went to see the Cincy Pops in the Park. We also started our tradition of going to the farmers market every Saturday morning. Now this is something we love to do and it’s also fun to spend that time together, walking around, checking our the produce and other goodies and sipping on our coffee. 

We even attempted to grow some herbs on our porch but the zero amount of sun it gets proved to render that nearly impossible. I spent a lot of time cooking, baking and crafting. 

One of my best friends got engaged and I got to go and visit her right after it happened! 

As fall came we got to go down to Lexington a few weekends in a row to help CSF out with some beginning of the year activities. It was such a fun time for us and we were so happy to help!

When September came we became vegetarians. Believe it or not it was John’s idea! I wouldn’t call us 100% veggies but we are close. We have cut out meat from our diet for health reasons and will sometimes indulge in meat for special occasions or treats. 

Then I turned 26. The weekend before we celebrated with a night out at PF Changs and then I celebrated day of with my free birthday Starbucks while I did our weekly grocery shopping, had an indian lunch with my mom, and then watched football with our lifegroup from church. 

Also in September John and I volunteered at the Hillsong Live concert at NKU, had a blast, did a few random errands for Hillsong and then sat back stage during the show. 

October came and I started a part time serving job. 

In November we enjoyed time with our families for two delicious Thanksgivings. We also enjoyed black Friday shopping both together and then with my dad and siblings. I had my first experience actually going to a store when it opened (normally we sleep in, get breakfast and then hit up a few stores). John and I went to Best Buy for it’s midnight opening and also Home Depot at 5am! We didn’t get much sleep. Esp John who ended up playing his video game from Best Buy before we went to Home Depot. 

December came and with it the Christmas season! Ok, we might have started in November. And by that I mean we started listening to christmas music the 1st of November and put up or decorations before Thanksgiving. Even though I was sick on Christmas we still had a great time celebrating with both of our families. My sweet husband event drove around at 6am on Christmas morning to find any open drug store to get me cough syrup since I woke us up at 5:30 with a coughing fit. Then unfortunately he caught sometime different so we were super pathetic and watched a lot of the office. 

I worked New Years Eve but I made us some snacks ahead of time so when I got home we watched the ball drop, snacked and toasted in the New Year together. 

Here’s to 2013!