2014 - a year in review

Like I mentioned yesterday, I don't do good remember anything about the day before, much less the year before... but that's why God created the internet.  Just for me to remember my life.  & people wonder why I blog or Instagram?  It's so when I can't remember anything, I've got backup proof...

So here's a few highlights of 2014

January 2014

 

Harvey Dent was little & started on his rampage of things I photographed

#thingsharventdentdoeswrong

 

 

 

Took a trip to Nashville for a late Christmas & celebrating Luke's birthday

 

 

 

 

 

February 2014

 

Lots of snow, ice & a new thing called Polar Vortex

 

We also got the news that our Sydney had Bone cancer & wouldn't make it 3 months.  She showed them!... but it was a lot of cold nights of carrying her out to potty on that snow & ice.

 

 

 

March 2014

 

Got to meet our 3rd grandson that was born in February....

it's so funny how when babies come, its like they were always there & a part of the family

 

 

 

 

 

April 2014

 

I did my 5th Kentucky Derby Mini Marathon... my 8th half marathon...

Was doing great & making great time - till the last 3 miles & blisters almost took me down.  But it was the best 3 miles ever because my sweet hubs came out & walked it with me to the end...

 

 

 

Kicked off my wedding season with the sweetest bride & groom. 

... & I just saw, they are expecting their first baby in July 2015!!!

 

 

I got to be in the front row to see Chris Tomlin at the Women of Joy conference.

It was such a great time with an amazing group of ladies.

 

 

 

 

 

May 2014

 

Julie & her gang was up for Mother's Day. 

 

 

 

 

June 2014

 

Being in the room to photograph & witness the birth of Emerson Stephanie was probably one of the biggest things I have been honored to witness in my life.  Love my friends so much so I was so glad to capture the day for them

 

 

 

I also was able to photograph one of my special youth kiddos at her wedding.

It was so amazing to get to share the entire day with her in a way most people don't get the chance to see.

 

 

My dad has his first hip replacement surgery...

 

 

 

 

July 2014

 

We celebrated the 4th of July with fireworks & a cook out at my parents house... while my dad's horse was the talk of the town...

 

 

Had Chasity back to help with one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever seen.

 

 

 

 

August 2014

 

We found ourselves back at Merge Camp with a load of middle school & high school students.  Always so fun to hang out with them away from the world for a few days.

This was also my first time zip lining... I survived...

 

 

Got to volunteer at the Ironman in the women's tent.  It was the most amazing thing to be up so close to these athletes.... & exhausting.  I felt like I did a portion of the race myself.

 

After being in a hot tent on 101 degree day for 6 hours...

 

 

September 2014

 

We lost our sweet girl. 

I still feel like I'm getting stabbed in the chest every time I think of her.

As much as we love our other dogs, the house just isn't the same without her.

 

 

Found I could knit again despite my shoulder injury with the thanks to a knit loom.

Here's my first knit project I made... the last one I made was so long ago...

this was a game changer for me.  Back to the yarn I go!

 

 

 

 

October 2014

 

Ricky & I celebrated 19 years of marriage....

where does the time go?

 

 

Volunteered at a half marathon handing out medals & got to see so many of my running friends.  It was the best race I've never did

 

 

 

 

November 2014

 

My new cousin was born...

 

 

We moved offices... I'm still depressed about this

 

 

December 2014

 

We saw gas down with a DOLLAR in front of the number... wh wh what?

 

 

I got another year older! 

Thank you Jesus!

 

 

 

Now onto 2015....

 

Let's see what adventures it holds

 

 

What is your best memory of 2014?

 

 

It's my BIRTHDAY!!!!

I was woken up this morning by my husband, standing by the side of the bed, playing a guitar, singing Happy Birthday.

Let's make note that he's never played a guitar in his life...

So it was a weird song of basic strums of strings... but it was the sweetest song I've ever heard.

Harvey Dent just stood there confused....

But yeah, its my BIRTHDAY!!!!

I always feel its appropriate that since my birthday is after Christmas that I can say, another year older & deeper in debt.  It just fits for a December 30th birthday.

People always reflect on their birthday on the things they did in the past year, & the things they want to do in the next...

Heck, I do good to remember what I did yesterday, much less the whole year...

& as for next year?  I just want to enjoy every day.

I realize even more as I climb up that hill (or am I over it yet?) that each day is a gift... tomorrow is not promised.  That you make it to your next birthday is an amazing thing that happens. 

So I'm going to tackle my next year with gratitude... that's it.

No big bucket list. 
No big check list of things I want to accomplish.

I just want to appreciate each day... every birthday I am blessed with...

even if that means more aches & pains... more grey hair... even worse eye site.

It's still all good!

So here's to praying that this year is my best year yet...

full of blessings, full of friends & family, full of smiles & fun... full of life!

Now, I'm ready to soak up the day!!!

The weekend we lived like party people....& it just made me feel older...

Christmas continues...

 

& will continue.

 

We were supposed to have Christmas on Friday with our friends & then the grand-dudes come up Saturday morning.  But we got a text on Friday afternoon that Julie was at the doctor with Luke.  He came down with the flu.

 

OH MY GOSH.  This flu thing just needs to end right now before I freaking loose my mind!

How I react every time I see a new Tweet or Facebook post about the flu
... it just needs to stop!!!!....

 

Poor little guy got his Tamiflu & Julie said he was feeling a little better by Saturday afternoon, but we've planned to do our Christmas in 2 weeks when hopefully everyone is flu-free.

 

So while I'm seeing pictures of everyone taking down Christmas decorations, this ensures mine will be up until the middle of January... if not longer... good stuff.

 

But Friday, we did head over to our friends, Ryan & Chasity's after work.

 

If you don't remember, they had a baby earlier in the year.  Emerson... who we call our "grandbuddy"

 

Here was the sweet face that I had to run over & kiss as soon as we walked into the door.

 

I can't believe how big she is getting.  She's almost to the 7th month mark.

 

Amazing.

 

Her sweet personality is just shining through now.  So full of smiles.

 

She's listening to Pappy here

 

I always try to do sign language to her & she just stares at me & laughs.

Funny stuff to her.  I'm pure baby entertainment.

 

I remember teaching a bit of it to my nieces when they were babies & it really is amazing how quick they pick it up when they are little.  A great way to communicate.

 

I'm giving her the sign for eat... she was like "Um, I already ate, thank you very much"

 

Ryan & Chasity are so sweet, knowing I am a vegetarian & made me some spinach manicotti.

OH MY WORD.... it was honestly better then any restaurant I've ever been to.  Packed full of spinach.

 

After dinner, we just hung around chatting & playing with Emerson as she was getting ready to drift off to sleep.

 

When she was getting tired, she got down on the ground & just kept making her way over to Ricky to try & cuddle with him.  Heart, officially melted.
 

She knocked out soon & the 4 of us opened up our gifts.

 

It was so funny because we were just talking about things & every gift someone would open next, it would almost apply to exactly what we were talking about.  It became kinda funny....

 

Like, I had told Chasity about a camera strap I saw on Instagram earlier in the day...

& then I open up a package... & find a camera strap!

 

 

Ryan & Chasity are always so thoughtful in their gifts to us.

 

They even had an ornament made for us that had a Winnie the pooh quote on it about love & loss with Sydney's name engraved on it.  It totally made me choke up.  & it had on the package for both Ricky & Rebecca... but Ricky had taken it & said, "It's mine"... & he wouldn't even pull it out for me to take a picture because he said he knew I would take it.

 

He misses his Sydney girl so much...

 

Look at how beautiful this Beauty & the Beast picture is that they got me!

It's on burlap... a staple for Southern girls.  Burlap & monograms... I'll take them every time.

 

 I want to redo my whole living room centered on this now.

 

 

I just am excited to have a little girl around now so I can buy Princess & Belle things....

 

Got Emerson her first Belle doll... yes!

 

& see that bib?  That was probably the gift I was most excited about giving all Christmas.

It's a bib that when you put on, your head is on top of Belle's body.  I want one in my size.

I also can knit pretty flower hats....

You can't tell me her smile just didn't make your day brighter... seriously...

 

Before we knew it, it was like midnight & we broke open a cheesecake & made some coffee & ended up talking some more.

 

We brought games & thought it was going to be too late to play any.  Since we were sitting at the table anyways, I ran out side & got my 1968 version that I had as a kid of my Password game.  It really is vintage.  We ended up playing it & had the best time.

 

The Password is.... Mild...
(Anyone else remember this game?)

   

Thank goodness for the coffee so we could play.

There is a back story of playing games with Ryan since he was a teenager & it's always so fun.  Dude is COMPETITIVE.... but so are we... which makes it so fun.

 

Chasity & I won the first round so we had to play another round... which the guys won.

... only by cheating...

Sorry - it's the truth

But we ended up leaving tied.... another night of games will have to happen to prove who the REAL winners are

(Chasity, we know its us)

Isn't their cat so beautiful?

We ended up leaving for the night & got out in the car & saw it was 1:30...

in the morning...

 

what?

 

I think the last time Ricky & I stayed out that late was....

...hmmm...

...maybe?...

 

I don't even remember! 

That's how long it was!

 

I was really thankful for the coffee then because it was about a 30 minute drive home & Ricky was snoring the first 10 minutes of the drive.

I ended up just dancing & singing to the radio & got us home at 2:00 am

 

I felt like such a rock star coming in at 2:00am

 

 

I didn't feel like a rock star for long.  I just felt old.

I made it in the house, loved on the dogs, cleaned up for bed... & it was like 15 minutes later & I didn't even think I remembered closing my eyes... I was just out.

 

I thought I would sleep in on Saturday after that, but instead was up at 7am

... & let me tell you. My body was all messed up all weekend because of my sleep being out of whack.

 

It was so worth it though spending time with our friends...

 

I ended up staying in the house all day on Saturday, cleaning some, finishing wrapping the grand-dudes gifts & watching movies... & I ended up going to bed on Saturday night around 9pm

 

.... there's the real me....

My body was like, keep me up that late again & I'll show you whose boss.

 

Sunday, we ended up going out & doing a little bit of shopping.

 

For the record, I now have 3 gifts for next year.

... & yes, I know I'll still be out on Christmas Eve 2015 panicking getting gifts.

 

So another Christmas down.... with one more to come...

 

I kinda don't mind Christmas is taking so long.

I mean, people are ready for it November 1... why can't I drag it out to January 31st?

 

How was your weekend?

 

Any Christmas celebrations still going on?

 

Did you find any after Christmas sales?