2012: Year in Review

So, another year has come and (almost) gone. In the past few days I’ve been trying to think about all that has happened in the past year. It feels like my year reset when we got married, and everything before that seems like it happened in a previous year. So when I really started thinking about it, I thought, “Wow, we did do a lot this year!” I thought it would be cool to write-up a 12 best of 2012 type post to wrap up the year.

I asked Andy for his suggestions and he said, “I got a tomahawk” (for his groomsmen and himself) and “We started doing CrossFit and the Paleo diet” (neither of which we actually do, but Andy likes to talk about them a lot.) Well, somehow neither of those actually made it into the list, but I hope the list is worth reading anyway. 🙂

1. We Got Married!! Needless to say, the biggest event of the year was our wedding ceremony and the beginning of our marriage. It has truly been an awesome 4-almost-5 months so far, and I pray that the awesomeness continues. 🙂

   

2. Our Honeymoon!! By far our biggest trip of the year, and by far the most exciting. It was so exciting and fun to spend our first week together as husband and wife on a cruise to the Bahamas. We are so blessed that we were able to take a trip like that.

   

3. We planned a wedding! Talk about stating the obvious after #1, but I felt like it warranted a bullet point because although it is easily forgotten in the newlywed bliss, it took up the better part of January – August. It was stressful at times, but totally worth it. I am so grateful for all of the friends and family that helped out. I could never repay them enough.

   

4. We started living together! (post-wedding, obviously – haha) Ok, so these first four are along the same theme, but that’s how it goes, I guess. Seriously though, getting to share life together all the time has been wonderful. Certainly, there are times when we frustrate each other, but those times are dwarfed by the good, wonderful times.

   

5. Andy applied, interviewed, and was accepted to med school and decided to go to KYCOM@UPike! You can read his take on it here, but I am so excited and proud that he will be able to go to med school and fulfill his dream of becoming a doctor.
6. I interned at RHBC this summer. Wow, thinking about this makes the summer feel like forever ago. This summer I had the opportunity to serve at my home church as the youth/college student intern. It was a wonderful and encouraging experience being mentored by my Pastor and getting to work with the students. I was encouraged and humbled by the trust the students placed in me to lead them on a mission trip and in weekly Bible study. It also afforded me the opportunity to live at home for one last summer which was a special experience.
7. Andy made a dining room table for us! I really don’t know much about this because Andy did all the work with his Dad before the wedding, but I do know that it is awesome! It is so special to have a table that he handcrafted for our family.

   

   

8. I started working in the Digitization Lab @ Southeastern. This happened right at the beginning of January, so it is easy to forget, but it has been a great job change for me. I get to do things a little more related to my undergrad degree and the pay and hours are better. Win-Win-Win. 🙂 We are working on digitizing this collection.
9. I finished 4-ish semesters of school! (if you count the J-term and summer term on top of the traditional fall and spring semesters) I completed 27 credits this calendar year which isn’t too shabby, in my opinion. I’m hoping to complete 36 credits in the coming calendar year, which might be a bit ambitious, but we’ll see how it goes.
10. We celebrated holidays together for the first time! Andy and I have always done special things together around the holidays before, but now that we are married we get to celebrate together as family and on the actual holiday. It has been fun to talk and dream about how we want to celebrate holidays in our family in the years to come.

    

11. I ran my first 10K! With lots of encouragement from Andy, of course. There is no way I would have completed the training without him, and it was so nice that he stayed with me during the race even though he can run faster. Andy’s brother and his girlfriend (who is my grandbuddy from college, but that’s anpther story) came down to run it with us which made it extra fun. Although I am a slow runner, I was proud of myself because I ran the whole thing. Baby steps, I guess.

    

12. We’ve spent a lot of time trying new recipes. See this post for the results of one of our cooking experiments.  This is something I honestly didn’t see coming, but have enjoyed a lot. Since we got married we have been trying new recipes and cooking new things together. It has been a lot of fun! We often joke that instead of going out, we spend our money to have good food at home.

Well, needless to say, it has been a busy year for us (and next year promises the same)… but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Much Love,
Sarah

Update 1/11/13: I saw a 'Year in Review' post link-up at House Unseen and added this post to the list. Head over there to check out more fun 'Year in Review' posts.