Friday, December 31, 2010

Year in Re-Cap!

Yes, I'm lame and I haven't posted in about 3 months.....I was doing SO well!! Yet, I do know that there are at least a few of you out there that have told me you at least enjoy reading what I have to say, so I'm making a goal (not NY Resolution, we all know how those work out!) to get back and track. I honestly like writing, it keeps me sane. Anyhow, I'm breaking form a little bit today, and I'm going to recap my year and write goals for the upcoming year....adding and "accountability" factor to it all! :) Here goes.....

January 2010:
Not a bad month, really!! Sean and I rang in the New Year as an engaged couple and we got to spend a good half of the year planning. Kelly, Leah, Drake and I launched BodyJam at LifeQuest. What a party!! We had a great time and got a pretty good response. Attendance waxed and wained over the year, but we've got a pretty regular following. With around 5 releases under our belt, it's getting easier and easier to lead a class, especially an hour class, by myself. A week later, Sean and I made the trek to Baker for one of our favorite events....Robbie Burns Night!! We love celebrating this guy's birthday with our parents and the Baker Celtic Society! During this dinner, Sean and I heard the band that would later be the string band that played our wedding ceremony. We also had dinner in the room that we would be getting married in. This year, Sean and I are hoping to find a place to celebrate Robbie Burns, as unfortunately, Baker has disolved it's Celtic Society, and will not be doing a dinner this year.

February2010:
During this month, Sean and I were well into our Pre-Marital Counseling with Jason Strickling. Let me say this for Jason....he was a wonderful choice for us because the dynamics of his own marriage are very close to what our own relationship dynamics are like. This made counseling a pleasure, and we got a lot out of it. This was also the month that Sean got to cash in on one of his Christmas presents from me -- tickets to see Josh Turner at Snoqualmie Casino!! We drove up and got a SHADY motel outside of Seattle in North Bend. But North Bend, what a BEAUTIFUL backdrop!! We had a great time! We discovered the reason that we don't really go to Casino's...just not our scene. However, Josh Turner was AMAZING!! Afterward we had a great time at a local pub eating pub food and drinking good beer. I love the times when Sean and I can get out of town and really spend an evening together talking and finding that "closeness" that resembles the first months of dating. It's a special feeling, and I feel very lucky to have that feeling still.

March 2010:
March kind of just came and went last year. The spring months really started to fly by as our wedding started to get closer and closer. This was a month that Sean and I made a pretty big decision. We decided to buy a Hayden Home. We hooked up with a real-estate agent and picked out our lay-out and interior decor. We picked out a lot, put down a deposit, and found out that we did NOT qualify for the 0% down-payment, so we tried to put together a plan to come up with a down-payment ready by June. Overwhelming.

April 2010:
In April, Sean and I had our final pre-marital session with Jason, where we got to plan the ceremony. That was really fun, because it was the time when we got to talk about the type of language we wanted in our ceremony, the special readings, and let Jason know how we wanted to be introduced...Mr. and Mrs. Sean Mitchell!! Apparently, Jason rarely gets requests for something so traditional. What can I say, mama raised a girl who still believes in traditional values!!

May 2010:
Hello my first Briday Shower!!! My friends Brandie and Treva did a wonderful job planning a shower that was a perfect time for my family and a few friends to get together and celebrate this next phase of my life. We also followed up the shower with my Bachelorette Party.....and can I say this, men LOVE Bachelorettes!! Not that this was the REASON for the party, obviously we just wanted to have a night of fun with the girls, but it sure makes the night a lot cheaper! We also got to celebrate the month that Sean settled comfortably into the mid-20's and turned the clock to 26! Still young in a lot of ways, but when it's staring you in the face....whew! When did that get here!?! Sean and I also started looking at the BP oil spill, and found that going to Miami for our honeymoon may not be in the cards. This actually had NOTHING to do with the oil spill itself, but we found that weather in Miami in June is crap. Especially this June. So we changed our flight plans for Miami to San Diego!

June 2010:
WEDDING MONTH!!! But can I say that besides out wedding, we closed on our house, moved in AND went on our honeymoon. Sean and I were more than frazzled by the end of it all!! We closed our house by the 11th (not without it's stresses, I thought my poor husband-to-be would keel over before I actually got to marry him!) and got most of our big furniture moved in. Then began Wedding Week!! My bridesmaids Jessica and my sister Julie flew into Pasco, and thus began the actual reality of becoming a bride.....whoa. Work-outs, pedicures, and family meet and greet's went by in a veritable blur. My sisters, Jessica, and my cousin Ashlee did a WONDERFUL job planning another bridal shower for me, and I had a great time with my family and friends that I hadn't seen since graduating from college. All of the obligatory activities were followed through on and our wedding went off without a hitch!! We danced the night away and heard for weeks afterward, from everyone, how fun it was and what a great time they had!! This made Sean and I all sorts of warm and gooey inside, because the only thing we really cared about in the end was that everyone who came could have a good time and feel comfortable celebrating with us. In the end, it was a success. Immediately following, Sean and I took flight (Sean's first) to San Diego for our honeymoon. San Diego was great, the weather was wonderful, and the size of the city overwhelmed my new husband a little. We went to Catalina Island and immediately made a vow to go back....it was amazing and likely the highlight of the trip. We spent time at the San Diego Zoo and in Balboa Park, ate at the Hard Rock, had some mexican with my sister, and tanned on the beach. Even with sun screen, Sean got a little TOO much sun, and had a fairly miserable flight/drive home. June was most definately the highlight of the year.

July and August of 2010 flew by in a blur. Sean and I went to a BBQ virtually every weekend and spent a lot of time in our yard trying to make it look inhabitable and functional for our dog. This project inevitably will be carrying over into next spring.

September 2010:
I had the privilege of paying back one of my bridesmaids by being a bridesmaid in her Colorado wedding. Mrs. Jessica Bach Slattery and I made a pact five years ago in South Africa to be bridesmaids in eachothers weddings, and I can't believe that within 4 months of eachother, we were able to follow through. Jessica's wedding week brought back memories of June and I was happy to see what it was like to watch the bride, and my good friend, experience one of the happiest times of her life. Sean and I were also able to compete in our first golf tournament together, along with my dad and his friend Ben. We took 3rd and vowed to come back the next year and beat one specific team -- my mom's!!

October 2010:
OMG, I turned 26 this year. Refer back to statements reguarding Sean's 26th. People still call me a "baby" when I tell them my age, and I'm quite content to believe them. The aging process is still an experience and I'm enjoying every benchmark. Sean planned a suprise birthday party for me, well, tried. I spoiled it a little, but was still very moved by the thought, and let him carry out his plan as first intentioned. We had a great time BBQing at a friends house and catching up with those close to us. The next weekend, Sean, myself, my dad and his girlfriend, along with a couple of their friends, made the journey down to Pullman where Sean REALLY got his first whiff of DUCK FEVER!! We watched the Ducks v. Cougs game and had a wondeful time of it! The next goal will be to make the journey to mecc....I mean Autzen to watch the Ducks at home. As any Duck fan knows, you can't experience the full magic that is the Ducks until you see a game at Autzen. On Halloween, Sean and the idea of the year, and dressed up as Dexter in his "lab" get up. It was definately a hit! I faithfully went as Rita....not knowing her fate....that we would soon discover.

November 2010:
Sean and I tried putting some finishing touches on our house. The living space at least....as we hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. It was great! I said a prayer for my turkey as it went into the oven, and about four hours later, we were enjoying a family meal together (Sean's family and mine) that was one of the first real chances everyone had to interact and get to know eachother without "wedding fever" being a stressor for us all.

December 2010:
Finally, we come to the end of a very busy, very quick year. We celebrated my dad's 50th birthday AND our first six months of marriage. (Not so much of a party as an acknowledgement that it's already been 6 months of wedded bliss.) We celebrated Christmas as a married couple, on our own in the morning, then with Sean's side of the family (mine too, now)! It was nice not to have to drive over the break, but a little bittersweet not spending the holidays the way I have for the last 26 years. However, we are creating a tradition that will stick with us for the rest of our lives, and there is something quite comforting about that.

And we are literally on the cusp of the new year. The big goal will be to get our yard into a livable condition and take a trip to Europe! As you all know, I love to plan in advance, especially for these things, and I have been a busy little bee planning a trip that I HOPE Sean will die for!! We are looking forward to our tax-return and the feeling of not being broke all the time and getting back to the summer. I hate to say it, but the Tri-Cities has climatized me!! I can't hardly stand anything under 40 degrees anymore. But I've decided to embrace it!

My wish and prayer for all of you is that you would do the same! Obviously, I am not speaking in terms of embracing your own weather. I mean to embrace the new year and the things that life has brought to you. My prayer would be that God would provide for you all. If you've had a less than stellar year, I pray that you would be able to wipe the dust off and find a way to make it through the coming year. I pray you would find a way to trust in God and understand that sometimes, we NEVER understand his process, but that it is always a part of his beautiful, master plan. If this year, you have been as blessed as I have, and have had a truely wonderful time, I pray that God would continue to provide for and bless you!! I pray that you would trust in God and continue to embrace and pay forward his blessings. Thanks everyone for hanging with me....hopefully I'll be a little better this year about posting more frequently. YOU ARE ALL AMAZING!!

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