Showing posts with label traveling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label traveling. Show all posts

Thursday, January 1, 2015

A Year in Review..

Happy 2015! So hard to believe that 2014 has come to an end, it seems that each year goes by quicker and quicker, while we get older and older. 2014 was a year of ups, downs, highs, lows, twists and turns. Happiness, sadness, tears, frustrations, laughter, blessings, and so much more. I truly believe God sends us through hard times, so we learn to even more appreciate and be thankful for the good times. Pat and I have learned to work more as a team, grow our relationship with God together, and for that I am so very grateful.

How is it that I only updated my blog 7 times in 2014?? That's not even once a month... pitiful. If I recall correctly my 2014 goal was to update more often and I obviously went in the wrong direction. SO for 2015, I again hope to be better about updates. I truly do enjoy blogging and it is so nice to be able to look back and reminisce.

February was a busy month. Pat was in his good friend Tyler's wedding, we headed to Oklahoma to take some of Pat's clients to an Oklahoma City Thunder game and then I headed to Kansas City to have our annual Chi Omega Reunion. I also celebrated my 28th Birthday. I received the best news on my birthday this year, I was going to be an Aunt!! YAY!!!!

OKC Thunder Game

Chi Omega Reunion - Kansas City 

During our reunion weekend we decided we were going to make plans for a girl's trip in May down to Scottsdale. I couldn't turn down this offer! My friend Holli's parents have a timeshare in Scottsdale so we headed down for a long weekend get away in May. It was so much fun and definitely needs to happen more often!

I also learned that I LOVE Scottsdale and want to retire there:)

Scottsdale Girl's Trip
Side note- I desperately need a nice camera I have realized while looking back on these pictures. Sheesh!

Also in May we sold my car and we upgraded to a 4-door finally, "officially a Mom car" I like to say. No in all honesty it's not really much of a Mom car at all and I really like it:)

One of my good friend's Caitlin and I ran the Color me Rad Run 5K in May and then the River Run 10K the first week of June. They were both HOT and HUMID runs. Darn Kansas weather is crazy!

Color Me Rad 5K
June is the month of birthdays in our family and my baby sister Paige, turned 21. I can hardly believe she is 21, she is growing up so fast and I couldn't be more proud of the great woman she is and continues to become. We surprised her with a party bus. I think she was completely caught off guard and surprised!

Officially the oldest two on the bus..

Birthday Girl!


Cort was 6 months preggo on the bus, she is much more of a trooper than I could ever be!

We headed to Bull Shoals for the 4th of July with some friends. Our good friend Sean has a lake house down there and we try to make a trip at least once a year. It was such a relaxing weekend and perfect weather!

Relaxation station as we like to call it! 


I attempted wake boarding for the first time. 

Cheers to you!
As July was coming to an end Pat and I headed out on our much anticipated vaca to Costa Rica. It was the most amazing 7 days. One of those vacations that you just don't want to end. I definitely had enough "adventure" to last me a lifetime as well:) Thanks to my hubby for pushing me to step outside of my comfort zone! I will forever remember this trip with him!













After we returned home we packed up our bags again and headed to Kansas City for my friend Tuyen's wedding, visit my best friend Ashley, and celebrate our friend Sean's 30th birthday!




August was such a busy month. Filled with birthdays, weddings, parties, and ended with my sister Cortney's baby shower for baby Wyatt. It was so fun planning the baby shower with my sister Paige and my Mom. We had such a great turn out and she left with just about everything she needed!





Ships Ahoy It's A Boy!

September rolled around which meant BABY month. Pat and I also celebrated our 3rd Wedding Anniversary, gosh really?! We all thought Wyatt would come early, but little did we know he would make his appearance on his ACTUAL due date, September 26th! It has been so fun watching her and David as parents, it melts my heart. And that little boy, gosh he is so, so loved! He has stolen all of our hearts and Pat and I love being an Uncle and Aunt!




If you recall we Pat finished our basement just after the first of the year. It has been so nice to have the extra space and take a break from house projects. Pat then got the great idea he wanted to build a new deck before winter rolled around. I of course was a little hesitant that he'd get it finished so quickly. I was pleasantly surprised though! He tore down the old one and built a new one which is about double the size, it is so spacious- I absolutely love it. Once again this guy amazes me!


November came around extra quickly this year which meant Patty boy would be celebrating his big 3-0! One of his good friends Chris' birthday is the day before so his wife, RaeAnn and I decided to throw a joint surprise party! We put a lot of work into the party and it was sooooo hard keeping things a secret. I am a terrible liar and was convinced he knew I had something up my sleeve. He swears he didn't though, so I guess you could say things were a success!


Photo collage with ages 1-30 of each of the guys!

Happy 30th Pat!

Love him!
We wrapped up the year with a great Thanksgiving and 7 different Christmases. We are so blessed to have most of our family so close to home.

Grandma, Mom, Paige, and Me on Christmas Eve


The hubs and I on Christmas morning. 

What a year it has been. I am more than ever looking forward to the New Year and hoping and praying for the best. Cheers!


We'll be starting the year off with a bang as we head to Tulsa next weekend to see Garth Brooks!!! AAAHHHH, SO EXCITED!!!



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Sunday, August 24, 2014

Costa Rica

Where do I start? Patty and I boy recently got back from one amazing vacation-- Costa Rica! We had been planning this trip for almost a year and there was a lot of anticipation leading up to it, mainly because this was going to be much different than any trip we'd ever been on. Pat and I have traveled quite a bit since we've been married- Aruba, Curacao, Dominican Republic, St. Thomas, St. Martin, Grand Turk, Bahamas, but these were all the types of trips to "lay on the beach and relax." This trip was going to be exploring, spontaneous, adventurous...all of the things this girl is not. But marriage is about compromise right?! Don't get me wrong, I was SO excited to have the opportunity to explore this absolutely beautiful country but I was having major anxiety about all of the exciting scary things I would be doing. BUT it was a success, we came back alive, and I overcame some major fears, and checked a few things off the bucket list. Will I ever zip line again? Heck no, but I can say I did it:)

Tamarindo - A small beach town south of Papagayo where we first stayed.
Amazing beach, amazing food, and amazing weather!

Tamarindo Beach

Dinner first night at resort- Hilton Papagayo

Food was AMAZING!


Coffee love! It is true coffee is MUCH better/fresher in Costa Rica, as to why I came home with 10 bags:)

Hilton Papagayo- beautiful!

Massage on the beach = a must for everyone. SO PEACEFUL!


Private beach at the resort we stumbled upon

The next  stop was in La Fortuna. We made the drive down from Papagayo and rented this cute little villa on a huge horse ranch. By far each of our favorites! (Our friend Henrietta:))

Amazing bedroom

Ahhhh this is the life!

Lava Lounge - our fav restaurant of the trip in La Fortuna

ATV excursion

We took the ATV's to these awesome hot springs. Walking down to the hot springs.

The hot springs were right in the middle of the jungle, so awesome!



Heading to dinner

Time for zip lining

A few of the zip lines we went across, the view of the waterfall was breathtaking!

Here I come!



Such a champ!

Almost 3 years with this guy, each year just gets better and better. Love him!


Cheers!

 

Arenal Volcano Hike

Hiking through the jungle with no guide...a little scary.




La Fortuna Waterfall, my favorite part of the entire trip.

Just gorgeous


Pool time at the villa

It rained most mornings/nights, the most peaceful rain.

View at our villa, ahhhhhh

I will forever remember this trip and the special memories Pat and I created! Despite the crazy roads, even crazier drivers, and all of the panic attacks I about had- it was the trip of a lifetime and I wouldn't have wanted to share it with anyone else!





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