I'm taking a renewed interest in my blog after a long hiatus.
Ready for 2012's year-in-review? Here we go!
Last year was a great year. It really was. It was full of so many good things and very little bad.
Let's start with January.
Andriy and I started off the New Year, just the two of us at home, playing games and enjoying some adult beverages. That may not sound exciting, but it was seriously the best New Years celebration he and I have enjoyed, possibly ever. We started early, around 3:30, to welcome the New Year in Ukraine with Andriy's family via Skype with some food & vodka shots. The celebrating continued from there. We discovered the game HedBanz, which we have enjoyed many times since. We listened to some great music. It was perfect.
The weekend was perfect, full of quality friend time, away from the distractions of our everyday surroundings. I'm so lucky to belong to such a tight group of people. Fond memories from this weekend include hot tub time with the ladies, kite flying, a nature walk, our homemade personalized board game for Ashleigh & Peter and, of course, just laughing with my friends. I have to say, we're a funny group of people.
Now, Valentine's Day is never a holiday that means much of anything to me. However, on February 14, 2012, Calliope Mitchell and Atticus Anders joined our world. Two pairs of friends, Emily & Ladd Mitchell and Ginny & Shaun Anders welcomed their new ones on that very same day in the very same hospital. That's pretty amazing in my opinion. And how very kind of them to coordinate their births so we only had to take one trip to Springfield! Ha! Sorry, I don't have any photos of Atticus, but I do have this one of me w/ Calli.
Nothing too exciting happened the rest of the February or in March or April. We visited the Fluhrs in Dubuque and enjoyed some sledding and a hockey game. Andriy and I enjoyed a fun St. Patrick's Day out in Jacksonville. I decided to start learning to play the guitar. We bought a new awesome Weber Grill.
Near the end of August, we decided to travel to the Lake of the Ozarks, where we met up with some friends and saw our friend Peter play with Captain Geech. While it did rain most of the time we were there, we enjoyed seeing Pete play, as well as some good card playing and refreshments in our rental house, which was nice & cozy. Plus, we did a bit of hiking around Ha Ha Tonka State Park. We do love a good hike.
September, also known as our birthday month, is usually very busy for us. It's actually birthday month for Andriy & I, my mom, my brother-in-law Jeremy, and my parents anniversary is in September. So, yeah, there's a lot going on. Free time & funds are usually in short supply in September. However, we've started a tradition of camping with Jdo up at Kettle Moraine State Park in Wisconsin for Andriy's birthday. I hope the tradition continues (it's only 2 years running) because it's a great excuse to get out of town, set up the tent, make some food over a fire and go for a hike with one of our favorite people. The weather this year was perfect (we didn't get rained out of our tent, unlike the previous year) and the fall foliage was stunning. Jdo surprised us this year with little birthday gifts which he presented throughout the evening. What a fun friend!
In December, we decided to host a little friendly holiday get together at our house. We served dinner, had a gift exchange and played games. I love the holidays and I adore hosting parties and getting all of our friends together in one place. This year we kept it kind of low key, which made it all the more enjoyable.
Over Christmas, Jdo visited from Wisconsin and, unfortunately, he and Andriy both got a stomach virus that had them sick on Christmas Eve. I felt terrible for them and I know they both felt awful. However, they were both up and healthy on Christmas Day and it was lovely seeing Jdo again.
2012 ended with a party with the McLaughlin side of the family in Winchester. Perfect.
It was such a good year. 2013 has a lot to live up to.
Ok, now I'm caught up and we can go back to our normal blogging schedule. Yippee!
Ready for 2012's year-in-review? Here we go!
Last year was a great year. It really was. It was full of so many good things and very little bad.
Let's start with January.
Andriy and I started off the New Year, just the two of us at home, playing games and enjoying some adult beverages. That may not sound exciting, but it was seriously the best New Years celebration he and I have enjoyed, possibly ever. We started early, around 3:30, to welcome the New Year in Ukraine with Andriy's family via Skype with some food & vodka shots. The celebrating continued from there. We discovered the game HedBanz, which we have enjoyed many times since. We listened to some great music. It was perfect.
The fun in January didn't stop there. Two of our good friends, Ashleigh and Peter, were set to get married in February. So, our big group of friends planned a getaway bachelor/bachelorette weekend at Cabin on the Hill in Southern Illinois.
The weekend was perfect, full of quality friend time, away from the distractions of our everyday surroundings. I'm so lucky to belong to such a tight group of people. Fond memories from this weekend include hot tub time with the ladies, kite flying, a nature walk, our homemade personalized board game for Ashleigh & Peter and, of course, just laughing with my friends. I have to say, we're a funny group of people.
We follow up the bachelor/bachelorette extravaganza with Ashleigh & Peter's lovely wedding and reception at Pere Marquette Lodge near Grafton, IL on February 3. I was honored to be one of Ashleigh's bridesmaids and Andriy served as an usher. It was a beautiful day at one of my favorite locations in Illinois with some of my favorite people. What could be better?
Now, Valentine's Day is never a holiday that means much of anything to me. However, on February 14, 2012, Calliope Mitchell and Atticus Anders joined our world. Two pairs of friends, Emily & Ladd Mitchell and Ginny & Shaun Anders welcomed their new ones on that very same day in the very same hospital. That's pretty amazing in my opinion. And how very kind of them to coordinate their births so we only had to take one trip to Springfield! Ha! Sorry, I don't have any photos of Atticus, but I do have this one of me w/ Calli.
In May, we got some BIG NEWS. Andriy received a letter in the mail, stating that he was to be sworn in as a citizen of the United States on June 1, 2012 in Springfield! With that letter came a huge sigh of relief. Andriy had been working towards that point for 5 years and a lot of worry and money went in to the process. Finally, it was going to happen! The amazing thing is, we also were planning a huge road trip with our good friend Jeremy Doughty and we had scheduled to depart on June 9. What better way would there be to celebrate Andriy's American citizenship than with a drive across the United States of America? The timing was perfect.
So, on June 1, Andriy became a citizen.
And, on June 9, early in the morning, we left Dubuque with Jdo in a rented GMC Terrain and headed west. I won't go into too much detail about the trip. There's just too much to tell. We had stops in the Black Hills of South Dakota; Paradise Valley, Montana;Yakima, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Waldport, Oregon; San Francisco, California; East Canyon State Park, Utah; Estes Park, Colorado; and Lincoln, Nebraska. We got to see and explore Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park, Columbia River Gorge, the Oregon Coast, the Great Basin & Great Salt Lake Desert, and Rocky Mountain National Park. We stayed at a few KOA's, in cabins, with friends, hotel rooms, and in our amazing Kelty tent that kept us dry through a hail storm.
This was an epic trip. I'll let the photos tell the story.
Sorry about the weird picture tiling. Something went cuckoo with Blogger and took away some of my photo editing options.
Following our trip, the travel bug was satiated and life returned to normal.
More happy news in July: my niece Haley was born and it looked like she was going to be a brunette with big dark eyes, the first of my nieces & nephews with dark hair. I had high hopes that she'd end up looking like me. :) We enjoyed a nice family reunion in Winchester & Jacksonville w/ the McLaughlin side, including some nice times by the pool at the Anslyn's house. Even the Fluhrs with a newborn Haley Marie showed up!
Near the end of August, we decided to travel to the Lake of the Ozarks, where we met up with some friends and saw our friend Peter play with Captain Geech. While it did rain most of the time we were there, we enjoyed seeing Pete play, as well as some good card playing and refreshments in our rental house, which was nice & cozy. Plus, we did a bit of hiking around Ha Ha Tonka State Park. We do love a good hike.
September, also known as our birthday month, is usually very busy for us. It's actually birthday month for Andriy & I, my mom, my brother-in-law Jeremy, and my parents anniversary is in September. So, yeah, there's a lot going on. Free time & funds are usually in short supply in September. However, we've started a tradition of camping with Jdo up at Kettle Moraine State Park in Wisconsin for Andriy's birthday. I hope the tradition continues (it's only 2 years running) because it's a great excuse to get out of town, set up the tent, make some food over a fire and go for a hike with one of our favorite people. The weather this year was perfect (we didn't get rained out of our tent, unlike the previous year) and the fall foliage was stunning. Jdo surprised us this year with little birthday gifts which he presented throughout the evening. What a fun friend!
October held birthdays for my nephew Braylen & my niece Leah. November was quiet, with just a little Thanksgiving get together at my parents' house.
In December, we decided to host a little friendly holiday get together at our house. We served dinner, had a gift exchange and played games. I love the holidays and I adore hosting parties and getting all of our friends together in one place. This year we kept it kind of low key, which made it all the more enjoyable. 
Over Christmas, Jdo visited from Wisconsin and, unfortunately, he and Andriy both got a stomach virus that had them sick on Christmas Eve. I felt terrible for them and I know they both felt awful. However, they were both up and healthy on Christmas Day and it was lovely seeing Jdo again.
2012 ended with a party with the McLaughlin side of the family in Winchester. Perfect.
It was such a good year. 2013 has a lot to live up to.
Ok, now I'm caught up and we can go back to our normal blogging schedule. Yippee!
Absolutely love that you blog!
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