A Look Back at 2010

I can't believe that it is New Year's Eve. As everyone else is already looking forward to 2011, I am going to take a look back at 2010. SOOOOOO much has happened this year! Of course, we can't forget that we got married!!!

And that we went on our honeymoon!

I attempted substitute teaching and very quickly realized how not ready I was to have kids of my own AND that God most certainly has not called me to be a teacher. We BOTH ended up working at a hotel.

I will not miss answering phones with "It's a new stay at the College Station Courtyard by Marriott. This is Stephanie speaking, how may I help you." Caleb will not miss receiving phone calls that started with "Something is wrong with my toilet..."

Caleb graduated from the Bush School with his M.A.

We survived yet another blazing College Station summer that felt like we were living on the surface of the sun...

We packed up all of our belongings...

And moved halfway across the country...

 

We gained another precious nephew

We learned how to commute using public transportation

We made a pilgrimage to Mt. Vernon

I visited Amish country with my grandparents

I turned 24...

We won 3rd place at a Howl-o-ween Paw-ty

Caleb survived his first semester of law school

And I am now 1/4 of the way through my M.A. Program

We survived our first snow storm

I started working for the U.S. government

Caleb turned 26...

And, of course, Scarlett has endured it all with us.

I was asking Caleb the other day if it feels like an entire year has gone by, and he agreed with me that it doesn't. Time has flown!!! We've gone thousands of miles, cried many tears, shared lots of laughs, and we've done it all together! It's been an incredibly hard but rewarding year and I can't wait to see what 2011 has in store for us!

Tomorrow morning we will start our long journey back to DC. We are driving to Knoxville tomorrow and then we will drive the rest of the way in on Sunday, just in time for Caleb to start class and for me to go back to work on Monday. Stay tuned for my New Year's resolutions when I get back to D.C.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

Scarlett's Christmas

Scarlett had a BLAST while we were in Arkansas. She got to play with Gracie the Jack Russell, Hermie the Yorkie and she played with all of the kids. She was so tired every night she totally crashed on the couch.

When we drove to Hot Springs Christmas night there were 4 new dogs waiting for her! Unfortunately, they were much bigger than her and not quite as friendly as the little dogs in Little Rock. She was soooooo sad when we had to leave and drive to Dallas.

So, when we let her out of her crate in Dallas and she was acting funny, we thought she was just sad and missing Little Rock. When we woke up Monday morning, it very quickly became apparent that she was more than just depressed. She was gimping around and crying and refusing to do anything but sleep.

If you know anything about Scarlett, she is HIGH energy, so we were pretty worried. We called the vet and luckily we were able to get her in. They messed with her legs, tested her blood, made sure we hadn't poisoned her and came to the conclusion that....

She threw out her back. How does a dog thow that their back? Don't ask me, because I don't know. All I know is that our little visit was a not fun, not cheap, but they gave us some medicine that DOES work. Scarlett is taking anti-inflammatory pills twice a day and getting lots of rest. She is soooooo much better overnight that I'm having a hard time keeping her from running around. Sooooo, tonight we had a fashion show of all of her good Christmas presents!

 Here is her preppy hat

 Her entire preppy outfit from my mom

 Her Christmas sweater that I bought her

 Thank you Santa (aka Aunt Rachel) for my snuggie!

How cute is this!?!?

I think our fashion show wore her out because she is now completely conked out on the couch pillows. I'm not sure how I'm going to keep her cooped up and relaxed for a few more days so any advice you have would be great!

Four Christmases

This year Caleb and I got to celebrate Christmas 4 times.... an no, it was not like the movie.... we actually love all of our families.

We woke up Christmas morning and celebrated Christmas with Caleb's family. I really love Christmas morning there because all of his neices and nephews are still young enough to believe in Santa. To see their faces when they see all of the loot that Santa left them is priceless. After we had Christmas lunch at his parents' house, we drove to my grandparents' house in Hot Springs to see them, my parents, and my aunt memory and her family. We were still STUFFED from Christmas lunch, so we just nibbled on Christmas dinner. But since they had Dish Network, we did get to see a few minutes of the cowboys game, which was great! I forgot to take my camera to my grandparents' house, but here are a few pics from Christmas morning.

 Mollie and her doll from Santa

 Ellie with a doll and her new kitchen!

Annie decided to climb into her new kitchen : )

 Annie in her cozy coup that "Santa" (aka Brian) was up very late building

 Scarlett loved sitting with Papa... but I'm not so sure how much Papa liked it...

NOAH!!!!

 Caleb showing off his new boots to Mom.... we told him this was a very attractive look, boots and shorts, and that he should wear this exact outfit in public : )

 Noah catching snowflakes on his tongue

 Everybody enjoying the snow!

 Sam and his very special giraffe that he got for Christmas

Everybody blowing out the candles on Jesus' birthday cake!

The day after Christmas Caleb, Scarlett, and I loaded up and drove to Dallas to spend a few days with my family before going back to DC. When we woke up on Monday, we pretended that it was Christmas all over again! We had stockings, Christmas breakfast, and presents. It was great! We had a bit of drama in the middle of the day (see my next blog post) and then we went out to my grandparents' house who live in Dallas to celebrate Christmas with them! I didn't get alot of pictures, but here are a few

 Caleb in his new jacket!

 Wade and Grace

 Gran and Grandy

 Aunt Tammi and Zoey

Family Picture 2010

Caleb and I had a great 4 Christmases and got all sorts of great stuff! We both got several good (non-school) books to read for pleasure, several pairs of good, comfortable shoes for walking in the cold weather, warm weather clothes, dvds, and I got a bunch of good Russian stuff to help me improve my language skills. More than our gifts, we have so enjoyed being home and spending time with our families. I don't think we realized how much we missed them until we came home. It has made Christmas extra special for us this year!

Christmas Eve in Pictures