Year in Review

This year has been a busy one for our small family. 

In January we bought our very first house. In the beginning it was a love/hate relationship with the home. After the first six months though, only love remained in my heart (except when I have to clean it). 

In February we celebrated our one year wedding anniversary. It was celebrated among boxes and chaos, but it didn't matter. We had a marvelous time and decided that we're still madly in love. 

The end of April was another busy month for us because we got to move into the upstairs of our house! After five months of waiting for the painting to be completed we were finally able to move upstairs to live and decorate in our new house. 

The beginning of summer was a learning curve for us and our relationship. I decided that I would quit my full time job and find another one. This was hard for both of us because at this point in time I was making more money than Brysen was. When I stopped working we had to learn how to budget all over again and how to communicate about finances. The last part was the hardest for me; in my mind, if I didn't see it then it wasn't as big of a problem and we were doing okay. It took months for me to finally be able and willing to communicate about finances with Brysen (and he was beyond relieved when I did).  

I ended up getting a new job in July, which messed up our entire schedule. I went from having the same schedule as my adorable husband to the opposite schedule. I was now working evenings and nights, which I loved because I got to avoid traffic, but I also hated because I rarely got to see Brysen anymore. 

In October I ended up getting another part time job in the mornings, which has been fun but hard. Brysen began teaching boy scout classes once a week as well. 

Over the summer we went on our very first camping trip with some of our closest friends in Aston, Idaho. Yay!! I decided that this was something I would love to do much more often. 

My little sister Megyn decided she wanted to go on a mission and left for the MTC in late August. I'll be the first to admit that at first it wasn't that weird not having her around since we had lived on opposite sides of the state for several years. But as the weeks stretched on her absence became much more obvious to me. We are both proud of her and are always excited to hear from her. 

We celebrated our third meet-aversary on October 15th. We have now known each other for three years, which is awesome. We both agreed that it was a good thing we met each other and that Brysen decided to give me a chance. 

We spent Thanksgiving with my family for the first time as a married couple this year. It was a fun experience for the whole family, even if Brysen didn't want to go Black Friday shopping with everyone. 

This year we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with my wonderful in-laws, and even though I was nervous I was excited to be able to participate in their traditions. 

Now the year is almost over and I am looking forward to what the new year will bring.