a little review

The year seemed to fly by so fast.. I guess they all do! So I thought we could do a little recap and see our year in a "timeline..."

January: We had just returned home from Nashville for Christmas. We spent a quiet New Year's Eve together, watching a movie and watching the ball drop! We spent some special time with Zach's Dad, Neil, going to Dauphin Island and really enjoyed the day together. Zach was able to get some kayaking time in too! Then, Eli and I began packing and crafting in preparation for California for my grandparents 50th anniversary and my parents 25th!

February: We had our adventure of traveling to California just the two of us, (Eli and I.) We celebrated anniversaries, ate lots of In-N-Out, ELI STARTING STANDING ON HIS OWN- Zach saw it on FaceTime, and I got baby fever. We also had the youth group over on Valentine's Day for a lazy-non-sappy, happy movie night. We had a lock-in weekend at Dothan First Church, and also went to WinterJam.

March: We had the privilege of going to Rosemary Beach with Zach's family to celebrate Papa's 75th birthday. We did lots of baking and preparing for Eli's birthday. Eli also started WALKING!!

April: We added a new "baby" to our family, Miss Lola, the day before Eli's birthday. We celebrated Eli's First Birthday and threw him a big party at Aunt Cynthia's house. We also celebrated Easter and went to Nashville for TNT @ TNU with our teens. April was busy

May: We went back up to Nashville because Zach graduated from TNU! We spent some "boat time" with our best friends, celebrated Mother's day, and my 22nd Birthday. We also found out we were pregnant again on May 26th!!!! We were elated!

June: We spent a lot of time laying low at home being nauseous (thankfully not as bad as it was with Eli!) We went on a family canoe/kayak trip with Zach's family and we also went to teen camp in Florida.

July: We celebrated the 4th with some friends from church. and spent extra time laying low and just enjoying time around the house as the new little baby grew and grew! Naps were definitely a prominent activity in July. We also began packing our apartment as we knew we would be moving out August 31st.

 

August: Eli spent a whole week in Nashville with Nona and Opa!! Zach and I had a weekend in Phenix City, AL. We moved out of our apartment and lived with the amazing Shirah family for about three weeks. We were so thankful for their willingness to allow us to stay with them! After several prayerful weeks, we moved into our rental house and Zach became the newest employee at Joe Bullard Cadillac all in the same week! It proved to be a very challenging, but also rewarding month, as we knew we were centered in his will. We also found out we were having a GIRL!!

September: Before we moved in Zach's parents helped us paint and prep everything and lots of friends and family showed up to help us move in. It was a fairly painless process! My parents brought Eli back down to Mobile and were able to spend some time here. We went to Dauphin Island and spent time settling into our house.

 

October: We went back to the beach with our teens again for TNT/Refuel while Zach's parents kept Eli for us! We also spent lots of time unpacking, getting our house in order, and organizing. We went to the New Orleans Zoo! We participated in trunk or treat for Halloween and Eli was Linus, Zach was Charlie Brown, and my baby bump was Snoopy!

November: We celebrated Zach's 24th birthday by grilling out at our house with family and a couple of our closest friends; he was able to do so on his new grill! We were able to have a "getaway" trip to the beach for one night of Minister's and Mates Retreat- probably one of my favorite days with my hubby in 2012. We also celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents and Ben and Neil too! Before my parents left town we decorated for Christmas and did our Christmas together too!

December: We had our annual teen Christmas party (ugly sweater/ dirty santa) at several different homes. Our church also threw us a baby shower, which was so much fun. They did a tea party theme and it couldn't have been sweeter. We celebrated Christmas here in Mobile and were able to get Eli a drum set of his own! He is still in love.

 

 

For me, 2012 was probably one of the most challenging, yet growing years thus far. It definitely brought up many moments which required us to follow by faith, 100% blindly, but those moments prove to be the most rewarding and the most beautiful moments later in time. I am so thankful for all of the family and friends we are blessed with. I am so thankful for new life and for Eli's life; he is such a joy and is packed with more personality than I can sometimes handle :) Between he and Zach, I literally never stop laughing. I can't wait to see how his little sister changes our family dynamic. I know she will bring more love and joy than I can even fathom. I am so anxious to meet her sweet face! Here's to 2013... and taking every moment as a blessing! xoxo, Allyson