2010 Events in Our Life

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had an awesome New Years. We had a lot of fun and played it pretty low key, which was nice. Since we are saying goodbye to 2010 and preparing to start a new year, I thought it would be fun to review some of the events in our life from last year. 2010 was a year of ups and downs for us. It was our first year of marriage and it was a rough one. Steve and I went through a lot together and we are looking forward to a great 2011. I think its important to celebrate what we have made it through together and what we plan to look forward to next year. So here goes...

To start off, I wanted to give a shout out to some big events that happened in the end of 2009. Steve and I were married in May 2009. Probably one of the happiest days of our lives!

Immediately after we went on an amazing Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon. We had so much fun!

Everything was going great for us until Steve got laid off August of 2009. This got even rougher when I decided/was forced to change jobs that same month. Luckily for us, I was able to get find a new job working at the VA in Jefferson Barracks in late September 2009, which was a huge blessing! This job also allowed me to reconnect with an old friend, Jenn, and that was great! Here I am with her and some other friends at her birthday party.

So that is how we began 2010, with Steve unemployed and me trying to quickly get acquainted with a new job. This caused a lot of strain on our new marriage, both financial and emotional. It was very difficult trying to adjust to a new life living on less than half of the income we were used to. I think it was much more than either of us bargained for at that time. Around February 2010 we moved from our first house on Ventnor in Florissant in with Steve's parents. They were so gracious and wonderful to allow us to live there for a while to save up money and try to wait out Steve's job situation. Being newly married and in our late 20's living with Steve's parents (and eventually his brother and his girlfriend) was a really difficult thing for us. But we are so very grateful to Steve's parents for their support and willingness to help us. We are so blessed to have such understanding and supportive family. Here Steve is with his Mom and Dad, Jordan and Kim at his birthday in 2010. I really couldn't ask for better in-laws!

One great thing that came out of our wedding was meeting Steve's apprentice classmates and their wives. I found a great group of girls! They are some of my best friends now! It has been really great having friends whose husbands are in the same job as Steve to have people to lean on and talk to who understand getting laid off, etc. that goes with Steve's job. In March 2010, we went to Mardi Gras in St. Louis for the first time with this awesome group of people. We had a blast! Here are some pictures from that day. (Even though our cups say 2006, it really was 2010!) ha ha!

In May 2010, we celebrated our first year of marriage. We weren't able to do much to celebrate but we were able to spend time with our families which made it very special.

In June of 2010 we were able to celebrate the 2nd birthday of our adorable God-daughter, Willow. That was very special! We went to the circus with Steve's family, my parents and even my friend Julie and her son, Jake. It was so much fun! It is so awesome to be a part of Willow's little life. She is the sweetest and cutest kid I know! Here's a picture of the little princess:

Around July 2010 we got word that we would have to leave Steve's parent's house sooner than we planned due to a situation with their neighbors and our dogs. We were again blessed as Steve was called back to work around the same time. This was an amazing blessing and allowed us to find a house of our own. We also received tons of support from Steve's Aunt Ellen who was our real estate agent and worked tirelessly to find us a house we could afford and could get into quickly. In addition, we received a ton of support from my parents, who are amazing. Here's a shout out to my wonderful parents. We love you so much.

So in August 2010 we were able to move into our new house in Maryland Heights! Although it was a crazy process, we were so grateful to be able to purchase this house and have our own home again! We again received a huge amount of support from both our families and a ton of our friends who helped us move.

Also in August (the weekend after we moved in!) I threw a surprise party for Steve's 30th birthday! It was a great success! It was so extremely nice to be able to host a party for such a special event in our new place! Tons of friends and family came to celebrate with Steve and it was so amazing! We had a great time and he was totally surprised, which was great!

Later that month, we got to take a road trip for Steve's birthday to an Indianapolis Colt's football game. That was a great experience and Steve was very excited about getting to go see his favorite team play!

Then, in September 2010 we got the most exciting news of all! We found out we are pregnant! It is such a huge blessing and Steve and I couldn't be more excited!

I think one of the biggest lessons I learnedd from 2010 is that Steve and I can get through anything together! All the events of last year was a lot for our new marriage to handle but I think our relationship is much stronger now than ever before. We have been through so much and were able to work together and get through it all. Another lesson was even in the hard times, realizing how blessed we really are. It seems that even in our worst moments, God was with us and sent us amazing support in the form of both of our families and friends, and also reassured us that better things were ahead. It is amazing to think of all the hard times we went through and then all the blessings that happened to us just in the nick of time. We are so grateful for that and also for the support of both of our families and our great group of friends!! We really are blessed to have such great families and friends to depend on.

So overall 2010 was a really crazy year! Lots of ups and downs for us. But we ended it on a really high note. We are in our new house and loving it! All our doggies are healthy. Both our jobs are going great. Steve is doing well in school and will finish his degree in 2011. We are pregnant and expecting a baby boy in May 2011! And we couldn't be happier.

So cheers to everyone to a great 2011! I hope it is great year for us and for all our amazing friends and family as well!!