Saturday, January 4, 2014

2013....a year in review!

2013 has been an interesting year for us. full of ups and downs. i'm guessing much like everybody else's. i've always been a big fan of the year in review but never thought about taking the time to do one. this year i decided why not. so here is my attempt at our 2013. 

january:
january was a rough start. i had my second miscarriage early on. my beautiful mother flew out to be with us during this hard week.
we also welcomed our first nephew, owen, the first part of january.
nicole and i bundled up to go to the field museum. we had a blast exploring the place for free.
i blogged about breaking my habit of bitting my nails. one year later i'm still going strong.
i needed a good refresh so we spent lots of time at ikea (with our car...yaya) getting our place all fresh and new.
gabby and i spent way too much money shopping. just what i needed.
since spence and i moved during our 2nd anniversary we decided to celebrate on our 2.5 anniversary. we had dinner at one of the fanciest places downtown. seriously a great night.
we finished off the month with a great date night downtown.



february:
february was a better start than january. i gladly welcomed in a new month full of color and love.
we were finally able to start working at the temple (thank you for bringing out the car mr.) and started our first friday night temple date nights this month. oh what a blessing this has been.
i posted a bit about my struggle with infertility and recurrent miscarriage. i felt like i had a little bit of a breakthrough this month.
i flew home for a work trip and was able to meet owen for the first time.
i also designed some valentines for my mom.  and hosted a little family valentines dinner while in utah.
we celebrated valentines day (also the anniversary of when we decided to get married) with heart shaped deep dish picnic on the floor and watched a movie. my favorite way to celebrate.
after talking to some dr's and doing some research we decided to go the almond milk route.  this lasted a couple of months before we found out it wasn't helping. for some reason i want to try it again.
we started insanity. the mr. lasted a couple of months and still does it here and there. i lasted a month.
i got a promotion at work and tried to get used to our daily busy life.
mom and i finished off the month with the most incredible trip to san diego. we shopped, ate out, watched movies, went to the beach, laughed and just enjoyed being together. i sure love my mom.


march:
march was a busy month. i did a little med school update for our family and friends.
for christmas the b. family gave us incredible tickets to the jazz vs. bulls game. we finally got to go to the game.
the cold was getting to us so we decided to do weekly adventures. it really helped fight the winter blues.
we had a pie day for pi day with some ward friends. i tried out our new mini pie maker...yum.
i started lots of new projects and did some more decorating in our apartment. it finally started feeling like home.
we celebrated nicoles birthday and started weekly bachelor nights with the girls.
i wrote more about miscarriage and found healing through writing.
i had two work trips, one to oklahoma where i got stranded for an extra day. then the next week i was off to dc. by the end i was sick of traveling.
i admitted my love of interior design and began looking into master programs again. after a lot of prayer and fasting we decided it wasn't the best move. i still want to do something with interior design sometime in my life.
we spent spring break in detroit with spencer's aunt and uncle. it was such a fun vacation!
easter was celebrated with new outfits and dinner with good friends!


april:
this was a fun month for the two of us. we had lots of dates just the two of us.
sadly we said goodbye to my pup. i still miss willey and want to call his name every time we're home.
i officially started my first quilt. i hate to admit i still need to hand stitch the binding but i'm almost there.
one of our weekly adventures was a saturday morning donut run. we fell madly in love with glazed and infused that we go back monthly.
another date night was spent at the macy's flower show. it wasn't as big as we expected but still so much fun.
spence got called into the bishopric in our ward. i was called to the relief society in march so we had to say goodbye to our little sunbeams. we still love those little kiddos.
i fell more madly in love with my mr. this month. something about love and spring just go hand in hand. or maybe because i have such a great man. here, here, and here.
i posted a recipe for my easy andies mint cookies. it is my most viewed post on the blog ever. haha love it!
gabby and i went to a carly rae jeppson concert. we were the oldest ones there without kids but still had a blast.
we finished the month off by welcoming spring to chicago....finally


may:
may was a great month and things started to finally warm up.
mom and dad b. and liz and owen came to visit us. we had a great time having them all there with us.
spence spoiled me on mothers day. it was just what this girl needed.
i didn't blog too much because it was a busy month for the two of us. i had some work trips and spence was busy finishing out his first year of med school.
we found out we had to move and started the apartment hunting process. luckily we found an incredible place right before we headed to utah for our "summer break".
we celebrated surviving our first year of medical school with a date night to navy pier.
after packing our bags (and part of our apartment) we headed to utah for 4 weeks. we were so excited and ready to be with family.


june:
i did another med school update to finish off our first year.
we spent most of the month in utah with family. we took family pictures, went to weddings, played with friends, spent time with our nieces and nephew and even did some wake boarding. here, here, here , here, here and here
we flew home in time to go see the mormon tabernacle choir preform in chicago (incredible).
the end of june meant started the packing and moving process. we spent time in our new neighborhood trying to get a feel for things.
lydia came to visit and we went to the art museum, farmers market and out to eat way too many times.
i hosted the relief society bunco night in my apartment. my last time hosting people in our first chicago home.


july:
this month was a crazy one for us! it started with moving the first week or so. hence the not blogging much this month.
spence was busy working on research this month and preparing to start school again.
we celebrated the 4th of july with homemade kneaders breakfast, a beach trip, a big bbq and finished it off with fireworks and great friends!
we attempted to go to the beach with dan and nicole but after finding out we had to pay we had a fun picnic in the park instead!
sadly i had another miscarriage. i didn't blog much about this one. it felt different for some reason.
my family spent a week in the bahamas. it was such a needed break from life. spence and i got the first few days to ourselves before the family came in. paradise! more here and here
we celebrated our 3rd anniversary! it was simple with a nice steak dinner at home, swapping favorite memories and cuddling up to a movie! the perfect way to celebrate if you ask me.
the month ended with spence starting back at school for year two of med school.


august:
the moth started with some exciting news....my company was opening an office in chicago!
we feel more in love with chicago as we got to know our new neighborhood and enjoyed fun date nights.
the summer was full of street fairs and events. we hit up our local fair (edgefest) with good friends.
we celebrated our one year anniversary in chicago.
we hosted a little goodbye party for some friends who were leaving us at the end of the summer. it was nice to have a bigger place to host all our friends.
the mr. turned 27...ahh old man! we had a blast celebrating with friends and date nights just the two of us.
nicole and i watched the air and water show from the beach. one of these years our husbands will be able to watch with us.
we had a great ward bbq at the park. we love our ward and feel so blessed to be a part of it.
dan and nicole joined us for a bears game. it was pre season (cheaper tickets) but still so much fun.
after finally getting back into the swing of school life we finished off the month with a date night in wicker park.



september:
i didn't blog much at all. ugh! i was busy with work getting our new office all set up and running smoothly.
i honestly can't remember what we did for labor day...haha! i bet the mr. studied and i worked.
we finally went to our first cubs game with gabby and jordan. i can't believe it took us so long but we loved it.
i spent a week in utah. the first part mom and i went down to st. george. it was a much needed getaway. the rest was spent working like crazy.
the byu vs. utah game was this month and we had some friends over to watch the game. it was a bit of a blow-out (sorry byu) but dan and i enjoyed cheering on our utes.
spence's parents came into town and we loved it! they spoiled us like crazy. we explored our neighborhood more, went out to eat and just enjoyed having family in town.


october:
it seems the last half of the year flew by so fast i couldn't keep up with picture or blogging!
conference weekend was full of quilting, resting, enjoying and eating!
my parents came in for a week and we loved having visitors! my dad fixed up our apartment and spoiled us. we went out to eat and explored our city! i love having my parents in town. it made home feel more like home
the mr. had a busy month with school, research and tests. he was studying most nights.
we finally got the barfuss family pictures back from the summer. i loved how they turned out.
i played a bit of life catch up on the blog and updated our family on what we were up to.
we surprised spence's family and flew him out with me for a quick weekend trip. we were having too much fun to take pictures.
i stayed in utah for our big work event. so glad that is over!
we celebrated halloween with a ward trunk or treat.


november: 
i started out the month hosting a baby shower for a dear friend in chicago. i love baby showers!
we spent lots of time face timing family as november is the month of birthdays in my family.
the mr. spoiled me for my 25th birthday. my favorite memory was playing games with 20 or so of our great friends and realizing how blessed we are.
i finished off the year of work events with a quick trip to dc.
our friends matt and megs came to chicago for a byu football game. we were able to catch up with them for a bit during church.
for thanksgiving we flew out to utah and spent the week in st george with spencers family.


december:
december has gone by just way too fast! i haven't blogged like at all.
spence has been so busy with school. he is preparing to finish up year two and has started studying for boards.
we did minimal decorating for christmas seeing as we were flying to utah so early this year.
we did try and win wicked tickets every day for a couple of weeks. as hard as we tried we never made it...oh well!
we had some game nights with friends and have tried to stay warm.
chicago surprised us this year with lots of snow. last year we didn't see snow until after christmas.
we flew home for the break and have enjoyed just being with family and friends.
i did post our christmas card!



this year has been a great one! we've had some hard times that have taught us a lot about faith and trusting in our heavenly father. we have also had some great times and remind us how much we are loved and blessed by our savior and heavenly father. through it all i've had my mr. beside me. i couldn't have asked for a better partner in life. 

we're loving our little life just the two of us. though it may not be what we have expected 2013 has turned out to be a great year! heres to 2014. i have a feeling it's going to be even better than 2013!!!

1 comment:

  1. You are seriously one of the most amazing women I know, Sydney. Thank you for this wonderful post, I loved reading it and am looking forward to getting closer to you this upcoming year! 2014 is going to be a great year! :)

    ReplyDelete

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