2012: A Year in Cell Phone Pictures

 I stopped blogging awhile back. There's just no way to adequately catch up, so I've resorted to laziness. In an effort to preserve some memories, I thought I'd take a little trip down memory lane via the pictures in my cell phone. Speaking of-- here's picture numero uno on New Years Day  2012 when we got our first "fancy phones".  My Mother always tells me not to furrow my brow. Here's photo evidence of why she is always right...

Our baby fur ball has grown into a full-blown CAT this year. Bodie: aka Kitty, Baby Boy, Littlest One, Stinkpot. He has a myriad of names and about 5,000 pictures to document his antics! I'll spare you the other 4,000ish.

I've heard it said before about rescue pets, and I agree--We didn't rescue Bodie, he rescued us. He came to the rescue when we were so very sad after losing our little baby. This cat has brought so much joy, laughter and happiness (most of the time) to our household.

In JANUARY, Doug turned 30something. He has been improving our home a little more each month. Good thing I got him that book!

Also in January, I went to work for Envoy Hospice. Back then, we were little--in fact, I believe I was told I was joining a "boutique hospice".  We now have the privilege of caring for 100+ poeple and their families and our staff is about 10 times this size. 

This was one of my favorite days at Envoy to date. The lady in this picture (purple shirt) was one of our most dearly loved patients. On her birthday, we had a surprise party...we called it "PJ's and Pancakes". We all wore jammies and well...ate pancakes! She said she was thankful that her last birthday was her best birthday. My heart still warms when I think of her.

This was pretty much the worst picture taken that day, but it makes me laugh! What a blessing my transition to Envoy has been! So thankful to be a part of such an incredible organization full of wonderful people!

FEBRUARY...this was Valentine's Day.

We had a very romantic dinner at Braum's.

Two of my favorites....Doug and ice cream.

I came home one day in February to find that Doug had created a scavenger hunt for me. This wasn't the first clue...

...that I have a very sweet husband!

I felt quite a bit of dread as the month of MARCH approached. The baby that we lost the in Summer of 2011 was to be due on March 13th. That date was looming over me, and I feared that it would be a terrible day. Instead, I felt incredible peace. We started a tradition on that day of releasing balloons in honor of that sweet baby's birthday (please don't call the EPA on us). It was a quiet time of reflection, prayer and thanking God for the joy that little life brought to us, even for just a short time.

 

This is the stone we placed in the garden Doug planted to honor our baby.

 

We have loved watching this little garden grow.

 

New buds on that tree remind us of God's unfailing mercies...they're new every day.

 

March wouldn't be complete without a celebration of new gray hair (nothing a little a lot of bleach can't fix!) and a new year of life!

Lots of birthday love!

One time in March, I was a good wife and went to watch my husband enjoy his favorite pastime...

APRIL brought with it the Great Sweater Disaster of 2012. We learned that Bodie is NOT to be trusted anywhere near the winter storage bins! Almost every sweater I own was dragged to it's place of death and attacked with vengeance. Apparently, he has an affinity for fine Old Navy and Dillard's brand wools.

Good thing he's pretty cute...

In MAY we celebrated our 5th Anniversary on May 5th. We left Bodie with Nana and headed for the Hill Country.

We stayed at the StableWood Springs Resort outside of Kerrville. It was excellent!!

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Lots of relaxing...

which was a total "RELIEF" to Doug especially!

Note: Before anyone calls the National Parks and Wildlife Association or whoever gets called when people pee in streams, you can hold off. Doug thinks it's hilarious to "pose" this way. I have about 10 other pictures througout our marriage of him in this stance. I feel a collage in the making!

Some of us rode mountain bikes down steep hills covered in rocks.

Some of us POSED for a picture to look like we rode a mountain bike down a steep hill covered in rocks when really "we" were too afraid and walked beside our mountain bike for approximately 2 miles before almost passing out in the inferno that was Kerrville in May.

I had a bright idea that we should take a picture of our hands every year on our anniversary to show our age progression. Then, we saw how creepy this picture was and the tradition died immediately.

We also ate very healthy meals the entire time.

Later in May this pretty tree in our yard had to be taken down because it had a disease. I guess Doug thought he wouldn't catch the disease if he wore his umbrella hat and my bathrobe while standing near it.

We had our first and last meal on the patio in May. Moments after this picture was snapped, Doug was swarmed by about 200 mosquitos and he told me he was never going outside again (not even in my bathrobe).

In JUNE we got to keep Brock and Chloe for the weekend while their parents were away. This was the only time they were still enough for me to take their picture.

Also in June, I officiated an outdoor wedding. Yes, in June. In Texas. I'm still recovering from that, but we sure had a fun time riding to Dallas in this stretch limo and going to the reception at the Old Warsaw! That was a dining experience that I've never had before and will probably never have again!

In JULY, we celebrated the birthday of the matriarch of our family, my Great Aunt Virginia. I won't reveal her age, but you would NEVER guess it! She's amazing!

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Aunt Judy, Cousin Nancy and Mom 

In AUGUST, I officiated a very unique funeral. The deceased was from Hawaii, so it only made sense for her family to have a hawaiian themed funeral! These beautiful flowers are the only picture I captured, which is unfortunate given that every person was wearing FULL hawaiian garb (leis, grass skirts, floral shirts...but no coconut bras).

After the funeral, there was a very unfortunate butterfly release. Let's just say that releasing butterflies at an outdoor funeral in AUGUST does not end well.

"And now, we release these butterflies as a symbol of so and so's spirit which lives on blah blah blah" followed by SPLAT!! SPLAT! SPLAT!!...about 50 dead butterflies on the sun-baked concrete.

In SEPTEMBER, we reaffirmed our love by getting His and Hers matching traffic citations--same stop sign, same officer, same fine. We didn't do much eating that month.

We also made it to a Rangers game in September. This picture was taken before I melted into a puddle on the concrete. Why is baseball a hot weather sport??

Doug is a great flower giver! This was the OCTOBER installment of floral beauty. Pretty sweet card too!

In NOVEMBER, we elected a new president and...

the cutest new 4 year old in the world!

We celebrated sweet Chloe Claire with a ride on the Forest Park train and a trip to the zoo.

When there are not yet any children to capture in photos, an extreme amount of pictures get taken of the cat. He was pretty cute posing by the pumpkins until he spotted the wool sweater I was wearing. You know how that ended...

DECEMBER was a great time of Christmas lights...

Christmas broaches...

and Christmas parties.

So, there you have it...2012 in cell phone pictures! Believe me, I spared you from MANY more photos of the cat, fabric samples, Doug "peeing" into bodies of water, grocery lists, etc.

Can't wait to see what my cell phone captures in 2013!!