What a Year It Has Been!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Matt and I!!

Only because of the emotions that were running through me -

Excitement, Relief, Love, Joy (just to name a few!)

A year ago today was one of the best days of my life!  My husband came home safely from his deployment in Afghanistan!!!  In some ways it seems like the last year has flown by and in others, it seems like it's been several years.  The last year has been a crazy year for us!  Matt was able to have a month off between coming home and going back to work so we were able to travel and see family and friends.  We really enjoyed that time together and made LOTS of miles across the United States in that time.  Here's a recap of the last year!

-  We found out that Matt would be working in Colorado City once he started back to work so I found us a rent house and got us moved before he came home. 

Our rent house in Colorado City

-  Both of our sisters had little girls while Matt was deployed and we are happy to be the Godparents to both of them!  In November, we flew to Las Vegas so he could meet his sister's daughter, Averi and then flew to Idaho Falls so he could meet my sister's daughter, Abigail.

Little Miss Averi - I don't have a picture of Matt and Averi

actually meeting so this will have to do!

Abigail meeting Uncle Matt for the first time!

-  Matt started back to work at the beginning of December.

-  In January, my brother and his wife welcomed twins Hudson and Henley into the world and we were delighted when they asked us to be Hudson's godparents!

Hudson (top) and Henley in the hospital

Henley - around 6 months (love her little smile!)

Hudson - around 6 months (check out his eyes!)

-  In February we found out that God had blessed us with a little miracle!! (who is welcome to join us at any time now!)  (this picture is obviously not from when we found out - I just can't find the picture I'm looking for.  But we actually found out the night before Valentine's Day!)

-  March brought about morning sickness and a hospital stay for me due to dehydration and another job opportunity for Matt.  He was promoted which brought about another move for us.  Corsicana would be our new home!  So we decided that it would be time to make that 'grown-up decision' and bought a house!

So I'm a horrible homeowner....I don't have a picture

of the outside so I had to google it and found this one!

-  In April, we 'officially' became homeowners and got our keys!  Matt started his new job and we moved into the house!  The first few days of home ownership were kind of crazy for us!  (this is more for my memory than anything)  The day before the movers were set to get here, I ended up in the ER!  More of a precaution than anything but I had been throwing up for 12 hours straight and didn't want to end up dehydrated again. Oh yeah, this was also the day that Matt STARTED his job.  I felt like a horrible wife making my husband take off work on his first day so he could be at the hospital with me, but I was SO glad that he was there.  Once I got settled into a room and an IV started, Matt left to head out to the house and make sure things were ready for the movers to come the next day.  After he left, the weather took a turn from nice and sunny to cloudy with tornadoes.  While he was at the house, they put the hospital on lockdown due to a tornado in the area which meant that he couldn't get in if he came back.  So he waited out the storm at the house.  Things finally settled down and we made it back to the hotel and got some rest.  The next day the movers came and went.  The first night in our new house was a little crazy!  We noticed the weather was not looking so good.  We went outside and noticed that there was some rotation in the clouds above us.  Our neighbor was outside and said that the Dallas News had storm chasers sitting less than 1/4 mile from our house (we could see them on the bridge behind our house) watching the rotation in the clouds right above our house!  Lo and behold, I looked up and there was a funnel that started dropping and I beelined it for the house!  Thankfully it went right back up and left!  We did get some rain and hail out of that storm, but Thank God no tornadoes!  And the craziness of April subsided!

-  May was a pretty slow month.  We got together with my side of the family at the beginning of the month for Hudson and Henley's Baptism in Fredericksburg.  Jill and Abigail spent the week after the Baptism at Mom and Dad's house and so I drove out to spend some time with them before they headed back to Idaho.  Tara braved a 2 hour drive with the twins and Holt by herself to come out and join us and I had such a great time with everyone and was very thankful I was able to head out that way!  Aside from family time we spent alot of time getting the house in order!

Mom and Dad with their kids and grandkids at Baptism

-  June, July, and August brought about lots of visits from my Mom as she came and helped us paint, organize, and decorate and we really appreciated all of her help!! July also brought about a chance for us to see our little miracle during the big ultrasound where they check all the parts of the baby.  I was so amazed at how well you could see everything on the screen and enjoyed getting to see our little miracle!!  Matt was in a wedding for one of his college buddies that luckily was just right down the road from the house! (which meant no packing, no driving out of town, no hotels!)  We actually opened up the Machacek Motel for any of Matt's buddies that wanted to come stay and ended up with a houseful - which we loved!  In August, Mom and Dad came up and helped us put in hardwood floors and they look amazing! Thank you, thank you, thank you Mom and Dad!

I haven't uploaded any pictures to my computer of the house yet -

so you'll just have to imagine all the work we did! :)

-  September brought about all the 'last trips' before Baby M joins us!  Labor Day weekend we headed to Shiner for the church picnic and to just visit with Matt's family.  We had a great time and are ready to head back for Thanksgiving - just with Baby M in our arms this time!  My final long road trip was out to West Texas for a wedding and our baby shower in St. Lawrence.  Jill and Abigail flew in a week before the shower.  I was able to fly to Lubbock and stay a night with Tara and the kids and then ride out to Mom and Dad's with her.  We had a great time watching Holt, Abigail, Hudson, and Henley play together!  It was crazy - but a lot of fun!!  Matt drove in on Friday night and joined the craziness!  One of my high school friends got married that Saturday and it was great to see everyone and she made a beautiful bride!  The following day we had our baby shower and were beyond blessed by all the gifts and blessings that we received!  We can't thank everyone enough for thinking of us during this special time!  Jill and Tara did a great job of pulling everything together for the shower from so far away!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

I'll upload some pictures of the baby shower after I get some!

-  October.  Oh, October....Baby M's birth month! (hopefully)  Matt and I have just been getting everything ready for Baby M to make his/her debut...whenever that might be!  The 'estimated' due date was October 20th, but we are officially overdue now!  We are just waiting for Baby M now.  Crazy to think that this time last year I was enjoying seeing my husband for the first time in 7 months and now we are getting ready to welcome our first child into the world!

One last maternity picture!  Just waiting for Baby M now!

Baby M - Mommy and Daddy can't wait to meet you.  Today would be a great day to come out and meet us since it marks such a special day for your mom and dad, but really any day that you get here will be even more special and we can't wait to hold you in our arms and watch you grow up!!  We love you so much already and can't wait to meet you!!