2013 starts with a look back

2012 - what a year! As I think back on this past year, I'm amazed at how quickly it passed and how incredibly EVENTFUL it was! Taking a look back seemed like the perfect way to start this year and, well, this blog. Because of course they always say, you can't really know where you are going until you know where you've been. (Warning - this post may be longer than usual - lots to recap :) )

January...
Pretty uneventful. I don't think I even took a single picture during the entire month of January! It's definitely my least favorite month of the year, so apparently I really could care less about anything that we did during that month. :)

February...

Happy birthday Rory! Our fur-baby turned 2 and of course we had to acknowledge her special day! Ha - this was probably around the same time that we thought, "hmm, maybe it's time we start thinking about REAL babies" :)

But seriously... how cute is she?!
 

We also went to check out my brother-in-law's band who came into town at the Mabee Center. Tenth Avenue North is an awesome Christian Band and we had a ton of fun watching Trevor's (my B.I.L) brother Brendan playing keyboard.

 

Brendan, Trevor, my sis Alyssa and me at the concert. Woot Woot! ha :)

 

March...

Apparently wasn't very important to me either because I have absolutely no documentation of that month. Oh well. Moving on...

 

Fabulous April

Definitely time for a vacation. Sister, B.I.L, hubs and I went on a CRUISE - probably our favorite thing in the world to do. There's a very good chance you will see many more a'post about family cruises :) Let me tell you, if you have any doubts about how amazing cruises are - stop right now. They are uhhhmazing.

Hubs and me in St. Thomas by Magen's Bay Beach. BEAUTIFUL

Seestar and I took a cupcake making class and made cheesburger and fries cupcakes. Super fun!

 May...

 

Hubs and I hamming it up in the photobooth

I had the honor of being in my good friend and coworker, Kelley's, GORGEOUS wedding! We had so much fun celebrating her and her new hubby Greg! Bonus - got to see some sweet friends from college and catch up on the past 3 years. Such great girls and a fantastic weekend of festivities :)

With the beautiful bride!

June and July...

Ahhh summer. Love it. We had a summer full of time at the lake, hanging out at the pool, and lots and lots of snow cones. What I wouldn't GIVE for a snow cone right now. Some highlights - visiting my bff Erin and her husband Mike in St Louis...also the home to my beloved Cardinals! I am a HUGE cards fan, thanks to my dad, and I had fun showing Ricky around Busch Stadium (Ok, Red Sox have their history and all that jazz, blah blah... You really can't beat a night at Busch in my book). Or a night with the bestie! Erin and I have been best friends since pretty much middle school when she moved to OK from CA. We have been each other's support through our prime awkward stages, many a crush and broken heart, and been the biggest prayer warriors to each other through it all. I do NOT know what I would do without this girl. And even though I'm still holding a *slight* grudge that her husband moved her away from me (joking...mostly.), I'm glad she's not tooooo far that we can't have crazy reunion weekends every now and then. :)

Weekend FILLED with my favorite people and things. This is what Summer is all about people!

4th of July with Ricky. By far one of my FAVE holidays!

August...

Wrapping up summer with a sister trip to Denver. My sister's bff Elisa who is a family friend that I have known my ENTIRE life is a traveling nurse who lives a glamorous life traveling between every city imaginable working at different hospitals. Seriously, this girl is EVERYWHERE! She's currently in South Sudan (I know, right?) doing things I don't think I could ever do. Thank goodness for people like her :) Well anyways, she was in Denver at that time so Aly, me, and E's sister Jill all flew out for a long weekend of beautiful weather, white water rafting, hiking (who, me?!), shopping (that's more like it...), and lots and lots of ice cream. The weekend may or may not have also included a self-made music video tribute to "Call Me, Maybe." We'll never tell :)

E, me, Jill and Aly before white water rafting.



At the gorgeous Hanging Lake after hiking all the way up this mountain (ok, more like a really big hill. But still.) to get there. So worth it. Colorado me is sooo outdoorsy. :)
 

September...

Wow, this was a BIG month. Not only did one of my best friends, Stephanie, give birth to the most adorable little girl ever, we also got some BIG news of our own. If you haven't heard the story yet, ask me sometime about how GOOD and FAITHFUL God is.

Happy Birthday Chloe Lynn. We love you already!

Uhhhhh... Let's get ready for one of our own!

October

As you can imagine, we were letting the big news sink in at this point. And also hiding it from just about everyone. We kept the pregnancy a secret for awhile, so pretty much had this whole month to give each other knowing glances and giggles. Which was TOUGH because this month also included the most fun runway show of the year with some fun modeling friends and our annual trip to Eureka Springs, Ark. with my entire family.

All the girls with Carmen after the show

Carmen Marc Valvo is an amazingly talented designer from New York who has come to Tulsa for the past 10 years to bring basically his whole runway show from Fashion Week and help put on a fundraiser for Tulsa Project Women, which helps women with breast cancer. I've been lucky enough to be a part of this show for the past 6-7 years and it's always the most fun of the year. I think I was about 8 weeks pregnant at this point and I definitely noticed the clothes not fitting quite like usual. Hopefully nobody else noticed!

Our family has done trips to Eureka Springs, Arkansas for as long as I can remember. We used to go with both sets of grandparents and my parents and just have a long weekend full of golf, craft shopping, and fun little country shows. We stopped doing the trips for awhile when my grandma got sick, but started them back up in 2011 after she passed away. It's now been a fun time to be together and reminisce on the fun we used to have with her and how much she loved those trips. Let me tell you, keeping a BIG secret from your family is tough enough, then add living in a big house with them for 5 days! Thank goodness I had Ricky there to gab with at night about our exciting news.

November...
By this point, our family was in on the secret and we were gradually letting our closest friends know also. November always flies by with all the holiday prep, so we spent the month both working hard at work to get things wrapped up before Thanksgiving/Christmas. We also celebrated one of my besties, Kara's, birthday. She is super crafty and creative and threw a murder mystery style birthday bash this year. We had lots of fun getting into character and trying to figure out 'who dun it'. :)

Gamblin' Jack and AnnaBelle. No, the mustache is not real, and yes, it is disgusting.

December...
The most wonderful time of the year! This December was especially fun because not only do I start out the month with my birthday (I LOVE birthdays), but we also spilled the news to all our friends and family.

Coming Soon! Baby Broughton - due June 3, 2013!

We alsooo found out the big news of BOY or GIRL! We found out on the Monday before Christmas and of course, kept the news a secret until we could have a gender reveal that Wednesday. I got all the goodies ready for the party and waited in anticipation to share the news!

 

 

Just some of the yummy snacks at the party. I tried to keep it as "blue and pink/red" as possible. :)

Since it was right before Christmas, I wanted to incorporate that into our reveal. We started the night by everyone picking either a blue or red candy cane at the door to mark their pick for what they thought Baby B would be. Then, we had bought a little christmas tree that was lit in pink/blue and wrapped a huge golf bag box and topped it with a bow. We turned down the lights and BAM - the secret was out!

She's a GIRL! We are absolutely elated :)

Ricky laughs because I had this big plan to find pink/red or blue lights and completely wrap our tree (ha - or house) in them and then turn off the lights and have this big magical moment for the reveal. My brilliant plan was cut short when we realized everyone buys their lights like, the day after Thanksgiving, and we couldn't find ANY solid colored lights! Sad day. :( I just had this huge moment in my head and told him disappointingly, "It was going to be so cool! Like, the 'lighting of the Rockefeller Tree' type feeling!" Ok, so maybe not quite that dramatic. But I had worked it up to that! Our little pink tree ended up being perfect though (and on sale- bonus! Love a good deal.), and we can put it in her room at Christmas time and tell her all about how much we loved her even back then.

Christmas and New Years passed in a flash and now here we are - Feb. 5th and the year is flying by. 2012 was great, but we are so looking forward to 2013!