(Preface: I recently figured out how to make it so you can comment on the blog via your Facebook account. We'd love to hear about your 2012 highlights and what you're looking forward to in 2013! Just click comments/post a comment below if the Facebook widget doesn't automatically show up.)
Oh, how life can change in a year!
Here's how Trevor and I rang in 2012:
And here's how we're going to ring in 2013 this year:
Thinking about the past year, I got a little mushy on the latest pregnancy blog post. Lately, it seems I am reminded every day how lucky we are to have the friends and family we have. Honestly, I wasn't a huge fan of 2011, so I had high expectations for 2012 and I sure lucked out as it was an awesome year! Read below for our year in review. I am definitely pretty pumped for what 2013 has in store.
As you all know, Trevor began his third
deployment journey with the MN Army National Guard in May 2011 and was still
deployed to Kuwait for New Year’s. Thankfully, the stars aligned and we
were able to ring in the New Year together via Skype (video chat) on Ali’s phone
from a New Year’s party. In February, Ali went to visit a good friend,
Tosha, in Beryl, Utah. Try to find it on a map; it’s literally in the
middle of nowhere, about an hour drive to a grocery store or Wal-Mart. Ali
shot a gun for the first time and watched Tosha chop wood to heat the house-it
was a great getaway! Trevor made his way to the United States (Camp Shelby,Mississippi) in early April. The homecoming events for other friends on this tour began in April as well, but Trevor still had a month in MS until he
would actually be home (just being in the same country was a big relief for us
both!). May was probably the biggest month of the year for us. Trevor’s big homecoming was early May-what a relief to have that deployment behind us
and get back to real life. We had known about it since before Trevor even came
home from his previous tour, so there was essentially no break from the deployment mentality. Anyway, get back to real life we did! Just a couple weeks
later we found out we’d be welcoming our first baby in January 2013 (coming
quickly!), we had an awesome welcome home party and Trevor went back to school
at Minnesota State University-Mankato. Trevor is pursuing a
Biology-Biomedical Sciences bachelor’s degree that will also fulfill the
Pre-Dentistry requirements-lots of school ahead! Between Trevor’s two
summer courses, we went to visit Ali’s aunt/uncle/cousins near Madison,
WI. We always have a good time when we visit them so it was nice to be
able to fit in a trip this summer. In July, Ali signed up to be a Scentsy consultant (wickless candles warmed by a light bulb rather than a flame with
other home/body fragrance products, too). What started as a hobby to
support our own Scentsy use has turned into much more since July. In
August, we took a homecoming/baby-on-the-way vacation to Hawaii. It was
amazing! We spent most of the trip on Maui, but took a day trip to Oahu to see the Pearl Harbor sights. The included photo was taken on a dinner
cruise off Maui. There have been a few
changes for Trevor’s military career lately. September was Trevor’s last
drill with 2-135 Infantry Battalion and October was his first with a new unit,
MN Medical Detachment (Med Det), part of the Office of the State Surgeon. Trevor
has spent nearly his entire 13-year National Guard career (and two of his three
deployments) with 2-135, an infantry unit, so transferring to a medical unit
was a big change. Just one month after his first drill with Med Det,
Trevor found out he was selected for a promotion to First Sergeant (E-8) into
yet another new unit, C Co 134 BSB, a medical unit out of Cottage Grove. November
marked the beginning of many fun gatherings, Thanksgiving and two baby showers.
This month, Trevor wrapped up his hectic fall semester at MSU (Pre-Calc,
Genetics and General Chemistry) now we're just wrapping up finishing the basement (OK, Trevor is) and baby prep! Bring it on, 2013!
May you all have an amazing 2013-we're so lucky to have you all in our lives!
-A
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