2007 in review

2007 sports the second highest number of posts in the history of this blog, but just in case you didn't get enough, i thought i'd share my reflections on the highlights of 2007.

--in early january ross and i took our newly acquired mountain bikes up to austin and went biking at town lake with todd. biking is an awesome activity we got involved in this year. like most fun things, we never get to do it enough, but now that ross doesn't have class on saturdays and the weather is great, we hope to get a lot of biking done in 2008 as well.

--on march 3, 2007 ross and i got married! (duh). i was very pleased with how our wedding went and i thought it was super fun. i do wish i could go back and relax for about 2wks before our wedding so that i could have enjoyed it even more...the stress of getting everything for the wedding together, working long hours at work, looking for a new job, and moving really made the first few months of 2007 a blur. after our wedding, ross and i enjoyed a trip to montego bay, jamaica. i had a blast, but i didn't realize how awesome it was until we got back. whenever i look at pictures and remember the good times, i wish we could go back! and maybe we will? who knows what 2008 holds?

--after we moved to austin in march, we enjoyed the outdoors! we went camping at pace bend with daniel & eveyln, we bought a hobie 14 sailboat and took it out on lake travis, and tried to take it out at corpus christi but had difficulties with the weather. we went fishing on lake travis with charles and also bought patio furniture to enjoy quiet evenings outside. we then bought another sailboat and took it out often for sunsets on lake travis. our outdoor adventures were somewhat more limited than we would have liked as this summer in austin we experienced lots of rain and flooding that was kinda crazy!! we look forward to more camping and sailing in 2008. in fact, ross will spend the first weekend of 2008 deep sea fishing with charles.

--this year was also full of visits from family and friends! ross' parents were our first visitors, followed shortly by my mom and rachel. the rest of my family also made it down, along with lots of visits from friends. jared and rachel came and spent an entire week with us this august. ross and i enjoyed hosting them, playing lots of games and showing them around austin, including a visit to the capitol and a kayaking trip on town lake. we are going to enjoy new years day with m&r and m&b, and also look forward to lots of visits at our new home from friends and family in 2008.

--this summer i was a stay at home wife! for the most part i found stuff to do. i was able to take a trip up to portland and spend some time with some special friends up there. i helped out at our church's vbs. i went to two math teacher conferences, and for 6 weeks i went to teacher certification classes and taught 7th grade math at summer school. also ross and i spent a lot of time together, including the time he took me downtown to a keith urban concert and many evenings getting caught up on the television show House. as i am now a teacher, i will also enjoy having the summer of 2008 off work and i am looking forward to all that this summer will hold. also, we are hoping 2008 will include House, provided this strike ends at some point.

--this fall was filled with...school. i'm in my first year of teaching and i have been putting in some serious time trying to be as prepared as possible to teach these little people. also, ross is in the middle of getting his masters degree in computer science, and this took up his monday nights and saturdays all fall. this spring his classes will be in the evenings and i am learning how to spend less time on my preparations, so we are looking forward to more time together in 2008!

--this fall we also had tickets with my family to the a&m football games. while it wasn't the greatest football season ever, we loved going and hanging out with my family. we also saw some great football games, including a win over texas.

--near the end of 2007 we also got peyton! she is an awesome dog and we really enjoy having her around. she makes us laugh just about every day. today i was carrying blankets through the house to wash them, and she decided she needed to do the same. she ran and found her blanket and began carrying it around all through the house and then proceeded to run around and around the backyard, blanket in tow. we look forward to more fun times with peyton (and minnie!) in 2008.

--on november 12th we purchased our first house! we absolutely love it and are fully moved out of our old place, and fairly moved into our new place. tomorrow our pre-cut shed from lowes arrives, and ross (and me sorta) will have the pleasure of putting it together. we have a lot of work to do, but we are looking forward to enjoying our house in 2008.

2007 was a great year. we will obviously always remember it as the year we got married, and also the year we bought our first house. i can't wait to see the exciting memories we will have of 2008. happy new year!