Lifestyles of the Frantic and Frazzled: As 2010 turns into 2011…

I think it is only fit to go back through 2010 and take a look down memory lane, eh? And what is a ‘rewind post’ without a few pictures to help tell the story too? Well, each picture was taken in the specified month of the year, but it may or may not have anything exciting to go along with it. Although, there are WAY too many pictures (3713 pictures to be semi exact- added up all of the folders I have pictures in from this year, although I do have a few copied from my mom and Jay’s aunt). 3000 pictures for one year, not too bad, right?!

Let’s start at the beginning of 2010… (I had to go back through old posts to find all of the ‘good’ and ‘fun’ things about 2010.)January 2010: Ah, the beginning of another new year! I started my second semester of grad school, wondering how I ever made it through my first semester. My first semester being alone for clinic and I was freaking out! I found out I got a scholarship for school, of which I apparently had to do work for. Nothing is free these days, even money they hand out to people who didn’t even apply for it. Ayden and I had lots of fun playing in the winter snow. Apparently January wasn’t too cold since I didn’t make Ayden wear gloves outside when we were playing. Or maybe he was just being a silly five year old and took them off for a while. January was a laid back month. I love Januarys because I always have the first three weeks off to relax and recoup from the horrible semester before! February 2010: Ayden got his very first plane ride in February! It was SO awesome and he LOVED it! And the best part was that we were taking off and landing on a frozen lake! How cool is that?! Maybe we will get to do it again this year?! Valentine’s Day also happened and with a little ‘nudging’ from me, Jay bought me a ring for it. He’s not so romantic anymore and needs those gentle nudges, haha! He also took his friend sturgeon spearing for the first time and got him hooked and Jay got his first sturgeon with his new shanty and spear! He was SO excited! School continued to progress and I became more and more overwhelmed and began to think I wouldn’t make it through another semester. March 2010: Apparently we got some good weather in March because the above picture was taken only about halfway through it. No joking, hehe! Anyways, not complaining. Unfortunately, my mom had to put our family dog to sleep this month. It still sucks going over to her house and not having Misty there. Ayden learned how to ride his bike with no training wheels on and it only took him two days! He hasn’t look back since and it was such a great moment seeing him ‘get it’! We also took a mini family vacation to Wisconsin Dells during Spring Break and had a great time. It was lots of fun to just spend a few days as a family at some place other than our house!April 2010: I went to the eye doctor and got me some new glasses and then got some contacts for the first time in who knows how many years. I am SO glad that I went and got contacts again after not having them for a long time. I LOVE them! The only bad part is that now when I don’t wear my glasses or contacts I realize how blind I really am, haha! I also flew across the country to… SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA!!! I went to the national audiology conference with a few classmates of mine and it was SO much fun! That… and I got to go to California! Mostly because I knew I would never get there unless I had to pay for my whole family to go! Ayden and I also went to go see our first 3D movie! It was super cool! May 2010: Last month of my first year of grad school! Holy smokes that went SUPER fast, but SO glad that it came to an end! Two super hard/stressful/big exams, but I passed them both! Made it through my first semester of being on my own for clinic as well and LOVED it! Really felt like I knew I was going into the right career! We spent a lot of time at the golf course this month. Ayden got better and better with his swing and Jay showed off his! We got a fluke snow storm in May that left a good few inches on our lawn, but thankfully it all but disappeared in only a day or so. I had a few mommy nights with my friends and Jay ventured to Minnesota to visit with his friend and hit up a Brewers game and he graduated from college! Yeah him!June 2010: Ayden finished up his first year of school and ‘graduated’ from kindergarten! With the fabulous summer weather hitting us up, we ventured to the pool a lot this month! Ayden became a fish and even went down the water slide a few times. (Mommy wouldn’t let him the year before.) My brother graduated from high school. My brother graduate from high school… I still can’t believe that and its almost been a year. The summer semester for school started, as well as another session of clinic. Ayden started summer school and really enjoyed it!July 2010: We went to a hot air balloon festival and Ayden got to jump on a big trampoline. It was at that time that he let us know that he was afraid of heights. Don’t think I really believe him though. We also took the boat out on the river for fireworks and then got totally rained out! Like poured on horribly! It was the first time I got on the boat this past summer and the first of only two times at that! We got some new family and engagement pictures taken that I still LOVE! Actually, thinking about having the photographer take some more this coming spring. We went out on Lake Michigan to catch some fish and apparently I get sea sick! The ride totally sucked and I will not be doing that again any time soon! Ayden didn’t like it so much either! August 2010: August was a busy month for us! Ayden and I both celebrated our birthdays! I REFUSE to believe that he is SIX years old! My mom took Ayden to see Walking with Dinosaurs, we had two family camping events, and Ayden started first grade at his new school! Camping was lots of fun with both families and I totally saw my first wild bear running across the road as I was driving home from some place. We had our very first emergency room visit… and I’m glad that it was what it was. Scary nonetheless when your child needs to visit the emergency room, but thankfully it wasn’t anything horrible and we made it through. Well, Ayden made it through! September 2010: I started my second year of grad school and got completely overwhelmed in the first few weeks. It was horrible and I didn’t think I would make it through! We ventured to the Dells with Jay’s family and went hook and line sturgeon fishing for the second year in a row. Definitely a change from the previous year as the weather was super cold this year and we caught a lot of fish (although no keepers). Jay celebrated his birthday and we celebrated seven years together! My friend Kristi and I tried Zumba for the first time and fell in love! We didn’t attend class as much as we would like because we were both so busy all of the time! I created my photography page on Facebook and loaded all of the pictures that I’ve taken for people there. October 2010: I got a new car! Too bad it was because some idiot ran a stop sign and smashed up my old one! I LOVE my new car and hope that I have it for years and years to come because it is what I’ve always wanted and has so many more features that I could ever need. (I was pretty deprived with my other car.) I continued to crawl my way through the semester just wishing for it to be over! I took a lot of pictures of the beautiful fall colors this month and had a great time editing them!November 2010: I got my fourth tattoo and I couldn’t love it anymore! It hurt like you know what by the end, but it was SO worth it! I fell in love with Ryan Buell from Paranormal State and watched his show over and over when I should have been studying or doing homework or studying some more. I wished every night for the end of the semester and had many many many love/hate days with my decision to continue school after graduating the first time! When will it end!December 2010: I finished the semester with five ‘A’s and only ONE ‘A-‘… totally great! I had my last day of on campus clinic and couldn’t have been happier and was a total bah-humbug until the last minute when I had no choice but to put up the tree and decorations and then I went crazy with making Ayden let me take pictures of him! We all had a great Christmas and can’t wait to see what 2011 brings us!