a year in review

So I went through our pictures and tried to pick one or two for each month (I started with one and then bent the rules when necessary)...

January--My birthday

 February--Trip to Ball State for my Midwest sport psychology conference-- my first professional presentation

 --Mikel at Ohio State

 March--Fishing- lots of fishing

 --Spring break road trip to Indianapolis for another presentation...

 --Butler bulldog

 April-- MSU to the final four

 May--Trip to Naperville, IL for work/anniversary

 June--Lansing Lugnuts

 July--Celebrating the 4th

 --Alaska!!!

August-- Road trip to GA for volleyball camp and fun

 September-- MSU football

--And trail cam pictures-- apparently I was busy with school

 

 October--Mikel's birthday

 --My sport psychology conference in Rhode Island

 November-- MSU hockey

 --Hunting

 December-- Christmas Eve

It was a good year!!!

4th of July

Right now, Mikel is at work and I should be packing for all that traveling I have coming up but instead I'm looking through pictures! The slower pace of summer does make us miss family and friends even more although our friends have scattered to Nebraska, Washington, Arizona, Idaho so they are more difficult to visit.

These are some pictures from 4th of July last year. We had a BBQ at Ross Park in Pocatello and then watched fireworks at the fairgrounds. Josh was able to come home from where he was working and we got to see him for the last time before we moved! It was definitely a fun night!

Josh, Mikel,and Jesse waiting for the fireworks (I got 2 of the 3 of them to smile-- I consider it a success)

Mikel throwing the frisbee with friends...Isn't he cute?Waiting, waiting, waiting for fireworks...
Shannon and me. Yes, she's wearing my ISU volleyball sweatshirt... it got cold!

Now, back to packing so I can hang out with Mikel when he gets off work!

Lately we've been talking a lot about "last year at this time" and we've decided that we were a lot busier then compared to now (and we are loving the slower pace).

Last year at this time, we were on our way to Maui where we had an AWESOME time! It was an amazing trip and we can't wait to go again (although, that may not be in the near future)!


Since there are no pictures on here from our trip, this seems the perfect time to share them. This is what we were doing at this time last year...

Dinner at Bubba Gump...

Snorkeling in this beautiful bay...

On our way to dinner at Kimo's...
Watching people jump off this cliff in front of a hotel close to ours...
At a luau...

Beautiful beaches and landscapes...


Sitting on the beach, listening to the luau MC on a different night...
More snorkeling....
At Cheeseburger in Paradise (need I say more?!)...
At a Cirque du Soleil like show about the history of Hawaii. We got the tickets free because we booked the trip through AAA and, although we may not have chosen to go on our own, it was well worth it... so cool!!!
At the Maui Ocean Center the day we left. An awesome aquarium!!


Sleeping in the San Francisco airport, we were tired on the way home...
We had TONS of fun in Hawaii and are so glad that we went!!

1st anniversary

Yesterday was our first anniversary! I can't believe how fast the last year has flown by! We got married, went to Hawaii, Mikel finished his masters, we moved to Michigan, and I finished my first year of my PhD program! It was a fun and challenging year but we survived!

At this time last year, this is what we were doing...


But this year was a lot quieter. Mikel had to work yesterday so Friday night we tried out a new restaurant that is a little out of town but it's always busy so we figured it must be good (and it was DELICIOUS)! We figured Friday was an OK day to celebrate because it was 365 days of being married!

This is the restaurant we went to...

We didn't realize it was still zoomed in from taking a picture of the sign but the picture turned out pretty good anyways!
Also, Mikel got me a very nice necklace for a wedding present and I got him something but it wasn't too exciting so this year, I got him a present. He really wanted a new golf bag and he kept talking about this one he had seen so I snuck out and got it for him. Unfortunately for him, the clubs aren't new but he was excited about the bag!