The Best Year, EVER!!!

It's a bold statement, I know. But 2014 was the best year EVER for Mr. K and I.

Here's a quick recap:

January- 

*We started off the year with a bang, on Jan. 2nd I accepted a new job (again!) and Jan. 23rd was my last day at our church in Fargo. It's a great church and I really, really wanted things to work out for us there. It was everything I thought I wanted, it's younger, they have vibrant worship services centered around awesome music, they have SO MANY young families but I missed the church grandmas & grandpas, I missed the history, I missed the hymnals. So when the pastor from OSL came and asked me to apply for this job, we decided I should go for it. Ok, it wasn't that easy. He asked me to apply 3 or 4 times in a matter of 6 months before we decided to go for it. Sometimes it's hard to see God at work in our lives...

*The Mr and I took an impromptu trip to Branson, MO for a long weekend. We literally decided to go at 6 on a Thur night, loaded up the car, and headed out. It was so much fun!

February-

*Pretty 'normal'. Settled into my new job. 

*Toured an apartment (above a funeral home!!) and a house (to rent).

March-

*Decided on renting the house over the funeral home apartment. Good choice.

*The house is actually right at the farm that Mr. K works at so he just gets to walk across the yard each morning, so nice for our gas bill!

*My high school girlfriends came to stay with us for St. Patrick's Day. I love being with them!

April-

*On April 3rd we found out we were expecting! Due the end of Nov.

So exciting!! I cried in disbelief, after 15 months of seeing a negative result you start to believe that it won't ever happen. I took the test in the morning and I told Mr. K that evening by giving him the Willow Tree Angle figurine that is a dad & baby. It's called 'New Dad', he opened it and said why would I need this?

A few weeks later we told our families, everyone is VERY excited. This will be the first 

grandbaby in both families.

*We did lots of work on the house- painted all of the room except for the living room. We painted all of the kitchen cabinets- there are 45 of them!! We tore the shower/tub combo out of our master bathroom & put in a tile shower surround.

*We moved into the house during Holy Week- if you work at a church DO NOT move during Holy Week. Such a headache.

*The father of my really good friend Katie from high school passed away early in April and his funeral was during Holy Week. It was a very hard service to be at, all I could think of was 'What if it was my dad?' I couldn't imagine how hard that is go through ever, let alone in your late 20's.

May-

*We send out announcements and told social media (a.k.a the whole world) that we're expecting. The response was overwhelming.

June-

*College roomie's wedding- So fun! We road tripped to Southern MN with some other college friends, went to a Twins game, did some damage at IKEA, laughed, ate amazing food, danced, drank (not me!). Such a fun weekend.

July-

*Family reunion weekend at the lake cabin, we just love going there.

*Spent every weekend on the pontoon, the weather didn't always play nice but whatever. Even in jeans & a sweatshirt, I like being on the boat. Hopefully WD will like it too!

*Took 11 high schoolers to Kansas City on a mission trip. What a week! We volunteered by picking produce from fields that farmers donate and sorting donations at a soup kitchen. We also got to go to a KC Royals game. And I got to see my aunt, uncle, & cousin who live just outside of KC and my grandparents who live in Southern MN when we stopped for lunch on the way home. The only downside was the bus ride. 10+ hours on a bus was a little much for this 23 week pregnant momma.

August-

*The first weekend in Aug. is always WeFest- this year was awesome! It was a little chilly but that's ok. The best acts were The Band Perry & Florida Georgia Line. I wore funny pregnancy shirts each day: 'Future Country Music Star', 'If you mustache, I'm pregnant', and 'I ate a seed'.

*August was baby month in our house- we set up Baby K's dresser from IKEA, I registered for baby at Target at WalMart, my belly popped & I really started to look pregnant (I think).

*We finished Aug. & summer with a friends weekend at my friend Ali's parent's lake house. So much fun to be with those girls! Poor Mr. K was the only guy though! 

September-

*I guess by now Baby K had taken over our lives, Sept, was baby month too! We got a crib & car seat/stroller combo- Thanks Grandmas!! I did a bunch of work in the nursery, and my sister & sister in law had a baby shower for us.

*We finally got things finalized at work for my maternity leave. I'm happy with the agreement and so is the church.

October-

*Mr. K was hard at work harvesting. It was the best beet season they've had in years. They got all of their beets out of the fields in 8 days- it normally takes 2 or 3 weeks to get them all out because of the weather & moisture but this year the stars aligned and everything went super smooth.

*Oct. 13th I went in for a regular doc appointment and my blood pressure was super high- so high that I had to go to the hospital for a while that evening. They did let me go home that night but put me on bedrest at home. BP never went down again, I got put on meds & was instructed to stay home and lay on my left side as much as possible.

*Oct. 24th I woke up at 1:30 to go to the bathroom and my water broke. We went to the hospital around 3:30, got settled in our room, and WD got here just after 8 am. We were 36 weeks on the dot, I was a little nervous because I knew that 37 weeks was considered full term but the nurse that checked us in said that any time your water breaks after 35 weeks it's better for the baby to come out than it is for the baby to stay in.

*Oct. 26th we got to come home!! And daddy went back to work the next day.

November-

*So many firsts! Photo shoot, Thanksgiving, meeting great-grandparents, meeting a dog, going to a restaurant, going to Zorbaz, toys & playmats, craft show (x2!)

*We left WD with someone else for the first time! On the 26th Mr. K and I went to a retirement party for a guy from the farm and my parents came over to watch WD. It was so weird to leave the house without him.

December-

*More firsts!! Christmas tree, meeting Santa, worship at OSL, CHRISTMAS!!

*The Mr and I left him with my friend Lacey one night so we could go out to dinner for our anniversary. It was still kind of weird, but it was good for us to go out without him. I felt off kilter just carrying my purse and not the whole diaper bag.

*Dec. 29th was my first day back at work. It hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be, but I'm sure next week will be more difficult- next week he starts daycare! This week he's just at home with daddy.

Uff-da! If you're still reading- sorry that was anything but the quick recap I promised!! 

But it really was the best year yet!

Love, Mrs. K