2012 was a crazy year for us including moving, me starting a new job, Kinley growing and learning new things everyday! Here is a quick recap:
January- Jason and I started the new year with a seven hour car ride to the Cotton Bowl, unfortunately K-State lost to Arkansas but we still had a great time with friends and enjoying a town that neither of us had been to before. We then headed back to Iowa where we got 8" of snow which Kinley loved. Kinley also started her third set of swimming lessons and the biggest thing for Kinley was that she moved to her BIG girl bed! We got her a toddler bed but she opted for the full size bed that was our guest bed that was in her room. She didn't have any trouble transitioning to the new bed.
February- This February was different than any of the other four that we had lived in Iowa, there was no snow on the ground and warmer weather than normal. We enjoyed playing outside on Valentines Day and we also took in a few UNI Basketball games, both men and women.
March- The warm trend continued into March and Kinley loved spending time on her swing set. Panther Productions brought Tyga to UNI's campus, that was something that was completely out of my comfort zone but a great learning experience none the less. I broke my first ever cell phone when it slipped out of my hand as I was walking into work but I guess the upside would be that I finally got an iPhone! Grandma Cheryl also came to visit for her birthday. We celebrated by eating LOTS of food! We stopped at Hickory Park in Ames, Iowa on our way home from picking Cheryl up in Des Moines. They have some of the best bar-be-que in the state of Iowa plus the have a whole menu just for ice cream! While Cheryl was visiting we also went to Chuck E. Cheese (Kinley's present to Grandma), Sakura Japanese Steak House (Jason's present to Cheryl), got pedicures (my present to Cheryl and her first ever pedicure!) and enjoy spending time together.
April- This year Kinley got in the full spirit of Easter or at least the egg hunt part. We took her to an egg hunt at our church and she had a blast. My boss also invited us over to their house on Easter Sunday for lunch then all the kids in their neighborhood (about 50 kids) gather at one families yard to have a hunt. She didn't really care about the candy inside but just loved finding the eggs. We took in a few UNI Softball games during the spring and Kinley was on our local new a few different times cheering for the Panthers. Again the warmer than normal weather made going to the softball games a lot of fun. April also brought a visit from Great Granny Cook and Grammy Dee (my mom and grandma) for a weekend and Great Grandma Joan and Beth while Jason was traveling for work. We did lots of shopping and eating out while they all visited. Also, a little known fact this was the first April in 122 years with no snow in Iowa! So glad we could be a part of that history!
May- May started with Kinley's first visit to the ER, Jason was still traveling and I got a call from Grandma Joan that Kinley was having a hard time breathing so I rushed home and took her straight to the ER. It turns out she had the beginning stages of RSV so we had a treatment then got sent home with a neutralizer. Luckily, daddy came home the next day and we were both glad to have him home! We also spend lots of time working in our yard in the month of May. We removed two trees from the back and worked very hard to keep the grass growing which was difficult because we were in a drought. I got a swing for the front porch for Mother's Day so Kinley and Beasley both loved spending time outside in both the front and backyard. Kinley's second birthday fell on a Saturday so we spent the whole day celebrating. We started the day by going to Chuck E. Cheese, then had Frozen Yogurt for desert then headed home to wait for our guest to come over for a BBQ party at our house. The night was going along great until Jason thought he could juggle bocce balls and broke his lip open. We spend a couple hours deciding if we were headed to the ER but in the end decided to use some glue on his lip and hope for the best. As it turns out it was just fine and all healed now. At Memorial Day we headed back to Kansas where we would have a jam packed weekend celebrating with family. We spend time in Osage with uncle Alex who was living there for the summer and Aunt Chellie who came to visit for Kinley's birthday. The adults spent time at the lake on our boat then we attend Jason's cousin's wedding and ended the weekend with a party in Ottawa. On our way home we stopped at Oak Park Mall so Kinley could visit the Disney Store and spend her birthday money. She bought a BIG Daisy Duck and Donal Duck to match her other characters.
June- Shh...we have a secret! June started with me having an on-campus interview at the University of Central Missouri for the Assistant Director of Residence and Fraternity/Sorority Life. Jason and I had agreed we were not going to tell our family about the interview because we didn't want anyone to get their hopes up but the day before we left we decided we should let them know. We found out on Wednesday, June 13 that I had been offered the job and I accepted. The next month was a whirlwind of telling people that I was leaving, getting our house ready to sell, looking for housing, and wrapping up loose end all over the place. We did take a quick break from all that fun to celebrate Father's Day then Jason had to head out for another work trip which meant Great Grandma Joan and Beth came to visit. They were a huge help in packing and the day that Jason came home we headed to Des Moines to spend time with my family at the huge car show they have in Des Moines each year.
July- July started the same way June ended except we picked up Cheryl and Garth from the airport in Des Moines. We all went to the car show and had some very yummy Bar-Be-Que at a place called Jethro's BBQ. I headed to KC with my parents to go to UCM to do a couple days of training while Jason, Kinley, Cheryl and Garth went back to Waterloo. They started working on our housing to get it ready to go on the market which included new carpet throughout the whole house and fixing up several small things that needed to be done inside and outside. I am beyond grateful to Cheryl for watching Kinley and Garth for helping Jason get everything done! My mom then drove me to Des Moines where Jason picked me up so I could be home for the 4th of July. We celebrated the 4th of July in Independence, Iowa which Jason and I wanted to do for a long time and decided that since it was our last 4th in Iowa we should make the most of it. Our house went on the market on July 6 and we reach an agreement with our buyers on July 11! My family came up to Iowa on the 13th so we could packed up the U Haul then we had a very short night of sleep and headed to Missouri on the 14th. We got everything unloaded and my family took Kinley back to Kansas since we would be making another trip back to Iowa to finalize everything. Jason and I spend the 15th looking at houses and put an offer on a house. I officially started my job on the 16th and spend the whole day in training. I found out when I got out of training that the sellers had accepted our offer so in the matter of 10 days we put our house on the market, had an offer on our house and had an offer accepted on a house! CRAZY! On the 17th we hit the road back to Waterloo for my last two days of work and the Waterloo Jaycees Great Waterloo Open. I had a great going away party at work and with my co-workers then we spent the next four days cleaning our house and at the golf course. On the 23rd we shut the door on our first house for the last time and headed back to Missouri. We picked up Kinley after 11 days, the longest we have ever gone without being with our baby and started to get settled into our temporary living space. We rented a two bedroom apartment form the university until our house was ready. We spent the rest of the month getting settled into Warrensbrug while I started learning my new job and Kinley started a new daycare. She would now be attending a daycare center on campus which was a huge change from the in home daycare in Iowa.
August-The first weekend in August was my last day off work until Labor Day so we decided to head to Osage to spend time with Uncle Alex, Aunt Ashley and Peyton before they headed back to Virgina after living in Kansas for the summer. Kinley got to go out on our boat for the first time and she had a blast. She like swimming in the water although it took her a little bit to get used to swimming with the life jacket. The bad part of the day on the boat was Jason's dad tore his hamstring and would spend the rest of the summer having surgery and recovering. Once we got back to Warrensburg I was in full staff training mode but we were able to sneak away on August 17 to take Kinley to her first Royals game. She had a blast watching Billy Butler, her favorite Royal, and the fireworks after the game. On August 19th we received some sad news, Jason's step-mom's mother had passed away. We headed home on the 22nd to attend Audrey's funeral and spend time with the family. We had to head right back to Warrensburg because sorority recruitment started on the 23rd and I had to be there to run the show. On the 24th our house in Iowa official was sold to the new owners, a very bitter sweet day for us. I finished my first sorority recruitment at UCM and then on the 31st we closed on our new house in Warrensburg! We got the keys then headed to Kansas because the first K-State football game was on Saturday!
September- This month was full of driving back and forth to Kansas for K-State football games, we attended three home games this month. In between our trips we took Kinley to her first Mules Football game where she got to meet Mo the Mule who is the school mascot. She was smitten to say the least! Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Keith came for a day visit and got to see our new house. We grilled out and had a fun relaxing day. We also learned how much Kinley loved corn on the cob and started eating it at least once a week!
October-
The month started with me attending Missouri College Personnel Association Regional conference with a great friend who got me involved with the conference committee. Emily and I served as the co-chairs for the Graduate Student committee. On our way home we stopped by the outlet mall in Osage Beach and I bought my first ever Coach purse! Happy Birthday me! K-State only had two home game in the month of October so we filled our weekends with lots of other fun things like going to the pumpkin patch with my family for our third annual trip, spending the day at World of Fun with my family and my new favorite October tradition is I spent four days in Emporia for the first annual girls weekend with five of my sorority sisters. We had a blast catching up and checking out our old stomping ground. I'm super excited to figure out where we will be going next year. The month ended with celebrating Halloween. Kinley had a fun celebration at her daycare which included a parade though campus then after school I took her to downtown Warrensburg for trick or treating then we had a quick dinner and took Kinley around our neighborhood. She had a blast and loved going up to ring the doorbells at all the houses and even figured out to say "trick or treat" and "thank you" by the end of the night.
November- This month was a slow month for us in the world of K-State football with only having oe home game but don't fear this month was just as busy as July! We started the month by celebrating my 30th birthday. On Friday the 2nd Jason invited my family to Buzzard's in Pomona then we went to our friends Dennis and Courtney's house. It was a very nice relaxing evening then we headed to the K-State game on the 3rd, this would be my last game of the season and for my birthday Jason found a parking pass so we were right outside of the stadium! I still had two more awesome presents coming for my birthday first my best friend Kim and Kelly came to visit from Iowa we had fun showing them around town and trying out some of the local foods. On Saturday we headed to Lees Summit for shopping then went to McFadden's at Power and Light District in KC to watch the K-State game. Then after the win for K-State on Sunday the 11th when the new BCS polls came out K-State was ranked number 1! Such an exciting time for K-State football! That was not the most exciting thing though two short days later we were on a plane to DisneyLand! This was our Christmas present from Chery and Garth and boy did we have a great time! It was so much fun watching Kinley and her reaction to everything! She got to meet all her favorite characters including having breakfast at Surfs up Mickey and dinner at Goofy's diner. We spend four awesome days going between California Adventures and DisneyLand. Chery did a great job of showing us around and treating us to so many fun things! Once we got back from our trip it was only a short time to Thanksgiving which we spend lunch in Osage and dinner in Ottawa with the Cook family. Jason had to leave as always on the Friday after Thanksgiving for work and I spend Black Friday shopping with my parents. We shopped from 3am to 10pm...I don't think my parents knew what they were in for when they agreed to go with me! I then headed back to Warrensburg while Kinley stayed in Ottawa since I would be leaving for the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors Annual meeting in Indianapolis on Wednesday. Jason flew home on his birthday super late at night so he could make it to the K-State/Texas game on December 1st.
December- what a busy month! Jason attended the K-State/Texas and gave my ticket to his dad. I was bummed that I wasn't able to go but I was attending the last day of the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors Annual meeting in Indianapolis. K-State won the game to become the Big 12 champs and get an invite to the Fiesta Bowl! All three of us finally were back together in Warrensburg on the 2nd. We spend time decorating the house and getting ready for the holidays. December also was Kinley's first visit to the dentist, she did great and got to pick a prize out of the Treasure Box. On Friday the 21st we got some scary news about Beasley. We had left him in Ottawa with my parents while we were spending time in Osage. My mom called and said he was throwing up and pooping blood so I went to get him and take him to the vet. After a very thorough check up and some blood work Dr. Lisa diagnosed him with Autoimmune Disease which is a deadly disease. Luckily, Dr. Lisa was amazing and started treating him right away. Beasley ended up spending 6 days at the Ottawa Animal Hospital before we brought him home on the 26th. It was a VERY scary 6 days and he still has a long road ahead of him but we are just glad to have him here with us. During the time Beasley was at the hospital several things happened in our lives. I met Chelsea in Emporia for our annual Big/Lil day. We spent time and money at the ESU bookstore then had lunch at La Hacienda. Thanks to Chelsea for keeping my mind occupied while all of this stuff was going on with Beasley. We celebrated Christmas with Debbie and Keith, with the Cook family, traditional Christmas Eve at Grandma James', and a variety of other activities. The best part of this Christmas was we drove home late at night on Christmas eve so we could wake up at our house on Christmas morning. It was so much fun to spend the morning with Kinley and her reaction to everything! We spent the evening on Christmas with my family then picked Beasley up on the 26th and headed back to Warrensburg. As if that wasn't enough excitement for one month we also had a special visitor at the end of the month. Grandma Cheryl came to visit the 28th through January 4!
Thank you to everyone who was apart of our lives in 2012, we can't wait to see what is in store for us in 2013!
