Saturday, January 26, 2013

2012 Wrap up

2012 was an incredibly busy year for me. It brought some of my highest highs and some of my lowest lows...but mainly highs. I think the best way to share what 2012 had in store for me is through pictures.
Let's start here:
Images taken by Chelle Cates Photography 

















Ok, technically these were taken in Oct 2011. But we were so busy in 2012 we didn't have family pics taken and these are the latest family pics. I'm about 4 months pregnant with Luke in these pics. Interesting facts about these pics:

  • I saw the pics of Joel Dewberry's family on his blog taken in cherry blossoms and was inspired to do something similar with matching ties/outfits. So I made the ties from Joel Dewberry fabric and made a matching skirt for me. Which I just realized you can't see from the pics I chose to upload. Well, believe me, it's awesome. 

Which leads me to the real first pics of 2012.
Images taken by Chelle Cates Photography
Images taken by Chelle Cates Photography 
Images taken by Chelle Cates Photography 
Images taken by Chelle Cates Photography 
Here are some interesting facts about Luke's Newborn pics:

  • Bible Pic - That Bible is actually Jon's grandmother's Bible. The pages are worn and marked up and it's absolutely beautiful. I lived with her for a year before Jon and I were married and I have such wonderful memories of her sitting on the couch reading that Bible. It's opened up to Psalm 139:14 which reads "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, I know that full well."
  •  It was Chelle's idea to use Aiden's tie from our family pics and a mustache...I'm so glad she said something because it made the cutest pictures!
  • I had this whole Fox Theme going for Luke (obviously). If you love his little fox suit, I got it from Lion and Lamb Photos' Etsy Shop.
  • The fox background in the brothers shot is designed by Kelly from Petunias. She has various fabric designs uploaded to Spoonflower. You can search Spoonflower for Petunias and see this design and others.
  • I made Aiden's tie shirt. Cause I'm cool like that.


These pics bring us through March 2012. Then Aiden played T-ball during the summer and Soccer in the Fall. And we started homeschooling, so we needed school pics...again from Chelle!

Images taken by Chelle Cates Photography 
Interesting facts about our School Pics:

  • Aiden was in a super snarky mood and DID NOT want to be taking pictures. He kept squinting his eyes and being a general stink weasel. But somehow, Chelle still managed to capture the cuteness of this little boy.

In case it isn't already obvious, Chelle Cates is our awesome family photographer. Please take a minute to check out her webpage. She has a wonderful story and is so gifted!

So then our life got really topsy turvy. At the end of August, we found a new house to move in to. This is our old house. I'll write a whole post about this house and how much I love it, but at 1000sq ft, we just didn't have enough room. Like I said, it's a post all its own, but we have moved from this house....


To this one. A 1950's ranch style house. It's a 'Grandma House' and needs lots of updating, but I love Ranch Style houses and this one is just perfect for us. And at 2600 sq feet, it's almost 3 times the size of our last one. I'll definitely be posting more about how we update this one!


I couldn't begin to recap everything we went through in 2012. It's just a blur. We still have our other house and are in the process of finishing up the last honey-do's and trying to decide if we should sell it or rent it. The market will kind of be the deciding factor on that point. We had some weird things happen just after moving in to our new house, but the only thing I'd really classify as bad is the OSD sales for 2012. And those weren't just bad, they were horrid. The final sales numbers were about 1/6 of what I made the year before. I'll discuss it more in a future post. But's ok. I am exactly where God wants me to be and that is so incredibly comforting. I don't know what's in store for us or for OSD in 2013. Family-wise, I hope it's calm and quiet. I hope we can finish getting settled in. Business-wise, I am praying for direction. And I don't really know what my plans are yet. But God has brought our family and OSD this far, so I know I can trust in Him for 2013 too.