December Festivities & Christmas 2014

And now, that it is almost March (ahh!) I'm posting about Christmas. ;) Christmas of 2014 was a little different not living in own home (not that we haven't moved in December before.) Our packers and movers arrived late November right before Thanksgiving and put our things in storage. Steve finished the rest of his semester (thru mid- December) while the boys and I stayed with the R family in the meantime. Despite being transients for a short time we really enjoyed spending time with our families. Of course, we were able to easily get in the Christmas spirit by decorating, baking, and enjoying fun holiday festivities with them in their homes. We spent Christmas Day with my family and a few days later celebrated with Steve's family when everyone's schedules lined up.

Last Days in Fort Collins

Our last days in Fort Collins before the move were a little rushed with "goodbyes" and "farewells." Steve was still crazy busy with school work and finishing up his classes for his Masters degree. Our packers and movers came the week before Thanksgiving in hopes of being able to rent out the home we lived in a little sooner and to make the holiday season more enjoyable. We LOVE Fort Collins and it was so hard to say goodbye. Such fond memories in that town! For all we know we will end up there again in the future (after all, we never thought that we would live there again after college!) 

Here are some random photos from November :)

Lucas helping me feed Noah:

We LOVED our awesome big backyard in our Fort Collins home. It had the best hill for sledding and the slip n' slide!

 One of our favorite spots in the Winter or hot Summer days was a local play place called Cool Beans!

One of the first snows for the season! So excited!

While Daddy's Away...

After Steve's spring semester ended, he and most of the students in the Industrial Organization Psychology program at CSU flew off to Hawaii (!) for a conference. Meaning...Christian, Lucas, and Noah were stuck with Mommy for the week. Christian had a couple of days of school left, but otherwise we kept busy with friends, and enjoyed Colorado's beautiful Spring weather. This was my first time keeping all three boys by myself for an extended period of time; not sure how I did a deployment and such lengthy TDY's!

Year in Review: 2013

I know it's a little past the New Year, but I wanted to post some highlights from 2013:

• We finally had some family photos taken as a family of 4. These were also Lucas' first professional photos (at 13 months.)
• We found out we would be moving in the summer, and that Steve would eventually teach at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
• We took one last trip to Disney World before our move.
• Steve turned the big 3-0!
• We found out we would be moving home to Colorado and Steve would be a student at Colorado State University once again!
• We announced that we were pregnant with Baby #3 due in October.
• We all safely arrived in Colorado in June.
• Steve and I celebrated our 7th anniversary with our first getaway in 4 years.
• Christian turned 4.
• We sold our beautiful home in South Carolina. (No blog post- it was very bittersweet and under rough circumstances.)
• We welcomed Noah Levi to the family October 9, becoming a party of 5!
• A new decade for me, I turned 30 as well.
• We celebrated Christmas 3 times! (1, 2, and 3)
• Lucas turned 2.

2013 was a very busy year indeed! Lots of blessings, some hardships, but overall a wonderful year! Can't wait to see what 2014 holds for us.

Loving Colorado!

We are getting settled in Colorado, enjoying spending time with our families, liking our new home, and loving the activity and fond memories of our old college town of Fort Collins. Of course, it is Steve's current college town. ;o) Still so amazed that everything has worked out and God brought us back here!

(Lots of pictures of Christian below, since I recently posted an 18 month recap for Lucas and used most of his recent photos.)

Steve's first day of school. :o)

The dorm I lived in my 2nd year at Colorado State: Braiden Hall (of course it has undergone some remodeling since.)

A GREEN and GOLD tree at CSU.