2015 Year In Review

I'm not sure if these "year in review" posts are fun to read, but they sure are nice to have to look back on! Plus, they only happen once a year, so surely they don't feel overdone. Okay, I'm not sure why I felt that intro was necessary, but let's get right down to it and recap 2015!

I am going to apologize in advance for the length of this post. You won't hurt my feelings one bit if you want to skip to the end for the punchline.

Well, the first thing I remember about January 2015 is our heater going out. Our first Virginia winter rocked our little world, and going without heat for 4 days was plain awful. Four little bodies stayed snuggled in the bed!

On a happier note, January was also the month we visited the Virginia Beach Military Aviation Museum. Planes on planes on planes made for one happy husband!

I turned 26 in February, meaning I am officially closer to 30 than 20. The jury is still out on how I feel about this little fact, but the celebrating was fun!

We attended the 1940's Valentine's Day hangar dance at the aviation museum, which was a definite highlight. We had so much fun getting into the theme, wearing red lipstick for the first time (me), and dusting off the old, never worn bomber jacket (him). 

I flew home to the motherland (aka Texas) to celebrate my birthday late with my family. A twin must celebrate her birthday with her twin. It's just the rule. 

Parker and I had a day date in March exploring the USS Wisconsin and the city of Norfolk. We always have to tour the battleship in the city we live, so it was time to check Wisconsin off the list. It was cold that day, but I was so over long pants, so I remember suffering in silence at my own stupidity of wearing shorts. 

2015 was spent loving the every day moments, which largely meant cuddling our two furbabies. We knew Darla would go home to her mama soon, but she and Jenny brought us so much joy day in and day out!

I went on my first business trip of the year to the always exciting Las Vegas. It was my first time in sin city, and I learned that people like to enjoy their alcoholic beverages around the clock, slot machines are not self explanatory, and there is a Panda Express on every corner. 

In April, we found out we would be staying in Virginia another 3 years! Initially, I really wanted to be in San Diego next. I won't lie about that. However, we have really grown to love Virginia and are quite glad we stayed. I can't imagine either of us fitting into a squadron better. 

We rounded out April with a short trip to Louisville to visit Parker's parents! That was a fun trip to a cool city with special people. 

We headed back to the motherland over Memorial Day weekend for the wedding of the year! My little sis from Delta Gamma married the love of her life, and we had the best time celebrating them! Parker also decided good pictures were overrated on this trip, so that was fun too. 

Our biggest event of the year happened in June when we became homeowners! Buying a house equals getting a mortgage equals officially adult status, right?

Parker joined the 26 club in June, and 26 never looked so good. Since I am 4 months older, I like to give him a lot of life advice and prep him on what to expect in the next year of life. 

We hosted Parker's grandparents in our brand new home just a couple of weeks after moving in. We love having visitors and basically beg family and friends to come stay with us.

And to round out the busiest month of the year (June), we celebrated four years of marriage. Being married to this guy is so fun. 

In July, Darla's mama came home from deployment to pick up her baby. This was so bittersweet for us. I was so happy for Tiffany to be reunited with her baby, but Darla became the fourth member of our family, and saying goodbye to her was killer. We still miss her very much!

July also brought Jenny's fifth birthday! How is our pup already 5? Jenny, please stay with us forever. We love her so.

My parents became our second visitors of the year when they came to stay with us this summer! We loved having them with us and didn't want them to leave!

Parker let me tag along this summer to a flight, and we snapped this beauty. Maybe the coolest picture we have ever taken as a couple.

We celebrated our anniversary a month late with a little sailing trip! We always try to do an experience for our anniversary, and sailing was the perfect choice!

My little sister was our next visitor, and to say we had a blast is an understatement. We toured Williamsburg and just had the best time with her. Our four days with her were easily four of my favorite days of 2015!

Parker's parents rounded out our visitors for the year! We absolutely loved hosting them and showing them our new home!

Parker had to work the NAS Oceana Airshow this year, so we made a day out of it and ended up having a great time! He gave tours of the C-2, and I sold squadron merchandise.

At the end of September, my work sent me to San Diego. I have never been more excited for a work trip in my short little life. Some of my best friends are in San Diego, and I got to see our Darla girl again. It. was. phenomenal. Reunions are the best, and I'm thankful to the Navy for giving me these fine friends.

The annual Hawkeye Greyhound Ball was in October, and it was our 9th ball to attend together. 9th! We are getting a tab bit old. The dinner portion was great, and the after party was probably the most fun one we have ever been to.

And then, the most magical weekend of the year happened. My twin sister and I received Taylor Swift tickets for our birthday back in February, and it was finally concert time! We are big TSwift fans and basically stood the whole time in awe as she gave the concert of the year. Goodness, so good.

We threw a big Halloween party, which was our first party in our new home. Everyone had a great time, and Parker only complained minimally about having to dress up as Mickey Mouse.

We went to Nashville with my twin and her husband and met Parker's family as well for the Texas A&M vs Vanderbilt game. We took a Segway tour of Nashville, ate all the food, and watched our Aggies pull out a 25-0 victory over Vanderbilt.

This was our first year not being able to go home for Thanksgiving, so we decided to host Friendsgiving and have our other "homeless" friends over to celebrate together. We missed our families, but celebrating with our friends was awesome. Since we didn't travel, we had the full long weekend to spend together and decorate the house for Christmas. We loved it!

Before heading to Texas for Christmas, we attended Parker's squadron Christmas party. Good friends, overuse of photobooth, a little dancing, and an iPad prize from the raffle. It was a successful party!

So that is 2015 in a nutshell! I will say that even though I have highlighted all of the wonderful moments, the year didn't come without its share of trials. Not a day went by this year that I did not think of that baby we lost at the end of 2014. Not a day went by that I didn't miss her and fiercely wish she were here with me. So many tears were shed, and arguments were had. Losing a child will really test your marriage, but I am grateful to say that it has made us stronger.

There were wonderful moments and sad moments, and the sad moments were way more frequent than they had been the years prior. I will say this though: it was still a wonderful year. I don't believe in saying "it was a bad year". There may have been bad moments, but there were so many more good moments. Don't let the bad moments overtake you. Get through them, and relish in the good that is to come.

I am excited to say goodbye to 2015 and see what 2016 has in store. I have no doubt that 2016 will bring its own share of hardship, but I know there will be so many more smiles and laughs, and that is what I am looking forward to!

Happy New Year, everyone! See you next year!