I am continuing my Friday memory-keeping, in which I look back over this last decade of life that Ryan and I have shared. I have loved looking over these memories and reminiscing about all the fun things we've done!
Month 37: Making the Memories
This month was actually terribly ordinary (which is not a bad thing AT ALL). I camped out on the pictures of our Christmas with Ryan's family, because we had no idea that in just a couple of years, we would be celebrating our last Christmas with Nita. As I looked over our gathering from this year, I saw so much joy in the family. Everyone was all dressed up, we had a great meal together, there were new babies, and it felt like everything would always be this way. As I look back, I am so very grateful that we captured these memories, just so we can smile at them now! (Also, can we pause to appreciate the beautiful grapevine tree? Allen made it.
Month 38: Ca-CAW!!!!
This memory just made me straight up LAUGH. It was from right at the start of the month. I had read online that many of the Indiana state parks have a New Year's Day hike of some kind. They're free and are intended to get people out in nature. We had a park not far from where we lived, so I asked Ryan if he wanted to go for the hike. He had to work that day, but it was an evening hike, so it worked out. It was SO COLD, so we were buried under about 100 layers of clothes and looked like Puffalumps. The hike was an owl hike, and we never saw a SINGLE OWL on that hike. But we did get a big kick out of the lady calling for them all the way down the trail: "Ca-CAW!!!! Ca-CAW!" We still say that sometimes.
Month 39: Shafferland on the Move
This was the month we decided to take the leap and move closer to Ryan's work. I was working from home, so there was no real need for us to stay in Marion anymore. (It had been the midpoint between our jobs when we both commuted.) We ended up finding a home in Kokomo that was literally three doors down from Ryan's work, which would mean instead of driving 45 minutes each way every day, he could walk 5 minutes each way. WIN!!!!!! The whole process of buying our first home together and putting our Marion house on the market was a wild exercise in faith. This photo was one Ryan's mom took on the fly while she was on the phone with him hearing about our upcoming move. The cross that shadows the faith...perfect. This picture was significant to us during that season!
Month 40: Buying our First Home Together
This was the month we officially signed for our first home together. The night we went over to walk through the house for the first time as owners was SO chaotic. We got possession of the house a week sooner than planned (no complaints there!) and happened to be dog-sitting a Great Dane at the time. We took him with us for our first walk through the house and in the first five minutes, he peed right in the middle of the white carpet in the living room and tore a hole in the screen door. It wasn't the serene evening we planned, but it was memorable!!
Month 41: The Surprise Move
Our friend Shawn had a day off work and access to a trailer, so even though Ryan was at work, he offered to come move as much of the stuff as we had packed if we wanted. (Now THAT is a good friend!) We ended up moving earlier than planned - and in stages, rather than all at once. After Shawn moved the bulk of our stuff, we rented a U-Haul and finished up with the last of the things. We also spent this entire month demoing, renovating, and painting the new house, making it our own! (My mom said we are the only people she knows who take a move-in-ready house and completely redo it. :)
Month 42: Selling the Marion House
And for all the lovely hellos, there have to be some goodbyes, right? This was the month we officially sold our house in Marion. It was the hardest house-goodbye I've ever done, because I had lived the first sixteen years of my adult life in that house. That was our first home together. That had been my grandparents' house. But we were so excited for the new owner, and as far as I know, he still lives there. He got married and has a baby now, and I love it that he has established a life and family there in that home that was created for life and family.
Month 43: Dates, Dates, Dates
We spent so much of the past couple of months working on the house, that this month seemed devoted to going on dates. We wanted to explore every inch of our new hometown. We went to the Strawberry Festival, a Jackrabbits baseball game (minor league team in town), Kokomo Beach (water park), Ribfest, fireworks in our neighborhood, and a drive-in movie. WHEW! It was a lot of variety in a single month, but it was also a lot of fun, and we appreciated the extra time to do things like this...time given to us by the gift of NOT COMMUTING.
Month 44: Garage Makeover!
This was the month we completed our garage makeover! We wanted to use our garage as an extension of our home, so we insulated and drywalled it, painted it, and put down a flooring treatment. We definitely used that garage a ton, and this was time and money well-spent. (Bonus: we were later interviewed by a newspaper about this makeover!) We loved how it turned out, and I think this is one of our best DIY projects ever!
Month 45: CRAZY and FUN!
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1 comment:
What fun memories!
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