Haha why does time go faster when you are older? Is it because we are busier? Or has time really sped up? I think since the day Kyra was born someone stepped on the fast forward button and we can't seem to get it unstuck. I can hardly believe that this is Kyra's 2nd Christmas. We are rounding the corner on her second year being over!!
Well this year has been a long wild ride for us. Most of you whom have been following our journey know just what has happened, but for those of you who just have joined us here is a quick recap.
January: Well we started out the year with what was probably the coolest New Years and I am eagerly waiting for this year!! Germans really go all out. I thought Hawaiians (before the new laws) did, but I have never seen so many fireworks in my life at one time. It was SOOOOO impressive. Later in the month we took a beautiful trip to the Bavarian Alps. We fell in love even more with this country during this trip, what a gorgeous place to live. We loved it so much it has become a family tradition for the time we are here.
February: However it was started out fairly uneventful, the last couple weeks brought a new challenge for our family. Dustin's first time away from Kyra longer than during the day. And my first time being the only care provider for Kyra. I was so nervous and stressed out about the situation, but it was good for us, and turned out to just be a trial run :(
March: Brought our family A LOT of fun and excitement! Well the time of Dustin being at his leadership course was dwindling it way down. But before he was to get home we had guests coming. My dad and brother came to visit. For a couple days Kyra and I showed them around our home area. The good foods, the hopping places you know the works. Than we took a trip to pick up daddy and check out what the Czech Republic looks like....Surprisingly just the same as Germany. Lucky for Dustin he got a weeks leave after his course and we were off onto a major adventure as a family, including, Koln, Rhine River Cruise, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam. It was a great visit and we had so much fun!! However 1 week away from home traveling with a toddler is very tiring! Oh did I mention Kyra and I had our birthdays? She turned 1 in March sigh.
April: After a long trip we were ready to spend sometime just relaxing at home. The biggest even this month was Kyra finally started walking...I didn't know what I was getting into!
May: What an exciting month for our family, well the first half was. We had a little fuzzy butt dog join our family straight from the streets of Hungary!! Haha not many people can say that one!! Shade is a doll, and has progressed amazingly since. Her and Kyra are best friends! However this month brought with it the news that we only had 27 more days with Dustin for the year.
June: I was sooo excited and proud of myself in June. Why?? I got myself back to school finally for the first time in 5 years!! And that energy is still with me. I get excited to enroll for classes like the day after I finish a course and I have already finished 9 credits towards my degree in just 6 months...that is just 1 course less than I would have at the University and with a toddler running around. With all the school business keeping me busy, I barely had time to be sad that the day of Dustin leaving was drawing near. And on the 27th Dustin woke up Kyra gave her a big hug and some cuddles and than walked out the door. It was heart breaking, and makes me teary eyed just thinking about that day.
July: As you can imagine this month was a very long month as the first and last months of deployments/TDY's are. We enjoyed 4th of July on a very low key level. And than a few weeks later of course right at Finals week we heard the sad news of my Grandmother passing...Can you see why this month was not so great? After rushing around trying to find the money we took a last min flight to be home with family.
August: After the sad funeral we did get to spend a full month with my Grandpa, parents, inlaws, siblings, and my other grandparents!! It was soooo nice I had began to think I wasn't going to be able to go home this year, so as sad as I was it was a blessing in disguise. I had a great time hanging out with everyone and it gave me the energy boost I needed to make it through the next 4.5 months alone.
September: So this month was pretty boring. Just a lot of fall walks and hanging out with Kyra. I think this was when I found out I had made the Deans list for Summer semester which was just enough push to enroll for fall. And this was the month I really jumped on the fitness wagon and have yet to fall off!! I love it and I love what it has done for my health and my body I just feel way better!!
October: Bring on the fall crafts, and festivals. We got out and did festivals galore and enjoyed the nice fall weather. This month was when we first tried to Potty Training Kyra...FAIL. This has yet to be acheived I am gonna give it another big attempt next week when we are home for 4 days straight see if she is ready now or not. Maybe we will be awesome this time. October also brought the biggest most exciting change for me. Well I don't know if you would call it a change, but I decided to pursue my intrest in Photography on a bigger level than taking pictures of my nephew, hubby and Kyra! A new friend at the time who is now a very close and supportive friend I couldn't imagine not knowing allowed me to do her Maternity pictures, and was so happy with them gave me the shove I needed to get the ball rolling. And I have never been happier!! I have already done 5 other shoots since in just 2 months, and everyone seems to love my work!! I also started my second semester of classes, talk about being busy busy busy!!
November: What I remember most about last month was PHOTOGRAPHY. I have really dove in deep and I am loving it. I am watching workshops, submitting my photos to critique boards, got a nice new camera, and doing as much practicing as I can. Many a night was spent behind the computer between edits, and homework. And I love it. Can I say that enough. I am sure as followers you saw the sudden shift to the blog starting to fall more towards photography? Well that is likely to only get worse. Oh yeah and I did get to enjoy 2 huge thanksgiving dinners!! Boy did I feel fat for like a whole week!
December: Well here we are this month somehow has been flying by. Probably all the Christmas Markets!! My dear friend and I booked our days all up with Markets, whether our bodies wanted to do it or not Haha! We have been to Nuremberg, Strasbourg, Heidelberg, Mainz, Frankfurt, Eppstein, and are hiting up Koln, Wiesbaden, and Rudesheim. Talk about a lot of traveling jam packed into one month. And only a few days from getting Dustin back! I don't think I could be more excited these 6 months are almost over.
So for those of you who have been here for us this past year we really appreciate it!! And we really hope next year we will have tons of more fun adventures to share with you!!
