Ok I'll admit it, I am totally one of those nostalgic sentimental people. I love looking back through old pictures!
I thought it would be fun to do a little look back at the last decade with you guys and share a few photos from each year.
So...we'll dive right in.
I don't remember much about this picture, other than I had just gotten my hair done and had to get a picture of course😉. We were young, living with Joe's mom, and I was in beauty school.
My class from Aveda💖 I'm thankful I got to go through school with these girls, we all had a lot of fun together!
Enjoying the big country bash (back when it was good and fun!).
Celebrating my birthday with my class. Mariza (we were so close in beauty school!) was so sweet and brought in an ice cream cake for me.
I had a couple monumental occasions that year, We'll get to the second in a moment. but this one was pretty spectacular!
After writing an essay on why we should get to go and what we could get out of the experience 15 of us out of the whole institute were chosen to go take classes at the Aveda Advance Academy New York.
We were surprised with an even bigger opportunity. We were able to go do hair at New York Fashion Week! Thats every hair stylist dream😍). When we were told about it we figured it would just be handing stylist bobby pins things like that. But we actually were the ones hands on doing the models hair.
Then a few days after I got home...(Everyone says its because spending week without me that he knew he couldn't live without me😉) Joe proposed!! We picked out rings together so I knew it would be coming but he totally caught me off guard💗💗💗.
Most of my life growing up we spent Christmas at my grandparents (dads dad and step mom) but after Joe and I started dating and we had combined families we stayed closer to home. For Christmas Eve we hosted our families at our apartment in Des Moines, we had such a great time together!
2011 was a pretty monumental year for us too...Starting with getting Dublin in April! It was one of the best decisions we could have made. Even though he drove us INSANE as a puppy 😂.
We opened a salon in Osceola, it was a small little space that was perfect for starting out! It was a salon before me so it had the perfect set up, We just had to clean, paint, and get all of my furniture set up.
2011 was also a crazy year...I graduated beauty school on Friday, opened my salon on Tuesday, and got married a week and a half later😳.
June 4th 2011 we got married💖. It was seriously such a wonderful day!
We had the ceremony on the lawn of the Capital Grounds (It's free!) and then had our reception at Wet End Architecture Downtown Des Moines (Fun fact, they had a tv show on the DIY network for a few years!).
One of my best friends from when my family lived in Wyoming when I was young (we've stayed close all of these years!) was in our wedding and it was so so amazing getting to see her! It had been about 5 years since we'd seen each other. they stayed a couple extra days after the wedding to spend more time together.
After Lauren flew home we got started with our honeymoon, we had a "staycation" I guess you could say, we just stayed home at our apartment but we did alot of day trips and just had fun spending the time off together.
We moved back to Osceola later in June and Joe started college for automotive in August.
September 2011 was when I started feeling sick, I just thought I had a flu, food poisoning, something, we didn't know what and I refused to go to the doctor...How dumb😑.
The rest of year was pretty uneventful thankfully😉.
At the end of 2011 my best friend (the beautiful girl in the middle) got engaged! A big highlight for 2012 was her bachelorette party/wedding.
I turned 21! Ok I’m not a drinker and really and never have been but I did celebrate with one drink at On the Border.
Joe graduated his first year of college!
And decided to take up racing cars😳.
We moved into our own house (we had been staying with Joes mom) with a big fenced in yard for Dublin, but he’s not a fan of change as you can see😂.
When trying to get a nice family picture with a dog...🤪.
Joe dresses up as Santa to surprise his moms clients (she works for mosaic taking care of mentally handicapped), they all loved it, Dublin didn’t know what to think.
We threw a surprise 50th birthday party for my dad and it was such a great success! Although he says he figured it out🙄.
In the spring we took our first big trip together to Florida.
One of Joes best friends got married and he was a groomsman, it was such a beautiful wedding down in Vero Beach. We took our time coming home and spent most of our time in Jacksonville Florida. we fell in love with that place! Another absolute favorite was Amelia Island, if you make it down that way I highly recommend visiting.
Joe graduated college with a degree in automotive! We skipped the ceremony and threw a big party to celebrate. Before he was graduated he lined up a job at Willis Automotive in Des Moines.
Man I miss that long hair😩 and since it’s January as I'm typing this...that tan!
We had a great week camping at Old Threshers.
Headed to my grandparents for thanksgiving. I had started losing weight (thinking I was doing it by eating right and exercising...which I was doing both of those things but it was making the crohns flare up).
One of my besties (she says we became friends in her crib when her mom babysat me when we were like 2😂) came up from Kansas to visit for a quick weekend trip!
One of my favorite Christmas traditions, Christmas baking with my momma❤️.
Our Gingerbread house, I seriously have so much fun doing this every year!
Family Christmas photo 2013, we had lots of bloopers...but did get a better one than 2012😉.
Such a huge change in my appearance from our 2012 family photo, I started to experience so much more crohns symptoms the more I lost weight over the year.
2013 was the year that I really started noticing things change with my health.
I went gluten free for a year and even dairy free for awhile and nothing helped. At first I thought the gluten free helped but I think a lot of that was me trying to convince Myself it was...🙄.
I remember canceling on things at the last minute and my family and friends claiming I just made excuses because I changed my mind or I got myself so worked up I was sick, etc, Joe was the only one that truly understood and saw what I went through every single day.
I had soo many nights I would bundle up in as many blankets as I could sitting in front of our heater so cold my teeth would chatter even in front of the heater, that among other things just continued to get worse.
2014 was a year of big moments some good, bad, fun, sad, and everything in between.
Easter 2014.
Ok for starters...I got this dress for like $5 or $10 at platos closet and wore the heck out of it, it was soo comfy! And...it was freezing this day so I highly regretted wearing it!😂.
We unexpectedly lost my grandpa (my moms step dad, her biological dad passed away when she was 19) to a brain aneurysm 2 weeks before we were set to move to Florida. We gave up our house a month before the move so we could spend time with family and Joe had enough vacation, etc. at Willis that he was done working a few weeks before the move as well so we were able to go stay with my grandma for a week or so after grandpa passed to help her out. I’m so thankful for that time spent with her and for the time spent with grandpa before he passed, this was the first big passing in our family (aside from great grand parents when I was younger) they certainly don’t get easier.
We were able to meet halfway with my grandparents (dads dad and step mom) in Ames as they live in Northern Iowa. They weren’t to happy about the move but happy for us to try something new😉.
We successfully pulled off a surprise 50th birthday party for my mom 3 days before our move. It was another great birthday and we were so thankful so many people were able to make it down to Leon to celebrate her!
The day before our move we threw a big going away party so we could see all of our family and friends, between moms party and this we were so happy to be able to see everyone before we left.
We sold basically everything but our bed and our love sac (which ended up having to stay in Iowa, among about half the other things we were going to take with us😬) so when we got down there everyone had to sleep on the floor, they were all good sports😉.
My mom, brother, and Joes mom helped us move.
We sold our Camaro (we don’t regret the move but man we regret selling that car! So all we had was our truck loaded down with joe and my brother, Chris and moms car with her, Deb, myself, and Dublin loaded down. All in all it was about a 32 drive straight through taking turns driving.
We were never so happy to get there😂.
Joe couldn’t find a motorcycle like he wanted but he did find himself a scooter, I found it impossible to drive and left that to Joe.
Our apartment was only a block from the Halifax river separated mainland and beach side so we had such fun taking walks to the river.
Another walking trail we found that was so beautiful.
We spent our wedding anniversary celebrating on the beach and boardwalk.
There were no beaches that allowed dogs in Daytona so we drove up about 20 minutes to one that allowed dogs so we could take Dublin. He didn’t know what to think of the waves and tried to bark at the boats that were out on the water😂.
This little squirrel “friend” hung out in the palm tree right outside our bedroom window and would bark at Dublin whenever he could see him through the window or when we came outside. Also Dublin was terrified of the lizards that ran around everywhere😂.
Not that my hair was that long to start with...but it was HOT(what did I expect😂) so I found a salon that had the first opening and chopped my hair, also...NEVER again. This is why you pay money and go to good salons😳.
This day we drove up through a state forest north of Daytona and it felt like we were in another world.
We enjoyed spending a lot of time in the pool in our apartment complex.
Enjoying the water❤️❤️.
We loved our time in Daytona but it was like living on another planet compared to Iowa😂.
We fell on love with Florida, mainly Jacksonville but Daytona was the first place Joe got a job so we jumped.
We missed our family so much so we knew after a couple months we wanted to go back home, Joe cakes his old boss in Cadillac at Willis letting him know we planned to come back and to keep an eye out for any job openings. He told Joe they wanted him back but needed him to fill a position the next week. So...we packed everything up and headed back home three days later😂😂.
That was the longest trip home EVER and we thought the trip going down was long... the starter went out in Tennessee so we couldn’t shut the truck off which is tricky when it’s a Manuel. It died twice while getting gas and we had two strangers help. Then in Columba MO it died getting off an exit and Joe pushed the truck, UHaul trailer filled with his huge toolbox filled with tools up a hill trying to get in a Wendy’s parking lot. We sat hours with no one helping and I thought for sure we were never going to make it home. Finally Joe got someone to help pull us to get it going we got on the road again. After two months of no taco johns or Casey’s (idk how people live without both of these things) when we got home to my parents house my one request from my mom was to bring me taco johns, which she did of course☺️.
We had another amazing year at threshers.
Family thanksgiving❤️❤️
We had some family pictures done, our first professionally done ones since our wedding!
Another year another gingerbread house☺️.
2014 Christmas family photo.
2014 was one for the books.
We had so many adventures and changes.
Even though we didn’t last😂 we don’t regret our time in Florida even a little, it is so important for young people to get out there and experience something new and different, especially if you’re from a small town.
It drew us closer together, made us learn to rely on only each other, and overall was filled with so many amazing adventures!
We spent many evenings watching the sunset over the Halifax river or on the beach, celebrated our wedding anniversary on the beach, watched fireworks on the 4th of July on the beach while listening to a local youth group sing praise songs in the background, spent lots of time exploring new places, etc.
There really is nothing like home though, and we have no intention of ever leaving again😂.
2014 was the year the migraines set in, some symptoms seem to have gone away so I thought I was getting better...definitely not!
2015
We’ll start with Easter. When my grandma, was alive we always got together with my moms side of the family every Easter and Thanksgiving, and grandma always planned a reunion in the summer but not everyone always makes it to that.
Joe with Max on Easter with his moms side of the family.
Max was the first bully breed dog I had ever met and he had me from hello, drool and all😂.
Chocolates and stuffed animals...Joe learned the way to my heart early on.
I always thought it would be Joe and NEVER me...after I had lost so much weight we hadn’t gotten my wedding ring resized and I lost it one day taking Dublin for a walk😭😭😭 I re traced my steps to not find anything...then the next day when I went to work
-when we moved back from Florida we stayed with my parents and I took back up my old job at US Cellular there in Leon.
One of the John Deere guys (us cell was in the John Deere store) came up to me letting me know he noticed when I’d walked passed his house there was a guy following me...so chances are he picked it up, and I always carry a gun when I walk whether I have the dogs or not!
Needless to say I felt terrible and Joe was such an amazing sport about it and we went and replaced it pretty quickly.
One of the best parts of working in the John Deere store...while the farmers shopped I entertained their cute little puppies❤️.
In the spring we moved up to Adel, a suburb of of West Des Moines you could say, I started back at sSalon Adeva in West Des Moines where I had worked awhile before we moved to Florida.
We couldn’t find anywhere to actually camp on the 4th of July (hello procrastination😂) so we just set up in my parents yard and enjoyed the festivities with them, they always hosted a little 4th of July bbq.
We celebrated my birthday at Olive Garden with my family and best friend and her husband.
The church I grew up in Chad a big 50th anniversary celebration inviting all the previous pastors back, etc.
One of my best friends, you know the one who says we became friends in her crib, her dad was a pastor there for years. It was so fun getting to have so many friends in one place.
We like to call this a little #ota (old threshers anticipation) the guys got out the forge out and had a little fun.
My dad was a blacksmith off and on for most of my growing up years.
He worked at Living History Farms, that was fun because families had passes so we got to go all the time!
When we lived in Wyoming he was a blacksmith.
He owned his own shop for many years too.
So many people find it fascinating because they don’t know much about it, I love that I grew up that was and was able to learn a trade like that, I love how much Joe is interested in things like that too.
Another successful year at Threshers, and Dublin got added to the sign this year!
Since we had the camper this year we took Dublin with us the whole time, we had an air conditioner in it so we were able to leave him if we needed too. He’s a creature of habit and really wasn’t impressed with camping and being in the outdoors so much😂.
We handed out candy in Adel and Dublin was super unimpressed that the kids got all the good stuff and he only got dog treats.
Grandma with all of her grandkids on Thanksgiving❤️.
Joe with his niece Lily❤️.
We got to have a little thanksgiving celebration with joes brothers family and step mom and no family get together would be complete for them without guns.
Our annual Christmas baking.
Christmas Eve festivities with family❤️.
I remember feeling so terrible this day.
It was the first time being sick majorly affected Christmas for me which sucked, Christmas is such a big deal for me and I hated not feeling 100%.
The behind the scenes of trying to get nice pictures with a dog.
2014 was somewhat of a calmer year for us, my sickness gradually got worse.
January I started working back in Osceola a couple days a week renting a chair part time. I was so happy to be back in Osceola with my favorite clients!
Celebrating Eater with family.
In May we moved out to this beautiful rental property just south of Osceola in the country. The house was TINY but the location was so amazing! Waking up to this view every day wasn't too bad.
We hosted Mothers day at our house and had such a great time with some of my favorite ladies💜.
If you haunt figured out...we love any excuse to get together with family. This time was for Joes birthday.
When Dublin feels he hasn't gotten enough attention...he just knocks you over till you're on his level.
Some of our best friends got married on our 5 year wedding anniversary.
They asked my brother to play for the ceremony.
We were both so Honored to be apart of their special day!
One of my best friends made a stop in Iowa on there way from Wyoming to Ohio and it was so great seeing her. We hadn't gotten to see each other since she was back in Iowa for our wedding.
This journey of Crohns would have been so much harder without her by my side. We've been friends since we were 4 years old and she was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis a few years before I was with Crohns. We've both said not that we're happy the other has to go through the same thing, but it makes it a lot easier going through it together!
I experienced my first Sprint car race over in Knoxville and it was so fun! I definitely got hooked.
Made a pit stop during a motorcycle ride for some sweet cuddles with this old girl💜.
For my birthday this year mom and I went shopping and then we all went to Montana Mikes to celebrate.
I may or may not have changed into this whole outfit while Joe and I were on our way to the restaurant after I had bought everything that day😂.
Annual family reunion up in Webster City. Grandma was admitted to the hospital right before this so Joe and I got the food and everything ready she was going to prepare and mom brought her straight from the hospital. She was exhausted but such a champ and loved spending time with her family.
In August I found the perfect building and reopened Divine Hair Salon. It was so great being on my own again, working full time and getting back into the swing of things.
Classic Ye Old Mill Iowa State fair picture.
When the only way you can Dublin to drink is right out of the jug...Thats what you do.
We're "old", and lame, but we make our own fun. Like playing kings in the corner constantly every night of Old Threshers😂.
Old Threshers wouldn't be the same without the antics of these guys💙.
Dublin was living his best life...
In October I was asked to do hair for a friends wedding down in Topeka, KS. It was such a beautiful wedding and so great catching up with friends.
Celebrating Thanksgiving with family.
A blimps into our annual Christmas baking.
How I spent most of my Christmas Eve...I was so miserable.
Joes little brother, Josh was living with us over Christmas and he had his daughter, Watching her open her gifts was the cutest thing ever!
Christmas Day 2016.
We started off 2017 adding an addition to the family for Valentines Day. Deegan was the PERFECT fit, even though Dublin clearly didn't think so😉.
I felt terrible for this picture, but these two were so adorable.
Celebrating Easter with moms side of the family. We had such great turn out for grandma.
Spending time with Joe's family at a family reunion.
The day before the reunion...These two decided to take a 10 mile adventure through the woods, creek beds, and who knows what else...We got home from a vet visit and took my purse inside to set down, by the time I came back out they were gone...After walking the trail through the timer behind our house and driving the open field on our property I called Joe and him and his cousin left work early and hightailed it home. Literally...they went flying past my mom on the interstate coming home😂.
After hours of tracking their footprints with no luck and myself and my parents searched in the car the guys had to come back to the house since it had gotten dark. Joe decided to walk home to leave his sent and after our being absolutely devastated and heartbroken...They showed up completely exhausted about 30 minutes later. The only thing we can figure is they were able to get out of the creek bed where Joe and his cousin got out and followed the sent.
However they did it, we are soo soo thankful!!!
After that little adventure, We didn't let them out of our site!
We enjoyed some time out on the boat fishing.
We had such a great time having everyone out to our house to celebrate Joe's birthday.
We grilled, had a shootout, some yard games, and then finished off the night with a bonfire.
The day after Joe's birthday mom was called up to grandmas because she wasn't doing well.
A few days later I got a call from Joe (after grandpa passing and getting called while we were at the race track...my families learned to call Joe first😬). He told me I needed to get home, pack a bag and he would be there to get me in an hour, he was leaving work right then.
I am still so thankful that I had one of my best friends in my chair when all of this happened, I don't know what I would have done if it was someone else.
We headed straight to Stratford so I could see grandma, I was able to tell her a goodbye and not long after that she passed away in a room full of her kids, grandkids, and other people that loved her.
That was most definitely one of the hardest things our family had to go through.
We got to see Aarron Lewis when he came and played at the Casino here in Osceola and it was such an amazing concert! And we ran into moms cousin while we were there.
Over the summer Joe was pretty much working 7 days a week so we celebrated ur Anniversary between stopping for him to measure yards we stopped at one of our favorite spots, where we got married💕💕 and finished the day with dinner.
I started the beginning of my regular emergency room visits that summer.
The first time I had been sick for a few days and got to the point where I couldn't get out of bed, when I finally called Joe to come get me (He was at work in Des Moines) I was in so much pain I couldn't move or breath. They really couldn't figure out what was wrong...I had fluid on my lungs and everything internally was extremely inflamed. They gave me some fluids, pain pills, and sent me home to rest...
For my birthday I wanted to go to Adventureland so Joe, myself, his mom, my mom, and my brother went! I was still weak from being sick but we still made the best of it.
Afterwards dad met us at Texas Roadhouse for supper.
I know you've already figured out we like an excuse to celebrate...😂.
We also went out to eat at Smokey D's the next day and finished my birthday off with some Creme Dement dessert. It was amazing.
In August my mom carried on the tradition of planning our annual family reunion my grandma always planned. We had a great turnout and all celebrated her💜.
In September we bought a house in town in Osceola and boy was it some work! But we loved it.
We tore out carpet in half the house, put a window in, painted all the walls and cabinets, did a few other little updates and FINALLY moved in. My momma brought us some congratulatory flowers.
Shortly after we moved into our new house in September we road tripped to Wyoming for one of my best friends weddings. This was Joes first time seeing mountains and it was so fun to see it through his eyes.
The wedding was in Buffalo, a few hours north of Casper. I told Joe the whole time, wait till you see the mountains clear up in Jackson Hole, they're way better!😉. It was so great spending time with Lauren and getting to catch up with her whole family. I hadn't seen any of them but her in over 10 years! I didn't get a picture with the rest of the family, just Joe and I and Laurens older brother Bryan (He's the same age as my older brother and they're still good friends too).
Going to, we drove straight through. So coming home we decided to come home through South Dakota and we had such great time! We saw Mount Rushmore, went through the bear country thing (I can't remember the name 🤷♀️). and we HAD to stop at Christmas Village, I was in heaven!
TheWyoming took a huge toll on me. Looking back I know why! But these two are so good at cuddling momma when I'm sick.
I discovered something about myself while we were helping my parents clean out their shed that fall, I have a problem collecting things I don't need😳, the whole bed of the truck was full of antiques too😂. Since then I've either gotten rid of them or used them for projects so at least they're put to good use now!
Posing so perfectly with the outdoor Halloween decor.
We hosted Thanksgiving at our new house thanks to my mommy and Joe doing so much of it.
Dinners with this guy are never dull, but I wouldn't have it any other way💙.
Annual Christmas baking with my momma.
Christmas Bash at Valley Church.
How I spent most of my Christmas Eve this year too.
I did enjoy part of the night playing games with cousins.
This dog. never a dull moment with him!
Basically the best Christmas present ever.
Great minds think alike, mom and I got each other the same fleece zip up jacket😂.
I've always complained that my stocking is the smallest...Its a running family joke, and what happens when my grandma makes the stockings when I'm only a baby! So my brother remedied that for me😉.
Christmas 2017 family photo.
I wasn't feeling so hot so we had a low key New Years eve with Joes mom and my brother playing games and having snacks.
2017 was by far one of the craziest years we had. Getting Deegan, losing grandma, ER visits, buying a house, opening the salon again, vacation, and everything in between...It was a challenging year for sure, my health RAPIDLY declined throughout the year, by the end of the year I was canceling or rescheduling so many clients because I was sick more than I was well, still with no explanation what was happening to me. I am still so thankful for all of the good moments we had between all of the bad throughout the year.
We started out the year with Joe fighting (and winning!)
One of my best friends moved back to the area the year before and we had fun getting together for coffee dates and puppy cuddles often.
We put in new flooring in the living room! The first picture is when we first moved in and were ripping up the carpet, etc. we uncovered really cool old side planked sub floor and were going to keep it but in the end decided to go with new flooring.
Always with the puppy cuddles❤️.
We hosted Easter at our house.
Tried out Wahlburgers for the first time and it was great! If you haven’t tried it yet, definitely go!
Joe humored me by putting in a big garden in the back yard☺️. In the end I was to sick and couldn’t keep up with it...🙃 and will maybe try some small raised beds this year.
We threw Joe a birthday party at our house and had a lot of fun with our friends and family.
On the year anniversary of grandma passing the four kids and my cousin and I got together to visit her grave and spend time together.
It’s great that we got to reminisce and honor her❤️.
For our anniversary we took off on the motorcycle for the day and drove up and around Saylorville lake (such a beautiful drive even in the car if you haven’t done it).
We had big plans of going somewhere new or fancy and we ended up at famous Dave’s...perfect for is😂.
Anniversary gift from Joe, I’ve been wanting a hammock for ages!
In May I closed my salon because I was so sick I couldn’t work anymore, now honestly that should have been a sign to go to the doctor, I do realize that now🤪. I did have regular weekly visits to the ER every week or so...they gave me fluids, said I had a UTI and sent me home every time...now wouldn’t you think going that many times they would look into why I was having them that often...🙄. Basically the entire month of June I spent glued to the couch, I was so sick, weak, and in so much pain I couldn’t get up. Ny the beginning of July my family came over for mom to make lasagna for us, that Sunday morning I was so weak Joe helped me shower and I passed out, I refused to go to the doctor that day so the next day joe had his mom come sit with me and by the afternoon I was so bad I finally called Joe and was willing to go to the ER. long story not so short🤷♀️ They sent me by ambulance to Des Moines and I was in the hospital for a week, I didn’t realize t until Joe and my mom told me later that I was on my deathbed, I still don’t like saying it because it sounds so dramatic...Anyways, I was diagnosed with Crohns.
Some sweet friends that live out of state sent me flowers❤️.
The end of July Joe had a kickboxing fight
The next day we went to my moms cousins wedding.
And then the next we celebrated my birthday!
I didn’t realize at the time how sick I looked. Looking back at pictures even though I’m not happy with where my weight is I’m so thankful to be healthier than I was then.
Such a relaxing way to spend time, Joe fishes and I lay there and relax😉.
We lost my grandpa over the summer and this is the last thing he made for me for our someday kids. I’m so thankful that when I look around our home I’m surrounded by so many memories of him from all of the things he has made me❤️❤️.
Took about 5 minutes on our way home from my parents one day to get a little target practice in.
We (and by we I mean Joe) finished laying down flooring in the kitchen, dimming, and hall.
These puppies make the bad days better❤️.
We got professional family pictures done in the fall, Only one good pictures with the dogs...🤪.
We celebrated Chris’s birthday at one of his favorite spots, Texas Roadhouse!
Chris, Joe, me, and some friends went and saw the Seether concert, it was so great! I’ll definitely go back everytime they’re in Des Moines.
Melissa, Brianna, Mikala, myself, and Amanda. Two sets of sister friends I’ve had for life!
We threw a Harvest Party like we do every year but also threw a surprise 30th birthday party for my brother! We had such a great turnout and surprised him.
Some of my lifelong friends Melissa and Amanda drove up from Kansas for the day to visit and it was so fun to spend time with him. My uncle and cousins got to stop by for awhile (if you’ve met this uncle then chances are you’ve heard about the time he saved my life when I was a baby😉😂).
I went out hunting for the first time with Joe, it was bow hunting because shotgun season would be way to cold for me😂.
Mom, myself, Mikala, Brianna, and Becky.
Mom and Becky have been friends for over 20 years, therefore so have us girls😉.
We all went and saw Mama Mia when it came out years ago so naturally we all had to go see Mama Mia 2 together.
We hosted thanksgiving at our house. I am so thankful for how much Joe and my mom do even when we’re the ones hosting. I get to exhausted and always end up overdoing it so honestly they did the majority of all the work.
With Joes dad, step mom, siblings, and niece for his dads surprise 50th birthday party.
One of my DIY Christmas gifts I made.
We had a freak blizzard where Osceola got 16 inches of snow and Des Moines got like 2 lol. My brother ended up getting snowed in at our house so in between rescuing family members that had gotten stuck we had snacks, watched movies, and played some board games. I’m probably the only person (aside from Joe) that loves storms like this, there’s just something so beautiful and peaceful about it.
Mom and I have been going to the Christmas bash for a couple years but it was so fun this year having my aunt and two cousins join us!
After the Christmas bash mom and I went to meat my cousins new babygirl❤️.
Christmas helpers. Dublins face kills me😂😂.
When Joe bought his truck he had to put a new blower motor in soo it didn't have heat which means we had a cold ride down to my parents so he could put a new one in, we were all sorts of bundled up😂.
We take our Gingerbread house decorating VERY seriously. No not really, we just try to keep it put together.
Puppy cuddles really are the best when you don't feel well.
Our finished gingerbread house of 2018!
Enjoying the snow with these sweet babies💙, With their short hair we last about 5 minutes which is just fine with me.
2018 Christmas baking in the books!
After one of the storms we took a drive out to East Lake and it was so beautiful.
We had such a great time at the Christmas Bash at Valley church and got to meet our speaker, Jen Green from Life 107.1.
My dads favorite Christmas Movie is Charlie Brown so it was really fun for all of us to go see the play for Christmas.
There is nothing better than the glow of a Christmas tree in the evening.
Thanksgiving with my family.
Christmas Eve family photo. let me just say...there were SO many bloopers before we got a good picture, Deegan thought we were trying to kill him.
I love that we usually have our cousins that live near us come over to my parents for Christmas Eve, we always have Joes mom and whatever other family wants to come.
Christmas morning Joe's mom came over for brunch and gifts and we watched Christmas Chronicles for the first time, it was such a great movie.
Christmas at mom and dads. mom painstakingly made all of us new matching stockings (even the doggies!) I say painstakingly because she is a perfectionist and literally every single stocking is identical!
By the end of the day Christmas I was SO exhausted...so naturally I put on the pj pants mom got me and used the new blanket I got and cuddled up with the doggies while we watched A Muppet Christmas Carol.
2018 was certainly a rollercoaster of a year...I remember starting out the year so miserable. I was rescheduling/canceling clients right and left because I was so sick.
By the time I closed the salon I was so sick I didn't get off the couch for literally a month until I was admitted to the hospital. I am so thankful for that ER doctor who knew something wasn't right and sent me on to Des Moines.
2018 was the year of finally starting some healing, it may have been a lot slower than I liked but it was still progress!
We started off 2019 with Joe fighting in January. It was so great having my Uncle, Aunt, and Cousin drive a couple hours from Northern Iowa to see Joe fight (He won!).
In March we went over to Iowa City to see a friend of ours fight, it was such a fun weekend away. We checked out New City Market, they have all kinds of small business/local food vendors, boutiques, and alot of unique stuff.
For supper when we got over there Joe and I tried out Tomaso's Pizza and it was so yummy!
Saturday before the fights our friends Alex and Rachel and my brother come over too and we all went to dinner. We headed to the fight afterwards and our friend won!
Sunday we took our time coming home and stopped at the outlet mall😍😍 Its amazing how far you can stretch a $200 budget at an outlet mall, I got some cute stuff!
Joe bought a motorcycle on our way home in Indianola (My brother went and paid for it and took it to a friends house on Saturday before he came over to Cedar Rapids) so Joe bundled up (It was like 30 degrees but naturally that didn't stop him) and road it home.
I was so happy to see our doggies when we got home and REST, I was so exhausted.
Random Date day with my favorite💜.
Joe had another fight in March.
The fight was at Bucks Arena which meant ALOT to Joe, the first fight he ever went to when he was 15 he got to corner a pro fighter at this very place and now he got to come full circle and fight for the same fighter who is now a promoter and has taken Joe under his wing since that first day when he was 15.
March is Autoimmune Disease Awareness month and Joe surprised me with getting shirts made up and got this added to his fight trunks, it was such an amazing sweet surprise.
So his niece Lily told him that night that he was going to win the belt, which is pretty cool considering his last fight that happened in 2020 he won the belt! We didn't make that connection until a couple weeks after that fight but we thought it was cool.
Don't mind me, just supervising Joe's smoking skills.
Easter Sunday at our house. It may be small, but we can sure cram people around our table (and a folding table) and we had a great day.
In April they had the first bike night Hosted by Chips Harley Davidson and the Casino so we took a ride around town and up a few highways with Joes uncle and stopped at my parents on the way home.
We ran into my cousin and her husband at bike night!
For Christmas we gifted Joe's mom with family pictures and we got them done in April. They turned out so great! The photographer (Blackcat Photography) was willing to come to Deb's backyard to take the pictures so the dogs would be more comfortable and we actually found some great spots to take the pictures.
Always a few bloopers with him, and I wouldn't have it any other way💖
Deegan enjoying his pool. As soon as he goes outside in the summer he heads straight for his pool every time.
One of my best friends had a sweet baby boy named Bobby so the next week mom and I headed down to Topeka, KS to visit for the day and meet the little guy. I promise we weren't just sitting on our phones, Melissa and I were looking for something😂. We had such a great day seeing them and meeting Bobby!
Family BBQ with Joe's family. Always entertaining!
We had Joe's birthday party up at my parents so we had more room and could let people use the pool.
I have to say... I LOVE having them closer to us, and they have the perfect entertaining set up, there will be many more parties to come.
Hanging out with my brother, cousin Cassie, and her husband Dan at my parents house on Memorial Day.
The end of May Joe and Brian brought the fights to Leon and had SUCH a great event, Joe's team and fighters wiped the mat and all brought home the win.
We went over to Greenfield to celebrate my cousin Gabe graduating high school!
He's the first one on dads side of the family after me (there's a large gap) We got a picture with my dad and his three brothers, Scott, Spencer, and Steve.
This picture means so much to me! they're technically dads step brothers removed...but they've been my uncles since I was born, bitterly my uncle Scott (the one standing to the right of dad) was the first one at the hospital even before my grandma! My uncle Spencer used to come babysit us before he went to school when he was in high school when mom worked the donut shift at Caseys and my dad worked on the road, If you've ever met him, he'll tell you about the time he saved my life when I was a baby. Then there's uncle Steve, he'll tell you about the time he tried to pick up women with me when I was a baby while we were on vacation, my mom ruined it for him and he still won't let her live it down, or maybe its the other way around?😉😂.
Anyways, they all have a special place in my heart.
We had our families over to our house and grilled out for Fathers day.
Joe and I took a fun motorcycle day trip over to Pella.
For our 8 year wedding Anniversary after getting my Stelara injection we revisited the past💕💕. We went to the spot we said I do, our reception site, and then finished with something new...Angry Goldfish because its our new favorite spot.
Our friends Matt and Jordan came back for a visit from Tennessee the week of 4th of July so we had fun getting together with them and some of our other friends.
On the 4th after the parade and the carnival we headed up to my parents to bbq and hang out in the pool for awhile.
We finished off the day by walking down to our friends that lives 2 doors down and combined all the fireworks and had our own little firework show. It was such an amazing ending to the day watching Joe and his brother swing Joe's niece on the way back home.
Joe put together a celebratory dinner with my biggest support group to celebrate one year of being better (Or getting better?) on the one year anniversary of getting out of the hospital. It was so great to be with them and celebrate the people that have been there for me and helped me along the way.
Joe had a fight in July, he lost that one but both of his fighters that fought that night won so thats a win for him! and plus. My best friend came up to watch the fight that I hadn't gotten to see in a few months!
The next day we invited some friends up to my parents to celebrate George and Sarah's wins and had some pool time and when the rain hit moved the bbq into the garage and ended with a movie.
I like to spread out the birthday festivities....what can I say🤷♀️.
We went to dinner with our families at Smokey D's, mom and I went and got our nails done and had a shopping day, then when Joe got off work he met us up there, picked me up, and tried out the newly opened Giordano's 😍😍 It was SO amazing and the perfect way to end my birthday. Joe also planned a birthday party for me at my parents with yummy food and pool time, my two favorite things.
In August Joe, myself, my mom, brother, and his mom went to see Toby Keith at the state fair and it was basically a dream come true...I've wanted to see Toby Keith for FOREVER and we got pit tickets so we were right up front, it was so amazing. Before the concert we had a little time to kill so we went and visited our friends The Powells who have a soap booth, they have been selling their soap at the fair for over 20 years! or maybe 30? I can't remember...but I will tell you, its literally the only soap I've ever used in my entire life, its amazing. so funny...while at the concert before it started, A lady came up to me and told me she loved my hair and told me she thought I had to be a hairstylist, because hairstylist can always spot another hairstylist😂, Through talking to her and her friend we found that my old boss at the Aveda Salon I worked at in Des Moines used to babysit her! such a small world.
We had so much fun at Old Threshers as usual. Its one of my favorite places on earth.
My Uncle Steve and great uncle Warren with their steam engines.
My daddy standing in front of the large steam engine he used to work at during Threshers. He worked at the train, blacksmithing and a couple other places throughout his time at Threshers but this was the first place he worked. I'm hoping to get him talked back into volunteering there in 2020😉.
We brought our Air fryer over so I could make homemade donuts for everyone the first day we were there.
Joe had a fight in September and lost due to a cheap shot that the ref didn't see, the ref apologized afterwards because it shouldn't have ended that way but Joe handled it like a champ and showed such good sportsmanship.
We had an afterparty at Westside Bar in Osceola and had a great time and a super late night😴.
We had an end of the summer/fall BBQ up at my parents and ended up with over 70 people there!
We had such a great time with all of our family and friends combined in one place, mom and I made up the famous Indian fry bread in the evening and ended the day perfectly.
The next day after the Fall BBQ my cousin brought down a huge lift and some friends came over and helped cut down some trees before they fell on our house😳. Mom came into town and helped get food ready for everyone (Dublin supervised of course). We were so thankful for my cousin and our friends that were willing to deal with all of the rain and help us get them cut down and cleaned up.
Some of our friends got married in October and we had a great time celebrating them and they had such a beautiful wedding.
Puppy cuddles are seriously the best when I'm not feeling well...So are pajamas.
Thanksgiving at my parents.
Thanksgiving up in Webster City with my moms side of the family. I always love when we all get together💙.
My favorite way to kick off December is the first Saturday of the month we go to the Christmas Bash at Valley Church in Des Moines. This year Joes mom, my grandma, and another one of my cousins joined us and we had such a great time spending the day together!
While we were doing that, Joe, my brother, Joes dad, and his brother were slaying some dear, And had an excellent weekend! They came home with 7 deer total and our deepfreeze is FULL!
We had a Christmas game night/White Elephant gift exchange at my parents and we had such a great time! I had done a white elephant gift exchange with friends and I can't wait to continue doing it every year!
The next day we went up to Belmond, IA to see my grandma for Christmas we had a great day visiting with her and I snapped this picture as we were going down mainstream on our way home, it was snowing and just so pretty! I've always loved Belmond mainstream at Christmas time💜.
We love to do a 25 days of Christmas activities. While we don't have time to do something every single day its a big goal for us to do something at least most days. I beat Joe at Monopoly of course😉.
We went to my brothers church for a Christmas Eve, Eve service at the Botanical Center in Des Moines and it was a great evening. I had never been to the botanical center before and it was so pretty in the evening with all of the lights.
Christmas Eve at my parents.
After opening gifts at our house we headed to my parents for Christmas! we had such a great time together and it always goes by way too fast.
Once we got home in the afternoon and Joe's mom got off work she came over and we had our Christmas with her.
Christmas Eve we went up to my parents with a few other people and made it home around midnight. We're real party animals let me tell you😂.
2019 was a year of disappointments, excitements, joy, sadness, and every single feeling in between.
I started off the year with the Biologic I was on failing and having to start over again with my Stelara medication, finding out I had Alpha 1 (Liver & lung) disease, and many moments of of sadness.
2019 taught me about picking myself back up (With the help of Joe of course) and having a positive mind, its not always easy but is so important in your growth in your health (or for anyone in general!)
It was a year of a lot of growth and honestly wisdom.
I had so many moments of first that I had had in a LONG time! In my mind I was going to be 100% better, in remission, etc. and was going to get to do a million things, I didn't get to do all of that, BUT I got to do so much and it was so great! I learned a lot about taking a stepping back and enjoying the little moments, stepping away from social media and being present.
I let some relationships go and had new ones or even current ones flourish.
I learned a lot about what's important and whats not.
I have so much more to learn but I'm thankful for the growth I had💜.
Writing this post really put some things in perspective for me.
It was so fun looking back while finding pictures and reliving some amazing moments and some not so amazing moments.
ALOT has happened in the last decade. Many moves, College graduations, our wedding, two sweet doggies, we've lost some very close loved ones, been on soo many adventures together, went through so many years of sickness...
Looking back on everything that has happened has me so excited to see what the future holds for us over the next decade.
I know there's some exciting things coming!
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