The End of 2011

Well, here it is...New Year's Eve 2011.  In just a few hours, we will be starting a new year...hello 2012!  I wanted to do a bit of a reflection on the year and talk about semi-resolutions.


I worked my first full-time tax season from January to April, which was super busy!  Brent & I attended a Valentine's day marriage retreat at the lakes with our church for "improving your marriage".  I went to one of my favorite country group's concert to celebrate the end of tax season with my Mom and some of her friends.  Sugarland rocked out! :)  We celebrated Easter with Brent joining the Catholic church by being baptized, confirmed, and taking his first Holy Communion.  

So proud of my hubby!

Then on Friday, May 13th, I got Lasik.  This was also our six year dating anniversary, that also fell on a Friday the 13th, so I was convinced I would not come out blind since it is obviously a lucky day for us!  And I was more than pleased with the results!  No more contacts or glasses for (hopefully) the rest of my life! :) 


Brent & I fished together in my family's annual bass fishing tournament for the first time.  While we didn't catch much worth talking about, we had an absolute blast just being together out on the water all morning. 

In June, one of the girls I grew up with got married, so we had all the festivities that go along with that.  We took the bachelorette out for her last night out in Nashville a few weeks before the wedding.  It was so fun!   Brent was actually in the wedding because he has become good friends with the groom, so after the rehearsal and dinner, we hosted a little party for the wedding party to hang out some more!  That is me with the bride & bridesmaids in the second picture.  I whipped up some of my famous margaritas just for the occasion! :)

The wedding came the next day and it was absolutely gorgeous.  The main color was red, but she incorporated all the bold colors like deep purple, yellow, and orange in.  Brent & I, along with all our friends had way too much fun at the reception!

We went on our own "honeymoon" right after the wedding with Brent's cousin and his wife, Ashley, who I also grew up with.  Immediately after the reception, we hit the road headed to Destin, Florida for the week. We got a two-bedroom condo on the beach and spent the week relaxing and soaking up the sun.  Brent also fulfilled one of my life-long dreams of swimming with dolphins and did it with me!  

We got home just in time for miss Bella's fourth birthday.  We sang her happy birthday and had her blow out candles in a bowl of wet dog food (a treat for her!).  For her birthday, we got her fixed!  Lucky her, I know!  We had thought we wanted her to have puppies, but we tried unsuccessfully to breed her before and it didn't happen.  So, we just decided to get her fixed and be done with the mess that comes with having an un-fixed dog.

I blindly signed up for some classes to finish up my hours to be a CPA without knowing if I had passed the last part yet.  But I had to do something, so I took a leap of faith and did it.  Then it was my 23rd birthday.  We celebrated in Nashville since my friend Heather turned twenty-one a few days before.  We treated her to a fun night on the town and had a blast!  

In August, I started blogging, took a trip to Atlanta to see my great grandmother, celebrated our second wedding anniversary, and we started trying for a baby after hearing what could have been some bad news about a family member.

In September, our shed blew away in a windstorm (a nightmare!).  On a drizzly, cold Monday morning, I found out I passed the last part of the CPA exam!

The first week of October, we headed back to Florida to Panama City Beach with my mom, step-dad and sisters for fall break with a bunch of other families.  It was the most fun I have ever had on the beach! Then on October 17, I took a positive pregnancy test.  We also went to several concerts and sporting events as well.  We also went to our first doctor's appointment.

November brought a rollercoaster of emotions.  We heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time on the fourth.  Then on the sixth, I started bleeding, and our miscarriage was confirmed on the following day.  To get our minds off of everything, we ripped up our carpet and had the hardwood under them refinished. Thanksgiving also came and went.

And finally, in December, I found out my hormone levels were back to normal and that we could begin to try for another baby.  We prepared for and celebrated Christmas, and decided to put our house on the market when the new year comes.

So that wraps up what happened in 2011.  I guess considering that we lost a baby during the year, it was as good as it could be.  

As far as resolutions for 2012, I can't say that I really have any.  I don't really like the resolution idea since they always tend to fade away by February.  However, I definitely want to get myself in better shape.  I need to quit eating so much junk and get active.  This will be hard if it turns out that I am pregnant, but I need to do it for the baby, so that should give me some incentive.  

I'm really looking forward to 2012 and hoping it will be a better year.  I hope we are able to welcome a new baby into a new house sometime during the year!  I also plan to officially become Whitney Smith, CPA by the end of the summer!  Here's to hoping! :)

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