What a Year!

I'm going to have problems folks. Major problems! I still write 2012 on dates. Oooops! 

It has been such an amazing year - I mentally pinch myself from time to time when I think about the fact that I live in London. In London! In my earlier days, I didn't even have a dream to live in London because it was unthinkable. Since about 16 years old, I had a dream to visit Europe someday, so it is a dream come true to have done it over and over again for the past year and a half. It has been a whirlwind of a year... let's take a look back...

JANUARY

We started off in Brussels, Belgium where we rang in the New Year watching fireworks with strangers in a square. One of my favorite times of our travels! We also made the announcement that we would be moving to London.

FEBRUARY

I turned the BIG 3-0 in perfect fashion - 80's style!

MARCH

A group trip took us to Morzine, France where we skied the Alps. Dream come true!

APRIL

We said good bye to Aberdeen, Scotland and hello to London, England. It was a rough couple of weeks, but we learned quickly that London fits us.

MAY

We visited our family back home in Texas and Louisiana. 

We met our third nephew for the first time!

JUNE

We went to Copenhagen, Denmark... the first of many weekends trips we decide to take. 

We also reached our 4th year of marriage.

JULY

Busy month!
We visited Stockholm, Sweden...

Becca and Eric visited...

And we took a trip to Bath and Stonehenge...

We saw family during our second visit to Paris, France!

AUGUST

My parents visited...

 And we took a trip to Oxford, England....

We visited Dublin, Ireland and to this day still have a difficult time drinking Guinness.

SEPTEMBER

We took a trip of a lifetime to Italy! Visiting Rome...

Vatican City...

Florence...

Enjoyed a Tuscan Wine Tour...

And the beautiful coast of Cinque Terre! Ah, take me back!!!

We can't forget Pisa :-)

OCTOBER

I made my first trip back to Aberdeen to visit friends (and say good-bye to one friend), while Luke made two trips to the United States for work.

{from Nerald's blog}

NOVEMBER

We had a fantastic time in Berlin, Germany!!

But were brought back to reality when we visited Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp (I still cannot bring myself to write a blog about this one).

The Buisson's (Luke's dad and them) visited

DECEMBER

We reunited with some friends (Kelly and Billy) from back home in Amsterdam, Netherlands...

We visited three different cities in Germany to attend the Christmas Markets (have yet to write about these) with Jill and Ryan.

We ended the year celebrating Christmas in Aberdeen with great friends :-) 

We have also had several people come to London throughout the year for various reasons whom we have hung out with! (and if I forgot you, its only because I don't have any pictures of when you were here... ahem, Nary, twice! Kristal and Liz & Greg and Diane & Phil.)

{Jill's London marathon weekend in April)

{Mahan's visit in May}

{Kristin's visit for Wimbledon in June}

{Emily & Tyler's visit in July}

{Falene's visit in August}

{The Aberdeen girls' visit in September}

We have been blessed with this opportunity, and we are so grateful for all that we have been given! I don't say it enough, but Luke and I really appreciate your support during our journey overseas. Without your love from afar, we would not be able to manage. Even if it may not seem like it, we miss our family and friends like crazy. Our travels just might be our coping mechanism :-/

We wish all of you an extraordinary 2014!

With love,