2018 Year in Review!

After a full year of wedding planning and house building..

JANUARY

was full of enjoying our new home, putting things into place, and getting to have family dinners here!

FEBRUARY

Kari asked if we wanted to do a "lifestyle shoot" so I had Philip pose one more time:)

Philip and my dad worked on getting our stairs to code so we could move to the loft!

He got busy in his shop too, building a work bench and loft out there:)

Chicken foot and oxygen checking;)

and a great Valentine's Day that ended with..

a proposal!

This year's gift from Momma was extra special. While digging to find something she had put away for my wedding day, she found these two journals that she kept up with the whole first year of mine and Kayla's life. I never knew she did this, but so so glad she did! It was so sweet to read.

MARCH

We enjoyed cool, pretty mornings on the porch.

and extra pretty sunsets this month!

We planted our first garden in the bed Philip built.

Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, and Cucumbers:)

Philip was pumped to surprise me with a favorite..Luna's crawfish stuffed avocados:)

The slow easy mornings are always best and we seemed to have a few of them this month!

A porch picnic of take-out sushi!

A rehearsal dinner..

and a couple of weddings to end the month!

Bret's wedding day under Mr. McFatter's beautiful oak trees!

APRIL

Easter:)

Railroad Festival 2018 and all the excitement:)

Preparing to build Mawmaw's Cottage began! I loved walking over to see Meemaw and Peepaw enjoying a good cold Coke while visiting:)

I love seeing pictures like this. It reminds me of those few easy mornings that sometimes seem too few and far between.

MAY

Read many good books this summer. Mostly Hilderbrand and Thayer. While I was enjoying this, Philip was leveling our ditches to make them mowable. It made a huge difference!

Flowers and Sushi. What more? :)

Checking the progress of Mawmaw's Cottage:)

Cinco de Mayo with my 2nd Grade team + Philip!

Easy May days.

Momma's Birthday is always best celebrated with boiled crabs.

The first Magnolia of the year (that I could reach)

We took Philip's grandparents to lunch and he loved showing them his cows:)

We got home to baby tomatoes and a fiery sunset!

We harvested lots of tomatoes and basil all summer long!

My boys! Had to catch one of their games:)

The 2nd grade team finished off our year of liaison with a Fiesta Taco Bar. and then.. SUMMER!!

J U N E 

Kayla's Bridal Shower to start the month.

Progress at both Mawmaw's Cottage and Kayla and Lance's house:)

lots and lots and lots. YUM!

Really busy days with a few resting minutes here and there:)

I'll never get tired of watching Philip watch cows:)

A big batch of basil pesto from the garden.

Kayla's Cookie/PJ party at my house! June 23rd.

A new to-do list for another party!

Mel's baby shower for little Lila ended a full month!

JULY

Mawmaw is in!

A quick 4th of July lunch in amongst last minute wedding/house details.

Kayla and Lance's WEDDING DAY!

Kayla's birthday crab boil:)

Easy days outside:)

Savoring every chance to eat a fresh summer tomato!

We found out on July 17th we were expecting a baby!! I announced to Mel and she surprised me with a gift too. She said she had a feeling:)

AUGUST

We had our first appointment at six weeks on August 2nd and heard the heartbeat for the first time!

Later that day, Mel had sweet Lila Ruth Morel!

Back to school goodies to start my fourth year of teaching:)

Siting in at Kayla and Lance's.

We had a photo shoot with Kari to announce our baby!!

SEPTEMBER

We had the best date. Started with a peach tea from Olive Garden, then a Luna's crawfish stuffed avocado, headed to the lake for the sunset, then looked at a few pretty houses and ended up at Tia Juanita's for dinner. Some details I just don't want to forget:)

Our 1st Day of Fall gift from Momma was a favorite!

Philip was put in charge of Peepaw's birthday gumbo and it was sooo great!

This month was short on pictures, but we celebrated Peepaw's 82nd Birthday, made a trip to Haynesville to celebrate the life of his best friend Joe Lee, and got a huge shock at my 12 week appointment when we heard that our baby could possibly be a baby boy! Up until this point, I just knew it was a girl.

OCTOBER

We added a little member to our family.

and this is when Tug met Tag;) they soon became best friends!

My 26th! It was such a great weekend:)

We learned that crabs were just as easy to come by in October. So birthday dinner picking game over!!

Philip picked me up to head to my anatomy scan. We picked up a pumpkin on the way and carved IT'S A GIRL that night:) Sweet Landry James was healthy and we were plenty shocked and very excited!

NOVEMBER

Our first anniversary! I got Philip a leather bound notebook to keep his "farm" records in like my dad has. He got me an almost identical leather bound journal with Landry James on the front to write to our sweet girl. Neither of us talked about gifts, and still we had the same idea! After all, the first anniversary gift IS paper:)

We spent a weekend in the Woodlands and then got back just in time to run to the camp at wedding time and enjoy our cake topper and coffee:) It was such a great weekend for us. We love being home, but we're so glad we took the time to go!

I had a blast hosting old friends and brand spanking new ones;)

Squeezed a million satsumas..

and spent some much needed time with Mel and Lila:)

DECEMBER

Kicked off December 1st with something I'd been waiting since Thanksgiving to dig into! Stephanie made us the sweetest advent calendar box of goodies and made EVERY single day of December SO much fun!

A day of playing with my new camera and capturing a big cow move:)

THREE little stockings hung with joy.

Christmas card pictures taken.

Finally bought a new car after 3 months of car pooling with Kayla!

Christmas morning was spent at home. Philip came in from nights at 5:30. I got up and we had coffee, candles and a Netflix fire to open gifts:)

Then we took the party to Momma's where we enjoyed giving, receiving, and all the tiny tissue-papered sweetness:)

The year ended with a going away party for one of my oldest friends. Laikyn made the move to CO!

Our annual New Year's Eve party was full of great food, fireworks, family and thanks to Philip working a long stint of nights... FaceTime;)

Landry James Menou. This past year, we planned for you and prayed for you. I love the excitement you brought our 2018 and can't WAIT to meet you in 2019, my girl.