January:
- Had finally graduated college in December, and decided to take the CNA (Certified Nurse Aide) Course to get experience working in the medical field.
- Since I had time to spare now that I wasn't taking ridiculous loads of science courses, worked on wedding planning almost every day!!! Now I know why people get wedding planners to do all the work for them!
- We found out Tyler got into medical school (!!!) and our future in Denver began to take its shape.
- Got my first job as a CNA at Lemay Avenue Health & Rehab Center (fancy phrasing for a nursing home) and had my first day on the job on my birthday!
- Celebrated my 23rd birthday on 2.16 with my family by having a Murder Mystery party! It was a Honky Tonk Homicide! And what a hoot that night was...I TOTALLY recommend a murder mystery party for people who haven't done one (or for people who have done many!). They're fantastic. I should start planning my party for bday #24...
- It was one month til we walked down the aisle, and I was working full-time but lemme tell ya - also stressing full-time about wedding details! There are literally so many details...
- Early April, we traveled to Washington DC during the Cherry Blossom Festival to go to my cousin Ryan's wedding! The Ryans' wedding was a great time, and it was doubly awesome for me because my grandpa lives in DC, so we got to hang out with him. The Cherry Blossom Festival was incredibly busy, fun, and beautiful! Aside from a slight snafu when Tyler and I may or may not have locked ourselves out of the house we were staying in in Georgetown at 10pm...the trip was just peachy!
- The BIG month finally arrived! We got married on 4.26 and it was such a wonderful day! The only thing missing was that my brother skipped out on us, and unfortunately, I don't think he'll understand the devestation that brought to me until he gets married. And maybe not even then. The day went off without a hitch, and we danced the night away with our closest friends and family - all 275 of them! We really learned how fortunate we were to have all that love and support!
- We took a day to open presents (Christmas times 1 million!) then took off on our Honeymoon. We flew into Sacramento, CA and stayed for one day, checking out a museum and the "downtown" area. Quaint for being the capital. Next stop was Napa Valley! We cruised there in our stylish(?) rental - Plymouth Prowler - and it was beautiful! There were hardly any tourists, which was awesome, because we were able to sit and chat with all the winemakers at their wineries! We walked the little town and took a bike tour through the vineyards, which was really fun! The only bad part of our trip was that our hot air balloon ride got canceled on account of some cloudiness. Booooo - I was SO looking forward to it. So now we still have tickets to go on a hot air balloon (let me know if you know of anyone looking to buy some at discounted prices!). Guess we'll just have to go back! Lastly, we went to San Francisco. My new favorite big city!!! So eclectic and just incredible. We took advantage of the great public transportation but also explored the city on foot - taking in museums, tons of great food, Japan Center, Little Italy, China Town, the Hippie District, the Pier...so much to do!
- May brought my friend Erin's wedding, and I was honored to be a bridesmaid! It was such a fun group, as we had 10 bridesmaids!!! That wedding was a true party :)
- That same weekend, we also moved out of our apartment by CSU - seeing as how neither of us were students anymore, and moved in with...my parents. Yup. I said it, and I did it. I'm what you may call a boomerang child: I always come back home. It was interesting living at home, but we were so grateful for my parents allowing us to live there because it gave us a huge break financially.
- We needed that break because we decided to buy a townhome in Aurora! It was a short-sale, and up til this point in my life, I had no idea what that was. Well, I'm now an expert, and to sum it up...short sales are time consuming and annoying and drawn out. We spent all summer being frustrated with the process.
- We were able to travel to Danville, Illinois to visit my dad's side of the family and my great grandmother who is in her mid-90s. It is SO gorgeous up there! If I was banned from Colorado for some reason, I would live in Illinois! It was so much fun and we stayed on my great aunt/uncle's lake in their beautiful home and ate pretty much 24/7. That's what I call a vacation! Since Tyler and I were straight broke from all that wedding business, my grandpa gave us a huge unexpected gift and footed the bill for our trip so that we would be able to make it. Thanks, grandpa!!!
- During the torrential downpour on the 4th of July, Tyler and I decided to ride our bikes to Merri and Jeremy's house to celebrate their engagement! We took part in a ridiculous obstacle course that was SO much fun, then moved along to see some other folks, and then on to City Park for fireworks. Successful night! What wasn't so successful? The long and hot bikeride home across town the next morning...
- My sister turned 15 and that means she is behind a steering wheel now...you can decide if that is good or bad...
- This is when life was all sorts of uncertain for us! Tyler started school August 10th, but we still had no sign of legitimately closing on our townhome. So his aunt and uncle graciously hosted him for a few weeks while we got that sorted out. I also quit my job on August 1st, thinking we were moving then...but we weren't...so my job let me pick up shifts through August 28th, which was soooo nice of them! As stressed as I was, I don't know what I would've done without the kindness of Tyler's family and Lemay during this time!
- On August 18th, I got a phone call from Rose in Denver about a few job positions, and they asked me to come interview in early September.
- Finally, on August 26th, our realtor told us we were closing on August 27th! So we went to Denver, signed our lives away, and were all ready to move in to our lovely townhome...except the previous owner wasn't out yet. But it wasn't too bad because we were able to move in August 29th! Yayyyy!!!
- That same night, I went out in Denver to celebrate for my friend Vanissa's bachelorette party! It was such a fun girls' night!
- With me having no job, I quickly got the house in order and was making lists upon lists of tasks that needed done.
- I had my interview at Rose...and was waiting and waiting for the answer.
- All of this alone time made me get...puppy fever! On September 11, we went to PetSmart's Second Chance for Love adoption event and adopted a "lab-golden retriever-german shepherd" named Juanita. Haha - true story. As many of you may have noticed from previous postings' pictures, our little PENNY is most likely not any of those breeds. We're thinking a terrier mix. Anyhoo, she is the little love of my life now, and we are so happy that we were finally able to get a puppy together. It's hard work, but I love her so much!!! She's lucky, too, because with all of her health problems she has had, someone needed to take care of her with lots of love!
- I got the job at Rose! Working nights as a CNA, and September 28th marked my first day of orientation - an exact month after my last shift at Lemay.
- Getting started at Rose was awesome and intense! Immediately everyone was so kind to me and I got adjusted pretty quickly!
- Interviewed at CU Denver Physician's Assistant program...
- For Halloween we went to Fort Collins to KeyanJasonDillonMizeBen's house, and little Penny wore her pumpkin shirt, which was a hit!
- Finally getting used to my crazy hours at work (7pm-7:30am), and making that work with Tyler's crazy class/study hours (all day, every day).
- Found out I didn't get into PA school...boooo...oh well. I felt like we had so much change going on and so much going right for us that something had to go "wrong" soon.
- Started a BLOG!!! What??? After some persuasion from some blogfans, I decided it would be a great way to be held accountable for goals I had :) And thus, ambition never goes out of style was born! Lovin it so far!
- Celebrated Thanksgiving in Fort Collins, Longmont, and Hugo...a lot to take in in one weekend! Nice to see everyone, though.
- Day after Thanksgiving shopping with Linds was definitely a highlight! So much fun and got most of my Christmas shopping done!
- December 1st meant I could finally put up Christmas decor (what little of it we had this year), and I was feeling the season all month long!
- Work was going well when I wasn't frustrated from being low/volumed...
- Celebrated Tyler's 24th bday with tons of cooking and not much hanging out, due to his finals that were on the next day.
- My dad got laid off :/ booooo. How rude.
- Christmas in Fort Collins and Loveland was lovely but also another long and busy weekend!
- A little trip to Breckinridge to see some great friends and play in a cabin!
Cheery cheers :)
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