2014 – You’ve Been Wild! A Year in Review

I’m so glad that I got rolling again with blogging this year! Thank you to those who have kept up with us and supported me through your comments and emails. It’s been a wild 2014, so here’s our year in review.

In January we celebrated our third anniversary at home. We put two month old Hadley to bed and enjoyed a delicious three-course meal (all cooked by Jamie!) in our sweats. We took one cell phone selfie (that I can’t find) and considered it a great day simply because the Army allowed us to be together.

A few days later we left Hadley overnight with my parents for the first time and played in Nashville for my 26th birthday. All of my best friends and their husbands came to town, and Jamie got the girls a limo to take us to a winery and around town. It was seriously the perfect, most fun night! Girls, I know you’re probably reading this because you’ve always supported my silly blog. 🙂 I love and miss each of you so very much.

In February we did a little bit of everything! We drove up to Indiana to spend time with Jamie’s family, and two weeks later Hadley and I flew to Kansas to visit my sister. We also enjoyed a big date night to see Brad Paisley in concert while our friends the Bambergs kept Hadley.

In March we dedicated Hadley to the Lord at our home church in Clarksville (Awaken) with both sets of parents in attendance.

We also packed up the home we own in Tennessee, handed it over to our property manager, and made the big move to Sierra Vista, Arizona. Jamie and Teddy rode in his truck, and my mom, Hadley, and I rode in my Jeep. We rented an awesome townhouse in Arizona and quickly got settled just in time for Jamie to begin his Military Intelligence Captains Career Course.

In April I ran my first post-baby 10k on post at Fort Huachuca.

My sister also welcomed my brother-in-law home from nine months in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

We left Hadley for the weekend with Jamie’s parents and grandmother and flew to Boston. We met up with one of my best, best friends Jessica and her husband Nick, and I watched as Jamie and Jessica ran the Boston Marathon. It was an incredible weekend. He shares his training plan in this post. 

In May Jamie was promoted to a Captain!

We also hopped a plane to San Diego for Memorial Day weekend and very much enjoyed our first true family vacation as a family of three.

Finally, my mom flew out to visit us for a week!

June was really awesome. While Mom was visiting, Jamie and I had a date day and hiked the top of a 9,200 ft. mountain peak.

My lifelong best friend Amberlee flew all the way from Tennessee to visit us!

I flew cross-country with Hadley to Alabama for two weeks where I soaked up a ton of time with my family and my girlfriends before standing by another one of my best friend Amy’s side as she married sweet Cole.

We received news that we’d be stationed next here at Fort Riley (Kansas). Hadley also started crawling!

In July we spent the 4th of July with Jamie’s parents.

We also spent two weeks on and off (weekend one / two) in Tucson with my family at a condo they’d rented.

My sister and BIL flew down too! All we were missing was my brother. We also got the ball rolling on a home to buy in Kansas.

August. Was. Nuts. We went almost two weeks without renters in our Tennessee home while simultaneously navigating our way through more issues with buying our Kansas home. Jamie graduated Top 20% of his Career Course and we said goodbye to Fort Huachuca (this post here makes me tear up when I read it).

One major highlight was spending the weekend with the McManigals in Pheonix!

The intense heartache of the month (year) was very expectedly losing Jamie’s sweet Uncle Jesse suddenly to a health issue.

In September we drove 1,300 miles to Manhattan, Kansas.

Jamie and Teddy made another boys’ road trip, and this time I brought my sister along to help with Had. We closed on our home two days after arriving! We committed to the home “sight unseen”, but it’s truly a home we could spend the rest of our lives in if we had the chance. It’s wonderful. We went 10 days without our household goods, and a day after we received our truck, with our house 110% upside down, we hit the road and drove 14 hours to Birmingham for a wedding.

Jamie’s best friend Chris married Jamie’s cousin Madeline (they met at our wedding), and he was in the wedding. We had the best time! We drove back through the night and immediately started making our house our home. Hadley also started walking (now she runs!).

In October I did a number of home projects and dove head first into finding a “fit” here in Manhattan for Hadley and me. We went every Thursday to the library’s story time, I joined a local gym that I go to almost every morning, and I became a member of MOPS. We’ve also visited several churches and finally have a “home”.

We visited Hadley’s first pumpkin patch and also immensely enjoyed a visit with my mom for five days.

In November we celebrated Hadley’s first birthday party (here’s the letter I wrote to her).

We also hosted my parents and brother for a few days! Jamie’s parents and brother joined us for the party too, and one night we had all of our family members under one roof (minus Jenn and Josh since they lived down the road). It was really great, and we’re so thankful our families get along so well.

At the end of the month we drove to Texas to visit with all of Jamie’s mom’s side of the fam for Thanksgiving. Oh, and we also played in Kansas City with some of our best friends, the Wilsons.

December has been quiet. Jenn and Josh moved in, and every day has been the very best day having them here. Having them move is not going to be a great start to the year! We lightly decorated for Christmas, I worked on a few more projects, and we spent one great weekend in Kansas City.

Today we are celebrating my husband’s 27th birthday and gearing up for a beautiful Olsen-side Christmas.

The best part of the year is that a deployment didn’t touch us, and we were able to spend less than five nights apart due to the Army. We’ve been married almost four years, and this is the first year we’ve spent the entire calendar year together. Unfortunately 2015 isn’t shaping up that way, so we’re extra thankful for all of the life we’ve been able to share together this year with our daughter.

Again, thank you for sharing in our lives this year. I’m so looking forward to all that 2015 will hold for Whimsical September.

If you’re interested, here are a couple past years in review – 2010 / 2011.

If you haven’t already, please find me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and/or BlogLovin!

Merry Christmas!

Lots of love,
Erica