2012 Year in Review

2012 was a wonderful year for me! I wanted to recap the highlights of the year and share some of my favorite pictures!

January: I went back to NMU for my last semester of undergrad classes. This was by far my toughest semester, but I survived. We had one snow day right away. Some of the highlight events were our After Christmas Dinner and sledding behind the school of education offices.

The view behind my building on the snow day...do you see the path?

February: We continued our cold winter with a trip to the Eben Ice Caves, driving through the deep snow to our destination. We also had our Valentines Dinner with the church girls and a dance at church. February was topped off with another snow day on the leap day, in which we got dumped with 18 inches of wet heavy snow.

The ice caves

March: We started off March with a family trip to Wisconsin Dells! After a little car stress and more nasty weather we made it to our favorite condo at the Wilderness Resort. We enjoyed the wave pools and the toilet bowl slide. March also happened to be my 22nd birthday in which we took a trip to my favorite Buffalo Wild Wings. We had a totally random weekend of 80 degree weather which is unheard of. We took in a gorgeous sunset at Presque Isle Park before going out for ice cream.

The sunset on St. Patty's Day at Presque....80 degrees out

April: April quickly became crunch time as our last semester of college was quickly coming to the end. The majority of my life became consumed by my Diagnostic Assessment class. I also took and passed my first set of education board testing. We had some great dinners out and I got to go home for Easter weekend. Our church year was wrapped up with a party out at Lakenenland Sculpture Park.

Lakenland Sculpture Park

May: In May I moved back home and moved back in with my parents. I started student teaching in special education. It was awesome to get into the classroom every single day. It was really affirming to know this was the right job for me. We took a trip to Door County for Mother's Day to enjoy the beautiful Tulips. We returned again on Memorial Day weekend for lots of hiking, biking, swimming, and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Memorial Day=kettle corn

June: Summer got off to a hot start and stayed hot. I took my cousins to the local amusement park and we finally tried the new roller coaster. Overall June was quite uneventful and filled with many days inside enjoying the conditioning. We had a few graduations to celebrate for family this year. We also built our new garden on a hot Saturday.

Our beautiful lilies, quickly devoured by the rabbits

July: July continued to be a hot month. We had multiple days over 100 and most days were well into the 90's. We went to our aunt and uncle's house for the 4th. We've never found the Bay to be that warm. We only found cold water after being dumped while tubing. We took a weekend trip to another relatives house for a second round of swimming, tubing, and campfires. It was nice to get away and relax during the busy work season.

This sums up July

August: August brought us our yearly family vacation to Door County. We managed to go the only cold week of the whole summer. It was nice to sit back and relax since the beaches were too cold. We went to Packers Family Night at Lambeau, which was an adventure. Erin went back to school in August and I started getting the classroom ready for student teaching.

Hiking at Door Bluff Park

September: Back to School meant student teaching resumed for me. I spent 8 weeks in a first grade classroom and loved it. The first few weeks were terribly hot, but we survived. Mom and I got to go to the radio show One-on-One with the Boys, which is a local Packers radio show. I had a friend come and visit, and we took a day trip to Cedarburg. We enjoyed touring the local winery. We also visited Erin at college for a day. The Madison Farmers Market on the square was truly amazing.

The amazing farmers market in Madison

October: October held my parents 25th anniversary. We celebrated with family and they also took a trip. I started my second half of student teaching later in the month, going back to the special ed placement. Before I left, I went on a field trip with my first graders, and it was quite the adventure. I also taught my cousins how to carve pumpkins/touch the guts.

November: November blew by very quickly as student teaching continued. My dad celebrated a monumental birthday and his office was adequately trashed with our help. We had a nice family Thanksgiving with both families and did some shopping like normal.

The Christmas Tree quickly became my subject as I played with my new camera

December: The highlight of December was my college graduation!!!! I graduated Summa Cum Laude from NMU! We also had wonderful Christmas celebrations with both of our families. Erin and I attended the Packers-Titans game, which was a complete blow out. We had two decent snowfalls, including one major blizzard. The top announcement of December was my hiring at a local elementary school.

Sadly I have no family Christmas picture to share...but graduation works fine.

What a year we had. I look forward to 2013. I am beyond excited to get into my new classroom and start teaching. Hopefully this year will be filled with more fun and good health for all.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. I will be doing a review of my top 10 products/trends/etc from 2012. A look back at all my new favorites from the past year.