Looking back on 2015

This year went by so quickly. I remember celebrating Elise's 2nd birthday so vividly. It seems impossible that it was nearly 12 months ago.....

I love kicking off our new year with Elise's birthday every year! Fun way to start! 

Shortly after Elise's second birthday, we welcomed my husband home from his third (and by far most frustrating) deployment in West Africa. I was 22 weeks along with Lena then! 

We got to finally catch up on some much needed date night time with each other on Valentine's Day 

Next we took our post deployment trip as a family to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX. We got snowed in and had a blast! 

On my 29th birthday, we reached 29 weeks in my pregnancy. 9 weeks until we would meet little Lena! 

Next up was Easter. Our last holiday as a trio! I know we will all miss getting dressed up for our Abilene Easter Brunch next year! 

On May 10, we finally became Uncle Josh and Aunt Bethany to our first niece, Norah June! 

Then, 15 days later, we had our own little bundle of joy.... Lena Rose 

Our hearts grew exponentially that day. In ways we never dreamed they could. 

Then, after almost 5 years, we said Goodbye to the amazing and wonderful town of Abilene....

Next up was 4 months in San Antonio, TX 

Once we finished there, the girls and I lived in my parents' house for 6 weeks while Josh commuted back and forth to Enid. 

During this time, we finally got to meet our niece and squeeze in some family pictures with the two new additions. 

The we finally moved into our new house in Enid! 

Soon after we got word that our friends were killed in a plane crash in Afghanistan....we were able to go back to Abilene for their memorial service. That event really shook us to our core. A loss that close to home really changes you. Even at Christmas this year, I just cried remembering their sweet families and the void they must be feeling now. 

As fall continued, we took full advantage of our time together and being in Oklahoma. 

We were so excited to spend the fall holidays together and could hardly stand the wait for Christmas... 

After Christmas we got our first snow in Oklahoma! 

We are pretty proud of how well we navigated through this last year of insanity. We are also looking forward to a year with a little less crazy in it. Sure we will have two toddlers and a puppy soon, but we are at least staying in one place and (knock on wood) no deployments! 

Happy New Year to you and yours!