Well, I intended to update this blog this year and so now is the imperative moment since there are only a few short hours left in the entire year of 2013!
For better or worse, it's been a fast and CRAZY year. I was counting up the number of residences someone in our home actually owned or occupied this year...yes, that's right...I said "counting up". There were 7. We owned our home in Monticello (50 Turner Road) until April 2013. Shortly after the sale of that home, we purchased 5 acres of property on Keene/Troy Pike between Nicholasville and Versailles. After meeting with three builders, we decided we might be making a better investment if we purchased a home since the market was still down rather then build a custom home - since the price of building materials was up!! So, in June, we purchased another house at 114 Middle Creek Dr. Our residence during this time was 424 Juniper Drive in Nicholasville. I had to sign the papers remotely for the 114 Middle Creek house while I was residing for the month of July at Aldea Mar in Venice, Florida! Earlier in the year, Madison studied abroad and rented an apartment in Madrid, Spain. In addition, Madison decided to spend six weeks this summer in Washington, DC, so yes...we also rented a studio apartment there! In October, we sold the 424 Juniper property and moved into our home at 114 Middle Creek and we are all much happier out in the country and with more space. We feel really blessed to have been able to sell two homes this year! Hopefully in 2014, the perfect buyer will fall in love with our acreage on Keene/Troy!
Other important memorable moments for 2013:
January - McKayla taught McKenzie to play guitar.
February -- Randy and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary by taking a week long cruise. It was the perfect getaway to review our lives and contemplate what the future might be like. When we returned home, our families hosted a surprise reception where we reconnected with friends we hadn't seen in years.
March
So happy that both our family and the Yates family found time to meet up for a fun weekend in Pigeon Forge. We've come a long way from the play dates with strollers and we all still love each other! Cousins.
April, May and June were spent moving the remainder of our "stuff" out of the house at 50 Turner Road, readying the Juniper house for sale, meeting with builders and looking at possible homes on the market. Somewhere during this time, Madison was inducted into the Gatton Business Honor society. We were all blessed to be able to spend Father's Day with our dads in June.
McKenzie and McKayla actually spent most of the month of June in Monticello with Nana and Papa.
Needless to say, we were all ready for July to arrive!
July - 31 Wonderful Days by the Sea.
I thought of taking our vacation west this year but the girls really wanted to return to Venice to hang out with the friends they have made there. And...truly, I love the friends I have made there too so we came away very thankful that we returned to the same place for the third July in a row! An added blessing this year - MORE FRIENDS!!
In August, my sister gave birth to a baby girl, Mae Iris. I celebrated my 48th birthday. McKenzie and McKayla began their sophomore year of high school and Madison returned home from Washington, DC to begin her final year of undergraduate study.
The Medlins are some of our favorite people so Labor Day weekend was a real treat when we got to spend it together with them at the farm. (We did miss Clint.)
On September 23, Madison turned 21! Not quite sure how many days and ways she celebrated, but here Nannie baked her a cake! We went to Cosa Cosina for dinner.
October treats:
I got to travel to Boston to visit my sister and her family and meet Miss Mae. I loved spending time with everyone.
McKenzie got to see her current fav band: Florida Georgia Line!
We also moved in October. It was actually such a crazy month that I didn't even buy a pumpkin this year!
November came and we had my parents over for Thanksgiving...in addition, we went to the farm for a couple of days.
December has been busy but seems to have slowed down a little as I have taken a short break from work to spend some time with my family. We celebrated Christmas Eve by attending our church service; spent Christmas day at home; then traveled to Monticello and to McMinnville to celebrate with family.
The girls are all smiles as the gifts they prefer now seem so "grown up".
Still, the real joy is in the giving and seeing them happy.
I thought about not mentioning this but...on Dec. 23, Madison wrecked and totaled her car. While no-one likes to be involved in an accident, how blessed she was to walk away without a scratch.
We believe there are angels among us. We pray they watch over us and guide us during 2014, as well as, all our family and friends.
Goodbye 2013. Hello 2014!
