Catch Up...

So...got a Christmas card in the mail today...at the bottom it said "P.S. you're a horrible blogger!" LOL
Apparently life has gotten in the way of blogging since I haven't blogged for several months! (I'm going to apologize in advance for the long post.) So what better way to update, then sitting by the Christmas tree, sipping a Starbucks coffee, in the warmth of my amazing home.

Let's go all the way back to my last blog..March 2013...
Andrew and I continue to work lots of hours. We both are blessed with jobs that we enjoy! I have been keeping very busy with several retiring employees and also the hiring of several new employees. As always, Andrew continues to fix cars :)

April 4th - we welcomed the newest member of the Broadway clan. Another little nephew to spoil rotten :) He's becoming quite the big boy already!

I'm not exactly sure when we started and when we finished (it took a long time), but we finally have a completed shed in our backyard. We now have our garage back :) We also planted a few trees and actually had SOME grass to mow.

We continue to stay on track with our Dave Ramsey "Debt Free" plan! Since our wedding we have paid/gotten rid of over $30,000 worth of debt! We are THRILLED to be able to continue down this path. We are still on track to be debt free (besides the house) by the end of 2014!!

We celebrated birthdays with friends and family this year and we also attended the HOTTEST Hawkeye football game of the year!

Towards the end of August, we took a long vacation to Colorado. We spent a few days with Andrew's aunt and family in Arvada, watching his cousin's soccer game, climbing up 7 Falls, playing board games,and shopping at IKEA. We also spent some time in Keystone at a Spa and Lodge, shopping at the Silverthorne Outlet Malls. We took a tour of the Breckenridge Distillery and then moved on to Glenwood Springs. While there we were able to travel down to Aspen to spend time at Maroon Bells where we saw moose (breathtaking!!), experience Glenwood Cave tours, and hike up to Hanging Lake (very difficult hike)! We loved every bit of the trip and have already made a list of the next locations to visit on our next Colorado trip. :)

September brought lots of time spent with friends as we celebrated our dear friends, Eric & Heather, on their wedding day! We are blessed to have such amazing friends in our lives. September also brought a new (to us) vehicle to our driveway. As we start to think about the possibility of starting a family soon, we decided to sell Andrew's small jeep and instead buy a crew cab truck. It may sound crazy, but Andrew flew down to Houston, TX and drove back the truck that we bought. When we factored in the flight, gas, food, etc, we STILL saved over $3,000, than if we would have purchased the same truck here in IA. Not only does it have room for a family, it also gives Andrew a vehicle to haul items, instead of having to borrow his dad's truck.

October brought a Broadway family weekend away at Kings Pointe. We enjoyed spending time at the indoor waterpark with the niece and nephew. Actually I think us adults had just as much fun playing in the water and going down the slides.

The last weekend in October, we traveled to the east side of Iowa to again celebrate a wedding, of my dear friend Joslin. I had the privilege of helping set up, spending time with the girls getting ready, and doing what I love, photograph some amazing memories. Wishing Tom and Joslin many years of happiness!!

November was spent welcoming our friends', Jonathan and Michelle, little boy, Brantley! Everyone knows how much I love newborns, and Brantley is no different. He is SOO precious! I again had the privilege of putting my camera to use with this little guy. Since it was my first "newborn", I was very happy that he cooperated :) We celebrated our 2 year anniversary. We also were able to spend time during Thanksgiving with lots of family members and, of course, my annual Black Friday shopping!

That brings me to December...my has time flown! I can't believe next year already starts a new year!
I have taken on a new task of freezer/crockpot meals. So far I have spent about 3 days preparing 40+ different meals to put in our freezer. It has made our evening meals SUPER EASY and our grocery bills has gotten DRASTICALLY cheaper!

 

We spent the weekend before Christmas with my family. We were also able to stop in to see Grandma & Grandpa Sjaardema and have dinner with them. We will be spending Christmas Eve, just the two of us, which is nice this year. Christmas Day will be spent at Grandma & Grandpa Burkhart's and the Sunday after Christmas will be spent with the Crotty side. Most of all, we will be starting off our new year right...on January 3rd, we will be flying down to Tampa, where we will be boarding a Royal Caribbean cruise ship to head down to Grand Cayman and Cozumel with Andrew's family. This year we made the decision to for-go Christmas gifts and instead take a family vacation together. After having a temperature of -21 degrees in my car on the way to work this morning, I am MORE than ready for a little sun and relaxation on the beach!

Again, we are remembering how extremely blessed we are! We have LOTS to be thankful for this year. We wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Until next time...