A year in the life.

Ok, fine. I am admittedly not the best at keeping up with "blogging". I think this stems from the fact that right now we're living in a time where anyone anywhere can say "Hey, I have thoughts and everyone everywhere should know what they are - right now!" Honestly, I'm not really on board. Twitter - I joined it, tweeted maybe 20 times, followed a couple people who tweeted way too often, got bored and now I never look at it. I never touched MySpace. Facebook I like - I think it's a more comprehensive way to keep in touch with people - but the status updates are out of hand and I haven't posted pictures in a long time and I almost never change my status. I guess, basically, I kind of feel like - well, if I don't care that much about your every waking moment, chances are high you don't care about mine. So I have a tendency to down play the stuff that goes on in my life because I figure, I'm the only one who really cares.

So, I'll do a quick recap of the past year. Stick with me - it was a good one!

After getting back from Memphis, Andy and I got ready for a move to Lawton, OK so that Andy could finish up his Officer training at Ft. Sill. We moved into an apartment, liked it a lot, and then we got a kitten. She was little and orange and we named her Nugget. She has lived up to this name and has stayed pretty little - last time I checked she was less than 7 lbs. She is crazy. She talks all the time, is very cuddly and loves water - to the point of getting in the shower with me if I don't shut the door all the way. She has a favorite toy - a skunk with crinkly-stuff in the tail and a bell in it's head - and we're not sure if it's her best friend or her prisoner, but either way she carries it everywhere in the house.

Next, I turned 24. This was the first birthday I spent by myself as Andy was in the field and I knew no one in Lawton. I did some shopping in Wichita Falls (yes, Texas) and had a birthday waffle for dinner - not bad at all.

Then, in November, Andy and I went to West Palm Beach, FL for Thanksgiving with a lot of wonderful Cotters. We had a great time!

Then Andy turned 24 and we spent a fancy night (including a fancy theatre show, a fancy dinner, a fancy breakfast and a fancy massage) at the Crescent Hotel in Dallas. I love this hotel and my Gamma Phis know why. ;)

Then Andy and I spent Christmas with my family in Plano - complete with snow! Then we celebrated Christmas: The Sequel and New Year's and Brian's birthday with the Cotters in Kansas City. It was the first time Andy and I got to meet William, the cutest nephew we have (yes, I know this isn't accurate now, but at the time he was the only nephew).

Let's see, after the new year Andy started his final chunk of training and I started to finalize wedding plans. We also started taking full advantage of the "Watch Instantly" feature of Netflix and began watching LOST. We went through 5 seasons in about 3 months of diligent viewing and caught up with the 6th season while it was still airing. Why do I mention this? Oh, I know it sounds lame, but if you haven't had the joy of being kept on the edge of your seat while watching something completely ridiculous, than you need to watch LOST. Just saying. Also, I started reading the Harry Potter series - Finally! (I've been looking through old pictures to help jog my memory of what we did and apparently in January/February all I did was clean the apartment....anyway....oh wait, my parents came up for a visit at the end of February! That was really nice!)

With March came Brian, Rachel and Will. They moved down to Lawton because Brian was going to the Captains' Career Course at Ft. Sill. They moved into the apartment building next door and we all enjoyed getting to spend some q.t. with family - especially getting to see so much of William. Later in March, some great family friends of ours (Penny, Amy, Beth, Mary and Cass) and my maid of honor, Meghan, threw a bridal shower/luncheon for me. Everything looked and tasted great and even Jane made the trip down from KC for it!

Then, at the beginning of April, two of our favorite people - John David and Stephanie - tied the knot and we were honored to stand up next to them! Then, there was a second bridal shower in Lawton, hosted by Jane and Rachel, and while the weather outside was icky, the party inside was quite fun and Jane and Stephanie Coon even made the trip down for it and it was great!! =)

At the end of April, John David and Stephanie - the newlyweds - came up to Lawton for a visit. We showed them everything Lawton has to offer - buffalo, Meers (thanks, Amanda!), Geronimo's grave, a bowling alley on post, the U. S. Army Field Artillery Museum and Mt. Scott - which, as Stephanie pointed out, is not really a mountain by most widely held definitions. Thanks, Steph. ;)

At the end of April, Andy graduated from BOLC III and officially finished his officer training (up to this point in his career). We even got front row seats for the ceremony!

According to our pictures we took a quick trip out to Oklahoma City in the middle of May. I can't really remember why we went out there, but I feel like it was to get Andy's measurements for his tux rental done at Men's Wearhouse.

Anyway, by May it was just a 30 day countdown to the wedding and so busy I don't even want to think about it. (According to our pictures we took a quick trip out to Oklahoma City in the middle of May. I can't really remember why we went out there, but I feel like it was to get Andy's measurements for his tux rental done at Men's Wearhouse.) There was also bridal portraits, a bad experience making favors, that turned into different favors that were much better than the original favors, engagement photos, the bachelorette party (which was hugely fun!!), the nail appointment with mimosas, the rehearsal, the rehearsal dinner at the yummy Austrian/German restaurant, the night of surprisingly restful sleep and omg the day of the wedding. It was a whirlwind and fun and beautiful and everything I'd hoped it would be and sigh...just wonderful. =)

But there's no rest for the wicked. Andy and I didn't honeymoon right away (and probably won't actually take a honeymoon for a while longer). Instead we chilled at my parents house for a couple days and then made our way back to Lawton to pack and move to Ft. Riley, KS, our first real duty station! Basically it was: wedding on Saturday, Lawton on Tuesday, packers on Wednesday, truck on Thursday, drive to Ft. Riley on Friday.

Unfortunately, while it only takes a normal car about 6 hours to get from Lawton to Ft. Riley, it takes a truck loaded with all of your personal possessions over 10 days. So, while we waited for our things Andy and I bounced between different hotels and over to Kansas City to see his parents and buy some furniture. Once our things got here (and how they finally made it is a long story) there were only a few casualties. And we unpacked and unpacked and unpacked...

At the end of June, I went back down to Lawton for William's christening and first birthday party!

For the 4th of July we met Brian, Rachel and Will over in Kansas City. We had steaks and played croquet and watched these amazing fireworks (even though it was raining) right in the Cotter's backyard. We also got to here William make attempts at his first word -"kitty" and it was adorable.

Later in July I went down to Oklahoma City to meet up with Meghan. She was kind enough to bring up some left over wedding gifts that were delivered to my parents and my wedding dress. We went out to dinner at The Melting Pot - a deliciously over-priced fondue place (complete with an extremely awkward waiter). Afterwards we went to the movies - yes, we saw Eclipse. Yes, we know it's dumb - but we already committed to seeing the entire crappy saga together. Anyway it was really nice to hang out with Meghan. A week later, on the 24th, Andy and I finally got to pick up our new family member, Daphne! She's a 6 month old black lab that we found at a shelter in Topeka. She is such a good girl (most of the time) and a total cutie (all of the time)!

Then, at the very end of July, on the 31st at 2:24am, Timothy David Cotter was born! Rachel and Brian now have two sweet little boys - the cutest nephews a girl could wish for!

So far August has been semi-busy. The beginning was slow, but once Andy left for JRTC (a practice deployment in a way) things took off. Last week I had the pleasure of helping the Beta Upsilon chapter of Gamma Phi Beta at Kansas State with recruitment and this week I have been taking part in the "Resilient Spouse Academy" here on post. This program encompasses several things, from suicide intervention to domestic violence prevention to financial readiness. It's designed to help military spouses become a better resource for their fellow spouses, and as a co-FRG leader I think it will be really beneficial to have taken part in it.

Well, I think that's everything... Everyone should be well caught up at this point. I know it's not the most fascinating information (which is why I tend to shy away from blogging), but I really enjoyed the last year and hopefully you can see why!

Anyway, next time on the world tour: Brit will be going to KC for labor day (and she'll get to meet Tim!), Brian, Rachel, Will, and Tim will move up to Ft. Riley, and Andy will return from JRTC.

And I promise to be better about updating. =)