good-bye 2011

So sorry for the long post. Stop reading now if you don't have an hour or so to waste.

I went through my pictures on picasa and picked out some favorites.

Many of these are my favorite memories of the year.

But I realized there is so much more that happened this year that I don't even have pictures of.

After getting this post ready what I realized is how very lucky I am.

I have an amazing family, husband, children, and parents.

I have the best friends a girl could ask for, ones that keep me honest and in check. Ones that I love to be with and make me laugh on a daily basis.

I have an extended family that I am closer to now then I have been in years. Laugh if you must but I thank Facebook for that. Cousins that I used to be aquaintences with but now consider dear friends.

All in all, life is good.

I'm a lucky girl and I'm going to try to remember that every day of 2012.

Now onto the photos.....

January

We started out the year with the Couch family on New Years Eve.

We danced to Just Dance and rang in the new year.

Shortly after that our precious Averie was born.

Move over Mason the princess is here.

What a gorgeous baby!!

Some of the best friends I talked about at the beginning of this post.

Girls that I don't know what I would do without.

Much love!!

Blizzard of January 2011 left behind beautiful scenery. The kids had a day off to enjoy it.
Snow forts in the front yard!

February

Oh yeah baby!
Disney 2011
Our families favorite place to be.

Sorry for so many pictures but it's hard to pick favorites when they're all your favorite.
Grandma Turkey met us there again and we tired her out quickly...
There were many "firsts" this trip...
We ate at Le'Cellier in Epcot for the first time, mmmm good.


Jeremy and I at O'Hana....our favorite resort.
Someday we'll stay there, someday...

We always love Goofy.

Our first time with Pirate Goofy outside of the Pirates of the Caribean ride.

Always love the roller coasters...

Sarahs still not sure about some of them but man they love the Big Thunder Mountain ride.

We also went to Universal Studios for the first time.

Jacob was dying to check out the Harry Potter stuff.

I have to admit, even though I haven't read the books and don't really care for the movies this part of the park was awesome.

Universal

It was HOT!

We stayed at a new resort, Port Orleans Riverside.

It is modeled after New Orleans, super cool.

We ate at the Tusker House for breakfast with Donald for the first time.

It was a yummy breakfast, they always have the best juice.

Saw this creature from Bug's Life for the first time.

I love Animal Kingdom!

Bought some pins at the pin store at Downtown Disney.

We rode the boat from our resort to Downtown Disney.

haha I'm at Disney again!

March

We celebrated Jacobs 11th birthday, oh man double digits. I can't take it!

April

We went to Frankenmuth with the Couch family in April. We celebrated Mike, Jeremy, and Aprils birthdays.

We stayed at the water park and had a blast, even though someone puked in the pool!

Easter was a quiet affair this year. Just us at our own house.

May

April, Emily and I went to the scrapbooking conference. April added to her obsessive green pen collection.

Sarah played spring soccer.

We took our new camper out to Ft Custer for our first trip.
I love it, I could camp all summer.

We got a wonderful deal on it and I feel very lucky to have a brother that helped us out with getting it. I look forward to many memories and family trips.

I took many pictures of this cutie this year. I'm still not her favorite person but we're working on it.

We went up to Harrison for Memorial Day.
It was our first time there.

Aunt Rita and Aunt Kathy were there with their families.

There were many air soft pistol fights, don't go out of the circle.

It was a fun weekend but a long ride home on Monday.

The tornado had ripped through our area so we had no power when we got home and had to go stay out at Ft Custer. Luckily it was only for a couple days and our house had no damage.

June

Love this picture!
Nascar weekend

Allison met Santa,

Josh met Jeanna Beana,

We all met some fun Canadians.

We got in trouble for lighting off lanterns but hey at least we were the cool people that had them this year even if the security guards didn't think they were safe. We even had a couple LAND near us....so not safe!

Sarah turned 8.

Duncan Aviation

Mom came up from Fl and spent a lot of time with us. We went to Saugatack one of the days, and Shipshewana and we went and toured Duncan. She was here for Sarah's birthday.

July

This year we camped out at the casino for the pow wow. It was a lot of fun. Joel and Emily and their whole families were there. On our last day in Manistee we went to the lake and spent the day there. It was beautiful, the water was amazing.

Went to see Keith again with this bunch of girls.

Brittany became #1 mom and we had a blast.

We stayed the night in GR and loved the concert.

August

We went to the Kalamazoo County Fair for the first time. Sarah took lots and lots of pictures.

Another favorite time of the summer.

Our annual camping trip with friends in Tawas.

Lots of memories made this year, Jen as Lauren, pictures on the lake...lots of relaxing laughing and enjoying each other.

We went blueberry picking with Emily and the kids on what felt like the hottest day of the year.

We camped at White's again for Labor Day. We tubed down the river. It was a fun time with Josh and Allison and others.

September

First days of school for the kids.

Jacob Lakeview Middle School 6th grade

Sarah Riverside Elementary School 3rd grade

October

My son playing football.

I had such mixed feelings about it.

I was nervous, I didn't want him to get hurt, I wanted him to love it.

In the end, it was my proudest moment for Jacob.

I hope that it was the beginning of many years of football.

Sarah played Fall soccer.

She had wonderful coaches this year, hoping to have the same ones Spring 2012.

November

Hmmm this might be the annual Fl trip to visit mom.

Our second year in a row, minus Aunt Rita.

It was so nice, the weather was great and it was just the right amount of time to be gone.

We did the bar scene that we usually do but this year we saw the mermaid show and I got to go to Disney. Poor Michelle Im sure I owe her one for putting up with me for the day at Hollywood Studios.

December

Our tree.

As ugly as I thought it was when we got it home, I ended up loving it.

Jacob still enjoys hanging out under the tree.

Buschlen family Christmas

New this year, homeade gifts for the adults.

Jeremy received a native american drum completely handmade by his brother.

I received a beautiful apron from Papa, made by Nana lol.

This is the kids sitting on the bench that Sherri made for Nana.

We had a wonderful early Christmas with my dad and Lorraine.

It was so relaxing and nice to not be in a hurry....not to mention smoke free. I can't even explain how proud I am of both of them to have quit smoking.

My proudest accomplishment for myself this year would be making pierogis for the first time without my aunts or mom.

Thank you so much to April for being my partner...and Jacob and Mesha for pinching with us.

~What a year, and we get to do it all again in 2012~