My Year As An Iowan

Holy cow! It’s already been a year!

We officially closed on our house and moved in on Friday May 11th, 2012! Even though I’m looking at my calendar and can see we have live here for a year and 6 days it just doesn’t feel like it’s been that long!

{ Our Mitchell, SD house }

The summer of 2012 may have something to do with it flying by.

• Mom’s 60th B-day bash in June 2012
• Parent’s visited Iowa July 4th
• Missy’s Bridal Shower July 2012
• Missy’s wedding in NY Sept 2012

Then in the fall I started my new job at Iowa State and that sure has kept me busy!

We have been doing lots of stuff around the house and I feel like when I go over the list in my head of things I’d like to still complete that the list is endless. This has to be the case will ALL homeowners though.

{ Move in Day May 11, 2013} Ugly pink walls 

{ Hello 60’s yellow laminate counter top}

{Our first home project in June :) }

I’d still like to get the cabinets painted and add nicer hardware… in time.

{Breeze way paint job July}

{Barn scraping & Painting}

Amazing … is all I can say to that.

 

{ My first Iowan Garden }

All by hand… I think I had boredom at this time in the summer cause that’s just foolish

{Hog pen built in the Barn in July}

Yes… we STILL have not bought hogs. Story of my life.

{ Limbing Trees, pulling out fence & post, and I feel like I was constantly gardening }

Oh Yeah. Remember those Morton doors that were damaged a week before we settled on the house? Yeah, that finally got fixed in Late September.

{October- We welcomed my little ladies and in April added 3 more and a boy}

{We made it 7 months with the pink before changing it to a pale Yellow in November}

{ Upgraded to a Big kid bed… not sure how we EVER slept in a full now that we have a King }

{In February I re-did the stairwell to the basement}

 

{Painted some carpets in April}

{ G Built a Hay rack … that’s my guy :}

{He Plowed and Seeded}

 

{ I Scrubbed and Painted }

{We had snow May 2nd… }

{Spring of 2013 finally came}

{ and went… 100 degrees on May 14th}

{ And here we are today! }

See what I mean, This year has been a whirlwind! I am thankful that I have tried to capture all the projects and activities we have done over the past year. It’s nice to look back and think…

“Damn… we were a little Cray-Cray” (how my students would put it anyway. ;)

I’m so proud of {G} and I for making the best of our opportunities. We have enjoyed Iowa so much and I still hear myself asking him all the time, “Don’t you just love Iowa so much more that SD?”

I don’t want to put SD down. We had a good life there and met good people that I hope to continue friendships with, however, we are living our dreams here in Iowa.

I have a job I love, G has an “acreage” with fields, barns, and shops that he gets to fiddle with, we have more opportunities, friends (although I’d always love more ;) and have established ourselves a little more.

I think I always knew that SD was never going to be a permanent thing so that may have a lot to do with it. Where as, Iowa, who knows…

Of course I still miss my family like crazy, and of course my bestie, and all of the familiarity of :Home: but we’re getting use to it out here.

Looking forward to another year of projects, events, and maybe at some point expanding our family a little more. That’s a whole different conversation though. Wishful thinking I suppose.

Thanks for everyone who has supported us and all of you that read along with me.