Today, I'm.....30!

Yup...today, I am no longer a hip, cool 20-something, but an old woman in her 30s!!

My favorite show!! "The One Where They All Turn 30"

I thought it'd be fun to re-live my 20's (see....I'm already talking like an old woman!), and do a picture recap of the fun I had when I was a youngster, haha! Hope you enjoy :)

First, I'm actually going to start with me at 19 because this is when I began my annual reign of being a bridesmaid. I really started thinking I was going to be the "always the bridesmaid, never the bride". I was a bridesmaid in 6 weddings before I finally got to be the bride! 5 out of 6 of these weddings were while I was in my 20s, but I came across a picture from my sister's wedding, and I was 19, so why not throw that in here, too? :)

7/26/03

5/8??/04 - sorry Anna, I can't remember your exact wedding date

7/16/05

11/25/06 - we're getting down with our bad selves! Ummm...am I too old to say that now? :)

April of 2009

8/1/09

Right after graduating high school in 2002, I opted to go to community college and stay at home to save some money. I worked in the Kids' Club at 24 Hour Fitness, and absolutely LOVED it! I would definitely say it's my favorite job that I've ever had. I worked there from the time I was 18-20, at which point I moved to Denton and lived there to go to TWU (or "T-Dub" as most people who go there, no joke, call it). At TWU, I made some amazing, godly friends, and had a blast living in Denton!

L to R: Me, Rebecca, Holly, Jessica - Jessica and Holly actually live in Wylie, and Rebecca now lives in Frisco

Rebecca was most definitely my closest friend in college. We were both in the deaf ed program, so we had all the same classes and teachers. She got married a couple of months before I did, and had her first child about six weeks after Audrey was born. She and I still get together about once a month to catch up, and now have play dates!

Rebecca and I lived together starting the second semester of our junior year (we were both juniors when we transferred to TWU), and continued living together until I moved out in August of 2006 when I broke my ankle, and physically couldn't live in Denton anymore because of a 3rd floor apartment! Anyways, I still have great memories of us staying up WAAAAY too late because of talking, watching TV, and of course because we procrastinated writing a research paper until the night before it was due (true story), and were down in the computer lab from about 7pm-4:30am! Ahhh...good times! I love these friends that I made, and all the memories that have come from these friendships.

 

Such great memories and wonderful friends made in college!! At the age of 22, I finally graduated!

The original plan was that I would stay in Denton from the time I graduated with my B.S. (May 2006) until at least January of 2007 when I would be doing student teaching in Mesquite, and finishing up my Master's Degree (scheduled to graduate with my M.S. in August of 2007. However, while nannying (which is how I made money to somewhat support myself), I was wearing flip-flops, it was raining, and I was running through the garage of the family I nannied for, and slipped and fell. In falling, I broke my left ankle and tore some of the tendons in that foot. I would be on crutches for 6-8 weeks, and lived in a 3rd floor apartment. I had to change my plans (life does that to you), and ended up moving back home with my parents where I continued my degree online, and just drove to Denton on an as-needed basis for classes. 

When I moved back home, I got plugged into the church my parents were going to (which is the church I grew up in), and our church's neighborhood was becoming a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, so the church embraced it and began a service in Spanish. I made some good friends with the young guys and girls who were trying to get that service up and going, and suddenly found myself immersed in Spanish church services....and eventually starting to understand them! 

We used to go upstairs to our game room (at the church) and play Ping Pong sometimes

 At age 24, I had my first career, teaching deaf-ed students for Plano ISD. I was really interested in finding someone, so I joined eHarmony, and found this guy:

I decided he was pretty awesome, and decided to keep him around :) 

Also, around the time I met Michel, we had to say good-bye to a wonderful woman (June 2008). Unfortunately, when looking through old pictures, I could only find one of me with her. They must all be at my parents' house. Anyways, my grandma passed away in June of 2008. She was such a wonderful woman. I loved my Grandma so much, and losing her was so hard, but she is now in Heaven with her Maker. 

Moving into our new house - September 2003

Right after we had to say good-bye to my Grandma, we got to meet a sweet baby girl! My niece, Karys, was born in July 2008. If you know me at all, you know how much I love that little girl!

7/30/08

If I thought age 24 was a big year for me, age 25 proved to be even bigger! On February 26, 2009 (my 25th birthday), Michel asked me to marry him!

This is the birthday cake he made me! I still remember this day like it was yesterday! (Sorry...I don't know how to rotate the picture)

Most of 2009 was spent planning our wedding, engagement pictures, bridal portraits, and, of course, our wedding!!

We also got plugged into a wonderful church group and have made some absolutely amazing friends!

In 2010, I turned 26. One of the most exciting things of that year was going on a Caribbean cruise. We waited to go on a true honeymoon until the summer after we got married since I had summers off. We had a blast!!

We also got to meet our nephew! He really wasn't supposed to come until January of 2011, but decided to come a couple weeks early and surprise us all :)

In 2011, age 27, Michel and I bought our first house! Michel spent many of his days off painting it to get it to our liking! (I can't find my pictures of our house).

2012, age 28,  was the year that I'd been waiting for for awhile. We had a trip planned for the summer of 2012 to go to Hawaii!! We spent 10 days on the island of Oahu, and had a blast doing all the tourist/sightseeing things there are to do there!

Finally, at the beginning of 2013, we got the best news of our lives! We were going to be parents! 2013 was full of baby belly pictures, registering for baby gifts, and getting ready to meet our sweet girl!

9 weeks

39 weeks...big difference!

My family in 2014, when I was still 29 :)

 So, in looking back, my 20s were pretty awesome! I know my 30s will be awesome, too, but I don't even want to think about these upcoming 10 years and turning 40! I'll just enjoy being 30! Hope y'all enjoyed my picture walk of my 20s. My life has been very blessed :)