2014 Year in Review

Adios 2014! What a crazy year it has been. I would be lying if I said that I was sad to see 2014 leave. Don't get me wrong, a lot of wonderful things happened in the last year. Both Derek and I had successful years and have grown a lot. But I also feel like this year has been full of challenges and difficulties I just didn't see coming. Luckily, this last year has flown by and I am excited to welcome a new year with new possibilities. Since I basically stopped blogging in the last 6 months (not for lack of wanting to, but because of a serious lack of time), I wanted to do a quick recap of the last 12 months.

January
Not too much exciting happened in January. I was still pretty new at my job and was preparing for our annual training conference in Europe. I dyed my hair red (that is definitely noteworthy) and LOVED IT! Derek was in full blown medical school mode starting the second semester of his second year.


February
I traveled to Galveston for work. It was a great experience to work with my superiors and do some training for the first time. I also threw a baby shower for my sister, Sarah. She had a rough few months of her pregancy but pushed through like a champ and looked amazing while doing it. I also worked on writing the script for the Cultural Celebration for the Fort Lauderdale Temple dedication. It was an incredible experience to see the passion and devotion to the temple from members of the church in South Florida.

March
The most notable (and important) part of March was the birth of Sarah and Ryan's baby, Isla Jane. Talk about a baby that is loved! She was a light from the minute she was born and just keeps on making everyone smile. Sarah was a champ through the delivery and recovery. It was such an amazing experience to see my sister become and mom and love her daughter so much. It was the highlight of our month!

April 
April brought my first opportunity to go to Europe. I traveled to Barcelona, Spain to host a training conference for work. It was so much work and stress, but it all paid off. My dad flew over to spend an extra week with me there. My dad is the best person to travel with. We walked ALL over Barcelona and saw pretty much everything on our bucket list. I never knew I would love to travel so much, but this trip made me realize how incredible it is to see the world. Derek is a HUGE University of Kentucky basketball fan and they made it to the National Championship game. Unfortunately they lost, but it made for a very exciting run and a great stress relief for Derek during school.

May
May is always a big month in the Estes home and this year was no exception. It is my birthday and our anniversary. This year I turned 27 and we celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary. Half a decade! Crazy!! I am so glad I have Derek by my side for the rest of eternity. Derek finished his second year of medical school and started to prepare for his boards exam. We had the Fort Lauderdale Temple Cultural Celebration and the Temple Dedication. We feel so blessed to have a temple close by! It is an incredible building and has already brought so much peace to my life. I traveled to Vancouver for work for a week to help kick off the Alaska cruise season.

June 
We started the month by going to Melbourne to see Isla's baby blessing. She just keeps getting cuter by the month and is such a good baby. Derek took his board exam and I think we both took a breath for the first time in months. I think it may have been the most difficult thing we have done. Anyone out there who is a medical student, is married to a medical student or has one in their family understands what I mean. Having it complete was a huge relief. A lot of our really good friends took their boards around the same time, so there were a lot of prayers going on those first few weeks of June! After Derek's test, we went right up to Melbourne to see both sides of the family. The Estes family rented a beach house in Melbourne beach so we stayed with them for a few days and spent some quality family time. I left right after that to head to Istanbul to help with a ship. What an experience! I loved Istanbul: the food, culture, and architecture blew me away. It was more than I could have imagined. I came home and we packed up our apartment of the last two years and moved to a new place in Miami Beach. Oh and we bought a new car. Yeah I think I pretty much wanted to sleep through July.

 

  

  

  

 

July
July was a nice relief. Derek started third year and his rotations in the hospitals here in Miami. It has been a great experience for him to work in such a busy hospital. By this time I was eyeball deep in planning and developing the training for the check in system for our newest ship. I was traveling to New Jersey pretty regularly to work with the team there to prepare.

August 
Girls Trip! I had the chance to go to Delray Beach with Alana, Olivia and Jacki. We had such a great time laying on the beach, eating way too much food and lots and lots of girl talk. I think it will become a yearly tradition. Also, Mike came home for a week so I went up and spent the weekend with him and the family.

September 
Derek turned the big 2-7 in September. We had a bar-b-q at our new apartment with Shawn (his birthday is in September too) and all of our friends. The weather was somehow perfect and we had an awesome day spending time together.

October
October was the beginning of a crazy two months for Derek and I. I traveled to both Germany and England. I had the opportunity to work on my project while the ship was still being completed in the shipyard. It was such an incredible experience! Then I went to England to help with the ships first few turns before it traveled to America. Derek was so supportive of me being gone basically all month. He stayed busy with his rotations while I was away. Thank goodness for modern communication! My sister surprised me and came up with Isla for a few days while I was home. It was so great to get a break and have family time.

 

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November 
I spent the majority of November in New Jersey helping with the launch of our new ship Quantum of the Seas. Even though I had been visiting New Jersey most of the year, I hadn't been to New York before. Luckily we had a few days off in between and so we spent three days in New York. I pretty much checked off my bucket list of to dos: Empire State Building, New York Public Library, a Broadway show, Carrie's apartment, and lots and lots of food. Oh and I became a pro at Uber. I love traveling with my co-workers because they have been everywhere and are always the best tour guides. Even though I was exhausted 99% of the time, it was a great experience. Derek and I went home for Thanksgiving and celebrated with the Humpherys side.

 

December
Last but not least, December. Life finally started to slow down in December. Derek finished his surgery rotation, I finished my crazy travel schedule, and we got to enjoy the holiday season. Luckily my crazy travel schedule allowed to take off the full two weeks over the holidays and Derek had the same time off from school. It was so refreshing to actually see each other! We spent the first week of break with my family. Everyone was together and we had our first Christmas with a grand baby. We had way too much fun watching Isla opening gifts. Then we went to Atlanta to see the Estes family. Derek's brother moved there in November so now all of his siblings live there. It was the first time we had to chance to all be together for Christmas since we were married. It was so fun to be with the nieces and nephew and all of the siblings. We really got to relax and have fun while we were there.

 

That pretty much sums up the year! I doubt anyone read all of that, but I wanted to preserve it for posterity and my horrible memories sake (Thank goodness I Facebook or else I would have forgotten half of that). The biggest lesson I learned this year is that you have to surround yourself with people who love you and want to see you happy. Without those people in my life, I wouldn't have made it to see 2015. 2014... its been real but I am ready for what 2015 has to offer us!