Happy New Year’s Eve y’all! How is 2015 already ending?! Gosh this year FLEW BY. What’s the quote parents always say… The days are long but the years are short? A-MEN to that.
Last year we brought in the new year as a family of 3… And not a single one of us were awake at midnight. Cheers to being parents!
This year has brought a lot of change for the Jones fam. Today I am linking up with Andrea, Erika and Narci for 15 of my favorite things that happened in 2015!
I am going to go thru the list chronologically because that’s just easiest. 🙂 Grab some coffee and a blanket and get ready for this long haul of a post (or just skim because duh, you have a life).
In March, Caleb got dedicated at our last church. It was such a special time because so many family members and friends came to show support for our little man. I love knowing that we have so many people in our lives that will always point Caleb to Jesus.
And of course his best friend Maddie was there. #bestfriendsforever
This year was my very first Mother’s Day and it was such a SWEET day. Nick went above and beyond to make sure I felt so loved and valued and I most definitely did!
Here are all my goodies and notes from Caleb (Nick may or may not have had something to do with writing the notes).
Nick also took me on a date that weekend so I could have a ‘mommy break.’ I love him so.
That Sunday my mom’s boyfriend cooked for all of the ladies in our family. The food was good.. but apparently our picture taking skills were not.
So after a TON of prayer and consideration, Nick and I made a decision in May for him to resign from his position. He did not have another job waiting but we were confident in the Lord and His plan for us. This resulted in a summer of unemployment for him which meant months of our family all getting to be together. This was a season full of us being stretched and growing in our faith and although there were difficult moments, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. We made the most of our family time and had so much fun together whether we were all just going to the grocery store, going on trips, or living at the neighborhood pool everyday!
If we would have gotten a dollar for every time we were asked if we had twins, we’d be sitting on an island drinking fruity drinks right now. Our summer of us 3 plus Maddie Moo is a BIG favorite in my book. (And please Lord don’t give us twins. Those twin mamas are forever heroes of mine.)
We were brave enough to take Caleb on his first plane ride in June to come visit Colorado for the first time!!!! And I was a HOT MESS about it. But all of the research and planning paid off.. Little man slept the entire plane ride!
Colorado was SUCH a great time! Caleb got to spend so much time with his JoJo and meet so many of our Colorado people that hadn’t been able to meet him yet. Who knew we were visiting our future home?!
And when you live somewhere where the humidity is usually fierce and the temps stay in the 100’s, Colorado is a glorious place to visit during the summer. Just saying. 😉
So this next one is my favorite and non-favorite all in one. What I don’t love is that I turned 30 this year. BOOOO. #29forever
BUT I love that I share my birthday week with one of my very best friends. My sister knew we were not having the easiest time with the whole ‘getting old’ thing so she threw us the best birthday party EVER. (I could write a blog post just about this but it being 6 months later, I think I’ll move on.)
Such a picture fail that I don’t have one with the most amazing sister and my super hot husband that made this whole night such a blast! Lots of selfie stick fun, lip sync battles, and photo booth craziness with some of my most favorite people EVER.
A trip to the country to stay at a family friend’s ranch spontaneously happened during the summer. It was a night of so much fun with some super fun fam. 
Babies in the country in their diapers is the best. SO. MUCH. CUTENESS.
Apparently it was the summer of travel because over the 4th of July, Nick and I left Caleb for a weekend for the very first time. (Lots of anxiety for this mama.) We went to Austin and Fredericksburg for the weekend with my sister and bro-in-law. Definitely much needed to get away with the hubs and luckily Caleb has an amazing Nanan that he had a blast with that weekend. We even came home to a crawler! 
A kid free weekend can definitely be refreshing at times! Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? 😉
This one is HUGE. We moved to Colorado in September! It was a whirlwind between finding out we were moving, packing with a baby in the house, telling people and a state we love so dearly goodbye, and preparing for a brand new chapter in our lives. WHEW! But such a favorite because remember when I mentioned we knew God was faithful and would provide?! And boy did he show up! Our new church is AMAZING and we love getting to call this place home. Thanks God.. All props go to you.
Goodbye to our first home we owned and where we brought this baby boy home from the hospital. (TEAR.) #texasforever
Hello to our new (rent) home in Colorado! Nothing like showing up to a house that you found online and didn’t get to actually see in person and find out you really do love it. Craigslist for the win!
Somehow amidst all the craziness, our baby turned ONE! What the what?! My family was so sad to think they would miss his first birthday so he received a party in Texas before he left. And then also got to celebrate two weeks later on his actual birthday. (I’m starting him early on the whole birthday month thing. We LOVE to celebrate in our house. Ok, I do.)
It was a Broncos football themed party. Let’s just all take a moment and pray that this kid grows up to like sports because, well, Nick.
Donut for breakfast, streamers everywhere, and balloons in the crib. He liked one out of three. Not too shabby.
I’ve decided he can stop getting older now. He’s JUST right the age he is. 🙂
So our prayer ever since we got married was to find true Biblical community wherever God has us. Moving to a new place made that on the top of our list. It was so evident this is where God was calling us. We also knew that we were going to need people to walk thru this life daily with. And AGAIN, God showed up. He has given us an INCREDIBLE growth group for our family to be apart of. Also I have been able to join MOPS and a bible study that are full of fantastic ladies that love Jesus and have welcomed me with open arms. The icing on top is the awesome volunteers in the student ministry are ridiculously amazing and welcoming and such a GREAT group. (Have I mentioned I love our church?)
So Foothills Bible Church, you are a BIG favorite of 2015. You make me cry tears of joy for giving us the blessing of allowing us to serve here.
Just a month ago, I got to be apart of one of my best friend Hannah’s wedding. Wedding days are seriously SO special, especially when it is someone you love so dearly. This is a girl that helped me fall in love with Jesus in college and now her job is to be able to do that for all college girls at Sam Houston State University. Pretty awesome.
Matt is SUPER tall. Pretty stinkin’ perfect for our beautiful tall Hannah. 🙂
So this favorite kind of doesn’t have to do with me but I just loved it so much that I’m letting it count. Nick’s sister Juliana went on The World Race which is an eleven month mission trip to eleven different countries. A huge step of faith for her to leave a stable job and a life she loved to go serve the Lord overseas. We are seriously so proud of her and loved that Caleb has an aunt that isn’t afraid to live out how Jesus calls us to live. So to you Aunt JJ, we are so thankful that Caleb has you in his life (and ours too of course).
She got home on Thanksgiving and we were reunited when we returned from Texas. It did not take long for her and Caleb to become good buddies!
Our people. They are my FAVORITES. God has given us so many incredible people in our lives that mean the world to us. They have shown up in so many ways in this crazy past year of all of our transition. There has been encouragement, prayers, generosity, and amazing support. We seriously are SO thankful. Thank you for loving us well, whether that was taking us to coffee, letting us cry or laugh with you, texting words of encouragement, making sure we were okay financially, or just praying fervently with us. I wish I could give you each a huge hug and have you over for dinner and dessert. Definitely dessert. Be here tomorrow? Seriously love you all.
So before we moved, I had the absolute honor of getting to watch my niece everyday. Maddie and Caleb are only 5 weeks apart in age so they have been besties since the start. Getting to spend that first year of life with both of them seriously gives me so much joy. (Was it hard, you ask? Again with the mad respect of mamas of twins.) Even now that we have moved, it is such a blast to see the two of them play together when they’re able to, talk on FaceTime together, or even Caleb just waving and smiling at Maddie Moo’s picture. I love that they are the best of cousins.
They’re going to kill us one day about the bath and washtub pictures. Whoops.
MY LAST FAVORITE OF 2015. (Can you even believe you’re still reading this?!) Well this certainly isn’t my least favorite by far. It would have to be my two boys, especially when they are being so super adorable together. I love to watch them play. Nick is the absolute cutest at making sure Caleb is having a blast. They are constantly laughing and doing the silliest things. Nick is always singing him made-up songs and teaching him fun ways to play with his toys. Nick is also amazing at being so thoughtful and caring of Caleb. He is pretty much the best dad ever. They are two peas in a pod.
I’m so glad to call them mine. (Insert heart emoji here.)
AND THAT MY FRIENDS are my 15 favorites of 2015!! Is anyone still reading? Have you fallen asleep? Sworn off my blog forever? Or jumped off a cliff?
If you made it through then you deserve another cup of coffee.. And if you just skimmed to the bottom then you do too (because let’s be honest, you just saved yourself three hours of your life). Either way, thanks for enduring the longest blog ever known to mankind.
There are many words that can be used to describe our 2015 but I think God’s faithfulness is what speaks the loudest. SO excited to see what He is up to for 2016!
Happy New Year everyone!!! Much love!
Trying to Keep Up With My Jones' 