A look back at 8 years....PART ONE

Patience on this post... this will take the better part of this week. Here is PART ONE:

8 Years ago, on October 19, 2002, I married my college sweetheart. We lived in McKinney, TX. I taught 4th grade and Chris had been selling insurance until shortly before we married. Therefore, he spent the first couple of months of marriage looking for a job.... and playing X-box. Awesome!

Around Thanksgiving, we decided that San Antonio might be a beckoning. Chris was offered a position as a trainee real estate appraiser in my dad's firm, and I was going to apply for 2 open positions at Alamo Heights (unheard of in the middle of the year). Early December I applied, interviewed and was hired! I'll never forget standing in my classroom in McKinney getting a call on my cell phone hearing, "Well, how'd you like to be a Mule again?" (The Alamo Heights mascot is the mule- interesting I know.)

So, I resigned from my position in McKinney, we packed up everything we had just unpacked from our wedding and drove down I35- me in my Jeep and Chris in a loaded down U-Haul with loose steering. We lived with my parents for about 6 weeks until the house they had bought for us to rent from them was finished.

Our house... a little 1400 square foot charming house that had 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. My parents painted the interior for us and had the wood floors redone. They also had the kitchen gutted and updated for us. We LOVED our little house!

Master bedroom

Living room

Kitchen

Backyard (when we first moved in, there was a fenced in hot tub right out the backdoor. Chris wheeled and dealed and sold it along with the wood from the fence and we had a patio poured. We were so proud of it and loved to entertain out there)


I taught 6th and 7th grade starting in January and Chris started in appraisal. Life was good! We loved our little house and had Bailey, our dog/child at the time. Oh how things change! In April of that year we got Bentley and loved our little dog family.


Life was great! We worked hard on our house- I loved spending time working in the yard, decorating and accessorizing inside and just making it our own. About June of 2004 we decided we wanted to buy the house from my parents and did just that. We are still here!

In October of 2003, we became an aunt and uncle for the first time. David Cameron Jones was born in Dallas, TX. I was thrilled to be able to be there to spend the day with Summer as she became a mommy. I have enjoyed having her advice and wisdom over the years as I became a mom.


In the spring of 2004- our lives were changed for the better. We started a couples' Bible study with our new friends, The Spielhagens and The Andersons. Sarah Anderson and I had gone to school and grown up together, so that was the only "old" friend of the group. We loved our couples' study. Once a week, we would meet at each others' house and go through a study of some sort. It was so great and cultivated some incredible friendships. Look how young we look!!
Cari S, Sarah A and Natalie J


I went to Italy with my mom and grandmother to see my sister, Kristin during her study abroad.

I went to New York with my sister-in-law and mother-in-law for a fun girls' trip. (I cannot find these pictures for some reason)

Then, spring 2005, I found out I was pregnant. Shocker of all shocks, we were thrilled and excited but oh so scared and nervous. We were among the first of our friends to walk this path but we were eager to meet our little baby. In the midst of first trimester yuckiness, we redid our roof, repained the exterior of the house, and redid wood floorsin the bedrooms that had been under carpet. Yippee! We were shelling out the money right and left and now had a baby to think about. Doesn't it look great?




TO BE CONTINUED....