2014: A Look Back at My Year

It's been another action-packed year chez nous, a year of weather extremes, scholastic achievements, travel from coast to coast, new adventures, and most importantly, togetherness.

January saw more snow in Virginia than we have ever seen.  The school children ended up stretching into the summer to make up the snow days. 

February brought Sophia's 20th birthday and our 21st anniversary.  Where does the time go?

Vic didn't have as much travel in 2014 as he has had in the past - a couple of underway periods (a few days here and there out to sea and one longer period that involved him riding the ship across the Atlantic and then flying home from Greece) and his last trip to Djibouti.  What a desolate place.  It was while he was in Djibouti that he received word that our next duty station would be Bremerton, Washington,   He celebrated his 20th Navy anniversary in July - hard to believe it's been that long since he was sworn in by a naval medical officer wearing scrubs!  That's a story for another time.  I kept busy on the home front at the Tidewater Collection and enjoying outings with the spouses' group.

The luncheon put on by the Spanish ladies of the NATO group was amazing and very colorful.

Sophia finished up her second semester at Tidewater Community College with perfect grades and the distinction of being inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa Academic Honor Society.  She was accepted to Western Washington University and was very excited about the educational adventure to come.

The Virginia summer was a scorcher.  I was so looking forward to Washington's climate.

Betty Blue Subaru Forester joined the fleet in preparation for our coast to coast road trip.  We left Virginia on August 2 and traveled 3370 miles through thirteen states in seven days.  We managed a stop in Nebraska to see friends and a day's layover in South Dakota to visit Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, and Custer State Park.  

We settled in our rental house in Washington with this view from the back deck.  It is so beautiful here - mountains, mountains, mountains as Glencora Palliser once said - stunning vistas all around.  We made a quick trip to Oregon to see Barbara and family and then Vic headed off to work and Sophia to school.

It was tough to say goodbye and I'm glad she's not too far away.  With Vic busy at work and out to sea a lot, I searched out the local spouses' groups and found my niche quickly.  Coordinating two craft clubs got my scrapbooking off to a good start and I'm really enjoying the camaraderie of fellow MilSpouses. 

And that brought us to the holidays and the end of another year.  Vic and I dabbled in the Whole 30 clean eating program, did spectacularly (we've never felt better!) and then we promptly fell right off the wagon.  We are determined to get back on and make 2015 a healthy year.

Thanks to Caroline over at Mrs. M's Meanderings for the Look Back at My Year idea!

Happy New Year!