At the beginning of the month we made a long overdue trip to the eye doctor and weren't surprised to find out that we both needed glasses! Neither of us has ever worn glasses before, so this was a major first for us! So off to Lenscrafters we went to pick out some frames and officially became a part of the four-eyes club. We are now enjoying the benefits of seeing things in HD again. :) Also in January we went to a wedding where we got to catch up with a lot of our Charleston friends, enjoyed a few cold, January date nights, and at the end of the month celebrated our Ruthie girl turning the big 0-4!
The beginning of February saw us celebrating Adam's 30th birthday! We had a full, fun weekend of celebrations including all of his favorite things! Later that month we saw two major snow/ice storms that gave us a few "snow days" together. February also marked the month of the car search after our beloved Beatrice saw her final days. We said our goodbyes, and started the great search that concluded with the addition of our new family member, Pearl! Pearl has been a great new addition, and we have certainly enjoyed the convenient upgrades she brings.
March
Well I guess March was pretty uneventful because I apparently have zero pictures to show for it. At the beginning of the month we went to a few final Clemson basketball games as their season wrapped up. As the weather turned warmer we rented bikes and spent the day riding Greenville's Swamp Rabbit Trail. We also started cautiously exploring the idea of a puppy and even ventured to visit a breeder in Atlanta at the end of the month.
April
We so enjoyed the warmer weather that came with April! We spent a few weekends working on sprucing up the yard after the long winter, attended a beautiful wedding in the Georgia mountains, and we even re-opened the project site to start one of our final major projects, the mud room!
May was the "getting ready for puppy" month! We finalized the mud room project which would become the home for the new puppy.
June
On June 11th we traveled to Georgia for the final time to pick up our puppy and you can pretty much guess what the rest of the month looked like. In between all the puppy madness we also found time to celebrate first birthdays and baby showers!
July
July was a full, fun month! At the beginning of the month we said our goodbyes to Gus for the first time and headed to HHI for a week and a half. Although we were so sad to leave Gus, we had such a great vacation in one of our favorite places. Meanwhile, Gus was at home having a blast with his BFF, Sully! The rest of the month included more summer fun with Gus. We introduced him to what is now his favorite place, Clemson, took him swimming for the first time, and had lots of nightly walks and play sessions. At the end of the month we got the chance to head to Pawleys Island for a long weekend, this time with Gus in tow! He loved every minute and so did we!
August
In August we continued to fall more and more in love with puppy life. Between the lake, the huge fields, and all the sidewalks for walking, Clemson quickly became Gus's favorite place, and the long summer nights of August saw us making the trek quite often. We finally made slight progress on Ruthie's opinion of Gus, embraced the return of the school year, enjoyed a few final pool days, and at the end of the month sweet, baby Harbor made her debut!
September
September meant the return of football season and we were READY! Gus celebrated his first Solid Orange Friday and also got to welcome football season at the First Friday parade! We enjoyed the return of our Saturdays spent tailgating and watching football. We made the trek to Louisville and had fun touring and tailgating at Churchill Downs before the game. Also in September we tried out the dog park for the first time (a new favorite), enjoyed a happy hour at my favorite spot, and took Gus to a fun event called "Waggin at the Waterpark" where he got to spend the morning playing at a waterpark in Greenville before it was shut down for the season!
October
At the beginning of the month we didn't let Hurricane Joaquin stop us from watching our Tigers beat Notre Dame! We enjoyed two more home games this month, decorated our home for Fall, and spent a fun Sunday driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway and took in some GORGEOUS views. At the end of the month we celebrated Halloween with sweet Cinderella and her sidekick, Gus-Gus!
November
In November brought more rain and lots of leaves. We said goodbye to a memorable season in Death Valley, and had the best time, just the three of us, in Kiawah Island over Thanksgiving.
We opened the month by once again representing Keowee Smiles in the Seneca Christmas parade with a Frozen theme. This time I was forced got involved as Anna and Adam went as Olaf! We made the trip to Charlotte to watch our Tigers go 13-0 and claim the ACC title, enjoyed all the craziness of December with events, get-togethers, weddings, and parties, and then enjoyed the lazy days of Christmas break. We celebrated a quiet Christmas morning at home and Santa Paws even visited and Gus scored big time! We are capping off the month with a long weekend in Hilton Head with the whole family including a day trip to Miami to watch our Tigers get the BIG W!!!
It's hard to believe how fast the years really do fly by. Once again, we were blessed all year long with health, family, friends, and work. It was also a year of surprises and additions including a new car and a new puppy. It's funny to look back on this time last year when neither a new car nor a new puppy were anywhere on the radar. It just goes to show you that the best is always yet to come. We are so fortunate to live this life, and I can't wait to see what 2016 holds!
