Another year down

It is so crazy to me that 2014 is over. Where did the time go? Why is time going by so fast?
Fun fact for you, I remember when the 50 state quarters started coming out and my little quarter map said the last 5 quarters would come out in 2008 and I remember thinking, "2008! That is forever away!" Now 2008 and several other years have come and gone and here I am blogging about 2014.
The past year started out on a rough note, with John's uncle, who was more like a father to him, passing away after a car accident. John and I went to Philadelphia for the funeral and John returned two weeks later with his grandma and everything she could fit in four suitcases. The three of us lived in our two bedroom apartment for the next six months. I am not going to lie that was a challenge but now that everything has settled and we have a new house and John's grandma has her own basement apartment to live in I know that it was the right decision for her to come here with us.
That brings me to the next big thing that happened, we bought a house! It has a full mother-in-law apartment for John's grandma, plus more than enough room for John and I, and a big backyard for Willy to run around in. The house buying process was easier than I expected. We only looked at a few houses before we found the one we ended up buying and luckily we didn't have to go through a big bidding process, our first offer was accepted!
We still have a lot of little projects and some big ones, that we want to do in the coming years including planting grass in the backyard, painting all the bedrooms and the kitchen and maybe converting our wood-burning fireplace to gas, but for now we are loving it just the way it is! We've already had our first major home problem when we found out we had tree roots in main sewer line just after Thanksgiving. The roots were causing water to backup into the basement when we used a lot of water at once. It was expensive to fix but that problem is taken care of and we are guaranteed for the next 50 years.
I also started a new job this year. It was bittersweet for me to leave journalism and the newspaper but I am thoroughly enjoying the new job. I work at a nonprofit company in Murray called HealthInsight. The company is a health care contractor that works with hospitals and doctors to help improve health care through various grants. I do anything related to communications which means writing press releases, editing grant proposals and blogs, creating fliers, posters and newsletters. In the coming weeks I am working on some success stories which I am really excited for because it will be just like being a reporter! I get to do interviews and write stories, which I have always loved.
It seems crazy that 2014 is already over but I'm looking forward to new and exciting adventures in 2015, starting with my whole family going to Hawaii in February. I can't wait to spend 8 days on the beach with my sisters and parents!
I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year's celebration and the best 2015 imaginable.
Happy New Year's!!