2013: A Year in Review

Here's just a summary of what we did this last year. We are all learning more, and working hard. Evangeline turned 2 and Greg and I both turned 30. I've included some links to other blogs I wrote throughout the year if you want to see additional photos.

Photo courtesy of Lollipop Photography.

We were a traveling family. We took trips to Texas for my sister Catelyn's Wedding to Daniel Scholwinski in February we were all in the wedding and enjoyed the beautiful celebration in the Texas Hill Country.

We drove to Florida for Spring Break/Easter in March and even got to spend a few days in Birmingham with Edge. We went to Arkansas for the Cates' Family Reunion in June and then went to London as well. London was an amazing trip and although it was expensive we enjoyed the academic conference and exploring we did there. We took a trip to St. Paul in July and then to Washington, DC in August. It was great to finally get to introduce Evangeline to so many of our DC friends.

We survived two snow storms in CoMo, and finished a long hard spring semester. We started school back in August and stayed in town most of the semester with the occasional trip to St. Louis to see our friends who moved over the summer.

We had visits from Jacques and Rachel, my parents, and Aunts Edge and Sarah throughout the year. Jacques and Rachel visited in February and July (while I was at a conference in Boulder). My mom visited in August. Sarah, my parents, and Edge joined us for Evangeline's 2nd birthday celebration which was Disney themed. Edge joined us for Thanksgiving and Jacques and Rachel were here for Christmas. We were blessed to have so many visitors.

Our Lexus (Coconut) was in an accident in August the week before classes began and we were able to purchase a new car, a Subaru which we love.

Evangeline is 2, and she has grown up so much. In March she was photographed as one of the Columbia Missourian's 100 Years 100 Ages project.  At the beginning of the year she was speaking three or four word phrases now she can have entire conversations. She has really long hair and can wear it in a pony tail. She is learning French and enjoying time at both her schools. She started at French school in the Fall and attends two days a week. She loves to look at books on her own, her baby dolls, Princess Sofia, Thomas the Train and adventures of any type.

Greg ran his second Marathon on Labor Day weekend. Studied for and passed his comprehensive exams (in October), and taught two large lecture (150 plus student classed). He got a new article published at a journal and has several out. He's also started the job search. He presented papers at ICA in London and AEJMC in Washington, DC.

In addition to turning 30 this year, I did a lot of work. I attended several conferences for work/school including AEJMC, ICA, The National Eviormental Conference on Natural Disasters in DC, and The Disasters Conference in Boulder, CO. I spent the year taking classes and shadowing a large lecture (principles of American journalism) which I will be teaching in the spring (150 plus students).

We love Columbia, but are realizing that we only have a year and a half left here before we move on to new jobs.

Greg will be only writing his dissertation and teaching in the Spring. In Fall 2014, I will take comps and begin my dissertation. Evangeline will continue to take classed at the French school (two days a week) and the student parent center three days a week until the summer. In the fall we are hoping she can attend French school five days a week.

As for travel in 2014, we will travel to Boulder, Co for the Religion and Media Conference in January. I have a conference in Miami in March. We plan to take a trip to Texas in May and Greg and I will travel to Seattle for ICA in late May.

Thank you all for your continued support and please check back for updates throughout 2014! Happy New Year!

The crew for Evangeline's Birthday.

Celebrating the Season

As I recently mailed out Christmas cards with this blog listed on them I thought I would do a short "year in review" post. This year has been full of ups and suspensions. I think the theme for this year was push forward and persevere.

Catching up with the Perreault Family

Last year, after spending Christmas in Weest Palm Beach and Wellington with Greg's mom, sister and grandmother, we returned home and rang in the new year with our friend Kyle, Brenda and James McCommis. Then we headed to Boulder, Colorado for the annual religion and media conference where Greg and I both presented papers. Mine was an ethnography of an online church and Greg's was on religion in video games. We loved our little family trip and all the learning and cuisine that Boulder and Denver had to offer.

Then Greg and I both got back to work. Greg in his second semester at University of Missouri Journalism School and I in my first semester as a adjunct teaching three courses in the journalism school. We had visits from Greg's dad and his wife in January, my parents in February, and my sister Sarah in March. Evangeline spent time in her play group with friends Claire and Penny. She moved from rolling on the ground to crawling and then to pulling up.

We worked and studied hard, as Evangeline grew from a baby into a toddler. She learned how to walk at 8. 5 months just in time for our trip to Texas in May. In June we started back at work and school. i took a crisis communication class to begin my Ph D program. Greg also took on a job at Religion News Service for the summer and I worked on a book proposal for two professors at MU.  We went on a lot of walks and tried to keep cool as the summer got hotter. We also hosted a foreign exchange student from Spain. With her we explored Kansas City and St. Louis. Evangeline really loved her visits from her grandma Carri in July, and Grandpa Jacques and G'ma Rachel in August.

Fall rolled around and we started another school year. Greg in his second year and I in my first year as a Ph. D. student. Evangeline was now a full-fledged toddler and into everything. We took family trips to the apple orchard, farmer's market and played in the leaves in the yard. Evangeline also celebrated her first birthday surrounded by more than 60 friends and family. Her father, grandfather, uncle and aunt made her a box castle and her grandma made her a home-made cake. Greg was able to get his 1967 Ford Mustang running again with some help from his dad and a few local mechanics. It still needs some work, but it was nice to know she can run around the block!

In November, we attended the National Communication Association Conference in Orlando and took Evangeline to the Hoop-dee-do Review and spent time with several friends and professors from Georgetown and Mizzou. We also got to see Greg's mom and our friends the Painters.  Greg presented a paper on Kingdom Hearts. For Thanksgiving we stayed home, ran the Eat A lot Turkey Trot and cooked for friends who stayed in town for the holiday.

Now its Winter. We just left Missouri on Tuesday to spend our first Christmas in Texas in more than seven years, just in time to miss the first snow of the season. Last time we spent Christmas here was the year we got engaged.

 We wrapped up the semester successfully. Out academic lives consist of three parts, teaching, courses and research. Greg shadowed this Fall and will teach his first large lecture class (300+ students) in the Spring. I am not teaching this year, but I managed to pass my classes and will be taking four classes in the Fall. This next semester has a reputation for being the most difficult one in my course load. Greg has several papers in the works, and I am working on a paper concerning tornado warning messages.

The next year holds a lot of excitement. I'll be attending a conference in DC in January, and  Greg has at least one conference in DC in the Spring as well. We will celebrate my sister Catelyn's wedding in March and head to Florida for Spring Break and Easter. We plan to attend a few conferences over the summer as well as the Cates Family Reunion on Father's Day weekend in Arkansas. We look forward to these adventures and more and hope to see you all soon.