2014 in Review

2014 was a big year. So many fun things happened this year, and I loved getting to look back and re-live many of these moments. So here's to bringing 2014 to a close...

January

On the 19th, my mom and I ran the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon. This was my third half-marathon and by far my favorite one I've ever run. I loved sharing this experience with my mom.

February

 Our Family Fitness Challenge ended with a bang and a Brennan's Dinner Celebration. 

Matt and I enjoyed a mini Texas road trip and vacation. We went to my favorite resort, The Hill Country Hyatt and celebrated Valentine's Day there and then in Austin.

March

On the 14th, we celebrated Pi Day at school. Being a 7th Grade math teacher definitely has its fun days! And this was one of them.

 For Spring Break, we took our first trip to the East Coast. We visited Thomas Jefferson's house, Monticello while we were there. 

March also brought Rodeo season! One of my closest friends joined our Mutton Bustin' committee this year which made it even more fun. 

April

We took a little weekend vacation to Boston to celebrate our 2nd Anniversary. It was Matt's first time there, so we did all things Boston tourist- Freedom Trail, cannolis, Red Sox game, etc.

May

Bayhouse trips galore! I feel like we were in Galveston pretty much every weekend in May. Mom's birthday, Mother's Day, Memorial Day...

June

Summer Softball. Matt and my brother, Chase, have been playing in a summer league for at least three years. Avery loves watching her daddy play ball.

July

 We spent the Fourth of July at the bayhouse in Galveston. Matt and I took on a little project to help celebrate the 4th!

We participated in Mission 1:8 with our Sunday School class. We helped put on a small Vacation Bible School for some refugees, most of which had never heard about Jesus before.

My roommates from college and I had a reunion weekend. It is so rare that we are all together, so we took advantage of the time we had together. 

August

 On the 1st, we celebrated the wedding of our friends, the Debayles, and we got to spend time with some of our favorite people.

The weekend before school started, we visited Matt's family in Fort Worth.

On the 26th, I started my third year of teaching middle school.

September

On the 24th, many of our students gathered for See You at the Pole. I will never forget listening to their sweet voices singing songs of praise to our Heavenly Father at the flag pole of our public middle school.

October

 The fall brought Aggie football season, so we traveled to College Station for tailgates quite a bit throughout October and November.

Since I can't post pictures of my sweet athletes, here's a selfie of me before our big volleyball tournament, in which my team won 1st place!

November

 On the 4th, we made our voices heard by voting in the midterm election.

In the week before Thanksgiving, we took advantage of my time off of school, and we traveled to Washington D. C. for the first time. We loved it!

December

 On the 21st, my grandparents got baptized in the same church I grew up in.

We spent Christmas traveling around Texas and visiting all of our family :)

It was such a great year. I cannot believe it is now over. We learned so many things this year, especially me. I am constantly working on trying to be the best wife I can be to Matt. I have learned to be patient with God, that things are perfect in His time. I have been continually reminded of how abundantly blessed we are. God is so good! I know He has really big plans for 2015. I can just feel it. I pray that we continue to keep Him at the center of our marriage and trust Him in all things, and I pray that we cherish time we get to spend with family and friends.

Here's to 2015!

Bormanns Take Boston

Well, we went to Boston! Once again, we woke up at an un-human hour to catch our plane to Massachusetts. When I was a freshman in college, my family took a vacation to Boston over Christmas break. It had been a very eventful trip; I was so excited to take Matt back, because he had never been. Plus, he is much more interested in our country's history than me.

When we landed, we were kind of starving since we had been awake for so long. Earlier in the week, one of my students (who used to live in Boston) gave me some restaurant suggestions (that I wasn't sure I would actually take to heart since the student is twelve.) But, we were hungry, and we needed to stretch our legs, therefore, we wanted to eat somewhere within walking distance. It just so happened that one of the student's recommendations was within walking distance, and it had been featured on four different food shows, including Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Boston Burger Company, it was! While walking there, we were stopped by a fireman, who was holding traffic (cars and pedestrians) while a firetruck was being backed into the fire station. When we looked up, we soon realized that it was the same fire station (and team) that had lost two fire fighters a few days prior in an apartment fire. We had seen the story on national news all week, so it was very surreal to see where they were from. Also, it was obvious that they were very loved by all of the flowers that had been placed in front of the fire station by family and locals. It was very sweet. 

       















We split a burger and some sweet potato fries (my fave), and Matt had his first clam chowder chowda.


After lunch, we walked around Copley Square, which was where our hotel was, and shopped. I almost got myself some new Hunter rain boots, but luckily for Matt, they didn't have my size in the color I wanted. Mostly, though, we were on the hunt for some Boston Red Sox gear that we could wear the following night at the baseball game. Allow me to re-phrase... We were on the hunt for some COLD WEATHER Boston Red Sox gear that we could wear the following night at the baseball game.


Later that night, we went to the North End for dinner. Our original plan was to go to Mamma Maria, where apparently we should have made a reservation about eight years ago (okay, not really, but the host and maitre d' did seem to exchange a glance that made us feel about 3 inches tall when we asked for a table for two.) I'm sure it would have been delicious, however, we ended up getting a table at another italian restaurant close by called Prezza, and it was awesome. After eating dinner, our waiter asked us if we wanted dessert. We admitted that we had seen a pastry place close by that we were hoping to go to afterwards. He understood, but convinced us to go to Modern Pastry instead of the place we were going to go because "any real italian in Boston would tell you it was better." It really was delicious. I ate my first cannoli. And it. was. wonderful. If you can't tell, I loved it.




















That brought an end to day 1, and we were actually very excited to just get to sleep and then sleep in. And we did just that. We woke up at 8:30, which is sleeping in pretty big time for us since we are early-risers. I kept telling Matt that I wanted to go see the Boston Marathon finish line, so before breakfast, we went on a run through Copley Square, and we crossed the finish line!

[Ignore the poor soul who had their car booted. I have a feeling it ruined someone's morning]

 Then, we ran to and through Boston Common (central, public park which is the oldest park in the country) and on to The Paramount for breakfast. It made us feel a little better about indulging in some yummy food since we had run there. I took full advantage. I ordered Whole Grain Texas-style French Toast with a side of berries and bananas. It was just as delicious as it looks.

     


      













After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for our big day ahead. We were definitely not running quite as fast on the way back to the hotel. Must have been the wind? Okay, or the food... but probably the wind. Let's go with that.

After that, the majority of the day was spent walking the Freedom Trail. I had done part of it back when I was in college, but the ground was covered with snow at that time, so if I am being honest, I was more interested in playing with the snow. But, this time, I enjoyed myself and learning about the history of Boston all over again.

Boston Common

About to tackle the Freedom Trail

Massachusetts State House (and brick Freedom Trail)

Park Street Church

Park Street Church steps 2008

Park Street Church steps 2014

Here, at the Granary Burial Grounds, (from left to right) Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and Benjamin Franklin's parents are all buried. 

King's Chapel

Statue Benjamin Franklin

Old South Meeting House

Old State House and Site of the Boston Massacre

Faneuil Hall

Statue of Paul Revere

Paul Revere's House 2008

Paul Revere's House 2014

Old North Church

^^See what I mean about caring more about the snow than what we were seeing?? Oh, to be young again.. kidding. 

We actually did not make it to the last two stops- the Bunker Hill Monument and the USS Constitution. They were much further away, and it had already been a very long and tiring day. Hopefully, we will get to see those two things at some point. Plus, we had to go get rested up for the Red Sox game. AKA a cannoli happened. And was just as good as the first. 

We rested up and bundled up, as it was 37 degrees at the game. Here we are at Fenway Park... 

We ended the weekend on Sunday with a church service at Redeemer Fellowship Church. Our church here in Houston has been partnering with Redeemer Fellowship for about a year, so we were very anxious to try out the church while in Boston. We loved it. The people were very welcoming and loved that we came to visit. Also, look at this view... I mean, wow! How great is our God? 

If you are still reading, then you are awesome, because this was a long post, but it was a packed weekend. And it was a great getaway for a weekend. Plus, almost two years of marriage is definitely something worth traveling for :) 

Are you traveling anywhere anytime soon?

We are done for a while! Promise!

Happy Hump Day!