2009 Year in Pictures!

I've NEVER ever EVER claimed to be any sort of creative. In fact, I'm pretty open about my tendency to steal others' great ideas. This idea belongs to one of my oldest friends (by that I mean "she's been my friend longer than anyone else" not "she's friggin' ancient" Love you, Lise!) Anyway, here is a recap of our year!

JANUARY

First, we acquired a new family member. We adopted Ginger with the hope that it would better help Jack adjust to not being the center of attention. Every little boy needs a dog and Ginger is Jack's best friend. Of course, in hindsight, it really wasn't necessary. She's sometimes naughty and I think half-kangaroo, but we love her and Jack would just be lost without her.

So also in January, my cute little brother Phyllip graduated from highschool. This was such a huge accomplishment for him! School wasn't really a priority for him early on (this MAY have started when he got kicked out of daycare for biting other kids..) and I think he was in 9th grade 3 times but he finally got his act together and worked so hard he was able to finish only 6 months later. He also won the "Turnaround Scholarship" for his hard work. This kid is capable of ANYTHING he wants to do. I know he has it in him to do some incredible things in this world--right now he's my favorite race car driver. (Sorry, Dale!)

FEBRUARY

In February, my big sister Alicia got married to a wonderful man! I surprised her by going to Virginia for her wedding. While I will never again for any reason fly 7 months pregnant, it was so great to be there. To meet my beautiful niece Hannah and to see my amazing and wonderful boys Hunter and Austin was worth the seemingly eternal flight and pretty much not being able to breathe for 5 straight hours while flying. ;o) She was a beautiful bride, it was an honor to have my nephews escort me down the aisle and I couldn't ask for a better brother in law. Jerome is awesome and funny and he loves my sister. (Kind of miraculous--she's sort of a pain!)

Here is the whole wedding party. Hunter is the twin with longer hair than Austin and of course Miss Hannah is front and center. It had been about 10 years since I saw those boys. I was worried they wouldn't let me hug and love on them. I was glad to be wrong. They are still as sweet and loving as they were when they were 3 years old and Austin hid my keys so I couldn't leave. I couldn't love these kids more even if I tried real hard. They are AWESOME.

MAY

The next big event was the arrival of Miss Elisabeth. She was born May 5th and our lives have been better ever since! I am equal parts constantly amazed at how big she's getting and unsure of what we ever did without her. Our whole family revolves around our Lizzy. We all just dote on her and she absolutely adores her big brother. Luckily, the feeling is mutual (for now) and he lives to make her laugh. The cute girlie holding our new little bundle of barf is my midwife, Christy. She's clearly amazing since I've so graciously considered her "family blog-worthy." LOVE this girl. She's awesome and funny and was so good to put up with me when I sat in her office crying because I couldn't stop throwing up. My favorite Christy line was this: I was in her office getting my second round of IV's because I was so dehydrated and she asked me if I wanted a Coke. I said that I thought I wasn't supposed to drink caffeine while I was pregnant and she said, "Crack babies are born every day. You can drink a Coke." Love her! Love Lizzy! LOVE LOVE LOVE!

JUNE

2009 was a good year for weddings. One of my very best friends Lisa (she's the one in white) got married in June. (Although, really, what kind of crappy friend makes you a bridesmaid in her wedding 6 weeks after you have a baby? Try finding a dress in THAT little situation! Ugh.) Anyway, she got married in Arizona and it was fun to go down there (although I cried all the way to the airport because I was leaving my new baby!!)

Okay, I just had to toss this picture in because I love it. (If you're in the Idaho Falls area and need a good photographer, let me know. My friends Sam and Sara have a GREAT photography business up there!) Anyhoo--I love this picture. As we were walking with Lisa towards the building where she was married, she said she was so nervous. I don't know which of us suggested we pray..I kind of think it was her..anyway, we stopped to pray and it was a very sweet moment. This picture just reminds me how important it is to keep the Lord in every aspect of our lives and that He is ALWAYS there for us. I have been told by more than one person that I'm not a Christian because I don't believe in the "right version" of Jesus Christ (please don't bother to comment on this if you want to argue about it. No offense.) but I know that my relationship with God is personal and real and I'm grateful that it will be to Him that I will be accountable. Tangent over. I'm so glad I am surrounded by such great friends who support me and who I can support in return. Moving on!

JULY

July was bittersweet. Sweet because we took Lizzy to Idaho to meet my family for the first time. Of course everyone fell in love with her! Ever since I was itty bitty, my grandma's bed has been my very favorite place to sleep. Apparently, Elisabeth felt the same way because she slept until I woke her up around noon!! I love this picture of her and my grandma dozing together. So sweet!! (And I love that Lizzy sleeps with her arms above her head--both Scott AND I sleep that way and every now and again Jack does, too, if he's really tired.)


The "bitter" part of July was Jack's foot surgery. Poor kid had both feet operated on in an attempt to straighten them. The doctor snipped the ligaments on the insides of his feet to release them, hopefully making his feet better able to grow straight. They're not perfectly straight yet but within a year should be just fine. He did WAY better with 2 casts than I thought he would. In fact, we had to have his casts re-wrapped a couple of times because he wore through them! Nothing keeps this kid down!

AUGUST

In August, I got to spend a wee little bit of time with my cousin Lisa from California. (Technically she's my 2nd cousin, but I 1st love her!) She lives in San Diego with her cuuuute family (seriously, their family pictures look like the pictures that come in the frames when you first buy them!) It was fun for her to meet the kids and for us to catch up. We've actually only been in each other's company maybe 3 times in our whole lives but we have so much in common. (According to her sister Christina, our husbands and how we interact with them is super similar. ha ha!) She joined the Church shortly after I did and we've had that common bond which has been great. She's wonderful and great and dang it I AM going to make it to San Diego for vacation one of these lifetimes!

Also, in August, Jack started his last year of pre-school! Look how cute his is with his backpack..good gravy I love this kid. He's my little buddy and I don't know what we'd do without him in our family!

SEPTEMBER

In September, Jack got his casts off. This is kind of a gross picture because he'd not washed his feet in over a month but these are his newly-straightened feet. Okay, moving on. Those dirty toes are making my stomach turn.

OCTOBER

Lizzy's first Halloween! Aunt April took this picture of her--isn't it cute? This is the year that my dear husband proved to be a GREAT sport (well, I guess he DID wear magenta tights and a pirate shirt for Halloween last year!) Check it out:

A toothbrush and travel-sized toothpaste! Adorable, yes? (True confession: As a stealer of ideas, I totally swiped the concept from uber-awesome Camillie-Pop-a-Wheelie Sturges.) I can't get over how cute they were together!

Jack wanted to be Spiderman. He's so buff!

NOVEMBER

Two reasons I love Heber City, Utah. (Three if you count cute Rochelle who lives there. Four if you count her awesome Wildtree products.) 1. The architecture is so amazing and reminds me so much of Europe. 2. Granny's! The food is gross but you won't find a more delicious milkshake anywhere else! We spend every other Thanksgiving up there and I just love it!! Time at the condo equals lots of game-playing (this year we learned how to play "Hand and Foot) Thanksgiving is so fun in Heber!

DECEMBER

I'm not going to lie--I didn't get NEARLY as many pictures as I should have of Elisabeth's first Christmas and those that I DID get are on Scott's computer. But here is Jack and cute Aunt April after his Christmas program. Never will you see a cuter reindeer!

2009 was a pretty good year. Could have been better, could have been worse. All in all, I have to say that we are blessed. I'm excited for 2010 and what it has in store. I am hopeful--that I can run the 2 5K's I've planned on running, that we can get pregnant again (that I won't be as sick as I was with Lizzy), that Scott's job will continue to go well, that my Heritage Makers business will continue to grow, that I'll finally figure out what is going on with Primary and mostly that we'll be as happy, healthy and blessed as we are today. If you got to the end of this insanely long post, you win the "true friend" prize. Or you need a hobby. Maybe both!