Being January, a lot of television shows have been
doing their "Year End Review."
There has also been a lot of blog
posts summarizing all of your 2009.
This has made me reflect my families 2009.
What a
HUGE
year it has been for our family.
It brings a tear to my eye
thinking of all of the blessings we have received.
Starting with
JANUARY 2009:
I have always been really good
and persistant about writing in my journal;
however,
I have zero journal entries for January
and searching through all of my pictures for
2009
there is zero pictures taken in January '09.
Pretty sad,
but I can say that I was thrilled for January 1, 2009
because I knew that Jason would be coming
home from Afghanistan in 2009 and we were
almost there. Turning the year over to '09
was a HUGE deal.
And even though I don't have any physical
evidence of anything happening in January,
the feelings that I had last January
are still embedded in my heart.
What a great month that was...
each day getting closer to having
the love of my life home and safe.
**********
February 2009:
This month is always a dragger for me
and 2009 was no different.
I knew that Jason would be coming home at the end
of February, but didn't know a for sure date.
We did have Kassi and Eric over to play
her new Dance Dance Revolution game.
And I got to go out to my sister's
birthday lunch at Carrabas
with my Mom, Sisters, and Grandma.
I also got to take Lyla along,
it was our first Mother-Daughter outing.
******
******
I got the call from Jason saying that
he would be flying in on February 27, 2009.
They were expected to be there at 6:45 am.
So I made my sister come and spend the night
with me to help me get the kids up and ready
to go and pick him up.
I did my best, but was running a little late.
I wasn't worried, the National Guard are
ALWAYS
running late and I really didn't want to
sit around an airplane hanger in the freezing cold
with three small kids with nothing to do.
So when we pulled up to the airport,
it took us a few minutes to find a parking spot.
Then after we found a parking spot,
we still had to walk a ways to the airplane hanger.
As we got closer I could see the back end of
an airplane and my heart dropped,
they were already there, we missed
the whole big patriotic scene of them getting off
of the plane and walking to meet us.
That special, spot them out of the crowd
and run to give them a big hug moment.
I wanted to cry.
We walked in and saw all of these military
people talking to family and luckily Jason found
us no problem, but he had been sitting
there for about 15 minutes waiting for us.
There plane was early!
Go figure, that never happens.
But it was still a really special moment.
March 2009:
Having Jason home (FINALLY)
meant that we had a lot of things
that needed to be done.
We needed to buy him another car,
because we sold his before he left.
He got a fun Acura, that he loves to drive.
And we also took a much needed family vacation.
We went to Disney Land,
Lego Land, Sea World and the Beach.
It was a lot of things to do in a week,
but we had a great time.
We had so much fun and the boys will never forget it.
April 2009:This month was a busy one.
Jason had his 33rd birthday.
We also had Jason home for Easter
which made it so much more fun.
Jason and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary,
and Carter got to play Coach Pitch
May 2009: May brought nice weather and the desire to get outside.
So we did some family hikes
and bike rides.
We also had Grandma Olsen's 90th birthday party.
And the pool opened!
Always a good thing when its warm enough
for the pool to open.
June 2009:Jason headed off to Honduras in
June for his annual 3 week training
for the National Guard.
It was a Humanitarian Mission
which was like a vacation for him.
I didn't want to be cooped up in the house
and my sister's were going camping,
so what a perfect opportunity to have some fun.
It was my first time camping without Jason,
but my brother-in-laws were great to
help me out with the tent.
Carter also had his last day of 1st grade in June.
July 2009:July is one of our family's
favorite months!
Carter turned 7!
We also had a big 4th of July celebration
in my hometown.
We had an outdoor movie,
(which was a favorite
and hopefully a new tradition),
and we got to go to the Demolition Derby,
which we've missed the last couple of years.
Also in July we had the opening of the
Oquirrh Mountain Temple
and Lyla turned the big 1.
August 2009:
This month Carter had his first day of 2nd grade.
I turned the big 30!
We sold our condo,
bought a new house,
and moved
to a new city.
September 2009:
This month,
Dallin turned the big 4!
We spent a lot of time
getting settled into our new house
and mowing the big lawn.
Carter had his first day at his new school,
and Dallin had his first day of pre-school.
And Jason was getting use
And Jason was getting use
to his easy commute to and from work.
October 2009:
For sure my kids favorite month!
Can't get enough Halloween and
the build up to Halloween.
We really loved finally being in a house
and trick-or-treating in a real neighborhood.
(Non of that cheating condo trick-or-treating!)
October was also the month that Lyla had her first haircut.
November 2009:
This is Jason's favorite month,
he gets really excited for turkey.
We celebrated Thanksgiving with both families.
I had a sister sleep over to do some
black friday shopping.
And most importantly,
Carter lost his first tooth.
And Last But Not LeastDecember 2009:
This is always a busy month,
but this year especially.
I've been taking some online courses with
The School of Natural Healing.
I finished the first set of courses
and recieved my certificate.
I am officially a
"FAMILY HERBALIST"
I am very proud of myself.
I signed up to do this during the
3 busiest months of the year,
but got so into it that I finished
a month early.
******
In Afghanistan last year they
expected a lot of snow,
but what they did get would melt quickly.
So Jason has loved being out in the snow with the boys.
He has enjoyed shoveling
our big driveway
(Which would always take him 2 hours
because he would get distracted by
making big sledding hills
and jumps in our front yard.)
I would send him out to do the driveway
and a couple of hours later I would go out to tell
him and the boys to come in,
only to find half of the driveway shoveled.
******
We were also excited that Santa
found us in our new house!
We have had a great year
with a lot of fun memories
and a lot of learning experiences.
We can't wait to see what
2010
has in store for us.
We hope that
2010 brings a lot of joy
to you and yours, along with
experiences that bring you closer
to our Heavenly Father
and
our purpose here on this earth!
