Year End Review – 2009

My brother brought up a good point this Christmas season when we were talking about Christmas cards one day on our way home from work. He said it was a little silly to just send out a picture of the family with no message attached to inform others on how the family is doing, especially if that family doesn’t have a blog of some sort where they keep in contact with friends and family. Our family is hit and miss on Christmas cards, sometime we get them out, and sometimes we don’t. This year we got out a simple pic of the kids, but no message to go with it. So here is our year end review to go with your messageless Christmas card, (if you got one).

Just a quick note, my review goes by pictures as they are organized on my computer, so if I didn’t download them during the proper month, I may be off just a little bit, but all of this did happen in 09  (I think).

Jan – Off to AZ we went to see family and enjoy a little time away from the snow.  Alyson just turned 12, so she got to enjoy going to YW activities with her friends.  We had some family pictures by a great old barn near our house and Shannon and I went to a friends house to relive the 80′s for a night.

Feb - Shannon and I both have birthday’s in Feb, so those went down well with a visit to The Olive Garden.  Grammy and Poppy (Shannon’s parents) made a trip up to help celebrate and make a quilt with us.  We aslo made some construction styled snow men (awesome).  Alyson started church basketball and Rylee and Shannon didn’t miss a game.

Mar - Papa Magic (Ethan’s Dad) came over with Uncle Adam to instruct some of the boys on proper gun handling skills, and a little target practice.  Even Shannon got into it.  Alyson got to meet one of her favorite authors, and also had a poem of hers published, nice job Aly.  And the boys had two of the fastest cars in this years pine wood derby.  Cody’s was the fastest, and Justin’s wasn’t far behind.  Cody’s is the only car that went undefeated.

Apr – The snow was melted/melting off, Easter came and went, soccer started for the boys,  the trampoline was in use and Shannon took the kids to Baby Animal Days at the Heritage Center.  The boys did a little muttin bustin (sheep riding).

May/June – Wow, May and June were busy times, full of fun, adventure and accidents.  You see, I had just started a new job and switched to their medical insurance just as Rylee and Justin split their heads open, one on a table and another on a mailbox, and Cody took a dive off a rock climbing wall on his first scout overnighter, which because of the accident turned into his first evening ‘er’.   We celebrated Tauni’s 40th birthday in Logan canyon, which involved a moose crashing the party, Justin and Rylee had swimming lessons, school finished up and Shannon’s sister Megan came for a visit.  I started building a fence around our backyard and the kids decided to sleep on the trampoline and they made it through most of the night, one of them crept into the house and slept on the couch.  See what a little warm weather will do to you after a long winter.  Pheeeeeeew.

July - July was filled with more fun in the sun.  The Hixon’s made the trek from AZ and all the cousins enjoyed a day at Lava Hot Springs in Idaho.  My good friend Dave Bennett and his lovely wife came to town with their newly refinished 37 Cadillac for the annual Cache Valley Cruise-In car show, in which they won the Sponsors Choice award ( I think that was the award they won), then took the kids cruisin Main street for the car parade, we also enjoyed the 4th fireworks with them at the newly renamed Merlin Olsen stadium.  Cody turned 11 and we were loving the sunshine as Shannon(1ok) and Justin(1k) ran the 24th of July Mendon fun run

Aug – Shannon trained for her first half marathon, Aly enjoyed a haircut, had a violin concert and joined the fam in painting the new chicken coop.  The trampoline got more use, chickens arrived and so did a new lawn mower/race car, oh and the first day of school.

Sept – This was the month we decided to vacation, figuring everyone else would be back in school.  So, to CA we headed to visit with her parents who had very recently moved back there from AZ.  We were there for a very short while before leaving the kids and Shannon and I headed out for our first cruise.  It was a short 3 day to Ensenada, but it was just what the doctor ordered after a very busy summer.  Just her and I, unlimited food and fun, and yes, that is the Black Pearl, its port is Ensenada.  When we got back, we headed to Disneyland with the kids and Shannon’s parents and her brother/fiance Tami.  When that was over, we hit the beach and man did it feel good to get back into the ocean.  Cody learned fast that a wave can clean your clock if you don’t respect it.  Justin on the other hand was a sport and let us have some sand fun with him, even if he did turn 9.

Oct - Fall came and went pretty fast this year, so there aren’t any fall pictures of the beautiful tress or mountains, but here are a few pics of the kids as they got ready to raid the streets for lute.  October is really the last time to do anything in shorts, so it is kind of a soak it in while it lasts month.  Aly did get to play a little church volleyball.

Nov - Cody and Alyson are both in orchestra at school, so they had a holiday recital in November.  That went along with basketball games for the boys, a nice visit from my Uncle Max and Aunt Flo (which of course involved a little pool), a visit from Shannon’s sister Julia from AZ and her family, Thanksgiving at our place with my brothers Adam and Travis and their families, my sisters Tauni and Megan and family, and my parents.  We then had another quick visit from Shannon’s parents.  They sure like to come when there is snow on the ground.  We moved our cow from my brothers place to ours for the last month of his life.  He enjoyed spending a little time with his chicken friends while on death row.  He is gone now, and I am not sure if Shannon will be able to bring herself to eat a roast from our freezer this year.

Dec – Ah, December.  The time of Christmas……and craziness.  I’m not sure how many Christmas parties I went to this year, but I am all partied out.  I can count at least five off the top of my head, and those don’t include family get togethers.  It started with our annual ward Christmas breakfast, then onto my real estate party, Caselle party, skipped our association party, party at a friends house, (awesome time Jeannette, thx),  annual get together at my parents for hot cocoa and cinnamon rolls,  and there may have been one or two more we bummed out on.  We did have a great Christmas, the kids all got wonderful gifts, and we did a lot of delivering of goodies to friends, family, and neighbors.  Oh, and we did have another violin recital for Alyson, she is getting good.  She is also giving some big hugs below because her Grandma gave Alyson her old iPhone for Christmas.  Spoiled I tell ya, but no one works harder for it than she.

All in all, it was a great, funfilled year with unlimited activities.  I am sure 2010 will bring just as many if not more.  As the kids grow, life gets even busier, but still just as fun.  Also, may I just add that last years Christmas present is still being used and was added to this year.  The Wii is just one of you gifts that keeps on giving.  Our family has spend endless hours of fun with each other playing it, and believe me, you can get your exercise.  Shannon is a rowing machine.

I hope you all had as great of a year as we did, and we hope and pray that you will all find happiness and health in 2010, because really, that is all that matters.  Until next year/month.