Reasons why 2009 was a wonderful year:
Neil came home from California after being there for 4 months! Owen and I survived moving to a new state, city and into a new house with no problems at all! I survived all my pregnancy appointments alone and found a new church...alone. Do you know how intimidating it is to sit in a new church with knowing NO ONE? and sitting in one that has about 750-1000 people who attend the service every Sunday? GO ME! :) God was on my side for that one, that is for sure! :)
We welcomed our beautiful, healthy, happy, spunky, adorable, smiley, squealy (spelling??), and dimple-laden little girl into the world on March 11th at 9:57 pm. After 9 months of not knowing whether I was carrying a little boy or girl, we finally found out after 6 intense hours of labor..with NO pain medications! What a night! I cannot look back on that night without smiling. I was proud of myself for doing it all natural and for waiting 9 months to find out the sex of our newest clan member! Claire, we love you!
We were able to travel often up to Denver to visit Neil's grandparents. It has been nice knowing we have family so close! Claire's 1st Easter was spent in Denver with Jack and Nancy. I cooked a meal and packed the car and we drove to Denver in the snow for a great Easter celebration!
Neil and I had been saving money for a while and we were finally able to purchase new dining room and living room furniture. I know, materialistic things are not important, but they are when they make our 1st bought home feel more like a home. And, we have waited for a long time to have "real" furniture as we call it :) Moving on up! :)
I met some amazing friends this past year. One has already moved onto another assignment in the Air Force. Mary Beth was my saving grace when we first moved here. She invited me places and introduced me to her little group of friends that she had already established. Mary Beth, Joy, Jenny and Gina...you are amazing ladies! You all hold a special place in my heart! Mary Beth also took me to my first Mission:MOM meeting at the end of 2008 which allowed me to feel more like I was at home!
Carolyn and Madji became engaged and will be tying the knot in October 2010! It is nice to welcome another person into our family!!
Owen became a big boy in more ways than one. Soon after Claire was born, he gave up his pacifier all by himself and never asked for it again! We were afraid with introducing a new baby into the family may cause some regressions with Owen but he took having a new baby in the house like a champ! He also became completely potty trained! We worked and worked and worked with him and could never really get anywhere with him. And then one day, he decided to put on underwear and we have not had an accident since! He even became completely night trained in less than 2 months from starting potty training. WITH NO ACCIDENTS!! GO OWEN!! :)
My parents came out to visit 3 times this year, my brother and his family came out once, the Menzies came out once, Carolyn and Madji came back in March, Rob and Katie Mack came out once, Kelly Wireman and Carly just recently left and Dan and Ellyn have come numerous times! It is nice to have people come visit and even nicer that we were able to finish our basement this year and have a nice place for them all to stay when they do come to visit! :)
Neil graduated from Colorado State University with an MBA after 2 long years with a huge amount of work put in! He had to handle studying, work and a family and he did a wonderful job! I was very proud of him!
Owen finished his 1st team sport! We enrolled him in t-ball this past summer and he LOVED it! He is already talking about playing again!!
I have started making some birthday cakes for friends and have really enjoyed it. I am no professional by any means :) but I enjoy coming up with designs and seeing the finished product!
We traveled as a family to Disney World in October! Ken and Cindy met us there. We were able to introduce Claire to Grandpap which was fun to see! We all had a wonderful time, despite the high temperatures, and made some wonderful memories!
Enjoyed celebrating all of Claire's 1st's : Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Smiling, Rolling over, sleeping through the night, clapping, blowing raspberries, laughing, crawling, eating solids, pulling up, cruising around the coffee, table, getting her 1st two teeth (on the bottom), and all the other little things that happen in between all the big things! Life is amazing!
2009 came and went way too quickly, but we enjoyed every minute of it! Becoming a family of 4 was, of course, the highlight but everything that happened in between was just as special! We hope you all had a wonderful 2009 and will have an even better 2010! We love you all! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
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