2008 Year in Review

It seems like I just did one of these. But, since last year’s didn’t get out until January, I guess it has been less than a year since I wrote one. At least I’m more on the ball this year! If you’ve followed the blog at all, this is all pretty much repetition, but if you’re new, read on! I was going to wait to post this, but since we’re going to be in Puerto Rico for Christmas, I thought I’d better do it now. I am not going to spend time looking for a place with internet access—I’m going to be sitting on a beach, eating fish tacos. You’ll have to check back to see if I actually did find some worth writing about. On to our year….I really can’t remember what we did from January to March—maybe that’s a sign. But, I do know that we spent most of the Spring doing softball-related stuff. Nick sure appreciated the sport more. He learned to say “Hit the ball, girls!” and “Strike out!”, although only sometimes at the appropriate time. There were occasionally times when he was telling our team to strike out. He and I spent most home games inside the batting cage, since keeping him in a contained area is better for my sanity. Plus, there were bats, balls, and tees in there, so he was occupied. Nick’s favorite part of softball games, by far, was after the games, when he got to drag the field with Uncle Curtis and ride on the four-wheeler. In June, we celebrated Nick’s second birthday. For weeks beforehand, whenever we talked about what he wanted for his birthday, he always said he wanted an Elmo cake. Thank goodness Grandma Kristie is the crazy cake lady—Nick got his Elmo cake. He also got a fish tank from Grandpa Dave and Grandma Shannon. He wanted to put Nemo in it, but his mean mom wasn’t willing to go to the trouble of a saltwater tank. Instead, he has an algae eater named Bruce (after the shark on Nemo—can you tell he went through a Nemo phase?), a black fish named Buggy (he is a bit bug-eyed), a striped fish named, appropriately, Stripey, and a goldfish named Bob. Nick picked the names, by the way.  He’s totally proud of his fish. Whenever there’s a new visitor to our house, Nick takes them to see his fish within the first five minutes. I’m just proud that we haven’t killed them. In July, we made the marathon drive to Idaho. Nick was pretty good the whole way, but from Mountain Home on, all we heard was “My bum hurts!” But we made it. It was my 10-year high school reunion, and it was a lot of fun. Coming from such a small town, you pretty much hear through the grapevine what other people are up to, but I hadn’t seen some of my classmates in a long time. It was fun to catch up and reminisce. After the reunion, we headed up to Redfish Lake. I hadn’t been there for close to 10 years—I’d forgotten how pretty it was, and how cool! Coming from the Vegas heat, it was heaven. Nick also loved the fish hatchery nearby—the salmon were actually running while we were there, so we got to see them catch the huge fish, sort them, etc. On the way home, we stopped in Elko to see how we liked it. We’ve been talking about leaving Vegas once Mike’s done with his degree, and Elko is kind of in the middle of the two sets of grandparents. But, I can’t say that either of us is in love with the town, so I don’t know that that we’ll ever be residents. Right after we got back from that trip, Sadie had another litter of puppies—yeah, that WAS NOT planned, and I wasn’t all that excited about it. But, these puppies were actually incredibly smart, and were pretty much housebroken without me having to do much. So, it ended up being an okay situation. One of those puppies is actually doing scent training with the North Las Vegas police—maybe she’ll one day be sniffing your bag for drugs and ammunition at Customs. Over Labor Day weekend, we went to California to see the beach. Nick had a blast. He’s sort of afraid of the waves, which is okay by me, as it make it less likely that he’ll drown. He had fun looking for shells, and building sand castles, etc. He even got to see Nigel the pelican (again, the Nemo phase), and had his Cheetos stolen by a flock of seagulls. Mike and I enjoyed eating fresh seafood and just relaxing. We were in Idaho again in October for my little brother’s mission homecoming. Adam came back from two years in Ecuador, and virtually the whole family was there. Nick had lots of cousins to play with, and loved following around the older boys, copying their every move. He also loved riding on the big airplane and going to the pumpkin patch with Grandpa Dave. October was also his first trick-or-treating experience. He went as Robin Hood, mainly because he is obsessed with having a bow and arrow. He wasn’t too expert at actually saying the words “trick-or-treat,” but luckily the neighborhood has a lot of grandma-types in it, and they thought he was cute whether or not he said anything at all. Nick actually liked seeing everyone’s dogs more than he liked the candy—I swear, he’s destined to become a vet. Overall, it’s been a great year. I’m still watching kids during the day and Mike’s still teaching History. Hopefully, UNLV will offer the classes and he’ll be able to finish his Master’s degree by this Fall, and then he won’t have so much on his plate! He’s still serving as Elder’s Quorum President, and I’m the new First Counselor in the Young Women’s program, so my Wednesday nights are filled with Mutual activities. But we enjoy the opportunity to serve, and thankfully Nick has come to love going to the Nursery on Sundays, so church is a bit easier on all of us. We’re grateful for this time of year, and the opportunity it gives us to think of our blessings, like good friends and family. Merry Christmas!