Our Year in Review

January: We rang in the New Year like we always do. We hang out with Mama and Papa and eat yummy crab and all sorts of goodies. Then there was the SUGAR BOWL! Utes are number ONE! Ellie was up to her usual things like opening a burning hot oven. I cut my bangs. Those same bangs are just past the bottom part of my ear now. The kids had a weekend sleepover with their "cousins" Boo and Maddie. I taught someone how to make rolls. Mom and I took Ash to dinner on her birthday. JJ and Emma lost teeth. I started playing with my new favorite toy...my camera. Had some major family drama because of a post I made. Glad that is over. Learned that a balloon can become the toy for everyone.

February: More playing with my new favorite toys, my camera and photo shop. I am really loving this stuff. I just wish I knew what I was doing. I made a picture for Boos room. Emma got a bruise on her check. JJ had his first cavity. JJ made an awesome Robot for his Valentines party at school. I earned mother of the year by forgetting to send Ellie with Valentines to school. JJ and Emma say the darnedest things and it just keeps getting funnier and funnier. I came up with my saying about Ellie and Elsie "Twins separated BY birth." JJ turned 9 years old, and had a soccer cake for his birthday. Emma lost another tooth.

March: Boo is moving around more and more. My mom had a birthday. Doing time out with the nose on the wall and Ellie doing it even when she isn't in trouble. Gene has a birthday. Emma has a birthday and turns 7. Michael has a birthday. Elsie has her first birthday with the cake and all. The first year I combine a party for my kids...and the last. Emma gets her ears pierced. I will forever regret we didn't wait until she was 8. Something about choice and accountability. Smitty comes by for a play date with Ellie. They play barbies. Smitty not so thrilled with that but willing to do anything for his Ellie. We went to the Draper temple dedication. We had a leprechaun come to visit us on St. Pattys day. Ellie is pinching Elsie in the car so we have to move the car seat so my baby won't have track marks anymore on her arm. We headed out on our first family vacation. We went to sunny California with our great friends the Johns. We ate at the crab cooker. We went to Disneyland! We went to the beach. all for the first time for the kids...except JJ who went when he was 10 months, but not to Disneyland. Saw uncle Carl

April: Still in Disneyland. The girls met the princesses at Ariel's Gratto. The kids had to say goodbye to Disneyland and Uncle Carl. The guys went to a baseball game. We drove home from California. :( We colored Easter eggs. We celebrated Easter.We were still stuffing envelopes or doing newspapers, what ever you would like to call it. Elsie says Jesus while pointing to a picture of him. My brother Michael went from Provo to Kaysville on his scooter with a group of boys to raise money for Diabetes research.

May: JJ had a program at school. Emma won for Crazy hair day in her class. JJ shaved his head, and was beaten by a boy who wore a wig...LAME! We went to Brocks birthday party. All of my kids are ridiculously addicted to TV. Ellie had her tooth surgery, which opened up a whole other can of worms with her breathing. We celebrated Mother's Day at our house and had both our Moms over for dinner. Emma and Ellie had their spring recital and danced like angels. There is a lot of soccer happening. It is Ellies first year of soccer. She did a great job. On memorial day we have a kids photo shoot. I am loving my camera Maren comes to visit.

June: Emma loses another tooth. School is out for JJ and Emma. Say goodbye to 3rd and 1st grade. Ryan comes to visit. The kids go to the air show with daddy, David, Smitty, and Ashlee. We get Meads family pictures. I take them and lets just say my first shoot turns out to be a FLOP! Michael graduates from college. JJ is playing baseball. He gets hit pretty hard and gets a major bruise on his arm. From that point on in the season he is afraid of the ball. Poor guy. Maren, Mom and I make Maren a quilt. I vacuum my finger. I have a fun GNO in Park City with some of my favorite friends. The kids are in swim lessons at the Clarks and loving it. Grandma Jan takes JJ and Emma so we have quality Ellie and Elsie time. We celebrate having the best dad ever. We go on our first official hike up Waterfall Canyon. I learn that I can push myself pretty far.

July: My mom took all the kids to the Zoo. My mom had brain surgery. One of the scariest things I have had to deal with. She is recovering nicely and was so strong and brave through it all. We went to the parade in K-Town, and fireworks that night. Ellie is sneaky and getting sneakier. We hung out with friends and then went to the Farmington fireworks that night. My brother Smitty and sis Ashlee move to Erie PA. It was a very hard thing for me. Half of my siblings live out of state now. It makes me sad. Jeron goes on a week long scout trip so I plan all sorts of family fun. Lagoon show, Harry Potter marathon, bike ride, and the pool with Grandma. It was a lot of fun. My birthday party. It was a quiet event. My friends had a brunch for me that morning. On pioneer day we went to the cabin, had a bbq with friends and watched dad set off his "fun" fireworks. Yes he almost killed some people. We went to the Bees game with Grandma Jan and Grandpa Gene. We went swimming at Pineview. We went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple open house. Dad went golfing out of town so I took the kids to the cabin.

August: I am working now. I type for a ENT office. I am not handling being a mom and working. We say goodbye to my Nana. She is an amazing woman and I hope to be half the woman she is when I get big:) It was nice to have my entire family home for the funeral. My brother gets engaged and we didn't even know they were seeing each other...WHAT! We head to Flaming Gorge and go camping with Dads family. The kids go back to school. Hello 4th and 2nd grade.

September: We spent Labor day up Millcreek at the cabin. Ellie starts preschool. We have our 11th anniversary. My sis in law gets a room in PC. It was nice of family to help us out so we could go. We went to Raging waters with Grandma Jan and Grandpa Gene. Elsie is 18 months. I do a photo shoot with her that has to be one of my favorites. I can chicken for the first time ever. We also make freezer Jam. It was easy. I made a cute skirt for Ellie. We head to the cabin with friends for a nice BBQ. JJ helps get boo to sleep while I work. Sometimes that kid is adorable. Dad tends the kids and wraps them up like pig in a blankets.

October: Ellie turns 5. She was so excited to blow out her candles this year. We spent conference weekend with the Johns, and then priesthood session we had our annual Cracrfot Meads girls night out. My cousin Traci asked Ellie to be a Miracle Network helper for the day. Ellie did a bazillion hand prints. I had two GNOs in one week. Wow, I am one lucky lady. Elsie gets a bad thumb infection. Elsie gets the worst diaper rash out of any of my kids. Maren comes for the wedding. She has showers because she is prego. David gets married to Natalie. She has four kids so now my kids have cousins. We head to Lagoon Trail for a kids photo shoot. Ellie gets a big hair cut. She looks adorable. There is a plastic lizard in the lotion and i think it is real. We take the kids to the pumpkin patch. We go to the school carnival. Ellie gets to dress up this year 3 different times. We carve pumpkins. We have an awesome Halloween party. All of the costumes were incredible.

November: My poor babies get shots today. Ellie gets 6 and Elsie got 5. Poor things. I make some fun wall art for the kids rooms. I have another Ellie moment where someone was ignorant about down syndrome. We go play in the leaves at a church. Ellie falls asleep on the floor in the kitchen face down. Ellie pees on Emmas head. Ellie sprays the fish with clorox and kills them. Ellie gets to bring a stuffed pet turtle home from school and loves him to bits and pieces. We go bowling with the monson family and have a blast. We have Thanksgiving this year with my parents, cousin Calee and her family, and my Aunt Mar and Uncle Tod. My Utes lose to byu. Resulting in me flying a y flag next year for all the y games. A list of things I am grateful for.

December: I catch JJ and Elsie reading the toy magazines. We have our ward Christmas party and the kids see Santa. Elsie falls off of a chair and goes through her lip. Elsie eats bread and jam like a pro. We had some Elves come to visit us this Christmas season. We went to the Johns for our annual Christmas party. We went to Temple Square to see the lights. We had a cookie party at Mama and Papas and made gingerbread houses. Emma had her dance recital. Ellie was sad she didn't dance to Emma helped her put on a recital at our home. We went to Sugar House and visited a wonderful Santa. The kids got all dressed up for church in their Christmas outfits. Ellie sang like an Angel during ANgels we have heard on High. Grandpa John took us to Texas Roadhouse for his birthday. We saw Santa. We came home and opened presents. Then JJ broke our toilet. Ellie had swollen eyes and we all got sick with the flu. We had our Elf dinner. I just love my moms Christmas tree. On Christmas Eve Tara and Jeff came up. We opened our Christmas PJs. We had Christmas morning here, then went to Mama and Papas for brunch. On Sunday Grandpa and Grandma came up for dinner and presents. We blew up our gingerbread houses. We went sledding with friends.

It has been an amazingly hard year. I can't remember just what was so hard about it other than my moms brain surgery. But it was hard. I started work and feel like I never get anything done anymore. I wish time would slow down. I will have to say that I learned a lot about Jeron and I this year. I am not going to say what cause I don't want to jinx it but lets just say other than that I think 2009 can leave and I won't miss it much. I will miss Elsie being a baby though. So out with the old and on with the new. We welcome 2010!