2009 in Review

I did this last year and thought it was interesting, so I wanted to compare my answers from this year to the one's from last year. Here is my review of 2009!

What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?

Made a pie from scratch, completely. I made cherry and banana cream. They were both delicious!

Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Honestly, I never remember my resolutions. I've made 2 for next year though. 1) Lose more weight than I did after having Kennedy and 2) Read more non-fiction books.

Did anyone close to you give birth?

Tons of my cousins had babies this year and my friends Noelle and Rebekah did too.

Did anyone close to you die?

No, thank goodness.

What countries did you visit?

No different countries, but we went to Hawaii, California, Texas and Washington this year.

What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

A house, which we should be getting in April.

What dates from 2009 will remain etched in your memory, and why?

June - We decided that Brett would join the Coast Guard. August 1 - My mom got married.

What was your biggest personal achievement of the year?

Actually reading more than 15 books this year. I read 35, which was pretty awesome considering how little I've read the past few years.

What was your biggest failure?

Not paying off our credit card entirely - although that will be happening very, very soon.

Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nothing out of the ordinary.

What was the best thing you bought?

I really have no idea. Maybe some plane tickets or gas to get to Seattle?

Whose behavior merited celebration?

Brett's. He was in the bishopric this past year and gave up a lot of his time to do that, but he never complains.

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Oh, so many politicians I can't even count or pick one.

Where did most of your money go?

Probably to food. Lame, I know, but we spend way too much money on food.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Getting to have a second baby and having a boy!

What song will always remind you of 2009?

Maybe Fireflies by Owl City.

Compared to this time last year are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?

Happier, fatter, richer (we have way less debt!)

What do you wish you'd done more of?

Given more undivided attention to Kennedy. I'm not neglectful, but I often get wrapped up in what I want to do or what needs to be done around the house. I've been trying to be much better about that lately, especially since we're going to have another one.

What do you wish you'd done less of?

Making messes

Did you fall in love in 2009?

With Brett and Kennedy, which I do often, but also with Noah.

What was your favorite TV program?

Lost, Fringe and 24

What was the best book you read?

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

What was your greatest musical discovery?

Owl City - so fun and clean

What did you want and get?

Pregnant :)

What did you want and not get?

Brett to get into the UVU nursing program, but the Lord works in His own way and now we have a new path to take.

What was your favorite film of this year?

Probably Up.

What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?

I turned 24 and Brett and I went to Spark for dinner and then to a movie...I don't remember which one.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

If I had lost all of my baby weight from Kennedy before getting pregnant again.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

Well, pretty average considering that I was out of maternity clothes in January and back in them in September.

What kept you sane?

Brett and Baby Einstein/Playhouse Disney.

Christmas Morning

We had a great Christmas this year with lots of family and tons of presents. Seriously, they just kept coming. We all got spoiled, but Kennedy really took in a haul. We left probably 97% of what we got in Texas since we'll be back there in 3 weeks anyway. We did get a nice surprise with a white Christmas too! Apparently it's the first one that Plano has had in 80 years. Brett was really mad because he thought that by getting out of Utah we wouldn't have snow. Unfortunately for him, we had about an inch and it was pretty cold. Kennedy woke up around 7:15 that morning and we went to go get her. She slept in her new Christmas jammies that were really cute.

Yes, I look extremely pregnant in that picture, and Kennedy looks very sleepy. When we started opening presents, Kennedy and Wyatt didn't really differentiate between their presents and just played with them all. We had to try and get Kennedy to come back and open presents because she was so interested in what she or Wyatt had opened that she wasn't interested in the next box. Here she is hoarding all of the books that she got - or trying to at least. They wouldn't all fit in her arms.

She ended up getting 3 doodle pads this year, and Wyatt got two. Apparently they weren't enough. She stole Wyatt's pad and had them both going at the same time.

Kennedy and Wyatt both got potato heads to play with, but they weren't satisfied with their own. Here is Kennedy with Mr. Potato Head and Wyatt with Mrs. Potato Head.

My cousin Orion (who is almost 3) and Kennedy both got tents for Christmas. We set up Orion's tent at my grandparent's house and Kennedy refused to come out of it. Wyatt would open the flap and look in and Kennedy would scream and laugh.

Kennedy and Orion kept going inside and playing together, which was really cute. I think Kennedy spent at least 60% of her time in that thing. Good thing we have one too.

We loved Christmas this year and had a wonderful time. We love being with family and are excited for Kennedy to be able to go back and play with Wyatt for a couple of months!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

As you know, we headed down to Texas for Christmas this year. Kennedy and Wyatt took to each other right away and played the whole time we were there.

On Christmas Eve we decided to go down to Grapevine to see the ICE exhibit at the Gaylord Texan hotel. Apparently it was supposed to be pretty cool with slides made out of ice and such. It was Grinch themed and you could actually meet the Grinch. The weather was pretty bad (it snowed and we had a white Christmas!), we didn't have a toll tag in Christine's car, and we got lost so it took us an hour to get there. The walk to the exhibit was excruciating in the freezing wind, and when we got there they said it would cost $50 for just us 3 to get in and that their next available time was 2 hours later. Needless to say we did not go in. We just took pictures outside.

Kennedy and Wyatt loved the train they had set up. Kennedy actually cried when we made her get out of it. Then we all decided to pile in. Brett and I barely fit in that little teeny car.

In the lobby of the hotel they had a bunch of Christmas displays set up, including trains, villages, and a life size gingerbread house.

It didn't take us nearly as long to get home, and even though we didn't get to go in and had a huge ordeal in getting there it was fun to spend time with family and have some fun taking pictures! More Christmas pictures to come in the next few days!

A Very Merry Un-Birthday to You!

I used a Sprinkles Cupcake mix on Sunday to make some red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (my favorite). When Kennedy saw them she pulled out everything she knew to get one of them. She told me, "Want it!" and I told her no. So she tried to grab one and I said no. Then she went into broken record mode - "Please, please, please, please!" We decided that she deserved to tackle one, so after dinner we stripped her down first birthday party style and let her go at it.

She loved it, and even proceeded to eat all of the crumbs and frosting that she had dropped on the table. She even asked for a bite of my cupcake when she was finished.

She's actually pretty good about not making too big of a mess when we do stuff like this. Even so it took 6 wipes to clean her and the table up. On a different note, I am starting my third trimester today and have less than 100 days to go before baby Noah arrives! We're really excited for him to come and I'm really excited that I don't have that much longer to be pregnant! Although I don't mind being pregnant and I like feeling him move around in there, I think I prefer to have them out. :)

Must Have Been Old Santa Claus

We had an early Christmas this year because most of Kennedy's presents and a few of Brett's were much to big to lug down to Texas. Brett got a deep fryer, Monopoly and Punch Out for the Wii. I got to open some books that I had asked for and Lego Indiana Jones for the Wii. But Kennedy's presents were what really prompted us to do this. So on Friday night we set up all of Kennedy's toys and had her come out to them on Saturday morning. Here's what it looked like before she saw it.

Yes, she is a spoiled only child. I came out and started the Mickey Mouse train going so that she would come to investigate. Sure enough she didn't know where to start. She just kept yelling out random things like, "Mickey!", "Bear!", "Ball!", and "Choo choo!"

She absolutely loves the little couch we got her that turns into a bed with a built in sleeping bag. She changes it from couch to bed all day long and loves to sit in it.

We also got her a jumbo Mr. Potato Head pack that has over 50 parts. It's really messy. She likes to try and dress in all of the hats and such that it came with. She did this one all by herself.

She was so overwhelmed! Little does she know that she gets to have another Christmas, although it will be smaller, on Friday. It was so much more fun to see her have a great time with her presents this year than it was to see her open them last year. She didn't care nearly as much. It was so fun to set everything up and watch her face when she came in the front room in the morning.

Later that morning we went to go see Santa at the mall. Last year we got really lucky and were just able to walk right up to him. This year however, we waited in line for an hour to see him. Lately, very much out of character, Kennedy has had random bouts of clinginess. If we start holding her, she all of a sudden doesn't want to leave us, and she freaks out for the first 5 minutes that we leave her to go anywhere. Unfortunately, one of these bouts happened right before we got to Santa.

I guess we have to have some pictures of her freaking out. It's just classic. Santa was a good sport and we snapped pictures as fast as we could.

She was seriously struggling to get away. She kept talking about Santa all day long as if nothing had happened. Brett told her it was a good thing he'd already come, because after the way she had acted he probably wouldn't have brought her anything. Later that night Brett and I went up to Salt Lake to the This is the Place Heritage Park for their Christmas festivities. It was really fun! They have an entire village of old buildings (some relocated and some replicated) and they were all dolled up for Christmas. We watched a puppet show, saw some people making candles, and did some square dancing. We spent a great day together and really had a blast!

Lucky Stocking

Brett's work had a competition last week for the best homemade stocking. That morning, Brett decided that he wanted to enter and improvised. He grabbed a company shirt, scissors and some present tags and went to work. He sent me this picture later that day. He stapled the shirt together and folded a sleeve over for the top. The company logo is in the middle. For a shirt, staples and 15 minutes I thought it turned out pretty well. And so did the rest of the company! Brett won first prize which was a $50 gift card to Cheesecake Factory! I was so excited. Brett is ridiculously lucky when it comes to contests, and I'm really glad he won this one.

Like Father Like Daughter

First of all, for those of you who asked, we just got a Kodak C180 camera. It's nothing fancy, but it is definitely better than the last camera we had. Anyway, yesterday during my baking extravaganza (check my cooking blog for pictures and recipes!) I came out of the kitchen to find this.

I guess that Kennedy has basketball in her genes. She was totally enthralled with the Jazz game that Brett was watching - even to the point of ignoring the camera! It was really sweet to see her sitting with her daddy and watching a game. It's pretty normal for Brett to be in front of the TV when the Jazz are playing, but Kennedy is usually doing something else. I'm glad that she has so much time to spend with him before he is gone for 8 weeks!

We're giving our apartment complex written notice today that we are moving out next month. It seems to be creeping up on us so fast! Brett is getting excited, and so am I. We're not happy about the time apart, but the sooner he goes, the sooner he will come back. We are very excited to move somewhere new and find out all about it. In just a few weeks we will be saying goodbye to Provo, which has been my home for the last 5 years!

New Camera!

I finally got my new camera! I was not happy because I kept making food that I wanted to take pictures of and we had an early Christmas with Brett's parents that we couldn't take pictures of either. But now I'm a picture taking fiend! During that time Lucy decided to take over the biggest present we have.

It won't fit under our tree because it is between our couches, so it is sitting on top of our love seat. Lucy loves it and has chewed the tag off of it several times already.

We just kept taking random pictures last night because we were so excited to have a camera again.

And here's Kennedy telling me that she wants the camera. After the last accident, I don't think I'll be letting her hold the camera for a very long time. I'm so glad to be able to share pictures again! And be sure to check out my cooking blog because there's a new post there too!

Books Read 2009

Seeing as how I've been cross stitching a whole lot more than reading lately, I don't think I'll finish another book before the end of the year. In that case, I'm going to post all of the books that I read this year. The grand total was 35 which is a heck of a lot more than I've been able to read in years past, mostly due to school. I hope the format isn't confusing. Some of these were rereads for movies or just because I wanted to. I put a ^ next to those ones. I also put a star * next to the ones I particularly enjoyed. I hope I can find as much time to read next year, although something tells me that with moving twice and having a second kid, that's not going to happen. If you have any questions regarding specific books or authors, let me know in the comments!

Alias Grace Coraline* Raising Healthy Eaters: 100 Tips for Parents Frankenstein^ The Green Book The Partly Cloudy Patriot The Blithedale Romance The Name of the Rose*The Wordy Shipmates The Lightning Thief* The Thirteenth Tale The Screwtape Letters^* The Lord of the Flies^ The Sea of Monsters The Titan's Curse The Battle of the Labyrinth The Hunger Games* The Graveyard Book The Fire Kimono The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World Angels and Demons^ Stardust Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince^* The Last OlympianFahrenheit 451 Keturah and Lord Death A Curse Dark as Gold 1984* The Time Traveler's Wife^* Possession Brave New World^* Twilight^ The Lost Symbol Catching Fire* New Moon^

Kids Do the Darndest Things

Seeing as I still have no camera, and won't for a little while, I'm going to try and entertain you with a couple of the things Kennedy has done lately. She is so funny and is turning into such a big girl! She's very creative and very smart and I love being with her everyday to see what else she will come up with.

Lately she has been treating Rosie, her favorite bear, as a person. This morning while she was eating breakfast she started smashing her banana into Rosie's mouth and saying "num num num" and "share!", as if to say, "Look mom, I'm a good girl and I'm sharing!" She also decided that Rosie was thirsty and said, "Drink!" while pushing Rosie's face into her cup of milk. Thankfully, it didn't spill. She wants her bears to be dressed up lately and loves to put hats on them and sit them in her chair. Yesterday she made two of her bears kiss. It's really funny to watch.

Yesterday we decided to let Kennedy play MarioKart with us on the Wii, so we gave her her own wheel and character. She knows how to move the wheel, but not how to make herself go. When the race started she was moving her wheel just like us and all of a sudden she started saying, "Go go go!" Then out of nowhere she said, "Yes!" as if she'd just gotten something awesome. We were laughing at her, but then she yelled out, "Crap!" We almost couldn't play anymore because we were laughing so hard. The whole time we were playing she kept yelling those 3 things. She can't play the game, but she certainly knows how to react.

No Pictures for Another Few Days

Dear Camera,

Oh how I miss you. We will be buying a better one on Thursday, but that's still not until Thursday and we have to wait for it to get here. Sad. You can bet I will be taking lots of pictures as soon as it arrives!

Picture lady

Dear Kennedy,

Thank you SO much for sleeping until 8:00 this morning! After 4 days of waking up right at 7:00 and then refusing to take a nap it was very welcome. Now, please please please take a nap today. That would make mommy a very happy camper.

Thankful mom

Dear Snow,

You are so pretty! I was wondering when you would get here and now there is plenty to go around. You do make it kind of hard to drive and get around, but I guess we'll deal with that.

Winter lover

Dear Tummy,

Stop being hungry! I am desperately trying to not get as heavy as I did with Kennedy, and you are thwarting all of my efforts. I think I'm still doing alright, but I am starting to get worried.

Lady who can't lose baby weight

Dear Jo,

Thank you so much for buying our piano! We've been trying to sell it for ages to no avail until you came along. We are happy to keep it for another few weeks while you figure out how to move it, but we are just as happy that it is sold. We'll be happier when we receive our money, but for now, I am content. Now we just have to start selling off some other things and make this apartment empty.

Glad not to have to move the piano

Dear Noah,

Thank you for kicking so much and letting me know that you're there. I would, however, appreciate it if you would not always kick me so hard that it hurts. Thanks.

Your mommy

How Do You Manage?

I have been thinking a lot lately about how much having a child changes your life. Probably because I'm soon to have another one in the house. I have no idea what it is like to juggle two children, but I figure that literally billions of people have done it before me, so I will survive and adjust. Some of the things that Kennedy has been doing lately have made me wonder how it will be when I have several kids in the house who are her age or older. There are some cute, and some not so cute.

*Every time I ask her what color something is she says "Yewow." I don't know why yellow seems to stick in her head, because she actually knows some of her colors, but that's always the first one out of her mouth.

*We now have to buy a new camera because yesterday Kennedy dropped ours and bent the lens. I guess that should teach me not to let a 19 month old handle technology.

*Kennedy is getting into the movie stage. She is always wanting to watch something. "Mouse" (Ratatouille), "Kitty" (Aristocats), "Meeno" (Finding Nemo) and so on. What if our kids all disagree on the movie that should be watched at any given time?

*Kennedy has been coughing so bad lately that it makes her throw up, usually in the mornings. So almost everyday lately I've had to change and wash her sheets, multiple blankets and her bear.

To be honest, I don't even know how I am going to manage to give two kids a bath everyday. At least Noah won't need a bath everyday for the first little while. I am looking forward to seeing him grow, just like I love watching Kennedy grow. I am definitely a little bit nervous, but I'm sure that it will all work out in the end. Especially since I still plan on having more kids. It will be hectic, but it was hectic when Kennedy came and we adjusted. I would never give her back and I am so happy that she is a part of my life. I know that Noah will make me feel the exact same way.

O Tannenbaum

Despite the fact that I couldn't keep anything down until about 1:00 yesterday, we went out and got our Christmas tree. We found a beautiful grand fir at Lowe's and had a great time decorating it. It's so puffy! It looks huge in our apartment and I love it. Brett's sister Jamie went with us and got a tree as well. They decided to attach it to her car by roping it through the windows without realizing that she wouldn't be able to get into her car afterward. So poor Jamie was getting shoved in and out of her car through the window. We now have a house decorated for Christmas and are ready for that holiday cheer!