Happy New Year!!!

2009 was an interesting year. Full of firsts and lasts...some big and some small. Looking back we noticed that even though there were a lot of great things, they were overshadowed somewhat with a lot worry and concern regarding the financial status of our country. In times like these it's even more important to remember all of our blessings and "count them one by one".

In 2009 we:

Took a break from the cold in January and visited a local hotel pool to soak in the warmth of the hot tub and heated pool.

Celebrated my birthday!! Took advantage of any nice weather to get OUTSIDE!!! Andrew made beer for the first time. We fixed up the bathroom in our trailer

Celebrated Valentines Day!

Started looking at houses again and found a fantastic house for a fantastic price!!

We put our trailer up for sale and...

became homeowners!!!! After ten years of wishing an planning, our dream of having a home came true.

So we packed...packed.. and then packed some more!

We celebrated our last holiday at the trailer.

Then we moved (thank you Mom!!!) ....

and painted (thank you Mom!) and painted some more!!

In May Andrew and I celebrated our tenth anniversary. It wasn't the nice vacation we had originally planned but the reason behind our modest trip to Duluth was worth it (our new house).

 We celebrated the first of many holidays on new home: Mother's day. The girls made me some handmade gifts and picked flowers from our yard.

Andrew eventually decided to put in a garden.

Another special day: father's day.

Eliana caught her first fish!!!

We took advantage of our bonus firepit in our yard (we didn't know it was there when we made an offer on the house because it was covered in snow!).

Meirah picked out new frames all by herself.

Eliana said good bye to Kindergarten and Northern School

We had fun soaking in the summer by going to a car show,

picking berries,

going to an art festival,

fishing,

riding bikes (without training wheels, yeah Eliana!!),

going to a circus,

and just playing in our new back yard.

We celebrated the 4th of July with our traditional picnic at Great Grandma Jean's house.

We made a few trips to Duluth to visit family and the big Lake.

 We also saw Uncle Greg's and Uncle Joe's new projec house.

 We harvested vegetables from the garden.

Spent the few hot days we had at the beach of Grant Lake.

We also went to VBS at our church and in addition to learning memory verses we

 learned some basic archery.

We also didn't let the cool summer temps stop us and we went to a local outdoor water slide.

We celebrated Meirah and Keegan's 4th birthday at our house.

We made our annual trip to the local county fair.

In September we started:

dance class,

ice skating,

first grade at a new school,

and preschool!!!

But not before we went to Brainerd to visit a new hotel and waterpark as a good bye to summer getaway.

October's weather was frightful,

but November's was delightful.

After much thought, Meirah decided to be a cheerleader for Halloween,

while Eliana was beautiful mermaid.

We bought a Wii!!!
Went on several fun preschool field trips.

Both girls decided they wanted to participate in Gymnastics instead of the other activities they started out the fall doing.

We visited Bentleyville Tour of Lights in Duluth.

We also celebrated our first Christmas in our new home.

Mimi got sick but she also got better just in time for Santa's visit.

I got a new job, Andrew's job remains stable and we are loving our new house. The girls are healthy and happy and we many blessings to count.

Happy New Year everyone!!! Love to all!!