2008: The Year in Review with Pictures (and Brief Explanations)

Before I get to the year in review, I wanted to just post a note that if you are looking for the S2S (Songs 2 Share) feature, they will no longer be posted on this blog. I have created a blog just for those, and you can find the link to the left under the blog list, titled Songs 2 Share. And now, on to the year in review!

JANUARY

The highlight of January was celebrating Skyler's 2nd birthday. As you can tell it was a Tinker Bell theme, which is what she was really into at the time. It was great to have so many family and friends celebrate with us.

FEBRUARY

It was hard to pick just one picture for February as Traci and Courtney each celebrated their birthdays. Traci's was a milestone birthday of sorts as she hit 30 and began her fourth decade of life. (Don't worry, I'm a couple of years into my fourth decade.) I hosted a girly party for her and it seems like everyone had a lot of fun. As for Courtney, she turned 4 and enjoyed spending time with good friends Kate (left) and Charis (right). She calls Kate her best friend and it would seem that Charis is her best friend at school. This year will present Courtney with some adversity as Charis and her family are moving to Hungary in January to become missionaries. She already misses her.

MARCH

We were crazy enough to get tickets to the exhibition game between my Dodgers and the Red Sox. The crowd set an all-time record for attendance at a baseball game (115,000). While this in general was not a positive experience between the hour and a half wait at Dodger Stadium for the shuttle to the Coliseum (and back was longer), the horrible crowds once we got to the Coliseum, the nearly overflowing outhouses, and keeping the kids from getting trampled (literally) on the way to our seats. However, seeing 115,000 people doing the wave was freakin' awesome!

APRIL

April means it's time to celebrate my birthday. We just went to dinner and don't have any pictures from that night because, well, we lost our camera that night. So if you see any pictures floating around the internet, they've been doctored! Just kidding. One tradition we have is for me to take a picture with my nephew Steven. He and I have the same birthday. This may have been the last time we will get to do this picture as they are moving to Colorado as I type this. We will probably try to get out there once a year, but more than likely it will be during the summer.

MAY

The end of May was great as we took a trip to Colorado to visit my sister Susie and brother-in-law Adam, pictured here with Courtney at the Denver Zoo. We had a great time spending the week with them and visiting other family in Colorado. If I went into more detail about the trip, I would need to hire a publisher. (If you want more details, check out my past blogs about it.) The next time we go out to see them, hopefully mid-2009, we will get to meet our niece! Susie is due in mid-February! (As if we needed anymore birthdays that month...hers is then too.) Yay!

JUNE

June brought the end to Courtney's first year in preschool. She is pictured here with Charis. She had a great year and we were amazed at everything she learned and were glad that she enjoyed it so much, but being the social butterfly that she is, that didn't surprise us much. Oh, and Traci and I had our 9th anniversary, but that will be covered in August.

JULY

While Traci went to PartyLite's national convention in St. Louis and I enjoyed spending time alone with the girls (despite two trips to Urgent Care for Skyler in a 3-day period), the highlight was camping with Traci's parents and family at Lake Lopez. They have a water park there in the campgrounds, which is where this picture was taken. Courtney loves stuff like this and it was all the more enjoyable with family. She loved going down the water slides with her cousins. In this picture, she is going down with Kayde who lives up in Northern California and came down with her family for the camping trip. Courtney loves hanging out with Kayde.

AUGUST

August falls into the too-good-for-just-one-picture category. Two amazing trips can summarize my August this year. Traci and I celebrated our 9th anniversary a couple of months late by going on a cruise. Words cannot express how much I enjoyed this trip, which took me to Catalina and Mexico for the first time. (It was also my first cruise.) It was a much needed break, which was enhanced by the lack of our wee ones who had a great week with the grandparents (both sets).

And as if the cruise wasn't enough, I spent a long weekend, with a couple of really good friends from high school, in Boston. From the Freedom Trail to Harvard to bar hopping (my first time) and consuming more than I ever had before to taking in a Sox game at Fenway. There is a reason it took me several blogs to explain how enjoyable this was. And all at the suggestion (of a guys trip) by Traci since she had taken two trips without me already. What a wife! She really is the best.

SEPTEMBER

Less than a week after returning from Boston, it was off to Temecula for Traci's cousin Teri's wedding. Courtney and Skyler have grown to love weddings for the chance to dance with coordination that didn't come from me! Courtney loved dancing with Teri a few times. The picture above is one of those times. You can tell her excitement from the expression on her face.

OCTOBER

Susie and Adam swung into town for a week in early October, and although we only had the opportunity to spend a few days with them, it was great seeing them and hanging out. We miss having them around. We had a baby shower for her and that made the time with them so fun. My sister makes me proud to be her brother and I loved seeing her pregnant, knowing that I'll have a new niece in just a matter of weeks now. I love this picture of her and Traci.

NOVEMBER

The highlight of November, besides Thanksgiving, was getting to take in a concert at our church. This is a picture of us with Robbie Seay from the Robbie Seay Band. I almost never go to concerts, but the music is so much better live. I am a big fan of this band now and am glad we had the opportunity to see them and actually talk with Robbie Seay for a couple of minutes after the show. I also gained a greater appreciation of musicians from this concert. (You can check out my blog about the concert for more details.)

DECEMBER

And now we have come to December and the end of the year. Christmas is by far the highlight of the month. This is just a great picture of our family, taken the day after Christmas at my in-laws' house. I love seeing the kids having a good time with their cousins and opening gifts that they really enjoy. It is amazing to see them gain a greater appreciation of Christmas every year. It was also great to hear Courtney say "It's not about presents. It's about Jesus." repeatedly this year. I guess we're doing something right.
And now we move on to a new year full of amazing opportunities, beginnings and blessings. I know it will be an interesting year as I am trying for a new position at Chevron. Skyler will begin preschool in the Fall and Courtney will start Kindergarten at the same time. We'll have a new niece. (Have I mentioned that yet?) We're also working on growing the Sunday School class that I lead at church. We'll also have to deal with challenges such as family (Traci's brother and his family) and friends (Courtney's friend Charis and her family) moving away. You never know what life will throw at you. At least we know that God is with us and that with him, all things are possible. May you have a blessed New Year.