2009... The good and the bad

I really hope I'm not too late for this post. I saw this on my sister-in-laws blog and really liked the idea of reviewing 2009, so I'm stealing her idea. Thanks Rachael :) Anyways 2009 was quite eventful. Some things I would totally love to happen again, but some things i'm glad they are done and over with and won't happen. Here is an inside scoop to our life in 2009.

January: I totally love the start of a new year. My grandma was in town so we had a few family dinners and family get togethers. They are always fun. I didn't start this year out the best though. I had car trouble. My car was old and pretty much died on me and didn't pass safety and emissions. That was the bad news. The good news I got a new car. I now have a Honda CRV and am totally loving it. We also went to Desert Star with some really good friends of ours. We love doing date nights with Gen and Adrian. We continued to have many fun nights through out the year.

February and March: These 2 months usually go together for us. I love celebrating Valentines with Paul, but that is pretty much the only highlight of our month this year. The most eventful thing is the birthday celebrations for the Gardiner side. Most of the family have February and March birthdays. We had fun celebrating everyone's birth days. Paul's birthday is in March. We had fun going out to celebrate. This year I gave him a skydiving trip, which has yet to be used. We are planning on it for this current year. We had a lot of things happening that we were unable to go during the right season. In the beginning of February Paul did surprise me with a weekend getaway to Hines Mansion. Its a bed and breakfast in Provo. It was way fun and romantic. I love get aways with him.

April: Paul finished a semester of school. Almost done with SLCC. Yea! We also celebrated our 4th anniversary. 4 down Eternity to go! We went to Ruby Rivers for the first time. Awesome Steak!

May: We took our annual trip to California. This year we went with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. It was way fun. It was Joshs' first time at DisneyLand. It was fun to be there with them. We stayed with my grandma and went to the San Juan Capistrano mission, Balboa, more beaches, and just spent time with some of my family there. California is always a great trip.

Now for the summer months. This summer was the summer of weddings. It was fun, but kinda got exhausting. Most of them were for family members.

June: We celebrated my birthday, my brothers graduation, and 2 of my sisters got married. Three of these things happened in the first week of June. My dad came a day before my birthday which was a nice surprise for me. We went out to lunch and just got to spend the day together. I also got a new niece on my birthday. Becky and Rhett welcomed the 1st grand-daughter on the Gardiner side. My brother graduated a few days later, 2 days after that my sister got married. I was in the wedding. The next week one of my other sisters got married. June was a month full of family events. Oquirrh Temple opened. It's beautiful. We also got to have my Grandpa and Kathy stay with us for my sisters wedding. I liked having the time to get to know Kathy better. Its fun seeing her make my grandpa laugh. They are cute together and she makes him happy.

July: Mary and Ryan got married! They went through Draper Temple. It was my first time there since we missed the open house. It's beautiful and has amazing views. There sealing rooms are beautiful. We spent the 4 of July with my Aunt at her house, then we all went to Riverton to do the rides and games they had there. I think that was the first time Paul had funnel cake. Fireworks were awesome.

August: One of Paul's best friends got married in Idaho. I had only been to Idaho one other time for EFY years ago. We left early day of the wedding, and met up with some friends in Malad for lunch. We went to a ma and pa diner (forgot name) and they had the best scones. Because we got to visiting we barely made it to the temple. They got married in Idaho Falls temple. We got there a few minutes late and they still let us in. Luckily though we weren't the very last ones and they let somebody in like 15 min. after us. I didn't feel too bad. We went to the luncheon after at Katie's family's house. It was fun. The reception wasn't til the next day. We didn't know if we wanted to stay or not. They were coming a few weeks later to South Jordan so we were planning on that one. We just didn't know what we would do with our time the next day. Some other friends had decided to stay and invited us to go to Yellowstone with them. So Saturday, before the reception we went to Yellowstone. It was our first time there. Luckily, we made it on time to see Ol Faithful and get back. We also went to the melting pots and took some fun pictures. It was just a fun day altogether. We also went to the reception in South Jordan.

September: Back to school. This month I decided I wanted to go back to. I'm doing a medical transcription program and will be done in April. I can see the end coming. I have enjoyed my classes. Since Sept. Paul has finished a semester and had all A's. I'm very proud of him. He still has awhile, but it will be so worth it in the end.

October: Holidays start. I love when Halloween comes around for a couple of reasons. Paul gets very excited. Next to Christmas Halloween is his favorite. He has so much fun with it. I love when he gets all excited. And its the start of the holiday season. We had some friends over for Halloween and we learned a new game, Bang the Bullet. I highly recommend this game. Its fun with a big group. Paul and I went out and bought it and its fun but not with 2 people.

November: We did Thanksgiving with Pauls family. We went and saw New Moon. Sarah and JJ welcomed baby Jackson into the family. He is my first nephew on my side of the family. Paul and I are lucky to now have 3 nephews and 2 nieces. They are all so much fun to be around.

December: In N Out opened here in Utah. We also got together with some friends and did a holiday dinner. Danny did most of the cooking. He's in culinary school and thats awesome, cause everyone knows how much I don't like to cook. In my defense though, I do cook and I try. I'm getting better, but I still don't like it. My grandma came out for Christmas. I love when she is in town. She came for a couple of weeks. I just hope she can actually have a normal trip out here some time. While she was here, my mom had to move. Her house wasn't quite ready so she moved in with my sister for what was supposed to be a couple of weeks at most. It ended up being a month. But luckily her house is done and its beautiful. Another fun thing for me was that my stepmom gave my dad his Christmas gift early. That was a ticket to come out and spend Christmas with us this year. This was the first time he has been to Utah for christmas. We usually go see them. The last time I spent Christmas with him was my Jr. year of HS. We missed you Stacy, but thanks for sending him our way for Christmas. We also went to the Allred Christmas party this year. It was fun. I love this time of year to be able to catch up with everyone. We ended the year by having a New Years Eve party at our place. We rented the club house and played games and ate food all night. It was fun. Happy 2010 everyone!

Thats pretty much 2009 for us. I just want to say that I think we have the best family and friends ever! Thank you for being part of our lives and for all the fun times we've had with you. If I actually had the patience and time I know this post couldve been longer. Paul and I just like living life. We love spending time with our family. They are the best support group when needed. I know this year hasn't been easy and all good things, but i'm glad we don't dwell on it and look forward to the future. We love being able to go out and have fun with our friends. We enjoyed plenty of date nights alone and with friends this year too. We love you all.