2009 in Review

This year was a busy one for our family, and we saw a lot of changes. At the beginning of the year, we were living in our little yellow house in Grand Island. Ruthie was this big...
...and she still had red hair!

Early in the year Tony decided to change his major to Spanish and business, so at the end of February we ended up moving to Omaha, just a few blocks away from my parents. We spent the months of February and March packing, moving, unpacking and generally remembering how much we hate moving. I kept busy as a substitute teacher for the Sunbeam (3 year old) class in Primary, while Tony worked and started taking placement tests for school.

In April, Ruth and I drove out to Ohio to visit Tony's sister and her family. We stayed for more than a week and had so much fun spending time with Jenny, Mike, Marcie, Leila, Janalee, and their various friends and family.


After we got back from Ohio, Tony and I received callings in our ward. I was called to be the Young Women secretary, while Tony teaches the 14/15-year-old Sunday School class. At the end of April, Tony and I were matched with a little brother, Brandon, through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. We love hanging out with our little brother. Here he is working on a fort in our living room:


In May, Tony and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary, I turned 24, and we got to see my younger brother, Zach, graduate from high school. Tony started summer classes at UNO. We also had fun planting and tending to our first garden.


In June, Ruth celebrated her first birthday! We had a nice party at my parents' house, and it was lots of fun! Here is Ruth after her second cupcake:


At the end of the month, we went up to Minnesota for a fishing trip with my parents. It was extremely windy that week, but we had a good time anyway.


In July, Tony turned 24! We went out to Ogallala, Neb., to camp out at Lake McConaughy with our friends, the Olbrichts. In the two or three days we camped, I think we experienced something like five thunderstorms. It was insane. But the company was good, and so we had a lot of fun.


At the end of July, I started watching Jack on a regular basis, and we really enjoy seeing him every week.


In August, Tony bumped up to full-time school once again. We had a busy month celebrating family and friends' birthdays and going on various outings. Ruthie also started walking around this time.

In September, Tony and I ran the Grand Island Half Marathon. We finished in a little more than 2 hours, and, unfortunately, didn't get any pictures. Tony has already mentioned wanting to run it again this year, so we won't forget the camera next time. :) While we were out in Central/Western Nebraska, we also paid another visit to our friends, the Olbrichts.


In October, Tony and I went to a Nebraska football game. Tony also got the ball rolling on his new business, Gardner Translations. For Halloween, Tony and I were Kip and Deb, while Ruthie wore her daddy's old Halloween costume and made a very cute leopard.


November brought us the chance to visit Tony's dad, step-mom and brother in Utah. We flew out for a weekend, and we were so glad we did. Utah was beautiful, and we loved seeing our family.


In December, we bought our first house! We are planning to close in late Feb. 2010, assuming all goes well with our loan. Tony started working full-time at U.S. Cellular. Ruth turned 18 months old, making her old enough to go to the Nursery class at church (YAY!!!!!). However, she hasn't been to Nursery yet because of illness. We also had a couple of snow storms and a wonderful Christmas.


This year has brought a lot of surprises and blessings. I cannot believe how big my little girl has gotten! I took this picture of her the other day:


My little blondie has grown so much, it's amazing. Her hair color changed, she has teeth and she walks, talks and feeds herself. I can't wait to see what new things she learns and how she grows in 2010.

We are looking forward to the new year, which we will be ringing in the same way we did last year - in North Platte with some good food and exceptionally good friends. We hope you have a wonderful new year, as well. We'll post our resolutions in 2010!

Farewell, 2009!