2009 Year in Review

There have been so many holes in my blog updates this past year, I wanted to try and fill you in...2009 was an eventful year for us in many ways. We've had some great times as a family and really learned a lot. While we're excited to start the new year, we have lots of fond memories to look back on, and thankfully we've made it through another year just fine. We look forward to all that 2010 has to offer. I'm sure it will be a great year~

January

We switched to 11am church in 2009, thus I was able to take the time to have photo shoots

Rachael is 5 years old, Spencer is 3 and Lucas is 1

I was brave enough to take 3 kids to San Diego by myself & went to a baby shower for a dear friend from high school. It was a good time, and at the shower, Luke was the perfect example of why it's great to have babies....however, I don't think I'm up for another single parent trip any time soon.

February

We had a family trip to America's Finest City, where we went to Balboa Park & explored the Reuben H. Fleet Space Museum. This is Rachael and Spencer loving the musical instruments they had on exhibit. We saw a silly Imax movie about animals, which our children endured, despite their fears.

We surprised my brother, Landon at a late dinner in Little Italy, to celebrate his completion of all the testing he had to pass in order to be officially licensed as a chiropractor. It was a really memorable night. YAY for Dr. Amonette!

We started the month out with Luke's exciting surgery on his ears. He was a brave and tolerant patient, and so far the tubes were a success. YAY for no more ear infections!

Mike's cousin, Austin got married and we were thrilled to be a part of that special occasion. His sister, Heather became engaged at the end of the wedding reception, so YAY for weddings!

We ended the month of love with a trip to the LA temple to attend with friends going through for the first time, and to witness their sealing. Yay for families being together forever!


March

The weather warmed up enough for my daffodils to blossom and for my boys to get outside to play in the dirt. No garden this year, just an excavation site.

This month was busy, but nothing too exciting. I probably took less pictures because someone was always sick.


April

Once again we escaped the desert for a day to visit San Diego. We ate Bottle Shop pizza at what used to be called Dallas park, and the kids got to experience a real tire swing. While I went to yet another baby shower of a dear high school friend, Mike took the kids to a strawberry farm in Lakeside. What a great day.

Rachael turned 6 and had a My Little Pony birthday party at the park

We had a fun Easter party at Grandma & Grandpa Casady's

At the end of the month I drove up to Provo, Utah with a friend to attend the BYU Women's Conference. It was delightful. I learned to so much and felt so refreshed. Can't wait to do it again!

May

This is our cute family at the Redlands Temple for Mike's cousin, Heather's wedding. It was a really special day and we were so happy to be there.

Mike took Spencer on the annual Father's and Son's Camp out, while Luke stayed with me to make sure us girls stayed out of trouble.

June

June was super eventful, but the picture represents my first attempt at making pizza. The kids had cousins over and we made it a party by letting the kids make their own shapes and decorate with toppings. It was a proud day for me, because being so creative meant that I was finally feeling better!

We said a fond farewell to Kindergarten, until we meet again...

We celebrated 1 year anniversary of Mike's service as Bishop.

July

We braved the heat in Bakersfield for 4th of July at my sister, Amy's house. It was a blast.

The best tradition ever: Cousin Camp at Grandma Casady's. All three of our kids actually spent the night this year.

August

Above, you see 3 cute Casady girls. Livia Ann was born in August. Hannah and Rachael are preparing to show her the ropes in this male saturated family.

September

I turned 30 years old and got new carpet & tile, and a week of celebrations.

Rachael started 1st grade.

Spencer fulfilled his dream of seeing pandas when we went to the World Famous San Diego Zoo. Thanks for a great day Mark & Nance!

October

Mike turned 33 and he got new socks and scriptures for his birthday.

My sister, Amy had an adorable baby girl named Lucy. Mike & I were so happy to meet her just hours after she arrived. It was definitely worth the trip.

I went with some really awesome ladies to a taping of The Price is Right. None of us were chosen to play, but the experience was sure memorable.

We went to the pumpkin patch as a family and then carved our Jack-o-lanterns. We celebrated Halloween with Casadys at Mike's brother David's house. Rachael was a High School Musical Cheerleader, Spencer was Spiderman, and Luke was a pirate.

Oh, and this is the month we found out that a new baby is on the way!

November

My kids were so excited to have a new cousin on my side of the family. Lucy met Rachael, Spencer & Lucas on Thanksgiving day. I'm so glad that I was able to have most of my siblings over for the holiday. I am also grateful that I was not sick, but strangely feeling really well. It was a fun , relaxing holiday and to make it more festive, we announced our own impending arrival. Really, it felt like it had been a secret for a super long time. We told most of Mike's family the next day, in between volleyball, Rock Band, pizza & improve games.

We made another trip to SD to visit my Grandma Amonette. It was really great, as always.

Luke had a birthday and turned 2 years old. We celebrated by getting his first hair cut and by letting him eat lots of chocolate cake.

December

2 year old Lucas was a Wiseman for the Casady family Nativity play. He's not in character; he really is always that adorable. And yes, he kept his head piece on for the entire program.

This was the month I spent way too much time in the kitchen. To celebrate the holiday season, we had a month of creative food. We made marshmallow snowmen, ornament cupcakes, a gingerbread house, chocolate almond butter toffee, and dinner shaped like a Christmas wreath, complete with a bow. Just thinking about it now makes me tired. What was I thinking? I should have been taking naps instead.

Christmas was a joyful time & the kids must have made it on the nice list. They each got bikes to ride and they love it. Lucas loves his hotwheels and drum set, Spencer loves his panda and baby panda with a bottle, Rachael loves her new play kitchen food and Snow White DVD. They were all showered with gifts from extended family and we all feel very loved.

Thanks to a friend who is an ultrasound tech, we were able to discover early on that we were entirely wrong about our baby's gender. Luke is the only one who informed me that it would be a baby brother. He is a wiseman after all. Although in shock, we were pretty convinced by what we saw, and are now really looking forward to having another baby boy. He will follow in the footsteps of his daddy, being the 3rd boy in a row. We are running out of available boy names in the Casady family, so if you have any ideas, feel free to send them our way. And like I explained to Rachael & Spencer when they protested the ultrasound results, this is the family that Heavenly Father wants us to have and we love our family. We feel truly blessed and fortunate beyond words.

Farewell 2009....