2009 Best and Worst (Misty, I'm stealing)

I got this idea from my friend Misty. Here is a re-cap of what I consider the BEST and WORST of 2009 in LOVATO'S LIVES. No pictures included.

Milestones:
*One year in our new house
*10 years being married! Woo-hoo!
*Lauren's first crush on a boy.

With our own bare hands, er mainly Matt's bare hands:
*Renovated our old house and got it rented out to some awesome people
*Put in a sprinkling system and a new lawn in our new house

Cool Things We Got To Do:
*Be on the "Clean and Beautiful" Committee for West Valley City
*Attend a few Jazz games, once getting to do the "Tunnel" with the kids at their first ever game.

Trips:
*Spending the 4th of July in Park City with Matt's brother and sister and our kids, so much fun!
*Going on our first two-nighter away from the kids in Las Vegas
*Just two trips to Jordanelle on our little boat

Great Events:
*Getting First Row tickets to the Britney Spears Concert
*Going to see "So You Think You Can Dance" in concert..amazing!
*In Vegas, seeing "Peep Show" with Mel B in aforementioned Vegas. She is gorgeous!

Our Favorites With Family:
*Sister Movie nights with my sisters, the coolest girls ever!
*Having a few "babysitting" swap nights with Matt's brother. The coolest part was getting to spend time with our two cute nieces!
*Celebrating Matt's birthday with a Halloween Dress Up party

Technological Advances:
*Using my digital camera like a pro, my first one ever
*Getting my very own laptop
*Becoming a texting wiz! PLUS for the first time ever, getting on a family plan with Matt and getting him to start texting too!
*Actually figuring out how to play on Facebook, I love to keep in touch with family and friends.
*More blogging, yippe!

Visits With Out of State Family:
*My Aunt Anita and Uncle Howard visiting, love them so much
*My Cousin Amy staying with us at our house, taking them to Lagoon and Cafe Rio.
*My Brother visiting from New Mexico, twice
*My Aunt Shirley and Uncle Jim visiting

Hard Times:
*My cousin Ryan passed away unexpectedly. I still miss him.
*Discover Card having a huge lay-off and losing many dear friends after so many years together
*Having our Furnace go out in the old house, on one of the coldest days of the year

Work Triumphs:
*I won the Lone Peak Award (Team Leader of the Year) for the 4th time, despite being moved 3 different times...(have I mentioned I HATE change?)
*Matt and I both make "the cut" and survived the lay-off at work

Best Albums:
*Matt and I are definitely goo-goo for Lady Ga Ga! Love BOTH the Fame and the Fame Monster...she is amazing!
*Britney Spears "Circus"
*Rhiana's "Rated R"

Our Favorite Movies:
*We both enjoyed seeing "Zombieland"
*We both enjoyed seeing "The Proposal" oh and "The Fast and the Furious"
Actually I think those were the only three movies we saw in the theatre, besides "Bolt" and "Alvin and the Chipmunks Squeakwel"

Our Favorite TV Shows, ones we BOTH like:
*Big Brother and The Amazing Race
*Modern Family and Cougar Town
*Ghost Lab
*Okay, this list was too difficult....we also love all the trash on VH1.. Tough Love and Daisy of Love..."we've never laughed so hard!"

New In Our Lives:
*Our new cat, OREO
*I got to get to know an awesome person who has become a great friend, Beth Landgrebe
*New friends for Lauren; Chrystie Middleton, Morgan Macpherson and Guillermo Rodriguez
*Our new niece, Maddie..the cutest baby girl ever!
*Two pregnant ladies...my sister Ashley and Matt's sister Kristen who we both just found out are both having BOYS!
*Getting to know all of our new neighbors, all of them great, so far!

Our Favorite Restaurants:
*Tres Hombres
*Mikado
*Famous Daves

Now Normal:
*Lauren starts school and is now in the KINDERGARTEN routine
*I think this house is starting to feel like home now!
*After I switched shifts in February, I switched BACK in May and now we have our routine down...which includes daily visits with my folks.
*Lauren now taking dance class on Wednesday nights, which Matt gets to now taxi her to.

Things That Make us Feel Warm inside:
*Conversations over Coffee, one of our favorite things to do
*Hanging out by the Fireplace, my first fireplace!
*Playing Dance Dance Revolution on the DVR

Health Achievements:
*Rachel losing 20 pounds
*Lauren losing her first tooth
*Jamie talking more and whining less
*Matt not having any health issues at all for the first time in 3 years!

Sometimes Matt and I think we are boring, but when we take a look back over the year, we realize that we do get to do some fun stuff and have been able to do a lot of cool things!!

Thanks for the great idea Misty. Mine wasn't as fancy as yours, but I think mine was longer. Seriously though, I want you to come visit, and if you bring some cookies, that'd be great too!