(I started writing this way back in early January, and everything I wrote was lost, so here we go again!)

• I made bath bombs, eye makeup remover, candied citrus peel & daily shower spray.
• I painted my kitchen – finally a color I like.
• Carrie and I took an amazing trip to NYC. I need to live there for a couple of years at some point in my life.
• Eden turned 7.
• I remodeled the living room which required a long weekend camping in March and ended with us sleeping in the basement with towels stuffed under the doors so we could escape the oil paint fumes.
• The poker night dudes “broke in” my new living room floor and I cried.
• Jim started playing in the band, the Pineapple Crackers.
• I learned how to quilt… And then took a quilting class and then took it again so I could hang out with some friends who wanted to take it.
• Jim turned 34.
• We found out that my sister was pregnant.
• I sewed a bag from a pattern for the first time! And several smocked dresses for Eden.
• Jim, Caleb and I built our pergola.
• I planted a garden.

• The kids and I had a crazy summer:
– We went on a week long camping trip with Brooke and her kids up at Vega Lake. (The week turned into 4 days, but still…) We saw a porcupine for the first time on that trip.
– We went to Glenwood Springs for the day on the train with Mel and her kids.
– We discovered the local rodeo where one time we saw the Flying Angels parachute from WAY up high into the arena.
– We spent so many days at the lake, baking in the sun. Or at the pool for swimming lessons.
– We spent the day at the fair in Meeker and enjoyed their new rec center.
• I participated in a training exercise for our local Search and Rescue team.
• We went camping and the truck broke down just as we were pulling back into town. (I yelled at the dealership owner who sold us our truck.)
• We found out that my sister was pregnant with TWINS! Then she moved to Denver.
• Eden lost her two front teeth.
• Amy and I made a LOT of jalapeno cherry jam.

• Honor started Kindergarten. Eden started 2nd grade. Jim and I reveled in our freedom.
• I turned 28 and with my 28th birthday started collecting Fiestaware.
• I became obsessed with Fiestaware.
• I chopped off my hair.
• I didn’t like my hair.
• Honor turned 6.
• I canned tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, pickles and peach jam.
• Carrie, the kids and I went to Denver to visit my sister and her husband. We went to the zoo, Casa Bonita and did lots of shopping with a kid-distracting trip to Build-a-bear.
• We got the swine flu. I had it the worst – 16 days total. It was SO bad.
• Jim and I celebrated our 10th anniversary – but I was still sick with the swine flu so it wasn’t terribly exciting.
• Pure Knits came out and I was officially published.
• I went to Denver to help my sister who was placed on bedrest.

• We finally got to pick up puppy Dexter. The kids and I drove to Craig to get him. On the way home I experienced a “mommy moment” involving children pooping on the side of the highway. (Don’t ask.)
• My dad came over for Thanksgiving. We ate on my new Fiestaware. (still obsessed.)
• For Hanukkah we made a gingerbread town with Carrie. (Carrie and I were more into it than the kids.) We had a fun 8 days of book shopping, going out to dinner and building new crafts.
• Jim, the kids and I took a little trip to Denver to shop and have some fun.
• The morning after we got home from Denver, my mom and I went right back because my sister was in labor with the twins!
• The twins were born – Silas and Elias. They were perfect.
• The mountains got so much snow that I ditched my mom in Denver and rode the train home.
• I fell in love with train travel.
• The year and the decade ended and with it I realized how different of a person I have become. 2009 taught me so many lessons and made me a better person, even though there were lots of hard things… but lots to be thankful for too.