Our Pretty Fine 2009

Today in Sacrament meeting the subject matter was about trials. This is something our ward just has known too many of this last year. We obviously all needed these talks and I'm sure that it wasn't just a coincidence that this was the subject. One of the speakers said something that really stuck out in my mind. He said that we really need to not dwell on our trials so that we are open to help others through theirs. I don't really know how many actually read this blog but I'm sure who ever does doesn't want to hear about all the ramblings of my trials. Heck, I don't really want to even think of them anymore! So I think it's high time I follow this advice, stop dwelling, and focus on all the many, many blessings I have. I was talking a few weeks ago to Ben about how I really wanted 2009 to be over because it was so awful and Skylar piped up that it was the year that she got baptized and so it wasn't all awful. True, true, my sweet girl. So with that, I am ready to recount the many wonderful blessings and highlights of 2009.

~We celebrated cute Kadybug's 3rd birthday with a really fun Batman birthday party. Kade is so much fun to have around with his love for life and giant smile. We love you Kadearoo!!~We had the most amazing trip to Disneyland to celebrate Nickolas's 5th birthday. We had so much fun! We also were lucky enough to go to Legoland, the LA Zoo, and the beach. It was one of our favorite trips ever! Thanks for turning 5 Nicky-we love you!!~My birthday rolled around and I have finally decided to admit I'm an adult. I think I turned 33 but I could be mistaken about that-old age is getting to me. The best gift I could ever get was my four amazing kids. I am truly the luckiest.
~We had all sorts of fun summer adventures-camping, going to Owlz games, swimming, Thanksgiving Point, Museums, the Ogden Dinosaur Park, and many more!!~Ben and I celebrated our 12th Anniversary! The best part is that we're still silly in love! We spent an exciting night reminiscing about our lives while we cleaned out our flooded crawlspace and had a wonderful time-ha ha! ~We enjoyed one of our favorite traditions of heading to the family cabin near Yellowstone where we went fishing, canoeing, hiking, and even had some late-night adventures with a bat!!~We were able to go to not just one, but two uplifting temple open houses to both the Draper and the Oqurirrh Hills Temples with the Jensen clan.~We spent a super fun weekend camping and visiting beautiful Zion National Park.~The kids started the school year off with Skylar heading into 2nd grade, Nickolas entering Kindergarten, and McKade beginning Joy School. How exciting-for everyone but Mom!~We had lots of fun playing with our last batch of 6 kittens. We loved them so much we even got to keep one!
~We enjoyed every minute of this little one's first year. How did it go so fast? We have been so blessed to have adorable little Alexis in our home. She has truly been a joy to our family. We love you Alexis!!~We celebrated our sweet Skylar's most important birthday with a fun party at the Lion House! I can't believe she's 8! We love you Skylar!~Skylar's baptism really was wonderful and we had an awesome day with great friends and family. She is such a great example to me and I love that little (er, big) girl!!~We always love Halloween and this year we had an awesome time being the Toy Story toys.~We celebrated Ben's big 3-5! Ben is finally old enough to be the president but I'm glad he's my hubby instead! I love you so very very much babe! Seriously, I'm the luckiest!!
~We had a wonderful Thanksgiving where we counted our blessings every day!
~We had a great holiday season remembering our Savior and spending time together as a family.
These were just the big things! There were so many, many more happy things that happened in 2009. We were blessed to spend so much time with family and friends making memories that will last forever. It really was a great year. I'm so glad I took the time to think back on all our blessings of the year. This year for Christmas I asked my mom to get us a plaque that they had displayed in their home because it is quite possibly my favorite quote ever. I love having this displayed in my home now and I hope to remember it every minute of every day this year:

"In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." ~Gordon B. Hinckley