2009 Memorable Moments - A Year in Pictures!

Oh my...only two more days of this 40-day blogging madness (including this one)! I think I can...I think I can...I think I can...

Anyway...today, I'm stealing this blog post idea from my dearest friend over at Prints2Prince. I have to give her all the credit for the idea, because my creativity is running a bit short these days. But, I do think it's great to take a few moments to reflect on those memorable moments of this past year. So, here we go...

January
A month of birthdays - my own and my daughter's and LOTS and LOTS of family members! We also saw our first taste of snow for the year!







February
Giving thanks for both of my sweethearts on Valentine's Day! We also had the privilege of celebrating my sweet mother-in-law's birthday in Virginia. The end of February also brought Scrap Camp - a weekend full of scrapbooking with a bunch of fun gals!

mom-in-law, hubby, me



March
We were blessed by another big snow (on March 1 to be exact)! I love snow - as long as the power stays on and it's not too inconvenient! How's that for pickiness? :-) The other big March event was getting to meet Paul Young - author of The Shack!






April
One of the highlights of April was getting to attend the Easter morning sunrise service at Chimney Rock Park - a first for us! The last day of April brought my foot surgery (still healing from it unfortunately).





May
Our extended family was blessed by the addition of Jonah Gage Slack. He was born May 6 and "officially" adopted by my brother and his wife on December 21!



June
We took a family trip to Grandfather Mountain! Leah was in full swing at work on camp, so it was a bit of a rarity to be able to get away as a family for a day trip.





July
With camp in full session, we had to make another quick getaway for a family day trip. This time - to the Carl Sandburg Home in Flat Rock, NC. I also had a wonderful weekend getaway in Pigeon Forge, TN with some sweet Jesus-loving women from church!






August
Big month! Vacationed in Myrtle Beach. Our sweet friends - The Propsts - gave us the use of their beach house again for a week. This was also the month that we moved - two streets down! Chris celebrated his birthday on moving day. Not too fun for him unfortunately, but he was a trooper about it - as is his nature ALWAYS!





September
Had a fun Labor Day Weekend with our dear friends in Hillsborough, NC. The "boys" went fishing and brought home some yummy blue gill for our fish fry to go along with the catfish that Christ scuba dived/spear hunted for (back in June actually). Leah learned to shoot a gun for the first time. Anna had a blast with her baby cousin, Ryan.

September also brought a fun Sunday afternoon picnic and time of apple picking with our Connect Group friends from church.

I also had the privilege of winning some free tickets to Christian Music Day at Carowinds and got to see my favorite artist - Chris Tomlin - in concert. It rained so much that I had to put my camera back in the car before the concert, but I got a few pics while at the park.












October
I honestly can't believe it, but I can't find any pictures from October! What was I thinking? It must have been a rather dull month - or so busy that I forgot to snap pics. But, I put up enough in September to count for both months.

Actually, we had the privilege of attending the Michael W. Smith concert on October 23 at the Bilo Center in Greenville, SC. Wish I had pictures, but I have wonderful memories of that evening that will last a lifetime!

November
November brought lots: Anna's first 7th grade band concert, another weekend pre-Thanksgiving gathering with our Virginia family, Christmas lights at the Bristol Motor Speedway, Thanksgiving with our peeps in Hillsborough, Christmas tree hunting, and CMCS (Carolina Mountain Christmas Spectacular) at church. Whew! Busy month! And...that's just the highlights.







December
My favorite month of the year! In December, we were so blessed to be a part of our church's annual production of Carolina Mountain Christmas Spectacular. We also had the biggest snowfall of the decade on December 18, and of course...the highlight of the month: CHRISTMAS!!!!







Thanks for stopping by (or enduring) my year of memories in pictures! It really has been a great year. I didn't mention all the struggles that also came during 2009, but I choose not to dwell on those. Overall, I realize that I am most blessed, and the blessings are what I choose to focus on!

Stop back tomorrow for the final day of the blogging challenge! Until then...

Be blessed my friends!

School Days Memories

All I really need to know I did NOT actually learn in Kindergarten, but I learned some really cool things nonetheless! Recently, I was talking with someone (honestly, I don't even remember who) about the fact that I still remember so much about dinosaurs from what I was taught by my Kindergarten teachers. Can you believe that? Seriously. I don't recall reading another book, hearing another lecture, or watching another movie (other than Jurassic Park) about dinosaurs, but I still remember so much of that little Kindergarten lesson many years ago. That started my wheels turning...what other school days memories do I have? I began going through each grade thinking of a memory - some are educational, some are mischevious, and some are just purely delightful. But...I came up with one from each grade. I actually have several that I could have written for some years, but I kept my little log at just one memory for each grade. How about you? Do you have any school days memories that just really stand out?

Here's a glimpse at mine:

Kindergarten - I've already named it above. Dinosaurs must have fascinated me, because of all the things I'm sure I was taught in Kindergarten - this is the only one I remember.

1st Grade - I remember my teacher putting the word K-N-O-W on the board and asking us to tell her how to pronounce the word. It was on the board all morning, and we kept guessing and guessing until FINALLY - right before lunch - some smart boy in my class finally pronounced it correctly. I guess we were starting a unit on silent letters. Who knows? Ha! Ha! Get it? Who K-N-O-Ws? OK - moving on...

2nd Grade - I had a wonderful teacher that let me work at my own pace in my math book, because I loved math (at the time) and always wanted to work ahead. I finished it before Christmas, and she let me go up to the BIG 3rd grade hallway and ask one of the 3rd grade teachers for a math book to use for the rest of the year. I was so scared to go up there and ask, because I was really shy then. But...I did it!

3rd Grade - We got to write letters to our favorite authors, and I got a letter back from Judy Blume and thought that was the neatest thing in the world! This was actually the year I fell in love with reading.

4th Grade - I memorized The Gettysburg Address for extra credit.

5th Grade - I told my teacher that I saw her driving her car and asked if it was a Fiat. She appeared rather shocked and told me most assuredly that it was a Porsche! I still don't know the difference in cars.

6th Grade - I remember diagramming sentences over and over and over.

7th Grade - We dissected frogs in science, and I was the only one that got a female frog (full of eggs - yuk!).

8th Grade - This was a rough year. We moved to Florida, and my friends threw a surprise going away party for me. I ended up moving back 3 months later.

9th Grade - Driver's Ed. Driver's Ed. Driver's Ed.

10th Grade - I remember learning absolutely NOTHING in Biology class...not a great teacher!

11th Grade - I played the role of Mrs. Paroo in the The Music Man.

12th Grade - This was a great year, and I have LOTS and LOTS of memories. Perhaps one of the best was getting to help teach Spanish to 3rd graders at the nearby elementary school as part of an assignment for my Communications class.