Friday, January 1, 2010

A Year in Review


January last year started out with a healthy laugh.  My brother-in-law convinced my husband (and my eight year old) to bring in the New Year by wearing nothing but boxers while taking a midnight run in the ocean while everyone else trailed behind, properly dressed and thouroughly enjoying the display.  Did I mention there was lots of snow on the ground?

And so started a wonderful year for our family.  Below are some highlights of each month (at least the highlights I remembered to bring my camera for!):


~ January brings cabin fever which brings activities like turning oneself into a smurf. 

~I  did manage to sneak in a photo of Peter preparing for his snow run.

~ It snowed so much last winter that the kids didn't have a full week of school the entire month.  Of course, they loved the sledding opportunities.

~ Ethan had his birthday (an entire month late) at a local skating rink.



~ Peter loved his Darth Vader cake, even though I abandoned any attempt at black and went with varying degrees of chocolate.

~ Elise's performance with Chamber Choir.  Turns out it was her last before the teacher she adored left.

~ A quick (and COLD) trip to D.C. and Gettysburg.

~ After a several year hiatus, I began to make homemade bread again, this time with freshly ground wheat and my new Bosch mixer.



 ~ Kirsti's art was selected to hang in the local library!

~ My grandmother died and I was fortunate to able to attend the funeral and say my goodbyes and see family I haven't seen in a decade. 

~ My oldest turned 12 and started Young Womens {gulp}.  12 (being a multiple of 4) is a party year and she decided on a sleep over.

~ Ryan performed in his choir concert.


~ Easter break was spent in North Carolina with my sisters and their families.  We LOVE Marble Museum.

~ Dyeing Easter eggs before we left.

~ Ethan won 1st place at the pinewood derby!

~  What?  You don't play on the beach between sessions of LDS General Conference?  This was our first day out after winter.


~  Ryan and Ethan started baseball.

~ Elise went to a Trivia Bowl.  Her team went for the geek look.

~ Ryan and his recorder recital.

~  My love and comfort:  the new hammock (until the stand broke a month or so later.   We have to fix that BEFORE next summer).


~ Zoo, where it was clear to me that my kids are just as wild as the animals.

~ Dinosaur water park.  It was too cold to play, but that didn't stop the kids for a minute.  Are they still shivering in the picture?

~ Piano recital for older three kids.

~  Kirsti & her Tinkerbell cake.


~ Submarine museum- Peter has yet to go and he would probably like it the most!

~ Black scratch art, one of many crafts we did over the summer.

~ Six Flags with some friends.

~  The two instances of stitches in one month ("Stitches" including staples and glue, of course)


July was so fun it got to go twice!

~ Playing around in a local fort.

~ 4th of July (not the best we've had, but an adventure all the same.  I prefer my adventures NOT include trying to figure out how to proceed without toilet paper in the portapotty).

~ Some of the kids first attempt at bowling.

~ I indulged Ryan's request with a fancy dragon birthday cake.


~ Joseph started kindergarten and Ryan began middle school.

~ A trip to a disappointing aquarium (Boo!) which we accidentally found out butts up with Coney Island (Hurray!)

~ An early 1700 village with friends.

~ Swim lessons!!



~ Robot birthday cakes for 5 year old Joseph.

~ Annual Ward Picnic.

~ A trip to a corn maze.

~ Matthew turns 3.

(And of course there was my trip to see Wicked in NYC of which I got 0 pictures).



~ Our Halloween pictures.

~ A ride on a steam train.

~ Reenactment of Revolutionary war battle with friends (here they are fascinated with the ox).

~ A lovely (if not COLD) river boat tour.


~ Sisters came for Thanksgiving!!

~ Joseph had his first school play.

~ A broken dryer resulted in lots of clothes hanging (and a new dryer).

~ More sisters came for Thanksgiving!  Because that is doubly exciting.



~ First snow of the season was HUGE.  We're talking at least 3 feet to shovel off the driveway.  We did enjoy the new sledding hill we found!

~  I took a Girls' Day Out to tour some AWESOME mansions.  Of which I took no pictures but the one you see here (In my defense, it was cold outside and pictures were not allowed inside).

~  Ethan's sword cake, months is anticipation.  It is supposed to be Riptide from The Lightening Thief.

~  Matching pajamas.  I'm lucky in that this year only one person's didn't fit, unlucky that the one person was me.



A smattering of my Christmas photos.  Nintendo DS's, Rockband, custom made snuggies from Grandma Red, Legos, puzzles, & coloring stuff.

Happy New Year!!

15 comments:

  1. How wonderful! I hope you don't mind if I use this idea for my family blog!

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  2. Nice pictures. Made me realize how much I really miss you guys. Hope to see you more this year than last. Only got you see you at my mothers funeral and that wasn't a happy time. Thanks for posting the pictures I loved them.

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  3. Man, that post took some time to put together but it's worth it! Totally awesome recap. You kicked butt with the jammies. Mine got cut out but not sewn. I'm sorta out of interest for sewing now! LOL!

    The clothesline photo had me laughing- that must have really, well, sucked. Glad you got a NEW dryer.

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  4. What a great post! There must never be a dull moment in the Later family!

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  5. Dude!! That was totally all Peter's idea! Looks like a fun year, glad we could be a part of it!

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  6. Ambrosia- Your welcome to it!

    Tucker Mom- two more months and we'll see you!

    Cynthia- I always put my pictures in folders by month so it was pretty easy to do with Picasa (except waiting for it to load, that took forever!)

    I liked your idea of having the kids sew them up.

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  7. Claudia- I was thinking it would be hard to find enough things to make 4 pictures/month but it wasn't. Never a dull moment, you are absolutely right!

    Boyer Mom- Whatever!! We are far too boring to come up with that!

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  8. Custom-made snuggies? How fun!
    I love the year in re-cap.
    Have you published your blog?? Just wondering. I'm thinking about it and wondered, if you had, what site you used. :)

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  9. That was a cute post! Happy New Year!!!

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  10. What an impressive and satisfying year! I like just doing things. And I love your month by month.

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  11. Hi! Thanks for stopping by my blog. What a fun year you've had! And I clicked on the related post widget thingie to add to my blog. Thanks, I've been wondering how people did that. In fact, your blog is purdy. Happy New Year!

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  12. Bryan says that the snuggies should be called Tuckies because mom made them. We love our too. What a great year, can't wait to have some pictures of all of us together this next year!!

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  13. Jamie- My mother made 30 of them! They are awesome. I sent you the name of the blog publisher I intend to use on facebook, but I'll post it here, too: http://blog2print.com/

    Aimee- Thanks! Happy New Year to you too!

    Emma Jo- You featured prominently in our "do stuff". Helps when friends have good ideas.

    Elizabeth- Thank you. I was alos very excited when I found out that add-on worked in blogger

    Davis Family- I like Tuckies.

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  14. That is a really fun idea. I'm glad we were able to show up in the pictures!! It was doubly fun.

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  15. Kim, I felt bad I didn't get you in the NC pictures, but I was TERRIBLE at taking photos except one small burst at Marble Museum.

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