Best of 2008

1. Jared and Clarissa had the opportunity to be in the musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at the High School. The practice and performance schedule was hectic, but it was well worth the memories, and we still have all the songs memorized, even Krystal.

2. After a year of being on the market, our house in Texas finally sold. We paid off all our debts except for our current mortgage, including our student loans. We were so excited to finally have some money to buy groceries and decided that our first "meal" in celebration would be the biggest brownie sundae ever!
3. Chris finally got his riding lawn mower, a John Deere. He spent many a Saturday this year giving the kids rides while he mowed our yard.

4. Our vacation to the Pennsylvania was most memorable. From seeing Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, to hiking in the Poconos Mountains, to taking a tour of the Hershey factory, we had a fun-filled week together as a family.

5. We really enjoyed our garden this year. It has been several years since we'd been able to have a garden between living in Texas and living in temporary housing in Virginia. The garden kept us busy from shoveling dirt, to building garden boxes, to planting seeds, to harvesting the food, to eating the food and canning it.

6. Swimming at the Martins. We are so grateful for neighbors who have a pool and share it with us any time of any day. We spent the fourth of July with them, swimming, playing games and watching fireworks.

7. After living in Southwest Virginia for two years and looking at the Blue Ridge Mountains every day, we finally drove to the Blue Ridge Parkway and went hiking. It was beautiful and we enjoyed being together.

8. We enjoyed numerous cookouts at our backyard firepit. Usually coupled with some Archery practice. We decided to start archery after some target practice in the Poconos. Jared and Chris both got bows this year.

9. A quick trip to Washington D.C. turned out to be a great experience. Chris and Jen wanted to go to the D.C. temple so the kids tagged along. We went up a day early to go into downtown D.C. to the Art Museum. We all enjoyed seeing the Rembrandts, Vermeers, and DaVinci.

10. The kids each had exciting things happen this year. Jared received his Wolf badge for Cub Scouts and began learning to play the piano. Clarissa got glasses, began learning the piano, and started taking horsebackriding lessons. Krystal started preschool at home with some of her friends. Amber has learned to talk and continues to surprise us with new words everyday, her latest - Right Now!

11. We always enjoy dressing up for Halloween. This year we did the Peter Pan theme. We missed our Captian Hook for the ward party (He was working in Illinois), but were glad that he was able to make it back home for Halloween night.

12. Our final best memory for 2008 is sledding and ice skating in Illinois. We had such a good time being with Chris while he worked in Illinois. We enjoyed the winter weather, almost as much as we enjoyed coming back to Virginia for some sunshine.