New Years family letter!

Happy New Year everyone!!!! I know this is late but this is what happens when you are gone for 2 1/2 weeks and then have a week before your husband goes back to school. I just thought I would write a little New Year letter letting you all know what we have been up too for the past year. We are so happy that the year 2010 is here, 2009 was a stressful year, we were very happy to see it go and are happy to start fresh again.

An update on 2009:

Just before the New Year our basement suite flooded right before Christmas. So we spent the New Year (2009) frantically trying to move into another place, another basement suite. I was not too impressed about this because I hate basement suites but we had 3 days to be completely out of our flooded basement and that was the only thing we could find in that short amont of time. It was smaller than what we lived in before but just temporary until we could find something else. It was -30 degrees when we moved to and Jesse and I did most of it all ourselves cuz everyone was too busy with Christmas and New Years plans to help. We managed and moved in, we had stayed with Jesse's brother Lloyd while we were moving. Even though it sucked at the time it was a blessing in disguise. We were able to get a sweet King size bed as well as some other things with the money we claimed from insurance.

In February Jesse had surgery on a hernia. He was not able to lift anything over 10 pounds for 6 weeks. It took him a few weeks before he could walk normally. Riley also decided at that time that he was going to learn how to crawl, pull himself to a standing postition, climb things and get into things at that time. So I was very busy and very happy when Jesse was able to pick him up and play with him again.

Riley also turned one in April. He had a good brithday. Both his grandparents and some friends were able to be there. We went swimming, made pizza, and had a wonderful cupcake cake which is the first cake Jesse and I had ever cooked and icinged. It was a teddy bear holding balloons.

In May my sister Julie got married. She got married in Utah and we were able to go down for her wedding. Riley wasn't walking yet so that was kind of a relief because it was a super long ride for him. Baby Einstein saved us and he was happy the whole trip.

In June we moved again, this time to Sherwood Park into the Brittany Lane Housing Co-op. We had applied for this almost a year back and were so happy to get in. We have some good neighbours. We have more space. Riley finally graduated from having to bath in the sink to having a bathtub which we were super excited about. We bought him some tub toys to celebrate. We also have a basement to store stuff which is awesome. There is also subsidy here so we will be able to save lots of money while Jesse is a student.

We had a good summer, many trips to the spray parks and millenium place (pool in Sherwood Park). Riley took a tiny tots swimming class. We also went to Capital Ex and Riley had his first experience riding some rides. His favorite was the Merry Go Round and it still is. We were also able to go to the Zoo both in Edmonton and Calgary, Riley rode a pony at the zoo in Edmonton,as well as go on a 4 day camping trip to Aspen Beach, which was so fun. Riley loved the beach and playing in the sand. There were also countless walks and daily trips to the park, and playing in the yard. We also had a huge tornado like storm that broke our canopy in our yard and left our poor babysitter whithout power for a few hours. We didn't think to show here where some candles or a flashlight was.

We had a nice fall. It was as warm as summer some days. We went to the park many times. Jesse started school again. Riley dressed up as a pumpkin for Halloween, Jesse a vampire, and me a witch. The weather was perfect. We got a lot of candy and still have some of the candy. Riley really enjoyed opening the lid of the pumpkin and looking inside.

We had a warm November and this month kind of sucked. Jesse got the good old H1N1 flu. It sucked. He felt normal the day it hit. Around the afternoon he started feeling aches and pains, a few hours later, he had a nasty cough, bye evening he had a high fever and could hardly move, and had no appetite whatsoever. It just got worse from there. The next night he had a fever of 106.3 and had to go to the flu assessment clinic and hospital where they confirmed he had H1N1. To top that off a week later he had pnemonia added to the H1N1. He had to miss over a week of school. Got so behind. We are just lucky that Riley and I did not get it. It could be because I was a germ freak and used lysol around the house all day long wiping everything down constantly. I also made Jesse sleep downstairs in the guestbed. We were so lucky though that he recovered well and that the rest if us did not get it. I hope it never comes back!!!

December was busy, Jesse had all final projects for school due, we had Christmas shopping, organizing our house, packing for Christmas holidays, Christmas, many parties and dinners, New Years Eve, 2 basketball tournaments to go to where my brother played. We went to my parents house for Christmas. It was fun but Julie could not be there, her papers did not come so she couldn't leave the country (she got married in May and is in Utah), Jon's team won both the Cougar Classic, and Raymond Sugar Bowl High School basketball tournaments!! Go Cougars!!! We had our annual family fondue party, we usually do that Christmas eve but this year we celebrated my Grandma McMurray's 80th birthday!! We did a nativity, and opened gifts. The whole family got basketball jerseys from Grandma and Grandpa.

For New Years we went to Tammy's house (Jesse's sister) almost everyone from the family was there except for Jesse's parents (they are on a mission) and 2 of his brothers.

Despite how crazy the year was: Moving 2 times, Jesse's Hernia, Jesse getting H1N1, having to go to Utah, we still did have some good times.

Right now Jesse is in his last year of school at Nait in the Landscape Architecture program. He will be done in April and then we have to see where we end up living and doing with the rest of our lives I guess. School keeps him really busy but we are happy to see the end in site soon.

I am busy being a stay at home mom. I play with Riley all day long and try and get a nap every now and then because he is so busy and really wears me out some days. I also try and find some time to read, scrapbook, go on facebook to stay connected with friends, and clean my house.

Riley is a very busy boy. We love him so much. He has changed so much in a year. Last year he learned how to crawl, walk, say a few words, eat real food, and play with big boy toys. It is crazy how fast he is growing up. He is 21 months old now. He goes to nursery and loves it. He still likes watching his Baby Einstein shows, doing puzzles, looking at books, playing with my oven mits, emptying cupboards and book shelves, playing with shape shorter toys and his recent favorite is playing basketball with his dad with Rileys basketball hoop.

Happy New Year Everyone!!! We didn't get many pictures of Riley during the holidays cuz he wouldn't hold still so here are the few we took!

Trying to get him to open his Christmas PJs on Christmas eve but as you can see he didn't want to. He was too tired. So I ended up opening it for him.

Tearing open a Christmas gift. Sadly this is the only one we got on camera. He wasn't as interested as I thought he would be at opening presents. He just wanted to play with his toys that were sitting out and not wrapped.

Riley and all his Christmas loot. Well the things on the right side of his airplane are not his but the rest is.

He took his plates and utensils up to the bedroom we were staying in and starting playing with them, for like half an hour.

I guess I can share some exciting news now with everyone!! I AM PREGNANT!! That's right baby #2 is on the way!! I am very excited but kind of nervous about having a newborn and still having to chase and take care of Riley. He is in a wild stage right now always running everywhere, getting into everything and climbing things. This will be an interesting summer!! I feel great, it has been soooooo different compared to my last pregnancy. I have felt a bit nautious but haven't puked 6-7 times a day like last time. I feel more tired though probably because Riley wears me out but it has been good so far. I am hoping this time I won't have gestational diabetes, but we'll see.