A New Year, A New Decade

Happy New Year everyone! I truly hope you all make this next year and decade everything you want it to be! I am still amazed by the number of posts on facebook that refer to what a bad year 2009 was... I guess I just don't get that. There are ups and there are downs each and every year - and, in my opinion, the downs are only as bad as you make them.

Anyway, I feel like we had a pretty good 2009! Kevin and I have had so much fun watching our little man grow up, learning new things constantly, and developing such a strong little personality. Carson is such a joy in our lives! We're really looking forward to watching him grow and develop even more this year... celebrating his 2nd birthday in about six weeks, being potty-trained, learning even more fun things, developing his language skills (he's improving every day still... he can now finally make the "J" sounds just this week... now we're working on "L" sounds.), and just having tons of fun!

We've done so many super fun things this past year... we saw our little man turn 1... gained a couple new cousins (Mackenzey and Jonah)... saw many of our friends get married and Aunt Lindsay graduate from high school and also said farewell to some great friends and family that moved out of state... went to a Calvin basketball game, the MSU Butterfly House and Children's Gardens, Silver Lake Ski Club ski shows, the JAM and other ski tournaments, Potter Park Zoo, a rodeo, Crossroads Village, and several childrens' museums around the state... spent many days playing at the park, swimming at the lake, and going to toddler storytime at the library... and spent lots of great times with so many of our friends and family, building great memories!

We've taken some fun vacations this past year - to Chicago, to Baldwin/Ludington/Traverse City, and we spent a weekend in Grand Rapids for Sara's and Adam's wedding, as well as a couple random daily and overnight getaways here and there... to Saugatuck, Holland, Grandville, Hudsonville, GR, Ann Arbor, GB. We're hoping to take some more really fun vacations in 2010... possibly Boston in April for a work conference (if my travel is approved); definitely Denver in July/August using our free airline tickets; hopefully taking a road-trip to either Tennessee/Mississippi in July or Destin, FL in October; and we're still hoping we can figure out a time to go to Phoenix since our plans to go MLK weekend didn't end up working out. We also really want to take Carson to whatever the Sea World in Ohio has become... is it Six Flags or something? We'd also like to do some overnight/weekend getaways to different cities in Michigan... we feel the need to explore our state a little more than we have so far!

All in all, we just want to build tons of great memories again this year!! Here's to a fantastic 2010 for everyone!! :)