2008 Year in Review

In honor of the New Year, I thought I would keep on with my tradition and post a 2008year in review....here goes.

January: 2008 started off well. We spent New Year's with the Botello's. It was our first time visiting them in Oklahoma. We had a low-key holiday, but we had a blast! Other than that, January really wasn't too exciting. It was full of bad weather and ice. That's Iowa for ya!

February: Another cold month, nothing exciting. My hobby of scrapbooking really took off, and Chris bought me a die cut machine for Valentine's Day.

March: My parents treated us to a weekend vacation in Minneapolis. Mike, Molly, Mom, Dad, Chris, Addison and I went to the cities and stayed at Embassy Suites. We had a great time. We went to the Mall of America and mom and I had a few too many drinks at the open bar in the hotel! HA HA. The guys went to a wrestling tournament. We also spent most of the month sick. It seemed like either Addison, Chris or I was always sick with something! Addison began really walking in March, too. She was a late walker, but once she started, she really took off!

The biggest and most difficult part of 2008 came in March, also. My Grandpa Fuller suffered a heart attack while wintering with my Grandma in Texas and passed away. It was devastating. We all loved Grandpa so much and it was just so sudden. We miss you, Grandpa!

April: April was a tough month. We were still having a difficult time coping with the loss of my Grandpa. Addison grew more confident in her walking, and began walking all over! We also bought our Ford Escape this month. We traded our Saturn in. It was just too small with a carseat and all the junk we lug around!
On the 22nd of April, my true clumsiness shined through and I fell on a curb in front of my work, breaking my foot in three places. I worked the entire day before realizing that maybe I should give in and go to the doctor. It was VERY painful. Luckily I was on plenty of pain meds!

May: Another crazy month. On May 12th, Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Our office was very busy with the mess in Postville, Iowa, and in fact we are still assisting with the aftermath of the raid.

June: Mike and Molly got married on June 14th! That week, Cedar Rapids and Iowa in general also experienced a huge flooding situation. It was devastating for Cedar Rapids, which was hit the hardest. It was a terrible time for the flood (as if there is ever a good time) because many of their guests either had great difficulties making it to the wedding or could not come at all. Luckily the wedding still went off without a hitch, despite the tornado sirens going off in the middle of the ceremony!

July: We spent the fourth of July with my family camping in Monticello, Iowa. We had a large group this year. Chris and I slept in a tent (that was an experience) and Addison stayed in Mom and Dad's camper. We had a great time. My birthday was the 23rd (I turned 28) and Chris and I celebrated our 6th wedding Anniversary on the 27th.

August: It was not an exciting month. We did go to the Lake of the Ozarks for a few days to spend time with Chris's family. Addison had so much fun swimming in the pool and took her first mini-ride on the boat! She fell asleep every time the motor was running!

September: Addison turned 2! We could not believe that she was 2 already! We celebrated by having a family get-to-gether at our house. It was a fun birthday. We also found out that my sister was pregnant, and due on May 8th. We were ecstatic!

October: It was a hard month. Poor Roxie (one of our miniature dachshunds) became paralyzed and had to be rushed to Iowa State for emergency surgery. Poor little thing. We had the choice of either having the surgery or putting her down. She is such a good dog and has become a part of our family and we just could not put her down. Luckily she has so many good years of life left because she made it out of surgery with flying colors and she is her old spunky self again!

November: The first African American president was elected! It was a great month and year in general for our country. Go Obama! Chris and I stayed up very late on the 4th waiting for the results to come in! Of course, we also had Thanksgiving in November, and spent it at Chris's Grandma Lantz's house. It was a great day. That following Friday Chris, Addison and I went shopping! Yay for Black Friday. Saturday we went to Molly and Mike's for another Thanksgiving celebration!

December: It was a typical December full of Christmas events and parties. It was overall a great holiday. We were able to make it to THREE family Christmases this year.

I will leave you with some Christmas pictures.