Warning: this is a GIGANTIC post!

I thought I would finish out the year by doing a little (ha!) year in review posting.

January-June 2009

We started into 2009 with a new word of the year.

We took full advantage of our new subscription to...
Spent some time having great fun locally.
We celebrated the accomplishment of a very special
personal goal.
We spent lots of time watching these two grow way too fast.
We watched the Superbowl commercials in 3-D.

And I became OBSESSED with owls and bright colors!

I celebrated a 30-something birthday (with a little help from Butts...

...Rex, a new camera, and my parents).

Then we, some of the biggest MSU Men's Basketball fans around, left Detroit

while the boys played in the Final Four and the NCAA Championship!

This photo was taken VERY early in the morning on our way to...

*Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep*

This is a test of the Vacation Broadcast System. The residents of this blog, in voluntary cooperation with the POA (Procrastinators of America) and other federal, state and local authorities have developed this blog to keep you informed in the event of an vacation. If this had been an actual blog, the Attention Signal you just heard would have been followed by these official photos back in April.

Hawaii!!!

We hiked down a cliff, and up a mountain,

toured the USS Missouri,

took hundreds of photos (and spotted whales!),

spent sunrise at the beach,

visited the Dole Plantation and ate as many Dole Whips as we could,

watched the GIANT waves at the Pipeline on the North Shore,

hung out with the Honu,

stopped for Shave Ice,

discovered the BEST treat on the planet,toured a Japanese Temple,

(Which we saw on LOST when we got home!)

took "senior pictures" at a luau,

and enjoyed an AMAZING sunset.

(For those of you who are wondering, this photo is untouched.)

We aslo enjoyed the view from Pali Lookout,

found a super cool yogurt place,

found our own official "Bubba"

who helped me celebrate my birthday,

and hiked to find a waterfall.

(That's not it. That's a stream. LOL!)

We had such an amazing time in Hawaii with friends!

It was truly the...

*beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep*
This concludes this test of the Emergency Vacation System.

We celebrated this cutie's 30th birthday.

We spent time following around our resident *rockstar*.

The weather left us in the dark a few times.

We were in awe of the nature around us.

I packed up the entire van to head north...

...to co-host my sister's baby shower!

(Where we took one of my most favorite photos of all time!)

I sent the only handmade cards of the year for Mother's Day.

Then I headed to the 10th Annual MegaMeet with this Crafty Mama,

where we bought way too much stuff!

(Yeah....that's about 1/5 of it.)

My school was awarded the prestigous Blue Ribbon. (See the pin?)And I found another reason to love Starbucks.

I began to really *love* the RVA website.

After 12 years, Butts began a nightly ritual of sleeping on my head.

I was lucky enough to hold a REAL Emmy at school.

(It was awarded to one of my coworkers.)

Rex began growing a playoff beard,

and we celebrated the birthday of a wonderful friend.

We were lucky enough to be right on the Detroit River for the

Redbull Air Races.

I finally had time to do some scrapbooking, and enjoy one last visit with the pregnant Kim

before Hayden was born.

(While on our annual camping trip.)

I hope you enjoyed the first half of our year.

I will try to come back and post the second half later today.

(It should be smaller without the annoying interuption in the middle.) :)