My year in review.

Many of you know that I love Dave Barry. Dave Barry is a syndicated columnist from the Miami Herald that writes hilarious articles and books. Every year Dave Barry writes what is called his "year in review." If you haven't read his review of 2008 already you should. Unfortunately 2008 wasn't a really funny year, what with the economy failing and politics dominating the news... but he still manages to make it funny. You can read that article here.

The way that Dave Barry writes his year in review is that he breaks down each month and what happened in it. I wanted to do that with my life as my little "Christmas card" "new years update" or "valentines letter" as it happens sometimes in my family. I wrote January's paragraph back in November and then realized that nothing really happened in my life for a few months after that. You know it's true because I didn't start my blog until April. I had nothing to blog about before that.

So here is a small recap of some of our favorite parts of 2008 not in month form...

• We finally moved into our first apartment together. As soon as we were done unpacking we had to repack to have the place sprayed for cockroaches. Who knew cockroaches lived in the frozen north of Logan. I guess if they could survive a nuclear holocaust they can live in Logan. That part wasn't our favorite...... but being married was!
• I was primary chorister for 4 primary children. I sang some great solos.
  
• Brad got a great job that he loved working for Hawkeye Technology.
• I lost my phone twice and found it twice. Both times it was found in a pile of snow and both times the phone continued to work after a little warming up.
• We drove to Vegas for one night to see Spamalot then turned around and came home the next morning. Worth it!
  
• I started my blog!
• I took and passed the 2 praxis exams I was required to take. One of which I passed so well that I got a certificate saying I got in the top 15% of anyone who had ever taken it!
• I got a 4.0 Spring semester. (Fall semester didn't count towards gpa points since it was student teaching but I'm sure I would have aced it too!)
  
• We got to go to Florida as "chaperones" for Brad's younger sister and her friend. I rode a really big scary rollercoaster and didn't cry!
• I joined an awesome lunch group.
  
• We went to the Shakespeare festival and to Tuahacan with my mom and sister and saw lots and lots of fun plays.
  
• We saw "She Loves Me" and "Into The Woods" at the Hale Theaters and "Sweeney Todd" at the mental institute ampitheater in Provo.
• Lots of my cousins got married. (Andrea, Jordan, Kate, Logan, Paige, Keith....... did I miss any?)
• We moved to West Jordan so that I could student teach at Bennion Jr. High.
  
• We got approved for government subsidized housing so that we could save up a little bit of money and maybe someday own our own home!
  
• We went to Oktoberfest and I rode a zipline and didn't cry!
• I saw an original copy of the Declaration of Independance.
  
• I spent an entire day teaching about the geography and history of pirates. I also spent an entire day teaching about Alaska. Another day I didn't speak to my students except with sign language and they paid attention and got involved. I loved those days.
• I finished student teaching and I still liked teaching, considering I was in a middle school I think that's an accomplishment!
  
• I graduated from college Magna Cum Laude!
  
• I was ward choir director and I conducted the entire Christmas program and even managed to make it a little bit my own by adding the closing song in sign language.
  

It was a busy year with a few low points as well (besides the roaches those aren't listed), but we had lots of fun and we look forward to 2009 and hope that it will be just as great, if not better.