A Year in Review

I know I haven't posted anything Christmas yet, but all the pictures are still on my camera, waiting. some day I'll find enough time to download them and get them posted for the world to see. until that day comes I thought I'd reflect on the year gone by and look forward to the year to come.

2008 was a great year for the Zuidhof family...

January- Ryker turned 2. many people just don't believe that he's only 2, he's a big boy for his age, but he's growing up super fast!

February/March- We started renovations on our kitchen...We more than doubled counter and cupboard space, making tons of room for all my kitchen gadgets. too bad we had to leave it behind (only to get a teeny tiny kitchen in return)

April- april fool's day was more than jokes for us this year, Kayla Michel Zuidhof was born that afternoon. She was welcomed with open arms and her big brother loved her from the moment he met her! Unfortunately, that night Chris and Ryker were heading home and hit a cow on the highway. Both were uninjured (after being assessed by the emerg docs) and sent home. The van, however, did not survive. That led to us looking for a new van just days later. It all worked out in the end. I also turned 30 later that month, that's all we'll say about that.

May- Kayla was blessed, we kept it small and invited family over on a Saturday night to keep it special for our little family. I hope that we can continue this tradition with the next child too.

June- weather was warming up and we were getting ready for summer with the first horseback ride of the season. Ryker even got up on Cosmo this year (they're just breaking him and no one could stay on him).

July- Chris and I participated in our first triathlon! We did the Magrath triathlon as a team, with a good friend, Barb. I swam the dam (st. mary's reservoir), Chris biked into Magrath, and Barb did the run for us. It was a great day, and a great way to get into a triathlon without the stress of doing it alone. We also attended the Michel family reunion and had a blast! The family is getting so big and we rarely see all the cousins. It was a great opportunity to spend time with family we don't see very often (we missed the ones that couldn't make it).

August- This month I did a full triathlon by myself. I did the "supersprint" distance in Fort Macleod (and I must say they it was very well done, though a very hot day). I did much better than expected and it made me realize that I could do the sprint distance on my own. I signed up for and completed the triathlon in Lacombe (again, very well done, especially considering it was their first), and managed to meet my personal time goal.

October- Chris transfered to Taber. He's still working for Epcor water services (a company that has treated us very well since he started with them three years ago). The move to Taber has been a good one. He's now lead hand over distribution and collection (which means...he's in charge of water lines after it leaves the water plant and sewer lines before they get to the treatment plant), sometime in the new year he'll help with starting up the new sewer plant.

November- Busy trying to pack the house with two little kids running around, I woke one Sunday morning and Chris noticed something wrong with my face...it turned out to be Bell's Palsy! (at least it wasn't a stroke) it slowed me down a bit, but I still managed to get things packed up. We also got to be at Cassidy and Jeff's wedding at the end of the month! It was great to be a part of the day with them.

December- on the 1st we took possesion of our new home! after just over a week of being "homeless" we finally got to move into the "pumpkin house" (ryker's name for the house). It gave us time to settle a bit, then enjoy Christmas with family. We had Chris' family over on Christmas eve, and my family over on Christmas day. (it was nice not having to load up the kids to go all over).