2009 and into 2010 Gymnastics, New Mantle, Goodbye to Dear Friends, Emily Fisher Price, John Ski Day etc.

At long last here I am... Let's see this post should cover the end of 2009 and into the year 2010...

Last year the kids started gymnastics, Lydia absolutely loves it, Jack on the other hand well it is taking a little bit to get him excited about it, but I think he has some raw talent, we will see how long we can keep it up. Although, I think Lydia is in it for the long haul, she has the right personality for it and has some raw talent in it too :) This is Jack on the Bars.

It's crazy to think that Emily wasn't much bigger than a teddy bear back at the end of 2009. Here she is:

Not only was she so cute, but she successfully made it onto another box for Fisher Price, this

time the Activity Center. This was only sold in the UK and when I found out she was on the box, I tried to get it from the UK, which isn't easy to do. But, as luck would have it I had a friend that was visiting the UK and they were sweet enough to pick up a box and fly it home to me!! I was so grateful!

John and I went to Sodus Point, NY for our 9th Anniversary. It was wonderful, we went to a Bed and Breakfast called The Cliffs at Sodus Point on the shores of Lake Ontario that had some stunning views.

There was a tree on the property that had just been hit by lightening the night before and it was split down the middle, they were going to have to take the tree down isn't it so sad.

We spent time in the evening in the small fishing town. John served his mission in Upstate NY and this was one of his areas. On John's mission he would go down to the Sodus Point lighthouse with his mission companions, it was neat to be able to visit some of these places with him.

He still claims to this day that the best hamburger he ever had was on his mission at the Busy Bee in Wolcott, NY which is now the Red Apple and surprisingly he said it tasted the same.? On our way home, we drove along the shore of lake Ontario.

In October 2009, I took a quick trip to North Carolina to see my brother and his family and had the wonderful opportunity of being apart of my niece's sealing to my brother and sister-in-law and their family in the Raleigh, North Carolina temple. Here I am with my brothers family:

At the end of 2009 and into 2010, John finished the mantle above our fireplace, he did a fantastic job. Here are the before and afters.

He put mdf board up to cover the brick wall and then built the mantle onto that, we felt white would be the best fit for the room. After it was all built, John and I worked late into the night painting it and the bookshelves white. At some point, he would like to build cabinets at the base of each of the bookshelves.

The finished product:

We said goodbye to some dear friends in Buffalo, he had finished his nurse anesthesia program and they were headed off to PA to start work. Her family moved in to our ward at the same time we did and she was also one of the first ladies I met here in Buffalo. I miss them dearly.

John went skiing with the other residents at Holimont. He really looks forward to this day. What amazes me is that he can ski as well as he does with only 1 working ACL in his knee. John had previously blown both of his ACL's while skiing a boarder cross track and going off a downhill jump and landed on the back of his skiis, thus blowing both ACL's. He had one fixed and has chosen to fix the other one later, he hasn't had enough time in the past 11+ years to do it though.

Here he is with the other residents after they had finished skiing.