2008 Year in Review

2008 Year in Review

2008 was a great year for us.  We’ve had tons of fun watching Autumn and Megan grow up. We went on a couple great trips and achieved some long-held goals.

Family Events

(In no particular order)

• Angie received a surprise trip on her birthday to Paris, France.  She knew we were going somewhere, but didn’t know the location until we were sitting the airport terminal awaiting our flight.  With a little hard work, and a lot of sky miles, we did the trip for well under what regular flat screen tv’s cost.  We rented an apartment (a tremendous money saver) that was part of a bed and breakfast chain, so our breakfasts were taken care of, and we cooked our own meals (except for dinner on Angie’s birthday).  We had so much fun, and found everyone that we interacted with very friendly.  Links to our pictures and details from the trip are listed below:
  • Paris Day 1 – The Trip and Arrival
  • Paris Day 2 – The Louvre, Jardin Des Tuileries, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, and Tour Eiffel
  • Paris Day 3 – Notre Dame, Palais du Luxembourg
  • Paris Day 4 – Bastille, Opera Bastille, Victor Hugo’s House, Jardin des Plantes, City of Lights
  • Paris Day 5 – Outside the Louvre and Return by Train
• Autumn had her first Ballet recital with a Strawberry Shortcake theme and dance.
• Autumn started pre-school.
• Megan really developed her vocabulary and follows very closely what her big sister does and says.
• Thomas learned basic French using the free Coffee Break French Podcast and used his French quite a bit in Paris.
• We found out that  Angie has Rheumatoid Arthritis which hasn’t been a lot fun, but we’re moving ahead with some helpful treatments.
• We went on a cruise with the extended family and visited the Caribbean for the first time.  We saw Belize, Honduras, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel.  On the cruise, Thomas and Angie SCUBA dived for the first time in the ocean.  Angie was glad to have Thomas SCUBA as it was only his second time donning the SCUBA gear.
• The family made very good use of a Hogle Zoo year-long pass.
• We started using Google Chrome.
• Thomas achieved two long-held goals of summitting Lone Peak and visiting Europe.
• We discovered how good Pomegranate juice is for you, and it tastes good too!
• We got a Wii and the Wii Fit Balance Board for Christmas after having borrowed one and finding out that we were exercising almost every day and doing Yoga on the Wii Fit.  For us, it’s been better than an exercise machine because we can do all sorts of different exercise on it to change up the routine, and we can also surf the Internet with its wireless capabilities.

New Places we Visited:

• Paris, France
• Belize
• Roatan, Honduras
• Grand Cayman Island
• Cozumel, Mexico

New Movies We Enjoyed:

• Kung Fu Panda
• Wall-e
• Lot’s of Disney Princes Movies
• Elmo’s Christmas Countdown

Books Read by Thomas:

• Les Miserables (about double the size of a Harry Potter Book) and ranks among my top 3 favorite books of all time
• How to Win Friends and Influence People
• Winners never Cheat
• The Last Lecture
• Presidents and Prophets
• How to Sell anything on Amazon and make a Fortune
• Coffee Break French (not a book, but a free podcast that teaches French)
• Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…and it’s all small stuff
• The Book of Mormon

Books Read by Angie:

• The Goose Girl
• Enna Burning
• The View from Saturday
• Book of a Thousand Days
• Chasing Daylight (written by the dying CEO of a company that Thomas used to work for)
• Breaking Dawn
• The Hundred Dresses
• The Book of Mormon

World Events

(In no particular order)

• The war in Iraq continues
• Barack Obama is elected President of the United States as the first African American to do so
• Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the LDS Church, passes away
• An earthquake in China kills over 12,000 people
• The Euro turns 10 years old
• American Michael Phelps wins a whopping 8 gold medals in the Bejing China Olympics
• California voters place a ban on same-sex marriages
• Oil prices push gas prices above $4/gallon in many states
• US financial markets crash causing immediate worries of a deep recession or even a depression
• Amazon.com records its best ever holiday sales season and acheives record profits