Best of 2009

As we start the new year I wanted to first take a look back at all the memories we made in 2009. At this time last year I did a Best of 2008 post and I wanted to continue on the tradition. I think it's a great way to document all the highlights over the past year and I had a really good time going through all of our pictures. Enjoy!

In January I celebrated my 25th birthday with some of my best friends. We had dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants and then went out after wards.

We had quite a few more events during the month of February. First, Ryan was accepted into the professional MBA program at Rice and he would be going back to school later in the fall.... My brother proposed to his girlfriend on Valentines Day and we were so excited for both of them.... Nicole and I hosted a couples shower for our good friends Alison and Mark. We had the party at Nicole & Aaron's house and everyone had a great time.... And lastly, my mom, grandmother, cousin, my aunt and I took a girls trip to Charleston, SC. Fun times!

In March, my parents hosted an engagement party for my brother and his fiancee at their house. It was a such a fun party and we were excited to celebrate their upcoming marriage. Oh, and my Mom did a fabulous job on all the details... Later in the month all the boys traveled to Vegas for Mark's bachelor party and the girls went to Austin for Alison's bachelorette party. We took a boat out on the lake that Saturday (even though it was freezing!) and had such a great time. Lots of fun memories from that weekend!

In April, Ryan and I spent Easter weekend in Kentucky visiting his sister's family. We visited a bourbon distillery while we were there and also went to the horse races. It was a beautiful day at the races and Ryan and I fell in love with the area and decided that we needed to make this trip at least once a year. This month we also celebrated Mark and Alison's wedding in Dallas. We had an absolute blast the whole weekend and the wedding was beautiful.

At the end of May Ryan and I took a trip to New York City. We went for a long weekend and had a great time walking around and seeing the city.

We celebrated our second wedding anniversary on June 2nd. Even though it wasn't our exact anniversary we celebrated with a wonderful and memorable dinner in NYC while we were there.

In July, we took a mini vacation to the Texas Hill Country with my parents, brother and his fiancee. The boys played golf and we relaxed by the pool on most days. It truly was a great vacation and we loved spending a couple of days with our family... I also announced this month that I was going to run the Houston Half Marathon in January.

I traveled to Tulsa to visit one of my best friends during the month of August. Even though it was a short weekend I loved getting to see her and catch up... Ryan also started back at school this month.

We spent many of our Saturdays in September with our friends watching college football. Even though neither of our teams had a very good season we still loved getting together.

In October we made another trip to Kentucky. We wanted to meet our new nephew and also wanted to go back to the horse races. We weren't very lucky in our winnings but once again we had a good time trying. Oh, and we even have another trip planned next April :)

Ryan was very busy with school in November but we did manage to have people over to watch the OU/A&M game at our house. It wasn't much of a football game but it was a nice break and we had a good time hanging out with friends.

December was a great and very busy month. Nicole and I attended Pioneer Women's book signing and had a fabulous day full of shopping, baking and laughing... We had our first annual Christmas dinner with our friends and Ryan and I hosted this at our house this year... We had many family holiday gatherings and parties to attend and we loved getting to see everyone. We spent a wonderful Christmas Eve at Ryan's parents house and then a quiet Christmas day at my parents. Overall, it was a wonderful Holiday season!

What a year it has been! I'm looking forward to seeing what 2010 has in store for us. Happy New Year!