Dear 2009, Let's be friends. Okay?

Before I go on, it was brought to my attention that I should probably clarify Porter's post on his coyote hunting trip for the readers who are less familiar with the way of hunting and outdoorsey stuff. And so the reader doesn't get the wrong idea about our family. Olen and his brothers are experienced hunters with licenses and predator permits to hunt coyote. We respect nature and definitely do not condone killing just for sport. But here in AZ we've got a lot of coyotes and need to keep them in check. The tail and ears of a predator, such as coyote, are typically all that is harvested and turned in for bounty collection with the game and fish department. In this case, Porter's bounty will be a hat of some sort. Well, we'll see. Okay. So, that's that.

Now let the Flashback Friday begin!

I'm not flashing back too far here.

The year. 2008. The day. Christmas.

It was such a wonderfully eventful day that I didn't stop to take many pictures. The one above is a favorite because it pretty much captures the mood of the whole day. Porter fell in love with every little thing he was given and London just floated through the day in a daze of wrapping paper and new plastic smell.

Family was visited. Food was eaten. Bed-time came late. It was all that I had wanted it to be. I'm still waiting on one of my presents...I can't wait till it's done because it is going to be hot.

New Year's Eve. Guys, seriously, I can't believe all that has happened in just the course of a week. It feels like a whole month ago. And I keep thinking today should be Sunday because yesterday felt like Saturday. Anyhow, um, back to New Year's Eve.

First we had a Rock Band party at Chris and Katie's Miller St. Cottage. I consumed more won-tons than I can count and London refused to go to sleep. That could have been because she kept sneaking drinks out of Olen's Dr. Pepper. Porter was at Nana and Papa's Polar Bear party a few blocks away.

Olen sought Rock Band immunity by being the official baby-holder. Can't blame him. He is such a natural. So cuddly.

Then it was off to witness the Polar Bears at my mom and dad's casa. Porter didn't want to jump, which was good, because I would have said no anyways.

We sang our best version of Auld Lang Syne and drank a cup of Martinelli's to toast the new year. Man, I love that song. We need to sing that song more often. Then all the ones brave enough, or crazy enough, jumped into the freezing swimming pool at 12:05am. Then couldn't swim fast enough to get out a second later.

Happy New Year! We wish you a wonderfully fabulous year, and hope you had someone to kiss at midnight.

We began this new year by sleeping in, being with family and riding horses.

So far, so good.

New Year's Resolution? One of them is to figure out why Blogger won't publish my posts with paragraph breaks. I swear I type it that way and then it all lands together. Ugh!

Have you thought about your New Year's Resolutions?