Saturday, January 3, 2009

Year in Review - 2008 Was Great!

Looking back at 2008, we had a great year. It was our first full year with Oliver and every month, week and day gets better and better. It was tough to narrow down the hundreds of photos to a manageable group to share, but we made a go of it. We hope you enjoy our Year in Review as much as we did.

January
In January Carrie went back to work and Oliver started school when he was 11 weeks old at Primrose. Everything seemed to be going great until one week into it Oliver was hospitalized with RSV. Oh yeah... Carrie got a wild hair and went brunette also.

After four days in the hospital, Oliver found comfort in the kitty from Uncle Brian and his family. He was maintaining proper oxygen levels on his own and ready to go home.

February
In February Oliver spent much of his time on his tummy and learned to roll over.
He also spent a lot of time on his back having fireside chats with Dad after work and school.
March
In March, Oliver had his first airplane ride to Spokane to see the Garner family.

Here, he met his cousin Rio.
Oliver was also baptized on Easter Sunday in the Lutheran Church in Chewelah where Carrie grew up.
Many of the Bermel family came to see us and meet Oliver. He also met his Great Grandma Garner.
Carrie and Keith even spent a day in Chewelah and got a little crazy in the park. Oliver wasn't quite sitting up yet for our trip, but Grandpa wasn't going to let him fall over.

April
In April we began to have warm weather and we signed up for an annual pass to the zoo. We love spending time at the zoo. We're not sure if Oliver enjoys watching the people or the animals more.
We also spent a weekend in Keystone with Jen and Craig. This was Oliver's first trip to the mountains and he loved it!

May
In May Oliver found his new love of balloon's after a trip to Red Robin Carrie escaped for a weekend with some girl friends to Aspen.
Here, Carrie, Jen, Michelle and Sue toasted the MillerCoors Joint Venture. Oliver also began to sit up on his own and loved sitting up like a big boy in the tub.
Up to this point Madalyn was able to take advantage of Oliver's body heat with a secret snuggle and sniff.
However, Oliver has discovered his new found furry friend and she can no longer have a peaceful secret snuggle.
Oliver is back at the zoo and for his second trip, he is at attention and ready to show us around.
We took our first family hike at Red Rocks on Carrie's first Mother's Day.
Oliver has graduated to the big kid tub and seems quite pleased with his progress and his new tub friends!
Oliver took his first road trip to Sheridan that is 7+ hours to celebrate Grand Dad Hamilton's 92nd birthday.
He charmed the whole family with his big blue eyes and contagious smile!

Keith finally convinced Carrie to simplify the back yard and get rid of the flower beds. As we approached the fourth year of weeding them it didn't take much convincing. The deal was Carrie would entertain Oliver if Keith ripped out the flower beds. He agreed... and Carrie got the best end of the deal :)
... and we went to the zoo for the third time and not the pass has paid for itself. YAY!
June
Oliver received his first football from Dad and began practicing for his college scholarship.
For the first Fathers Day, Keith went golfing with Geoff and we enjoyed a fabulous BBQ. Oliver enjoyed his first Vail weekend surrounded by Hess Ladies; Ceci, Lila, Oliver and Evelyn.
July
In July, we traveled back to Sheridan to celebrate Independence Day. Oliver enjoyed spending time with the family and he met his Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lindsey who drove up from San Diego.
Keith and I spent the mornings playing Golf and in the afternoon we took Oliver to the pool to splash around with Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. He thought he was one tough cookie with his shades.We started and ended every day with time swinging on the porch.
Oliver began 6 weeks of swim lessons and graduated with honors... or at least a certificate of completion. Oliver translated his splashing skills to the bath tub at home.
Carrie and Keith toughed out the 100+ degree heat and went to the Mile High Music Fest with thousands of other crazy people.

August
In August, Grandma and Grandpa Garner came to visit and we went to the Royal Gorge for a train ride.Keith finished the back yard, complete with a bench and water feature.
Keith, Brian, and Craig hiked 24 miles in two days in the Lost Wilderness.
Oliver received his first haircut and he gave it the lip pucker seal of approval.

We travelled to San Diego to celebrate Jeff's graduation with his MBA from the University of California San Diego. It was a rough weekend for us since Oliver was in full force teething mode. He cut his first tooth the day after we returned to Colorado. That didn't stop him from enjoying Sea World though but we did have to skip out on the beach.

September
In September Oliver scoped out his first Major League Baseball games with the Rockies.
We made up for lost beach time in San Diego with plenty of it in Hawaii. We spent a few days in Oahu and a few more in Kauai. It was our first vacation as a family and we had a great time. Now where should we go in 2009?
We spent the day at Anderson Farms picking out a great pumpkin.
Oliver celebrated his first birthday surrounded by friends.
He also discovered that he is a big fan of the park, swings that go high (well, not really too high) and slides that go fast!
November
We hiked Roxborough Park and discovered that Oliver loves the wind!

Oliver and Carrie took our first solo flight to Jacksonville, FL to celebrate Jenni's 40th birthday.
Carrie, Jenni, Kim and Anne; all friends from our Fallon, NV days.
Carrie and Oliver enjoyed a day in St Augustine, FL with the girls. Lindsey took our Christmas Card photo in our back yard over Thanksgiving.
We celebrated Thanksgiving with the whole Hamilton family. Jeff and Lindsey from San Diego. Bill and Jacquie (Mom and Dad) from Sherian. Brian, Stephanie, Lauren and Kaden also from Sheridan.
Here: Keith, Jeff, Jacquie and Brian are ready to feast!
We spent a weekend in Vail with Craig and Jen.
We rounded out a very busy year with a quiet Christmas at home. It gave us time to spend together, appreciate what we have, give thanks for a great year and cherish that we have fabulous friends and family.
Thank you for making 2008 so excellent and memorable. We are very exited to see what 2009 has in store for us. We're hoping at the very least, Oliver finds his walking legs. Otherwise we'll be investing in a good massage for our sore backs because the kid is getting heavy! HA HA!!

2 comments:

Wanda said...

It seems unreal that it was a year ago that Oliver was sick and that we were hastily training. Wow, what a blur.

Becky said...

What a year! Great post and can't wait to see what Oliver does in 2009!!

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