A decade in review.

Is it really the last day of 2009? Is it really the last day of this past decade?

I remember Y2K. I remember it well. I was in high school (eek!) and I was donning this black sparkly number with hair up to my ears. It was the worst haircut of my life, for sure, but I was skeeeeny! I partied it up the way a sophomore in high school with strict parents can - at my friend's house with her parents. We waited with bated breath for the world as we knew it to implode on itself when the clock struck midnight and when it didn't, we celebrated with (don't tell mom!) a quick drink of ALCOHOL.

The past ten years have been a blur. There was high school. Those were a few years I'd like to forget, including this terrible senior picture:


What's up with my eyebrow? And my hair?!

I like to brag that I graduated high school in three years and, though it's the truth, it isn't all that impressive because I graduated in South Carolina. They're ranked pretty poorly in education. I moved to South Carolina from Oklahoma City, so I was already pretty far ahead by the time I marched into 7th grade at Southside Middle School, ready to reinvent myself from the dorky pre-teen I was into a cute, fun cheerleader (just fyi, I became a cheerleader but I was by no means cute or fun). Because of the whole transferring from OKC thing, I took "advanced" classes and, therefore, got to skip my junior year of high school. So now that the rumor of my insane intelligence has been smashed to pieces, let's move on to college.

In college I went through a country phase. To the relief of my dad and husband, I'm over that phase now. But it was intense for a few years!


Yes, that is me in a bikini and a cowboy hat. What?

I did the normal college thing, blahdy blah. I grew out my hair, lived in a tanning bed and became way too materialistic.


This was after I turned 21. Can I have that hair back, please?

Speaking of turning 21. Mine was a doozy, so brace yourself. My mom came to Lawrence and we got a margarita and some bad mexican food. Then my boyfriend at the time took off for a late-night exam and I sat at his apartment and drank a beer. By myself. Then he came home and we went to a bar and I had another beer. Thrilling, no?

There were boyfriends who were just as terrible as my mom warned they would be and one who turned out to be not too shabby. Love you, Tim! More on that later.

There were failed attempts at raising animals (thanks, mom & dad for rescuing my dog and lizards) and even a few failed attempts at living on my own (there was that time that my water was shut off, then that time when I had no heat in December and was threatened with eviction). That coincided with the time that I was - er, am - a shopaholic. Laugh all you want, but it's a real addiction.

Then there was the most perfect day ever. The day I met my hubby. It was kinda love at first sight. It was a little sloppy because I was seeing his roommate, but all's well that ends well, right?





Soon after meeting, we road tripped it back to my home in South Carolina. When digging up old pictures from that first trip, I found this one:



We'd snapped it while in Charleston a few months into our relationship. And here's us in front of that same fountain years later on our honeymoon, back in Charleston!



There were some awesome times with awesome friends, like this time below when I went to Oklahoma City with Robs and some other girls and we decided to get a hotel. We schemed this whole idea that I would wear my fake engagement ring and we would go buy a few obligatory Bachelorette Party items and pretend that it was my Bachelorette Party. Then we'd get free drinks and have more fun. Too bad we schemed this plan at 11:00 pm and we couldn't find an open shop.


(Again with the hair! WHY do I cut it?!)

Then there was that time that I got fat:



And that time that I dyed my hair way too dark:





My little brother graduated high school!



And all the while, Tim and I fell more and more in love - fat, dark-haired and all! Awwwwwwww, right?





And then one day I said, "Hey, let's go to Vegas and get married tomorrow!" and Tim said, "Okay!" Maybe not the most romantic story, but from that bloomed a sweet proposal and a whirlwind three month wedding planning fiasco that ended in us getting married exactly where we DIDN'T want to be (not on the beach thanks to a freak sandstorm), but in a place that ended up being absolutely perfect.













Right after getting married, we got to experience one of the COOLEST things of all time: living in Lawrence, KS when the Jayhawks won the national championship! The week long party in the streets was insane. It also contributed to creating our newest family member.







We spent the next two weeks enjoying life as a married couple.



And then?



BAM. We all know what happens next.





2009 has been WILD for the Hibbard clan.

We raised a baby.

We bought our first house.





And then my hubby became a proud owner of EnGraph Software. Life. Is. Good.

Let's hope 2010 can top it!

Tonight we'll be celebrating the way young parents with a baby do - in front of the fire at home, monitor in the background, watching Ryan Seacrest (gag) and the ball drop. Maybe we'll even celebrate with - shhh! - a quick drink of ALCOHOL!

My baby is ONE!

Well, it’s official.  I no longer have a baby.  After an exhausting week of planning, baking and decorating, we pulled off Ben’s party without a hitch!  He had a blast and got TONS of presents!  We had a huge turnout and our little house was packed.  It was WELL worth it to see the smile on Ben’s face.  Even the fact that I’m sick from all the late nights and stress last week is worth it.  Now on to the good stuff: the pictures!

 

A babyproofed Christmas

Yep, I have already decorated for Christmas.  So?  The way I see it is this:  I love Christmas.  Like, much more than most.  I could wait until after Thanksgiving like everyone else, but why?  If I want to enjoy the decorations as long as possible, why can’t I?  Right?  It snowed early yesterday morning, so I figured now’s as good a time as any!  I schlepped the decorations up from the basement and spent the entire day doing festive Christmas-y things.  Christmas is a little different with a walking toddler than it was last year with a three-day old.  Hmphf.  Oh well.  The tree still looks pretty, even if it is surrounded with a SuperYard. 

The house across the street.  See, there’s a little snow!

“Seriously, get this off  of me, Mom!”

Good Santa/Bad Santa

Our previous three Christmases together are marked with an ornament for each year – Dating in 2006, engaged in 2007, married in 2008 {we didn’t buy an ornament in 2005 – we’d only been dating for three months!}

And now – married and parents in 2009!

Poor Christmas tree is all locked in!

Until we get a mantle here, I have nowhere to put our stocking but here:

 

Yummy cinnamon smelly pinecones! 

Even Ben has his own mini tree!