Year In Review

CAUTION: As the title of this post suggests, this is going to be BIG. So, you are going to need to block out some time to fully enjoy this post. So grab some hot cocoa, put your feet up, and enjoy this enormous novel.

I thought it might be fun to do a recap of the major events that happened in our family this year. It has been an exciting, wonderful, eventful year. So for those of you who missed some of the events along the way, you can hereby catch up!

January started off with a bang...actually more like a crash. Little Rachel was eight months old and thought pulling up on things was the coolest thing ever. Well...one day she pulled up on a folding chair leaning against the wall. It fell down on her and sliced the top of her thumb almost completely off. It was a horrible, bloody, no good, very bad day. Thank you to my dear old friend Aubrey for running to my rescue in a wintry storm! Rachel had to get four stitches in her little thumb. I won't show pictures of her thumb...but here is Rachel and Ben playing horsey that night. She was such a trooper. She only cried when we changed the dressing...otherwise she just crawled and played as usual.

February...not so busy. We were getting ready to move in the upstairs of the house Ben's grandparents were building. We moved in with them to save rent money (obviously) but we also were worried about having to move out of an apartment with Brandon coming...so this took a lot of stress off. Rachel learned to climb stairs like a pro. This is actually taken in April, but you get the idea.



March was a lovely month. We welcomed Nick Cysewski into the family when he married our dear Briana. What a wonderful couple they are! I was technically in the "no travel" zone of my pregnancy...but my doctor said family is more important than "if" something should happen....so we went and had a ball.


April was a big, bittersweet month. Ben graduated from BYU-Idaho with a degree in Communications. We are so proud of him! Early on in the month was the passing of Ben's grandpa. Though I didn't know him very long, he was always very kind and had a very sweet spirit. Two weeks after he died, little Brandon was born. So naturally, we decided to carry on the Pingel tradition that started with Ben's grandpa of naming him Rodney...but calling him by something else! Brandon is my constant joy. This picture (though taken in the wrong lighting) shows his sweet disposition. He is always happy...seriously.


May was HUGE. So busy. It started with a second Pingel wedding. This time we celebrated Adam and Darcy's big day. Sorry guys, we don't have pictures of their wedding...but this is the happy couple on a random day.


Rachel turned ONE on May 4. Time goes by so fast and she has gotten so BIG!!! She amazes us every day with the new things she can do.


Brandon was blessed on Mother's Day. Very very appropriate I would say.


And we had yet another wedding. This time on my side of the family. My sister Rebecca married this strapping young lad named Mike in the Salt Lake Temple.


And here is a picture of Rachel, Brandon, and their cousin Hyrum in their wedding attire. So cute!

June was...fun. It started out with another crash. 5:00 in the morning came around one day, and I went to make Brandon a bottle and somehow, I didn't make it down the stairs in the usual fashion. Luckily a hard concrete floor broke my fall. And when I say broke, I mean that literally. I was on crutches for a month and lost my precious independence for a long time. However, my immobility made me grateful for little things in life like being able to get around the kitchen to make dinner, and to clean the house. Now I am fully healed except when it rains! Ben insists I must post a picture. This is my foot a week after my accident. We took the soft cast off. This is a huge improvement from what it used to be...You can't really tell but there was a huge bruise and major swelling.



Ben got a job in July working at Thrifty Car Rental. It started as just a rental agent job, but with his amazing skills it evolved into a marketing position too. Ben was able to bring back old accounts and bring in new business for the company. SUPERMAN!!!


August was nice and relaxing...just family time. Here is a picture of us at our favorite park in the area: Manito Park.


September was the celebration of the birth of two wonderful people...being Ben and myself. I turned 24 on September 27, and Ben turned 25 on September 28. It was fun to celebrate together.


October...what can I say besides Halloween. Here is a picture once again of the cutest fairy princess and a handsome Brandon bear!



November was our sick month. Ben's back went out causing him a lot of pain. Rachel and Brandon both got croup. Ben had a nasty stomache flu, and I had the mother of all colds. So it was a month that has made us grateful for good health!

And here we are in December. You finally made it to the end of this post! I wanted to show some pictures we took last night at the Festival of Trees in the Davenport Hotel...but our camera won't allow it for some reason. As you can see, 2008 was filled with ups and downs, but it has been an exciting journey--one that has made us closer as a family. We are very excited to see what 2009 has in store!