Since I effectively became the world's worst blogger in 2009 I'll start 2010 with a review of last year since I have failed to blog since October. I suppose I could make a New Year's resolution to blog more regularly in 2010, but if I actually say it's my New Year's resolution then I'll be sure to fail. So we'll just cross our fingers :)
~January & February:
Not a lot happened the first part of 2009. I started my second (and final) clinical rotation at Hendrick Medical Center in Abilene, Texas working with Early Childhood Intervention (ECI), the Wylie Independent School District and Outpatient pediatrics. Todd continued B1 qualification and the last weekend of February we ran the Ft Worth Cowtown Marathon.
~March:
I turned 25 in March and FINALLY, after 3 years of hard work FINISHED my Master's degree in Occupational Therapy! About the time I finished my internship we had finally gotten our orders to PCS to Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, South Dakota. The bad news of March was that I was officially diagnosed as having Celiac Disease. Although we had known since Christmas 2008 the official testing and subsequent results were found out in the middle of March.
~April:
Todd turned 26 in April and about the same time we bought our first house! God definitely had His hand in this one as we bought the house "sight unseen" and never actually stepped foot in the house until the day before we signed the papers. It's been a great house, everything we want/need and it's been fun actually being able to put our own work into a home. We still have quite the laundry list of things we'd like to do to the house but its coming along nicely. We took 3 days to move to South Dakota traveling up through Amarillo, Texas to see Palo Dura Canyon and eat at The Big Texan and then went through Colorado stopping at The Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs and Denver before making it to The Black Hills of South Dakota. We were welcomed with SNOW on April 24...which has pretty much set the stage for the weather up here.
~May:
May was a very exciting month. As we got settled into life in SD and Todd began his final stages of training in the B1 as a Thunderbird in the 34th Bomb Squadron. I first of all took and passed my National Board exams and became an official Registered Occupational Therapist (OTR). I finally walked the stage and got my diploma in San Antonio the end of May and shortly there after was also licensed to practice in the State of South Dakota! I was offered a job at the local hospital, Rapid City Regional where I started in Acute care, made my way to Inpatient rehab and am now working as the outpatient OT. I absolutely LOVE my job, my co workers and all that it has to offer. And finally, on May 31st we celebrated our one year anniversary!
~June, July & August:
We spent the summer enjoying the beautiful weather riding our road bikes, going hiking and mountain biking, running a few local races including a half marathon, a duathlon and a 50 mile mountain bike race. We were also able to make a trip to Minnesota to see family. We also had several visitors come stay with us that made for good times enjoying all that the Black HIll have to offer including The Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park to name a few. We learned the hills and found some favorite little cities we like to spend Saturday or Sunday afternoons in. We also experienced our first Sturgis Motorcycle Rally! A week long motorcycle rally that basically takes over the entire Black Hills for a week of craziness.
~September:
Todd left for 3 weeks of deployment training in Las Vegas, NV for an exercise called Green Flag that in a nut shell he spent 3 weeks completing "missions" directly related to what he will be doing while deployed. While he was there I got the opportunity to go out and visit for a weekend and experience Vegas for myself for the first time. It was fun, we didn't do any gambling but did go see the Hoover Dam and caught the "Love" show by Cirque du Solei (AMAZING).
~October:
Todd got his "call sign" in October, the name that he will from now on be referred to as long as he flies in the B1, SWAGR. There is a story behind it, but I'll save you and just leave it as call signs do not have good stories attached to them. We also went to a Family Life Ministry "Weekend to Remember" marriage conference which was a huge blessing to our marriage. The snow also started in October and winter officially began. We had very cold temperatures and lots of snow almost the entire month.
~November:
Weather wise, November was more bearable. We didn't get much snow and had "milder" (relatively) temps. We traveled to Boulder, Colorado and met some friends to see A&M play Colorado and have a weekend of fun. It was great seeing friends and watching some Fightin' Texas Aggie Football! (Even though we lost and had an overall bad season) We traveled to Texas for Thanksgiving visiting Fredericksburg and Austin and spent 5 days with my family.
~December:
December was quite the busy month! We had our squadron Christmas party early in the month. We traveled to Detroit and Columbus the week before Christmas to see Todd's family and celebrate Christmas. We got stuck in Minneapolis trying to get back to Rapid City due to freezing fog and ended up taking a charter bus back to Rapid City only to make it back 2 days before our first blizzard hit. I've always wanted a "white Christmas" but I didn't need a whole blizzard! That was quite an experience! We learned a lot about weather and snow removal during the 2 days we were stuck inside. Just before New Years we went to Spearfish, SD for 2 days and tried our hand at cross country skiing and snowmobiling. Both were a lot of fun. Snowmobiling is definitely an expensive hobby which I'm pretty sure is what motorcyclists do in the winter. It's certainly a whole different world. We stayed in a cute and cozy lodge in Spearfish Canyon (our FAVORITE place in the hills) and it was a nice little "get away" before Todd leaves. We spent New Years Eve here in Rapid City with friends and kept it petty low key.
So that was the year in review...in a very small nut shell. This past year we've had some big life changes and have had to learn a whole new lifestyle being in the north. Buying heavy winter clothing and learning about snow removal and how to prepare for blizzards has certainly been new. We tried and fell in love with many new outdoor activities. We were able financially to seen family and friends more this year even being so far away. We tried 4 different churches here but have finally found once I think we will call home that I hope at least I can get more connected with in 2010.
2010 will bring new challenges, Todd leaves for Qatar for 6 months in about 2 weeks and it will be the longest separation we've had since we got married and the first time he will get to do what he has been training for the past 4 years to do. As of today, Todd is also officially a USAF Captain so that was a good start to the new year. As for me, I'll be running the Austin marathon in February and hopefully will make it to a few weddings this spring in Texas but otherwise will stay here and work, work work.
I'll do my best to at least blog once a month this year. Unfortunately, the first 6 months of the year might be pretty boring since Todd and I won't even be in the same country! I'll also try to add pictures :)
Here's to a new year!