2010 Recap

I can't believe how fast this year has flown by! In writing this post, I've looked back over my blog, and some of these things seem like they just happened! It's time for another yearly recap:

January

The New Years Pig

• Jan 1: It's not New Years without the annual Blankenheim pig roast! This year was no exception! There was a rousing beer pong tournament, singing, beer, and, of course, oodles of pig. My goal for 2011 is to farm out enough pig that we hit 2012 with an empty freezer!
• Jan 12: A catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake hits Haiti. It struck in part of the most populated area of Haiti, causing the death toll to reach 230,000 people. Living conditions following the quake were horrible, causing disease and more death.

  

  Shadow In His New Pen

• Jan 16: The fence to Shadow's new pen is finished. Shadow did not exactly know what to do, once "released into the wild" and decided to bark at the house. Fortunately, he learned to love the pen and now looks forward to going outside so he can chase critters, bark at squirrels and take long naps in the shade. He's also bulked up his muscle mass while running up and down the hill and around the pen. Now if he doesn't get outside to get in his daily exercise, he's a mess... we've created a monster!

February

Seahorses at Monterey Aquarium

• Feb 20-21: Mike and I decided we needed a little break from the world, so we took our "27 hour vacation" to Monterey. We spent Saturday evening hanging out at Cannery Row. We took most of Sunday to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which was absolutely beautiful! I captured some stunning pictures on my camera (see my post from that trip) and loved seeing the seahorse exhibit!

March

• Mar 14: At the beginning of March, Mike and I decided to take the next big step together - moving in! On March 14th Mom, Dad, Kati, Nate, Tim, Nicki and Skyler helped me move all of my stuff from my little house in Mather to Mike's house. It felt so good to finally be sharing a home! If you want a sneak peak of where that led to, skip forward to October!

  

  Bridesmaids @ Brigitte's Shower

• Mar 16: Kati and Nate got engaged! They hiked to the top of Yosemite Falls and he proposed overlooking the valley. I'm so excited for both of them!
• Mar 21: Amber and I hosted Brigitte's bridal shower at her parent's house. We had a wonderful time... including a lovely little story with underwear to match each of the different stages of Brigitte's marriage! We had fantastic little bride and groom dessert shots, a chocolate fountain and lots of fondue. The best part was the main course - we created a "mashed potato bar" where each person got a martini glass of mashed potatoes and we had tons of different toppings for them. Yum!

April

Boom boom pow!

• Apr 2: Adam, Eva and I went to see the Black Eyed Peas and Ludacris in concert. It was a pretty awesome show... we had the best time! I love the old school Ludacris songs (like from high school), so it was cool to hear him do some of those. The Black Eyed Peas put on a pretty spectacular show... very high energy and constantly entertaining. I loved the middle section when Will.i.am did a little DJ thing and mixed up a bunch of old Michael Jackson songs. We had the best time singing and dancing!

  

  Brigitte's Bachelorette Party

• Apr 16-18: Brigitte's Bachelorette Weekend. And what a weekend it was! On Friday night, Amber, Kristine, Brigitte and I went out in downtown Lodi. I had a pretty spectacular deck of cards that featured various dares... ones that we swore we wouldn't do happened as the night went on! On Saturday, we headed out with a ton of lovely ladies to take a limo wine tasting to several different Lodi vineyards. It was a blast! That was promptly followed by a very serious match of "Pin the Macho on the Man". Yup, you read that right! Sunday morning followed with a delicious breakfast. What a way to say goodbye to Brigitte's single days!

May

Brigitte and Dan's Wedding

• May 8: Brigitte and Dan got married! What an awesome party it was! I was honored to sing at their ceremony ("When You Say Nothing At All" by Allison Krauss). The wedding was fantastic and Brigitte was a beautiful bride! The reception was an absolute blast - there was dancing, singing, and the most fantastic blue drinks I've ever had in my life! I believe at one point I even saw someone end up in the pool... 

  

  Top of Yosemite Falls

  
• May 25-27: Mike and I took a little trip to Yosemite. We had planned to hike Half Dome, but thanks to an unusually long winter, there was still way too much snow. We did the Vernal/Nevada Falls hike as well as Yosemite Falls. Mike did a great job putting up with me... the Yosemite Falls hike was hard! I believe at one point I even mentioned that I hoped I was eaten by a grizzly bear. My boots gave me a pretty spectacular blister on my scar from my surgery and every step I took down the mountain made it feel like my foot was bleeding! We had a spectacular view from the top though!

June

My New Toyota Rav4

• Jun 12: The run of "Big Red" came to an end. After twelve long years together, Big Red finally met her end. No, it wasn't a fiery crash - it was just that too many things started going wrong and she was getting a little expensive. I donated her to the Northern California Labrador Retriever Rescue, where she was sold at auction for $750 (higher than blue book!) and the money went to save lab puppies. Obviously, I couldn't cruise around without a car, so I purchased my first very own car (Big Red was a gift from my parents). Oliver is my brand new, black Toyota Rav4. I absolutely love him and all of his cool features (like working sun visors!). It was a sad day to see Big Red go, but I'm so happy with my purchase. It's much roomier, the four wheel drive rocks and I get way better gas mileage!

July

• Jul 4: This year for the 4th of July, we did double BBQs - one in Roseville with my parents and one in Sutter Creek with Mike's family. Nicki and I ended up in the pool at the Blankenheims - fully clothed. Good times.

  

  Cowbell Girls At The Death Ride

• Jul 10: Yet again, crazy Mike and Mark decided to do the 2010 Death Ride. This time, they convinced Sean and Rich to pedal along with them! That's 129 miles, 5 mountain passes and 15,000 feet of climbing. Erin, Clarissa, Mom, Dad, Keegan, Connor, Katie and I were all there as a cheering section - we had an absolute blast screaming for people we didn't know who looked like they were about to die. We had cowbells and everything!

  

  Shadow Running at Folsom

• Jul 18: Mom, Dad and I took the boat out to Lake Folsom. It's been forever since Shadow has been out, so the invited him as well. The lake level was a little low in spots, creating new islands. Shadow had the best day of his life... since we could beach it and there was no one else there, he got to run around the lake off leash for the first time!
• Jul 31: Nicki, Skyler and I went to the Amador County Fair. It was my first time, and I honestly thought it was better than the State Fair was this year! We had a blast getting Sky's face painted, seeing all of the animals and eating funnel cakes!

August

• Aug 14: We went to Matt and Megan Blankenheim's wedding. The wedding was held in Sonoma and was beautiful!

  

  Mom With A Fish

  • Aug 21-27: Mike and I joined my parents for the annual trip to Lake Almanor. We had a fantastic week of fishing... Mike caught both the largest and smallest fishes of the week! In total, we caught right around 40 fish! Mike and I also climbed Mount Harkness, which had a Cal Fire lookout station on top and a spectacular 360 degree view of the area! We went water skiing, jet skiing and saw some pretty crazy stuff including two falcons colliding over a fish and an otter! 
  
• Aug 28: Mike and I went with Sean and Erin to the Dave Matthews Band concert in the Bay Area. We had an absolutely blast tailgating (which is apparently illegal if you have alcohol... good thing Sean and Mike are rebels!) and the show was amazing, as always. Erin and I bought matching shirts while the boys bought matching mixed drinks.

September

• Sept 14: Our two year anniversary! We celebrated by going out to dinner at a little place called Teresa's Place near our house. It was delicious Italian food! It seems like two years just flew by! I'm definitely very glad I chose to crawl into a cave with Mike a couple years ago!
• Sept 17: I accepted a new job at Intel... after 2 1/2 years in the same role, I was ready for a change! The transition was challenging, as the new job is completely different than the old, but I'm absolutely loving the challenge!
• Sept 28: I got my first and only speeding ticket for doing 76mph in a 55mph zone. I did not argue with the officer and he was nice and wrote the ticket for 70mph. I paid my fine, did my traffic school and am seriously much more careful with my speed. Cruise control is my friend!

October

June Beverly Smithson

• Oct 20: Grandma (Dad's mom) passes away. Dad and Aunt Sandi were both able to be with her and to hold her hand to the end. She was a very strong woman, who fought to the very end.
• Oct 23-27: Mike and I take a vacation to Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, Canada. We started the trip off with a whale watching tour that was absolutely amazing. After a long time on the water, we finally found the orcas... it was so cool to see them swimming all around us! Over the course of the trip we managed to see Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, my college roommate Jennifer, the Seattle Aquarium, the Vancouver Aquarium and a couple of grizzly bears at a park in Vancouver! It was a spectacular trip! Especially because on...

  

  Moments after I said YES!

• Oct 25: Mike proposed! We had gone to the top of the Space Needle (his original plan) only to meet 30mph wind gusts. He decided that wasn't very romantic, so we went back to our hotel, which boasted a 6th floor rooftop viewing deck. While we were up there admiring the Seattle skyline, he popped the question! Best day of my life!

November

• Nov 6: Mike and I hosted the Fourth Annual Friends Thanksgiving. As always, it was a fun event and this year we ended up with about 30 people (we keep adding each year!). I cooked two turkeys and a ham and we had the most delicious side dishes! We even had an on-duty fire engine that stopped by... the crew was nice enough to take the kids out for a ride and let them play with the hoses... so exciting for the kids!

  

  Ironmen!

• Nov 21: Mike and Sean finish the 2010 Ironman Arizona. I couldn't be more proud of both of them! We had a huge group of cheerleaders with us that spent the day running from spot to spot to try to help the boys. We had fantastic yellow shirts (thank you Totally Trophies!) and had a blast. It was a marathon day for everyone... right around 20 hours from wake up to settling back in bed! As an added bonus, on the way home we stopped to visit my college roommate, Joanna and her beautiful new baby Abigail!

December

49ers/Seahawks Game

• Dec 12: Mike and I made the trip to San Francisco to see my 49ers play his Seahawks. I had never been to a professional football game before this, so everything was new and exciting! We took the BART in from Richmond and saved a lot of time and frustration. The 49ers even won!
• Dec 18: I found and bought my wedding dress! I can't believe it... not only is it amazingly fantastic, but it's all mine! No, don't think for a minute that I'm going to post it on here... Mike hasn't seen it and I want it to stay that way until the day we get married. I can't wait!
• Dec 23: My cousin Emily got engaged! Her fiance, Graham, proposed to her at Union Square in San Francisco while they were ice skating. So romantic!
• Dec 24: Mike and I spent Christmas Eve with the Blankenheims. We went to church, had yummy snacks and opened presents!
• Dec 25: Mike and I spent Christmas Day with the Smithsons. We went to Mom and Dad's house and had prime rib, lots of yummy side dishes and opened presents!

Well, as you can see 2010 has been a pretty good year, full of mostly highs. I can't even fathom what 2011's yearly recap is going to look like... by this time next year, Kati and I will both be married!