What We Did This Weekend:
A New Year
Does wanting to be in bed by 9:00pm on New Year's Eve qualify us as old and boring? Oh well...
Thursday night was New Year's Eve, and although we didn't quite make it to bed by 9:00pm, we did celebrate the birth of 2010 (I say twenty-ten) with everyone on the East coast and went to bed just after 11:00pm. My parents have a long-standing tradition of getting Chinese take-out for dinner on New Year's Eve, and it has become second-nature for us to want Chinese that night as well. This year we called P.F. Chang and ordered some lettuce wraps for carryout to go with the delicious Chinese food we made at home. We found a recipe for Orange Chicken and another for fried rice. All of the fried rice recipes we saw said to use pre-cooked rice, and then to throw it in the wok with the other ingredients. "To heck with that, " I said, and we fried our fried rice instead. It turned out great and went really well with our Orange Chicken and broccoli.
On Friday, New Year's Day, we got up and went to breakfast at Neighbor's Cafe in downtown Lee's Summit, which has become a tradition for us. After breakfast we did a little shopping and then went home and took advantage of an afternoon with nothing to do by taking down our Christmas tree and decorations. That night we went to watch the disaster that was the Sugar Bowl with some friends.
A New Year is always a great time to reflect, recommit, and resolve to be better somehow.
Reflecting: I'm pretty sure that 2009 was the most challenging year of our lives. Starting things off was The Great Christmas Vacation Flood of 2008 (close enough to 2009), and the plumbing and water bills that followed. Another "donation" to the IRS didn't help matters much. Then there was this little incident at the end of April. We spent the next few months replacing things and trying to pull the emergency break on the Paranoia Express so we could hop off and hitchhike back to Normal. At the end of August we had a very special experience regarding our desire to adopt, but got our hopes up a little too high, and took the news that we hadn't been the final couple selected harder than expected.
But, looking back at some of our posts, all was not doom and gloom. Despite a challenging 2009, we learned and grew from those experiences. And we had some mighty fun times last year as well: There was the the best April's Fool Prank ever, our road trip to Arizona, celebrated our five-year anniversary, and a summer trip to Nauvoo. We met a man named Disco, threw a pair of birthday parties, and held the first annual "Cookies with Todd and Brookie." There are so many highlights in 2009, and to be honest, listing and linking to all of them would be too hard (and boring). But the biggest and best thing to happen to us last year was when we were selected by a courageous birthmother who will be placing her baby with us.
Recommitting: 2009 could be labeled the year that we found ourselves (hiding beneath layers and layers of flab). We've blogged about it throughout the year, and touted the mighty iPhone app that helped us get there, but just for fun, here are some before and after pictures (and it pains me to show that picture taken at Christmas of 2008):
Before
...and After
We started off trying to lose (hopefully) 15 pounds. We ended up losing nearly three times that much by August. We literally had to buy an entirely new wardrobe for both of us because we are now wearing the sizes we were in high school. We are living proof that you can do it, and it doesn't have to be painful. We just started exercising every day and paying attention to what we eat. Now, after a few weeks of grazing on Christmas goodies, the New Year offers a great time to recommit to maintaining the weight loss we worked so hard for in 2009. And, by the way, for anyone who might have a weight-related goal in 2010, it really only feels like work for the first month or two; after that it just becomes part of the routine.
Resolving: Losing weight was one of the only times I was ever able to make and keep a serious New Year's Resolution. So now the question is, how do we top that? Resolutions can be personal, and we have some of those, but 2009 showed us that we can do hard things. As we rely on the Lord, we can do anything.
Go to the board!
Thursday night was New Year's Eve, and although we didn't quite make it to bed by 9:00pm, we did celebrate the birth of 2010 (I say twenty-ten) with everyone on the East coast and went to bed just after 11:00pm. My parents have a long-standing tradition of getting Chinese take-out for dinner on New Year's Eve, and it has become second-nature for us to want Chinese that night as well. This year we called P.F. Chang and ordered some lettuce wraps for carryout to go with the delicious Chinese food we made at home. We found a recipe for Orange Chicken and another for fried rice. All of the fried rice recipes we saw said to use pre-cooked rice, and then to throw it in the wok with the other ingredients. "To heck with that, " I said, and we fried our fried rice instead. It turned out great and went really well with our Orange Chicken and broccoli.
On Friday, New Year's Day, we got up and went to breakfast at Neighbor's Cafe in downtown Lee's Summit, which has become a tradition for us. After breakfast we did a little shopping and then went home and took advantage of an afternoon with nothing to do by taking down our Christmas tree and decorations. That night we went to watch the disaster that was the Sugar Bowl with some friends.
A New Year is always a great time to reflect, recommit, and resolve to be better somehow.
Reflecting: I'm pretty sure that 2009 was the most challenging year of our lives. Starting things off was The Great Christmas Vacation Flood of 2008 (close enough to 2009), and the plumbing and water bills that followed. Another "donation" to the IRS didn't help matters much. Then there was this little incident at the end of April. We spent the next few months replacing things and trying to pull the emergency break on the Paranoia Express so we could hop off and hitchhike back to Normal. At the end of August we had a very special experience regarding our desire to adopt, but got our hopes up a little too high, and took the news that we hadn't been the final couple selected harder than expected.
But, looking back at some of our posts, all was not doom and gloom. Despite a challenging 2009, we learned and grew from those experiences. And we had some mighty fun times last year as well: There was the the best April's Fool Prank ever, our road trip to Arizona, celebrated our five-year anniversary, and a summer trip to Nauvoo. We met a man named Disco, threw a pair of birthday parties, and held the first annual "Cookies with Todd and Brookie." There are so many highlights in 2009, and to be honest, listing and linking to all of them would be too hard (and boring). But the biggest and best thing to happen to us last year was when we were selected by a courageous birthmother who will be placing her baby with us.
Recommitting: 2009 could be labeled the year that we found ourselves (hiding beneath layers and layers of flab). We've blogged about it throughout the year, and touted the mighty iPhone app that helped us get there, but just for fun, here are some before and after pictures (and it pains me to show that picture taken at Christmas of 2008):
Before
...and After
We started off trying to lose (hopefully) 15 pounds. We ended up losing nearly three times that much by August. We literally had to buy an entirely new wardrobe for both of us because we are now wearing the sizes we were in high school. We are living proof that you can do it, and it doesn't have to be painful. We just started exercising every day and paying attention to what we eat. Now, after a few weeks of grazing on Christmas goodies, the New Year offers a great time to recommit to maintaining the weight loss we worked so hard for in 2009. And, by the way, for anyone who might have a weight-related goal in 2010, it really only feels like work for the first month or two; after that it just becomes part of the routine.
Resolving: Losing weight was one of the only times I was ever able to make and keep a serious New Year's Resolution. So now the question is, how do we top that? Resolutions can be personal, and we have some of those, but 2009 showed us that we can do hard things. As we rely on the Lord, we can do anything.
Go to the board!
Make 2010 the year you practice being the best parents on earth. I so look forward to seeing this new little bundle heaven is preparing for you!
ReplyDeleteDon't even think about any new resolutions! You are going to be so busy with that baby, you won't have time for resolutions!!! Mary Kay
ReplyDeleteI'm very curious as to how you made your fried rice since cooking it and then frying it is how I've always seen it made.
ReplyDeleteWow! Your results are awesome and inspiring! I see you heard about our little contest! The money pot is over $500 now. Yipee! I can't wait to hear more about your new little arrival
ReplyDeleteIt's funny to hear that you guys do Chinese food for New Years Eve. I declared that to be our New Years Eve tradition this year. It was a hit and I think the tradition will stick. But I wish we had a PF Changs in town, lettuce wraps would have been fantastic.
ReplyDelete