bisel family

The Christmas cards have been sent, and with it a link to the blog, so I thought maybe I would give a years recap for those who have never visited my blog before.  

We hope this year finds you all healthy and well taken care of.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family, and if you are reading this, you can count yourself one of those we are blessed to know and love.  May  your Christmas be full of the Spirit of Christ, and may your new year be better than the last!  Merry Christmas.

2008

I wish I could wax long about what a blessed year this was, but instead...I may simply say this was an interesting year full of moments to learn from, people to appreciate, tears of sadness, tears of joy, accomplishments, and shortcomings.

In January....Madeline finally learned how to ride her bike.  We were so proud of her and all her hard work.  You can read about that here.

In February....we spent time as a family enjoying valentines day, and Bj and I went on a trip to Santa Barbara with my extended family.  You can see those pictures here.

March...this is where the "fun" began.  Our little Elizabeth was bit by a rattlesnake, while retrieving a ball from a bush.  Serious issues followed.  We enjoyed an ambulance ride, she enjoyed a life flight ride, and 4 days in the PICU.  I became well aware of the dedication and love of my parents as they dropped what they were doing and flew to our rescue.  Thanks Mom and Dad for taking care of our little ones while our littlest one was in the hospital.  There were many prayers offered on her behalf, and I appreciate the many calls and visits of concern, the many meals cooked, and the outpouring of love and gifts.  I was overcome with the outpouring of love we received, and with the goodness of the people around us.  You can see picture here.

April...worked on helping Elizabeth recover full use of her hand (she did!!!), and to overcome her fear of the outdoors and creatures (this took a little longer). Bj celebrated his birthday. Bj and I celebrated our anniversary by taking a 4 hour hike in a bug infested area.   And I worked hard in my quilting endeavors.

May....we celebrated Elizabeth's 4th birthday, and enjoyed finishing school, finishing many quilts, and preparing for our annual trip to the motherland.

June...we spent the majority of this month in the motherland, enjoying grandma/papa time, and getting spoiled.  To see our travel pictures go here.

July...we celebrated Madeline's 8th birthday, had  a tea party, had family visitors, and Madeline was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Pictures are here.  We also learned that Elizabeth hasn't quite recovered emotionally from her bite, as she completely freaked out when a beetle crawled all over her (go here to read more).

August...back to school, already?  It's true, the kids return to school, Bj continues at work, and I get to resume my 5:30 wake up schedule (that sometimes turns into 6 a.m.....but if my alarm goes off at 5:30 that is when I wake up, right?).  Also, Bj finally finished the Patio cover, you can read about it here.

September... Mitch turned 7, enjoyed the biggest ice-cream cake I have ever seen, and loved playing with all his presents.   I also went to the annual quilt fest, and I loved spending time quilting, talking to my mom and aunt, and the feel of fabulous fabric.

October....my favorite month.  Maybe because it is my birthday month, but I hope it is because I love fall so much.  Of course, fall doesn't come here  at this time, but I remember what fall used to be like, and I remember it with love.  I digress.  We enjoyed our first ever fall break by visiting with friends and family.  Bj spent many hours organizing for Prop 102.  We have never been this involved politically, but this year...we put up signs, put up door hangers, and stood outside the polls on election day.  Yes, prop 102 passed.  Also, a my new sewing room was born, and many a happy hour has been spent there.

November....  I think this month passed by too quickly.  This month we recovered from October, and then we were off on vacation.  We went to the Polar Express in William, AZ, and then to the Grand Canyon, and then to what we lovingly call the "compound" for Thanksgiving.  I enjoyed the time away, and all the "quiet" time we could spend together.

December....just enjoying the Christmas season.  We are excited to decorate our gingerbread house.  We have ballet recitals, Christmas concerts, neighborhood Christmas performances, tea parties, wii parties, and more coming up.