The Highlights of a Decade

Wow... it's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since the big Y2K frenzy and we're already ten years into this century! Although there have been some incredibly tough times for our family, friends and our country in this time, we've also been blessed by some really fun milestones and memories in the last decade as well! Will's teacher Mrs. McMahan posted a fun Facebook update today about 10 favorite memories from the last 10 years so I thought it would be fun to do a blog post with a little photo review of the last 10 years for our family! These are the first 10 memories that came to mind when I read her post...

1. We started off this decade back in November 2000 with the birth of our first child Will. Such a treasured memory and the start of the amazing journey of parenthood! It's still hard to believe my sweet Y2K baby is now 9 years old!








2. 2 1/2 years later in April 2003 we shifted from a family of 3 to a family of 4 when welcomed Will's baby sister Campbell into our family! Again, how she has grown to be my sweet 6 1/2 year old little lady so fast is beyond my comprehension!







3. In June 2005, after 4 years of medical school, 6 years of residency/fellowship, we celebrated big with Kip's completion of his "training" years and became a full-fledged Neonatologist! Along with that celebration came the move for our family to Baton Rouge, LA. This move was not easy and many tears were shed as we left all our friends and life as we knew it in Louisville but now 4 1/2 years later I count that move as one of the wonderful blessings we experienced in this decade... while I still miss my friends in Louisville Baton Rouge is now home and we've made so many wonderful friends here!
(this fire truck was their "house warming" gift when we moved)





4. In 2006 and 2007 we celebrated Will and then Campbell's first day of school at The Dunham School. This school and all the amazing teachers we've had hold a very special place in our hearts! I can't imagine my kids at any other school... this is Will with Mrs. Lombardo and Campbell with Mrs. Kim on each of their first days of school ever at Dunham!







5. In February 2007 we made our first family trip to Disney World... we did a combination trip of parks and a Disney Cruise! We had lots of fun and the kids' favorite part was seeing and getting autographs from all the characters!










6. Another fun source of memories from this decade is what has become a tradition of our annual beach trip to The Beach Club the first week of June. We go along with multiple other Dunham families and share a week of good times and relaxing!















7. New Years Eve 2007 was the night of a conversation I had with my friend Lori in which we decided it would be a fun idea to train for and compete in Rocketchix a local triathlon here at LSU. So we convinced our friend Carolyn to join us and the three of us trained and on May 4, 2008 we did it! It was probably one of my most favorite "personal best" memories! I loved it and look forward to 2010 being the year that I get both my kids to participate in the Rocketkidz Triathlon!


8. Just a few days after the triathlon, Kip and I got to head off to Las Vegas for 5 days to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary! Neither of us had been to Las Vegas and we had a ball! People watching, golf, exploring all the hotels and on our actualy anniversary (5/9/98) we spent the evening celebrating another fabulous decade (the 80s) with a Duran Duran concert at the Hard Rock Hotel! Such a fun, fun trip!



9. In January 2009 we welcomed yet another member into our family... one of the 4 legged variety. We adopted Miller our black lab puppy and now can't imagine life without him in it. The kids love playing with him and he is just the most mellow lab puppy ever! He turned a year old on November 28th and is now 85 lbs. but is still as sweet and mellow as ever!













10. In February 2009 we experienced what we will probably remember as our most wild memory of the decade. We were invited to experience Mardi Gras in New Orleans by attending the Endymion Extravaganza. This is a Mardi Gras ball held in the Superdome and it was quite an experience. From the amazing floats, the wild costumes, the entertainment (Kid Rock and REO Speedwagon... I'll give you one guess which one I was able to sing along to:)) to the great company it was quite a night!



These are just some highlights from our decade... we've enjoyed many more fun times with visits to and from grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles and friends! As I reflect on the amazing experiences and encounters our family has had over the last 10 years and thank God for our health, happiness and abundant joy I am also acutely aware that so many friends have been through great loss this decade... death, divorce, jobloss just to name a few and I pray that amongst the sadness and pain that you each can experience great joy again! I am thankful for the men and women that fight for our country each and every day and especially those that have sacrificied their life in doing so. So as we leave 2009 (and this "all over the place" blog post) to enter into the next year and decade we leave you with well wishes and prayers for a healthy and prosperous 2010! We look forward to the new and exciting memories our family will make in the next 1o years and hope that each one of you can be a part of those memories in some way! God Bless!