2009 By the Numbers

Anyone else feel like 2009 flew by crazy fast? Matt and I had been waiting for that magic number for (literally) years, and now that it's come and gone we can hardly believe it. So, just to help ourselves come to grips with the fact that it's almost over, here is our...

2009 by the numbers:

(This picture basically sums up our year! Matt, me and a plane. This one happens to be in France.)

The year began in Dallas, Texas, where Air Force had just taken on Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl and we spent our 3rd January 1st together.

In the beginning of the year, I worked over 900 hours in 5 months at my job as a marketing communications specialist. My paychecks funded enough flights to Matt for me to earn 3 more free round-trips with Southwest. After a 7-year hiatus, Matt returned to the world of track and competed in 4 sprinting events--the 100, 200, 4x100 & 4x400. At the MWC championships, he placed in each event, set 3 new personal records and brought home 1 bronze medal.

The next week, Matt completed his 7-year plan (redshirt, mission, USAFA) and graduated from a top-10 engineering program at the United States Air Force Academy. He was concurrently commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant. We danced the night away at the Graduation Ball to celebrate.

Then, our 21-month engagement ended and was succeeded by (nearly) 7 months of marital bliss. The grass is definitely greener on this side of things! June 2, 2009, was the big day that marked the end of our 731 day countdown and the beginning of our forever.
It also marked the beginning of our 26-week-long life as nomads, during which we covered 23 states, 2 continents and 6 countries (that includes our trip to Europe which I PROMISE to blog about SOON!). Since the big move-in this month, we have spent a mere 12 days in our own house. We unpacked 67 boxes and still have more to go. Little by little, though, California is feeling more like home.
(The dark states are the ones we visited in 2009 alone. I started kidding that we were trying to visit all 50 states in our first 5 years of marriage. Now, I'm not so sure that's a joke!)

To sum it all up, 2009 was such a fun adventure!
We can't wait to see what 2010 has in store. Any predictions from the gallery? We have a few ideas... some that we might even share with you :-) Actually, we have a lot to share with you as soon as I recover from the holidays. So stay tuned--and until then, happy new year to each of you!