Best of 2009

2009 came and went by fast. Jonesy is asleep upstairs...I can hear his snores all the way down here so I'm going to have to guess and hope I get his right. Here's our Best of 2009 list! (I know you've been waiting ALL year to see it).

Most Memorable Moment: The birth of our third child Ronan. We can't imagine our family without him. It was so fun to be surprised on the gender of the baby. The moment he was born and we saw that he was a boy was the best moment of 2009.

Best Movie: Star Trek was VERY good. Jones got to see it on the eve of his interview with Utah Opera and then again when he took me to see it at the IMAX theatre. I think it's safe to say it was his favorite. We just saw Avatar in 3D last night...I think I'm going to have to say that was my favorite of the year. Poor Jonesy doesn't have stereoscopic vision (aka. he can only focus one eye at a time instead of both eyes) so he can't see 3D but if he wears the glasses the movie looks like a normal movie.

Best Book: I didn't find too many life-altering good reads this year but here are some great ones that are worth picking up: Pope Joan (about the legendary Pope Joan who was a woman disguised as a man that was elected pope in the mid-800's), The Graveyard Book (winner of the 2008 Newberry Award, a fun book by Neil Gaiman), The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, and The Soloist (a memoir about a guy who befriends a cello playing homeless man on the streets of LA). Jones hasn't been able to think of any 'BEST' books but I will say he's read WAY more than any normal person reads in a year so we'll let it slide this year.
Best Place to Live: Our choices are between Lubbock and Salt Lake City. I miss Lubbock terribly. I miss the culture, the people, the schools, the ward, the weather (weird, I know), the apartment, my friends, the library, the community centers, the parks, just being a Texan and pretty much everything else but the job. Salt Lake City is great because it's close to family and because the job is very good. So I think I will have to say Lubbock was the best place to live in 2009 but SLC isn't too far behind it. I think Jonesy is happier here in SLC but that's probably mostly because the job is so good.
Best New TV Show: Castle wins by a mile. The show is about a famous murder mystery author (played by Nathan Fillion -fans of Firefly know him well) who teams up with a detective chick to solve crimes. If you haven't watched this one yet you are missing out!!
Best Video Game: Left 4 Dead and Borderlands. Jonesy likes these ones because he gets to play online with his BFFs (he's not going to be happy I used that term) and because they are mindless killing games. Fun? I guess.
Best Home-made Dinner: The two weeks Jonesy's mom was staying with us before Ronan's birth she made us home-made dinner every night. Those were the best two weeks of my life.

Best New Calling: I am loving my calling as the Primary Chorister much more that I thought I would. Jonesy loves his calling as physical facilities rep mostly because he only has to do anything 3 months out of the year.
Best Deal: Walmart's doorbuster 32" HD TV for $250 just fell in my lap. I couldn't resist. We can't decide how we survived all those years with a) a 21" tv and b) no HD. Crazy!
Best New Hobby: Last year our best new hobby was Geocaching. We haven't done it for a very long time so we need to pick up on that again in 2010. Other than that, we've been pretty busy..no new hobbies. I am hoping that our 'Best of 2010' post will include crocheting as my best new hobby. We'll see!

Best Place to Eat: Beto's and Maverick. We missed Beto's while we were in Arizona and Lubbock. They have the best Carne Asada burritos and very yummy Horchata. Maverick has the best hot dogs. We missed those while we were in Texas. It's nice to have them all back. (I'll add here too that I am VERY pleased to be close to a Winger's again...even though we've only been ONCE since we got here...)

All-in-all, 2009 wasn't too bad. A few unexpected things to deal with, but we're all the better for it. Bring it on 2010!!