Happy New Years [2009]

Welcome-2009

On Wednesday [new years eve] I asked dad to get up early with me and go into Coeur D'Alene for some grocery shopping. Being that he only had that one day to redeem our Safeway gas pump rewards he agreed. We left the house around 9am, after shoveling and plowing a bit. After a quick stop to empty the stuffed truck bed of garbage we were on our way. We could see bits of blue sky in areas, which was good news for my traveling friends. I had asked Kaynie, (coming from Ephrata) to call me when she left home at 8am. Around 10:30am I realized I hadn't heard from her so I decided to call. She told me she completely forgot and was so sorry. Dad and I went to Costco to A. test samples. B. get necessary new years eve party foods. We had a lot of fun pushing our full cart through the crowded isles. Who would've thought that Costco could be SO BUSY! After Costco, Mom had suggested that we stop by the AT&T store to look for a new mobile for dad. We found a couple he liked and stood for about an hour taking pictures, texting and trying out the features on each phone. I think without me he would've been so lost. He probably would have settled for the cheap plastic one he was looking for online. But I showed him that the touch screen response was too slow, the keys were very small, and the camera had poor quality. We moved on to the Samsung Eternity which is a touch phone but is so neat. I think dad would really love having it because it's also a digital camera combined. With his recent blogging phase I'm sure he'd appreciate that specific feature. On our way home I found out that my friends were just minutes behind us. I helped dad unload the food, and gas cans and came inside to realize that mom had spent all morning picking up the house for my friends arrival. I was so grateful for that, I don't think she realized how much i appreciated that small act of kindness. Kaynie and Nicole came down the driveway and I was so excited. I haven't seen them since October, and boy has it been a long wait. I gave them huge hugs then took them upstairs to drop their bags. After showing them the two rooms, I heard someone else coming up the stairs. It was none other than KIARA! I was so excited. She's been telling me for weeks she was going to have to work, but little did I know she was just going to surprise me. Kaynie never called me at 8am because she had to leave early to pick up Kiara from the Spokane Airport. OH BOY! What a surprise. I knew it'd be a great few days together, but with this addition to the partying group it could only make it more exciting! After playing a few rounds of Guitar Hero on my Wii we made our way to the theater to see the Owen Wilson and Jennifer Anniston movie called Marley and Me. It was all around a great flick. Alyssa Herzinger met us there, and it's been awhile since I had the opportunity to see her also. Alyssa, Kiara and I balled at the end of the movie, but it was so feel good that I loved it. After that we came home to munch on our finger foods and ring in the new year. Dad had rewinded Dick Clark's Rockin New Years eve to watch it and forgot he could fast forward. We ended up counting down the new year about 3 minutes into 2009! Oh, how memorable! Here are a few pictures of New Years eve. I will be posting another from our bowling and snow adventures as soon as Kiara posts them on Facebook and I get to copy them to my computer! Happy New Year everybody, from a Snowy North Idaho.

Kaynie, Alyssa, Nicole, Me, Kiara

Kiara on drums, Kaynie rocking the vocals, and Nicole testing the waters on guitar!

I would've have missed this smile way too much had I not seen her this week. I'm so happy she surprised me. It was the most wonderful surprise anyone has ever given me!

A toast to a new year!