2009 Year in Review

2009 Recap, Stats and Photos:

2009 was a year of change, or at least setting the tones for future change. We were told in 2009 that we’d have a baby in 2010. I was also told in 2009 that my job was ending in 2010. So 2009 was a year of preparation for an almost new life in 2010. As of right now it appears we are heading for a C-section on February 11th. I also have my job until at least March 30th. So the 1st quarter of 2010 will be crazy.

While 2009 was somewhat frustrating it was very rewarding and I did a ton of things!

First off, 2009 was the year of geocaching for Jess and I (and the dogs) as here we are getting an island cache on Lake Mendota on a perfect winter day:

Caches in 2009: 485 found, 1 placed (near Rice Lake.) We found caches of all size and shapes in all sorts of different places:
States I geocached in: 11 (Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Florida, Colorado and Pennsylvania) Jess didn’t get to cache in PA. This is our favorite cache ever, located near Ames, Iowa, a crazy night cache that was cold, hard and high! We basically had to find a shiny little reflective point with a flash light, head to it, then shine the light again to find the next one on a little trail. While a ladder was supposed to be required, I gave Jess the ultimate boost to tackle this one.We also caches in 5 countries or territories: 5 (US, St. John, St Maarten, St Thomas, Bahamas)

Fitness and adventure stats:

This was a down year for cycling, running and sports of that nature. My totals? 1733 miles of cycling, 127 miles of running. 1 running race (Free to Breathe 5k) and 2 bike races (Levis 50 and Breckenridge 32 which was actually 37) I weighed 12lbs more this new years than I did last new years. Played a lot of basketball, went downhill skiing and snowboarding (once) and swam twice. I then sold my wetsuit. Snowboarding on January 3rd, 2009:

I summited 5 14ers this year and here and here are the reports (beating my previous record of basically 2 in 2007.) Went to two state high points (Illinois and Pennsylvania) bringing my total to 4 (WI in 2005 and CO in 2007.)
I attended 15 baseball games (9 home Brewers game, 2 Brewers/Cardinals games at St Louis, 1 game each at Kaufmann Field in Kansas City and Coors Field in Denver, an Iowa Cubs minor league game and a Madison Mallards game.) I even got to play triva at a Brewers game on the jumbotron and won me a sweet bat!!!

Other things to note:
January was the birth of our second niece, Maya (shown here with her sister Anna and their grandma Larson at Christmas this year!)

February we went on a cruise with 6 of our friends. It was the best and most memorable cruise yet! Bahamas, St Thomas, St John and St Maarten were all dominated including getting destroyed by a jet engine at Maho Beach, a once in a lifetime experience. Zip lining rocked!


In May we went on a baseball trip to see one Royals game (and Cy-Young winner Zach Greike) and two Brewers/Cardinals games in St Louis:

Man V Food was the show for me this year and we visited several locations that the show was filmed (See food blog for that!)
Travel for work was another important theme of 2009. Many trips to Bedford, PA and the all important and fun trip to Park City, UT for some awesome riding. This ride on Mid Mountain trail is an Imba certifed epic 50 mile offroad ride that my friend Jonnie and I tackled one morning/afternoon/evening out in Park City:
June 2009 was a great month, we found out we were pregnant! A dream come true and a great start to the second half of the year!

In late July we took our annual Breckenridge pilgrimage and this time invited some friends. It was one of the most memorable trips ever.
I raced the Breck 32 (which ended up being about 37, race report here) and had a great race despite two flat tires and having to walk over a mile. Also did lots of mountain hikes, riding, exploring and eating!

In August my grandma Cook (middle center) turned 80 and we partied! In early September my grandmother Larson passed away. She’ll be greatly missed.
In late September we found out our baby will be a girl! We celebrated by heading to our second home, Des Moines, Iowa for a triple feature concert of my favorite bands (Silversun Pickups, Manchester Orchestra and Cage the Elephant)

I spent 4 weeks in Bedford, PA for work. I visited all of the covered bridges in the county and went to the Flight 93 memorial. It was a beautiful fall out in the mountains! October and November were rather tame months with work travel and house work but we did head to Chicago to cheer on our friend Kyle in the Urbanathalon and Jess created the best Halloween costume I’ve ever seen. We got an unseasonably warm fall/winter day and hit the Wollershiem winery with friends in late November.
December was all about family and friends. We had our annual Christmas party with some of our friends in addition to our work Christmas party. We celebrated Christmas all over the state with family. We even flew down to Florida for a week with my parents! Even rode the teathered hot air balloon over downtown Disney. Disney World and the beach both happened but took a back-seat to just relaxing and not being in the cold and spending time with family. From there we went to two Christmas Parties (one for work and one with friends) and then we celebrated Christmas 4 seperate times with family! It was a great time.

Overall 2009 was a pretty good year! It has lots of ups and downs but overall we had a fun time, advanced some of our hobbies and just enjoyed lots of time together! Looking forward to 2010!