Top 50 for 2010

Here it is, my top 50 things from 2010, in no particular order...

1. Steve finishing his first year of medical school!
2. An overnight trip to Wilmington & visiting the aquarium with Steve
3. The NC zoo with the McClains (Gracie was unimpressed, but the grown ups loved it!)
4. A (real) positive pregnancy test on April Fools Day!
5. Emily & Adelaide's visit to NC
6. Settlers and Hand & Foot with the Pearsons
7. New favorite foods like peach quesadillas, and Suzi's crock pot chicken tacos
8. Quesadilla picnics with Gracie on the porch or the kitchen floor
9. Our first family vacation--Ocean Isle, NC
10. Lunch picnics on the porch with Steve over summer break
11. Some great (mostly old-but-new-to-us) Masterpiece Theatres: The Way We Live Now, Little Dorrit, Bleak House, North and South, Emma, Persuasion
12. Target. Even Gracie loves it there.
13. Ultrasounds of our Charlie-bun
14. Jeopardy at 7:30 sharp... and watching for the blinkie golf cart
15. Panera dates, sometimes just at home (His: Bacon Turkey Bravo, Hers: Fuji Apple Chicken Salad)
16. Dancing with Gracie in the kitchen while we do the dishes
17. Oh, Netflix Instant, how you've changed our lives... we can watch Bones, Psych, the Office, Parks and Rec and a ton of "period" films whenever we want
18. Taking Gracie to her first in-theater movie (Tangled--she LOVED it!)
19. Alan Wake, Halo, and Ticket to Ride on xBox
20. Weekly tummy pictures for most of the cute part of our Charlie pregnancy
21. A month-long obsession (for both Steve and me) with Laughing Cow cheese and Wheat Thins
22. Sunday walks in the springtime
23. Moving in to our cute little rental house
24. Steve's enjoyment of (and return from!!!) Air Force officer training
25. Working on the nursery: painting artwork (or walls, for Steve!), choosing bedding, and daydreaming about our little boy
26. The Holt family reunion at "Winterwarm"
27. Taking Gracie to "Dancing Time" and watching her jam with her friends
28. Visiting family and friends on our 3+ week summer trip to California
29. A free stay at an awesome hotel in SD when our flight home got canceled--and then free flights when we gave up another one for a later trip back. Woo hoo!
30. Steve's amazing woodworking projects, starting with Gracie's backyard playhouse (lucky girl!), her play kitchen, and a set of adirondack chairs for our porch
31. Working on our photo-a-day album
32. Watching (and laughing at) all the Twilight movies with Steve, including a trip to see Eclipse on my birthday (nobody tell him how it ends!)
33. Gracie's absolute adoration of pumpkins--her "pumpkin face," calling out "a pumpkin!" on any drive or even during a walk through Target, the pumpkin patch, and her devout love of the giant blow-up pumpkin that sat on top of Party City for all of October
34. Chocolate chip cookies
35. Book club, recipe exchanges, and movie nights with the "Better Halves"
36. The birth of our sweet little ten-pounder on December 13th
37. Steve's awesome test score on his nephrology test even though we'd just had Charlie! (Thanks everyone who brought us food or babysat Gracie to make that possible!)
38. Christmastime: Gingerbread houses with the Pearsons, baking and delivering sugar cookies, wrapping gifts, and taking Gracie to see the Tanglewood lights (one of the highlights of her year!)
39. Our first Christmas just the four of us, with SNOW!!! And getting to Skype with our families for gift-opening :)
40. Writing over 40,000 words of a story.
41. Getting the exercise bike and starting the R.E.A.R. bet... Better luck to both of us for 2011. :)
42. Watching Gracie share her toys and snuggle up with Charlie on his Boppy or a blanket
43. New Years Eve: Papa Johns (the works: pineapple pizza, breadsticks, and a "cinnapie") Inception on Blu-ray, cuddling on the couch, and chocolate covered strawberries (my parents had them sent from Shari's Berries--amazing!) for dessert
44. Being in love. :) (5 years together, 4 years married!)
45. My craft-table Christmas gift from Steve!
46. Another year of watching our Gracie girl grow up.
47. Mid-day dates to the movies (its really exciting to be kid-free AND at the movies in the middle of the day) complete with candy sneaked in in my purse: Inception in July (thanks Mom & Dad) and Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Pt 1 in November (thanks Pearsons!)
48. Getting fun things in the mail... Magazines, letters, goodies from Amazon, and (awesome) packages from my mama.
49. New pajamas. (I think this will always be fun, no matter how old any of us are.)
50. Being happy, healthy, and knowing we are loved by--and love--each other and so many sweet people and our Heavenly Father. We are thankful for this wonderful year, for His support of us during its trying and frightening moments, and that we have His gospel as the center of our lives.