Highlights of 2010

2010 was a really good year.  

We had lots of exciting things happen...

January:

After a wonderful Christmas break, Kristin got 5 extra days off when we got ice and 6+ inches of snow.  For Arkansas, even a few inches is considered a "good snow," so we enjoyed watching everyone's reaction and a few more days cuddled up at home together!!!

February:

Did anything happen in February?  Hmmm....nothing's coming to mind right now.  May have to come back to this one!

March:

MK celebrated his 28th birthday!

We decided to get off our lazy butts and start training for a 5K in June.  

April:

Kristin celebrated birthday #24!  

Kristin administered the Arkansas Benchmark test for the first time.  Although she thought it would be a stressful week, administering the test went off without a hitch.  It was actually a nice week off from teaching (after months and months of preparing her kiddos for it).  Highlights of testing week:  snack time each morning and playing outside in the afternoons after testing.   :)

May:  

Matt and Kristin met up with the Kleppes in St. Louis for a fun long weekend...they visited the arch, learned about Lewis and Clark, got frozen yogurt at Froyos, returned to their favorite little Italian restaurant, discovered a love for gelato, and had a blast at Six Flags.  Can you say Mr. Freeze 4 times in 20 minutes?!? 

June:

Hallie Grace Cupp entered the world on June 4th!  She is the sweetest little baby girl you will ever meet--her smile lights up the room and her easygoing personality is just like her momma (not to mention, she looks JUST like her momma).  Cole is such a good big brother.  He gives his sister lots of hugs and kisses and knows just how to make her smile and giggle!  We love you both sooooo much!!! 

They also ran in their first 5K at Arvest Ballpark.  Matt ran with Kristin the entire way even though he could have easily ran ahead and finished much quicker than he did.  Highlight (or not a highlight):  watching the lady with a baby in her stroller AND a toddler on her shoulders finish before us!  Talk about humbling!

They adopted their sweet fur baby, Bailey!  June found them at the vet quite a bit since she was so sick, but we nipped that in the bud (after several months....and several bills), and she's been GREAT ever since!

Kristin also attended a week-long conference in Tulsa with her teacher friend, Ronda.  It was a wonderful conference on teaching Pre-AP students....they gained some fresh insights and had a blast hanging out in Tulsa together for the week.  

July:

Matt and Kristin (ok, mostly Kristin) enjoyed the pool.  It's simply too hot to do much of anything else around here...except for golf.  We can always golf, so we did a lot of that too.  Thanks, MK, for the new golf clubs! 

Dog training.  Dog training.  Dog training. 

They also celebrated 3 years of marital bliss--with a couple's massage and a wonderful dinner at Olive Garden.  

Matt's brother Ryan moved to Arkansas, so we enjoyed having him here with us!  :)

August:
School year #2 began for Kristin.  

MK begins his Arkansas History course which he absolutely dominated.  History is just his thing, folks!  I think he broke the curve on every test or assignment throughout the course!  

We ran in 5K #2!  We both improved our times...MK shaved almost 7 minutes off his time, and Kristin improved by 2-3.  Woo hoo!

September:
Kristin was able to go to the Arkansas v. Georgia game in Athens!  She had a blast spending time with the Stegers and Laura....wooooooo piiiiiiiig soooooie!  She found out that a win on the road is a LOT of fun. 

October:

We celebrated the one-year anniversary of being in our new house!  

The Kleppes came for a long weekend...puzzles, Pea Ridge, coffee dates, Settlers of Catan, and football, football, football were on the agenda!

November:

Kristin was able to go back to Iowa with her parents over Thankgiving to visit the Sheirbons.  Matt held down the fort and took care of Bailey.  Our good friends the Jones invited MK for Thanksgiving Day.  We love you guys!      

December:

We spent the month of December trying to get Kristin healthy.  After lots of ongoing health issues, she had an emergency colonoscopy on Christmas Eve and found out that she has ulcerative colitis and is taking steroids to calm her system down.  Praise the Lord for answers and for continued healing! 

MK had 9 days off over the holidays and enjoyed every moment of his time away from the bank.  He doesn't get the same breaks as teachers do, so we were thankful that he was able to get such a long time off for Christmas!   We were so thankful that the Kleppes could come down for Christmas as we were not able to travel.  Spending time with both our families was such a blessing...and a great way to end 2010!