Top Ten of 2008

At dinner on New Years eve the other day, we went around the table and told what we each thought was our favorite part of the year 2008. Now I have thought about it a little more and have come up with my top ten highlights of 2008. Here they are:

10. Hunting season. If you have read my blog, you know that deer and elk season this year was was somewhat unsuccessful for me.(I did not even see a live animal in over 30 days of hunting!) However, I did have an elk tag from 2007 that was actually for a hunt in January of 2008. I filled this tag in about 1 week of hunting. So that season was a great success. As well and getting half a deer from my brother-in-law.

9. In June 2008, I went to my 20 year high school reunion. It was hard to believe that it has been that long, but it was fun to see all the people I went to high school with again and get caught up on what they are doing.

8. Also in June, or sometime around June, Brooke started Blogging and a Facebook page. I started this blog in early June and then after a lot of coaxing from Brooke, started my own facebook page this year. It has been a lot of fun to come up with things to blog about and it also keeps a record for those of us with bad memories. Keeping the facebook page updated has been fun as well.

7. Birthdays and Christmas were a lot of fun this year. It was interesting and fun to watch how the girls change in things that they want and their understanding of what it means to have and get things as well as giving of things or of yourself. It was also very entertaining to see the girls reactions to getting things that they really really really really really really really wanted! I think it would have been fun to video tape these reactions but I did not think about doing that until now.

6. Number six on the 2008 Jayne family highlights this year was our chance to serve God as a family. This year I served on the BBQ team at church as usual and did set up and tear down of the Harvest Carnival, but this year was different because the whole family got involved in these ministries with me. While I was flipping burgers and cooking chicken, the girls were helping set up the chips and drinks and helped serve chips and drinks a couple times, while Brooke was packing Sarah around on her helping to set up all the condiments for burgers. Then at Harvest Carnival, I did my normal set up and tear down, while Brooke and the girls spent a day helping with set up and decorations. It was fun serving as a family.

5. The 5th best highlight of 2008 started in June and took quite a while to finish.(Finally done in September!) We built a retaining wall along the front yard, brought in 4 truck loads of dirt and leveled the front yard. It was a big landscaping project that was a lot of work, but was very rewarding in the end. We also added railing to the front porch, added a raised bed vegetable garden in the back and got rid of the rest of the rock in the back yard so we can plant grass.

4. My 4th favorite highlight of 2008 was supprising my beautiful wife on mothers day with a trip to Eagle Crest Resort for a night. I was able to get it all arranged without her knowing a thing. She was very supprised as we dropped off the kids at the sitters and I already had their stuff in the car and we were ready to leave for Eagle Crest. It was a great trip.

3. Number 3 on my list happened on Sept 25, 2008. This was the day that OSU defeated the number one team in the nation at the time, The USC Trojans. It was an exciting game and exciting day for all Beaver fans!

2. The second best highlight of 2008 for me was our first real family vacation that we took in June. It started with my 20 year reunion, and then we spent a week at a house in Sunriver, just relaxing and hanging out as a family. It was a lot of fun and now we hope to do something like that every year.

1. The Number 1 highlight for the Jayne family, in my opinion, was when my wonderful wife of 13 years announced to me one sunny afternoon that we were expecting our 4th child! We found out on December 3rd, and the new baby is coming on or around July 19, 2009. Now we are praying that God has given us the son we have been praying for.

That was the top ten highlights for our family in 2008. We continually thank God for the wonderful blessings that He continues to give us and pray for an equally exciting and blessed 2009.