All of the news organizations are doing their top 10 stories of the year, here are mine.
1. Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Thomas being diagnosed with cancer to start the year is the top story this year, and not only because it was so shocking and hard, but because it taught us more than we would have ever known about the power of prayer, faith, medicine, and our resilience as a family unit.
2. Coeur d'Alene Roadtrip. After being tied to Rexburg the whole, long winter and spring for chemo, and into early summer for radiation, Thomas and Caley had the goal to get out of town at long last. Coeur d'Alene was their dream destination, and we decided to join them and make it into a big family trip. Though we were missing Adam and Kyle, the rest of us jumped in the lake, floated down the river, golfed, and celebrated with our gracious North Idaho kinfolk. A spectacular Tubb's Hill cliff diving video featuring Steven can be seen on Veronica's blog.
3. Idaho's Youth Governor. Steven was elected at the Hi-Y convention to represent Idaho as Governor for the 2009-2010 school year, and took a trip in June to Catholic University in Washington D.C. to convene with all of the other national Youth Governors. He also met with Idaho Senators Risch and Crapo. He will preside over the state Hi-Y convention in April.
4. The Hicks's of Kentucky. Somebody had to be the first to do it, the first Park kid to move all far-off away from home. Veronica and Kyle moved to Louisville at the end of August, and Kerry drove back with them and Kyle's dad and a Penske moving van. We miss them, but not right now, because they are here for a long Christmas visit!
5. KSL Internship. Channel 5 in Salt Lake City is the big time, big market, big news station where Marisa completed her Broadcasting internship fall semester of 2009. Bruce and Deenie like her, and so do we. She got good experience in news reporting and producing, and also freeway rush hour driving from Provo to SLC every Tuesday and Thursday.
6. State PTA Convention. In April, Kerry and Emily drove with me to Coeur d'Alene where I presented a workshop and handed out state awards for the PTA Reflections program. It was fun to see family there, and also the woodwork from the Sherman Ave. home we grew up in. I'm in my 2nd year as Idaho PTA Cultural Arts chairperson.
7. St. George Marathon #7. It was a great weekend for a family trip to St. George in October, where I ran my 7th marathon in 7 hours and a minute. Not such a good time as far as running goes, but I wasn't last, I got a medal, and we had a great rental home for the weekend with all but the Kentucky kids there. Infinity pools are fun. Adam finding me between mile 24 and 25 with a bottle of Dasani is a vision I still see in my sleep.
8. Girl's Camp. I was a cook for the Stake, Emily was there, and we had a fun week at Camp Cumorah. Like PTA, this is a 2 year job, so I get to do it again in 2010. I learned that cooking for a lot of people can be fun, but it takes all day, even with my friend Tami in the kitchen too.
9. The Economy. Since all of the major news outlets will have this in their top 10 list, I thought I should too. Kerry's company was not immune to the economic downturn, but thankfully he survived each of the many rounds of layoffs over the course of the year. Many of his co-workers were not so fortunate.
10. Mr. & Mrs. Torres. There weren't any Park weddings this year, but there was a Motola cousin wedding, and we got to travel to the gorgeous Manti Temple with many of our family members from near and far to see Erik sealed to Corinna. This was of course another opportunity for the "girl cousins arranged by hair color" photograph series.
Runners up: Emily became a teenager, BHS boys won state in Football at Moscow with Steven in attendance, another midnight showing of Harry Potter with the Porter-Parks, concerts galore attended by various Parks - Celine Dion, Taylor Swift, David Archuleta - and Huey Lewis at the EISF, knee surgery for both of Kerry's parents and rotator cuff surgery for his Mom (too many curve-balls?), Adam made 2 trips to NYC to see friends, ball games, and famous landmarks, Steven was Jr. Prom royalty, Emily played her first flute solo in Sacrament meeting, Kerry spent a few Saturdays as the chase car for some hang-gliders, and Emily caught some really big fish.
