Today I have some time to sit down and think about our year in review.
1) Gary changed employers this year – which is always a transition for the entire family. Ultimately, it was a great move and we really like his new employer but sometimes venturing into the unknown can be scary.
2) Lindsey’s company Countrywide Home Loans went through a huge year of changes and was bought by Bank of America. The transition was also scary at first but turned out to be one of the biggest blessings as our team got better structure and I get to work from home.
3) In January we welcomed our second nephew (to Amy and Ben) Brodie Jack! He is such a cutie pie with such personality — definitely a charmer!
4) Shortly after Brodie’s birth we got a devastating call at 7:46 in the morning that Gary’s dad had suffered a heart attack and was being rushed to the hospital. We headed to Sulphur Springs immediately and found Gary, Sr. in the hospital chatting it up with the nurses and acting surprisingly normal. They transferred him to the Baylor “Heart Hospital” in Plano where he underwent open heart surgery and recovered. The heart attack was an unwelcome surprise and something that helped us to realize how important family is and just how much we wanted to live closer to home. It was this week that we decided to start getting our house prepared to put on the market.
5) As we were preparing the house, we saw a news story that we couldn’t forget. It was about 22 papillons that were being hoarded into a small sedan and forced to live inside the car that were seized by the SPCA. Since we already had Deucey (a papillon) and knew their personality we felt it was only appropriate that we visit the shelter and see if there was anything we could do. We went to the Dallas shelter in February and came home with Daisy. She was very quiet, shy and scared at the shelter and her first day and night with us were a little challenging as she over-ate and got sick. She was starved and only about 4.5 pounds when we got her compared to the healthy 7 pounds that she is now. We ended up taking her to the emergency vet the first night we had her and got some meds to calm down her nausea and she ended up being fine. The first night I slept on the floor with her in the guest bedroom – I don’t think either of us got that much sleep that night but it was a night I will never forget when she walked over to me (sickly) and cuddled up next to my side… she needed us. I will admit she was awfully stinky from the shelter but any good Fur-Mommy can look past a little stink when those puppy dog eyes are staring at you. As she warmed up to us and our home her true personality started shining through and we found that she is quite energetic, loud, and funny. She keeps us guessing all the time and always gives us a good laugh and a good cuddle. Here is a picture of her and Deucey the first week we had her (I know she looks clean in the picture – but believe me she stunk!). 
6) Obviously the economy went on a roller coaster ride this year and still hasn’t made it back up the big hill, but we have faith that it will rebound in 2010.
7) Even with the poor economy we were able to sell our house in Carrollton within 30 days of putting it on the market. We prayed about it before we put it on the market and were so thankful for the blessing God gave us to be able to move in such a short amount of time. We loved our first home and will treasure the memories we had there but were anxious to get into our next home in Heath where we would have more room to start our family.
Our first home in Carrollton
Our next home in Heath
We moved into the house in Heath in March and spent the next few months decorating and enjoying the spring/summer months. Gary was settling into his new job nicely and working more hours. I was beginning to work from home and enjoying the transition. Things were quiet for us during this time and it was a nice break from the hectic winter.
9) In August we welcomed our third nephew Boston Jeremiah — he is a sweet baby with a quiet personality. He is such a joy to be around.
10) In August we took our annual vacation with our group of friends (Chris and Kristen, and Derek and Amy) – we have been to South Padre Island and Cancun with them but this year we went to Destin, Florida. It was a trip that we will never forget — so much fun. We had a great rent house close to the beach, we had beautiful weather and great company. On this trip Derek actually proposed to Amy and so I got to take some engagement photos for them while we were out there. Beach pictures are the best and it was a gorgeous setting for engagement pictures. Here are a few snapshots from the trip:
11) Shortly after our vacation, Brad came back for his third R&R from Afghanistan and proposed to his girlfriend Angie! They are truly in love and set the wedding date for December 13, 2009. I think it’s cute that he was going to propose to her in New Orleans but got too excited and ended up proposing at the Shreveport Airport.
12) During the late summer both of our grandparents experienced some problems. My Memaw (Toni) fell and broke her hip – she had to have surgery and had a long recovery process full of frustration and pain. My Papaw (Taylor) was diagnosed with skin cancer and had to have a few cancerous cells removed from his back. Both Toni and Taylor have always been independent and it was very hard to see them go through this. Gary’s grandpaw (Homer) has not officially been diagnosed but we believe he may be experiencing some of the early stages of alzheimer’s. We know that aging is part of the process and we know that everything is in God’s will but it is difficult to see someone we love lose their memories of the past. Homer has good days and bad days… each day is a new day and we take each good day as a blessing and hope for lots of good days. Gary’s Grandmother (Martha) is doing fine and healthy — she hasn’t had any issues and is still the most spiritual woman I know. I’m sure it must be frustrating for her to cope with Homer’s problem right now. Gary’s other grandpaw Archie is doing fine. He had his eyes fixed this year and next is his hearing… I said his hearing!! He also decided to grow a mustache for the first time ever and he is a big fan of asking women if they want to try it out!!
13) Gary celebrated his 10 year reunion from high school this year — they had a celebration in Rockwall at the Harbor and we went to see his old friends. It was a lot of fun and reminded us how quickly time can go by.
14) The day after his 10 year reunion (Sunday, September 27) I took a home pregnancy test and we found out that I was expecting! We had talked about starting to try to conceive in the Fall (possibly October) but ended up pregnant in September I did not tell Gary I was taking the test and surprised him with the news later that night. I took a picture of the positive test and showed him my camera (telling him that I had taken some incredible pictures earlier that day that he just HAD to see!). The first picture on the camera was the positive test and Gary’s reaction was “Shut up?!?” – he was so thrilled, it was the first time I have ever seen Gary speechless. He just sat there smiling for a few seconds and then got really excited!!! Here is the picture I showed him:
15) On October 23, we went to the OB for our first pregnancy appointment and they confirmed the heart beat — we drove to Tyler that afternoon and told my Mom and Danny the good news! We told her by making her a copy of all of the home videos of my life and leaving the last one blank with a note that said it was time to start a new edition of Home Movies as Baby Spraggins is Due in June! My Mom was so thrilled she just laughed, giggled and was full of excitement. We drug out some of my baby clothes and started thinking of the future That night we met my Dad at Red Lobster (where we seem to meet for all good things – this is also where we told him we were engaged – lol). Dad was also excited for us and was ready to have someone new join the fire department. The next morning we got up and drove to Sulphur Springs and told Gary’s family. Gary had autographed a baseball bat with the words “Baby Spraggins due in June!” and he showed it to him Mom as if it was a new autograph — she read it and started crying. She was so excited and happy for us! Gary, Sr., Martha and Homer were also there and they were also filled with glee at that thought of another grandbaby! We think it was good for both of our families to have something positive to focus on — with the health issues with our grandparents we felt that our parents loved to hear some good news and get ready to welcome our baby!
16) On Halloween night, one of my best friend’s Erin told me (and our fellow friends) that she too is expecting! She is due about a month after me so our babies will be close in age We are so thrilled for Chris and Erin and I am thankful to have someone else going through this with me.
17) The fall was the busiest time ever for my photography business, I literally had bookings ever weekend from October through December. I was thankful for the welcomed business but it did present a challenge at some points since I was pregnant and very tired. Luckily things slowed down a little bit in December… long enough for me to get all of my shopping done and the presents wrapped just in time.
18) Brad and Angie got married on December 12 — it was a beautiful wedding in Henderson and they are getting settled in to their new life together. Here is a pic of Brad and Angie and then a picture of my lovely Mom doing what she does best — laughing
19) Christmas was a lot of fun this year – we got to put lights on our new home (which was a funny story — Gary got bit by a wasp and slightly electrocuted in the same day). The lights looked beautiful on the house (pic below). We got the entire Whitehead family together at Memaw and Papaw’s house this year, it was nice to see Memaw and Papaw in such good spirits and enjoying the holidays. I think they really enjoyed having everyone come to their house like old times. We also had our traditional Christmas Eve with my Mom and Christmas Day with Gary’s family. The day after Christmas we hosted the Big Spraggins Christmas at our house — and when I say big, I mean big — 60 people big! As anyone would be we were up til 3 AM the night before cleaning and up at 7 AM still cleaning — the party was a success and it was a lot of fun! I got a video camera for Christmas so I was busy holding 2 cameras throughout Christmas — my photo camera and the film camera… We got lots of good videos though and it was so nice to see everyone.
20) And… now it’s January. Time for new beginnings. Due to all of the exhaustion from the fall and Holiday season Gary and I sat on our couch New Years Eve (something we haven’t done since we were together). We watched all of the normal tv shows that countdown to the new year ball and kissed at Midnight. We fell asleep shortly thereafter. I guess you could say we started the new year with a boring bang, but we will have plenty of excitement in 2010 to make up for the boring start.
We hope everyone has a great 2010 and that this year we all strive to be better Christians, that the economy will bounce back and that everyone will prosper.
- Gary & Lindsey Spraggins
PS – I didn’t mean for this to be so long, it just ended up that way as I started typing.
