It has been a pretty interesting year!
2005 was filled with world events and even some local events that deserve mention, and many have been discussed in detail.
For our family it was a good year. This was the first year of Stryde’s preschool and he finally has adjusted to actually going to school and staying there. Dryver got more into sports this year, with the infamous Blue Claws kickball team and his new Monday afternoon soccer team. Jennifer continued to become more involved at school and with her friends. She plays Bunco and has many fun days and nights with her friends. She had a few trips and also even signed up for a cooking and sewing class this year. Blanca had a baby girl that joined our family this year, and Stryde is in love with the little baby already. Our family had a 
great year.
My year was bittersweet. I had some great experiences and accomplished a lot in my career with selling over 5MM in direct revenue this year, which is a growth of 99% versus the year before. I also got more involved with local politics by signing up to assist on the Alexandria City Council campaign and also the school board. The year was also full of some interesting challenges, including Joel being deployed to Iraq this year and some losses of life in our close friends families.
Our family had some big accomplishments this year; including completing a big addition on our house and buying a new top of the line 2006 Toyota Sequoia. We also had a few fun trips this year, including the standard trips to Chicago, St. Louis, and New York. We also were lucky enough to have a family trip down to the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, Virginia.
There are so many memories in one year. It is hard to remember everything, and some of the smallest memories are those that will stick with me for a long time. One of the reasons I enjoy taking pictures is because life moves so fast. It is a great way to keep on top of your life. Now I just need to find a better way to manage all my pictures (though Picasa is the software of the year for me.)
Anyway, the most memorable moments, both good and bad, for me in 2006 include (in no specific order):
- Trip with the family to Great Wolf Lodge – what a blast!!!
- Buying a new 2006 Toyota Sequoia with a DVD and GPS – it is so much fun! 
- A week long Mission Trip with the Middle School kids from the Church in Atlantic City. This deserves many entries alone
- Family trip to Holden Beach, North Carolina for a week of fun on the beach
- Stryde’s first day of preschool, and second day, and third day…
- Easter at Nanny's House & Celebration of Stryde turning 2!
- Dryver’s Blue Claws Kick-ball team games, finals, and the end of season pool party
- Many days swimming and playing miniature golf at our pool
- Having Juju and Papa come and stay with us in July and August and playing Golf
- Visiting Chicago in the Summer to see Grandpa and SueSue and all our friends
- 
Going to visit the Farm for Mimi’s birthday party
- Going to Thanksgiving Dinner at Dad & Sue’s house
- Speaking at many conferences, traveling around the US many times, and selling, selling, selling.
- Finally getting to use our new kitchen
- Going up to New York to visit the Collins’ family
- Visiting San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Miami, Orlando, Kansas City, St. Louis, Detroit, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Albuquerque, and many other places.
- Losing some people close to our family and remembering what they meant to us
- Seeing Joel head off to Iraq and thinking of him every day and night of the year
- Getting involved in Alexandria local politics big time this year 
- Deciding to move on to a new career
- Being actively involved in the Web 2.0 generation
- Writing this blog and getting over 20,000 visitors in November 2005
... And most importantly, spending a lot of great time with my friends, parents, siblings, neighbors, and most importantly my immediate family!
I am sure there are many other memorable moments, and most of these will be remembered in the media over the next few weeks, but these are the moments that I will remember the rest of my life.
I hope Dryver & Stryde can remember many of these experiences as they get older, and I hope they will have the same experience with their kids when they get older. I would not give up any minute from this past year, the whole year was amazing.
