What a year this has been

Goodbye, 2008!

I can't believe this year is coming to a close in mere hours! It has been quite an amazing year for us. These are some of the highlights:

- New Years in London.

-Istanbul in the snow.

- Azerbaijan and all that that has meant to us. Host family, PCV friends, Azeri friends. Quite incredible!

- Mom and Steve coming to visit us in Azerbaijan.

- Learning I had a tumor in my spinal column.

- Saying goodbye to Azerbaijan.

- The wonderfulness of Washington DC, Peace Corps HQ staff and potable water.

- My incredible surgeon, Dr. Art Kobrine.

- Mom coming to be with Jesse during my 7 hour surgery/ night in the ICU.

- Surprising Dad and Deena at the Reagan airport a week later!

- Surprising Kenton, Katrina and Finn when we were back in Eugene.

- A great summer of catching up with friends, family and meeting new nephews.

- Ben and Devon's wonderful wedding!

- Going back to work for EEP was a great experience. It's a great program.

- Jesse going back to work for Siuslaw Bank.

- Olympic Track trials.

- Thanksgiving in Sunriver with Dad, Deena and the Ambroses.

- Year end snow.

- Christmas celebrations in the good old US of A. Can't beat that!

We have been to 4 countries, 3 continents, spoken 2 languages, all in 1 year. And what a wonderful, crazy, scary, fulfilling year it has been!

We are looking forward to next year and all the challenges and excitements it will be bringing!

Bring it on, 2009!

birthday(s)

happy birthday, jesse. you're finally as old as i.

we celebrated jesse's 27th birthday (on the 27th!) by going to sushi at one of our favorite restaurants. jesse's wish was to be able to order whatever he wanted, no matter the cost. so, this is what he got...
man, can that boy eat some sushi!
yum!
i got to put my new kitchenaid to work. it was fun, but i think i need some practice.
i could only find 24 candles...
luckily deena had 3 more the next night!
tonight kenton and katrina took us out to celebrate jesse's big golden birthday. they took us to happy hour at el torito (an old pre-baby favorite of ours) and to australia (the movie, not the country, although it would be fun to go visit my brother!). it was a great night out with our favorite friends! thanks, guys!

CHRISTMAS!!!

We had such a great Christmas season this year! Boy is it great to be in a country that has Christmas! Don't get me wrong, I loved last Christmas - singing carols with friends in Baku is a memory I will always love. :) I miss all my Peace Corps friends, for sure!!This Christmas I felt so blessed.

Jesse and I went to The Nutcracker done by the Eugene Ballet. It is a childhood tradition I always adored. It was fun to share it with Jesse!

We went to Albany to spend time with Jesse's parents and grandparents.

The day before Christmas Eve, I had my Grandma over to make her famous sugar cookies. It was great to have her over to my house to do this- when we were little my brother and I always went to her house to help her.

We had a wonderful time at Dad and Deena's house for Christmas Eve with Grandma, Adam, Trisha, Brady and Nicole. Dad and Deena gave us a fantastic new laptop- it should help with grad school next month (ack!!). My lovely husband surprised me with a KitchenAid! Like I said, I was blessed.

On Christmas we went up to Willamette Pass with Mom and Steve.

It was one of the best days I've ever seen at Willamette. There was about 8 inches of fresh power, clear skies, no crowds and not a breath of wind. It was a great way to spend Christmas (and burn off some of the cookies!).

We also sneaked in time with Kenton, Katrina and Finn, went to a Christmas Eve service at our church, a couple movies with friends, and lots of fun times together.

I hope your Christmas was filled with many blessings!

SNOW!!

Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving we went to Sunriver with Carolyn's dad and Deena and we met Deena's relatives there who came up from California! Unfortunately there wasn't any snow for skiing but we found many other ways to keep ourselves occupied.

The whole gang!

This is in the lodge, it's a lovely building.

There are many things to be thankful for in life...including Tiger Woods Golf on Wii...Which I rock at!

We went on a 5 mile bike ride around the resort one sunny day...no skiing, but it was amazing weather, that's for sure!

The night before we left Carolyn and I went ice skating. It was the first time she'd been in years and only my second time ever! Despite this picture, neither of us fell!

It was an amazing time and we had lots of fun hanging out with the fam, we can't wait for next time!!