Hello from the animals, Christmas and post-Christmas fun

We shared a wonderful Christmas with our families this year.  I loved mom and dad's tree this year!  Just an up close and personal look at part of it.

There was plenty of time for R&R by the fire. 

I love my butterz!

And Brewster gladly howled for the crowds:

The day after Christmas was apparently very exhausting for the animals.

Miss Strawberry!

Mmmmm, Barlee Sweets

Lots of animal pics here, I really enjoyed my time with them.  :)

Isaac, mom and I in the kitchen, ready to eat!

Do you like our festive ears and sweaters?

We continued the celebration on Sunday at Becca and Levi's with a beautiful spread:

Tyler and I got all dressed up and headed off to the Nutcracker.  Loved it!

Merry Christmas 2010

I hope you all are enjoying some good quality family and friend time this Christmas.  Tyler and I are presently in Auburn...listening to polka and enjoying some down time this morning.  This evening, we're looking forward to a delicious prime rib dinner!  Merry Christmas everyone. 

I wanted to share a few photos from our Zoolights trip with Beth and Dave.

Reflections

I love that the Christmas season brings so many opportunities to gather and celebrate and laugh and eat and ... just be together.  It's been a busy month and I am sure many of you can relate.  I can't believe I am writing a blog and don't have a picture to share.  Not so many pictures being taken lately...I'll have to get back in the habit soon.  Here are a few thoughts for the evening...

@Work
Work is busy with registering new students and enjoying some quiet time while students are on break.  I enjoyed the Albers white elephant gift exchange as always (hard to believe this is my third year in the business school)! 

@Home
Family wise, Joan is visiting from California, always nice to have family in town...especially during the holidays.  We've enjoyed some time in Auburn to visit, cook, and relax.  Last Friday night, Karlie, Jordan and Fisch came over for a fun night of eating and chatting.  I was very thankful for the good company and endless laughs.  Too bad I wasn't camera happy because we all happened to be wearing grey that day.  Great minds think alike, I guess?!

@Play
I organized and enjoyed the annual holiday party here at the condominimum complex.  We had a great turnout and amazing food.  Tyler and I have season tickets to SU basketball again this year.  We've been to some really exciting games and enjoy supporting the team as they grow and improve.  If you ever want to join us for a game, let me know.  After one game in particular, we headed over to Anthony's to celebrate Tylers most recent accomplishment: Professional Human Resources Certification!!!!!!!  He's on cloud nine, still, and we're so proud of his passing a very very difficult exam.  Thankfully, he has much more time to enjoy life these days and doesn't have to be studying endlessly.  We also celebrated his brother Kyle's graduation from SU's MPA program.  What an accomplished family!  Recently, we met up with friends Beth and Dave in Tacoma for some Christmas cheer and a visit to Zoolights.  Really great to see them!

I am very much looking forward to a week+ of vacation, and Christmas of course.  Wishing you all the best for Christmas and 2011! 

Jingle Ladies in Seattle

You've gotta watch this video all the way through : )

Merry Christmas!

sista time

It's been a long time since Becca and I had some good quality sister time but we made it happen this year.  In the midst of the December cold, we escaped to the beach.  A little crazy, I know, but it was lovely, relaxing, beautiful, perfect.  The destination was Long Beach, WA to be exact. 

Thanks to mom and dad for timeshare credits, this is where we stayed:

We took a few strolls on the beach in the sunshine!

Wow, we look tall in this one!

The view from our balcony:

After shopping, shopping and more shopping, we headed a few miles south to Ilwaco for the tree lighting and boat parade.  Pretty cool.  This tree is made of crab pots!

The picturesque town fish co.

And what do ya know, Santa and Mrs. Claus were even there!!!

Thanks, Becca, for taking the time to be with your favorite sister.  :)

Snow!

Remember December 2008's snow storm in seattle?  In case you don't, check it out here and here.  Well, we're supposedly in for another snowy winter and right before thanksgiving we got a taste of it.  Although it seemed like a small taste with only a few inches, school was closed for two days right before thanksgiving so I enjoyed an extra long break.  Thinking back now, I wish I was a little more productive on my six day weekend but I am catching up now :)

Turkey Days

I feel like this year will hold the record for number of thanksgiving celebrations for us.  It all started the Saturday before Thanksgiving at the Gevers' house.  The newlyweds once again showed us how to party in style with their annual pre-thanksgiving feast.  It was absolutely delicious!

Kotzebue won the plate contest with his "bacon" plate, complete with a movember mustache.

Next up was celebration time, Vixie style.  Sorry, no pictures, but you'll have to take my word for it that it was a good time.  Blayne and Megan flew up from California and it was fun to have their company, as always.  And most recently, we had turkey dinner with the Hauck clan while Uncle Ed and Aunt Joan were visiting.  Whoa.  So much turkey, so little time.  :)

I am thankful for the quality family time spent in these last few weeks and look forward to many more years of celebrating.

the most beautiful girl in the world

Meow!

Final notes on our VA/DC trip

The Pentagon Memorial, Arlington National Cemetary, and the Udvar Hazy Space Museum were impressive.


We began our day with a visit to the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial which was a humbling experience. The memorial is laid out in a way that really makes you think about the people who were killed, very thoughtful and moving.

In regards to the Arlington National Cemetary, I must admit that the thought of visiting a cemetary was not appealing to me at first, but I am so glad I went. The sheer number of graves as well as the honor and respect for the military were apparent here. The landscaping was absolutely beautiful and a fitting tribute to those who have served our country. We visited William Howard Taft’s gravesite, the Kennedys and Eternal Flame, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers, Womens Memorial, and Space Shuttle Memorials. Here are a few pictures of our time there.

Last but not least on our trip, we visited the Udvar Hazy Space Museum (a smithsonian, but further outside of the city). Tyler enjoyed himself the most, I think. Lots to see here and a nice layout, much like the Seattle Museum of Flight.

That’s sums up our VA/DC trip. Amazing once again! Can’t wait to go back, hopefully it won’t take us another 3 years to return.  :)

Natural beauty in Virginia

On the last leg of our Virginia adventure, we were "one with nature." We couldn’t leave our tree hugging back in Washington, you know : )


On Saturday, we ventured out to the eastern shore and caught a brief glimpse of Maryland along the way. From the car, we enjoyed the beautiful sunset and some great 80’s/90’s tunes!

Our destination was Chincoteague Island, a small community on the water nestled between the bay and the Atlantic Ocean.  For dinner, I enjoyed a delicious flounder fillet and some good laughs with Sandi, Steve, Kelly and Tyler.  Good times :) 

Sandi found a beautiful Victorian style home that we could rent which was just perfect. 

The next day, we ventured to Assateague Island to climb Virginia's tallest lighthouse and see the sights nearby.  Not only did we get to climb the lighthouse, but we got to walk around the outside landing at the top to enjoy panoramic views of the bay and ocean.  Simply beautiful!

Wild ponies roam the lands in that area, which was fun to see on our wildlife walk.

We headed down the boardwalk for a close-up of the ocean which was just beautiful!

Our nature walk to finish off our exercise for the day :)

After returning home in time for some Sunday night football, we enjoyed a bit of R&R and visited the good city of Norfolk the next day before taking off for home.  The Norfolk Botanical Gardens were beautiful and impressive, a nice relaxing way to bring the trip to a close.  Here are some of my favorite parts:

Tyler was happy as can be that we had enough time for some oysters for lunch.  :) 

Our trip home was more adventurous than planned, thanks to strong winds, but we are home safe and sound, still holding onto the great memories.  Thanks a million Sandi, Steve, Kelly, Gary and Gabe for making our trip memorable!

p.s. after preparing this point, I realized that I missed an entire day's worth of events, oh dear.  stay tuned for our visit to the Arlington National Cemetary and Udar Hazy Air and Space Museum.