Thursday, March 24, 2011

2011

To continue the theme of playing catch up, I thought I would continue with updates from 2011.

For the past 4 years, I have been participating on my company's Community Involvement Committee. This year, I was asked to step up and become its Chairman! I was flattered and honored to take up the post. Our company does a great deal of good in our community and to be involved in that is incredibly satisfying. I am learning a lot and continue to be amazed by the giving spirits of those I work with.

Also along the work front, I have accepted a new position! Starting on Monday I will officially be working in Human Resources. I leave almost 6 years of management for a new adventure. I'm nervous to learn something new, but very excited to start this new chapter.

On February 5th, Whitney turned 21! ::sniff:: She's all grown up now. ::sniff::

Speaking of all grown up, our little Lacey May (introduced here), turned one on January 19th! She's not that squishy little ball of white fur and extra puppy skin anymore!
Lacey - 14months
The past few months have been filled with planning for our upcoming trip to Europe. It will be a first for the both of us and we're incredibly excited. We will be spending time in London and Ireland. Including a stay in Waterford Castle! I will share our itinerary and of course the photos when we return.

That about catches us up to present day. Stay tuned for more on our escapades!

The Last Year...

I have been a blogging failure for almost a year! My goal is to drop in and keep this updated a bit more frequently. Now, let's catch up on the last year. Shall we?

May
* I started my first photography class! I have learned so much since that class. To see some of my first work, click here. We will get to why I don't update that blog anymore in just a moment.
* Last spring I played in a coed softball league. Our team had never played together before and in May, we closed the season in 1st place! We pretty much rocked. No doubt about it. We did lose the championship game to a bunch of poor sports, which was hard to do, but we had a ton of fun!

June
* We finally started removing the wallpaper in our kitchen and dining room. When we first looked at the house we said it was the first thing we'd tackle. 2 years later and we finally began. Removing wallpaper is a pain in the butt. But, the end result could not have been more worth it.

July
* July was filled with parties and fun events.
* Our friends Kyle and Theresa were married.
* We celebrated our second wedding anniversary.
* The last weekend of the month we went camping at Lake Ozette. I had gone camping there in middle school, for a class trip, and it was exactly like I remembered. We hiked the 6miles (round-trip) to the coast on both days. It was also the first time Lacey really got to swim. She'd done a bit of paddling, but this time she was retrieving in the water!

August
* Antonia & Ryan were married on 8/7 and Jovanka & George were married 8/28
* Aunt Shirley & Uncle Jim came to visit from Oklahoma
* Aunt Kari, Uncle John, and my cousin Harrison came to visit from Hawaii
     -It was great to spend some good quality time with our family! We just don't get to see them enough.
* Last, but not least, the event of the month - my birthday! 8/25
* For my birthday I was given a very thoughtful gift, by my friend Rachel: www.sarahshirellphotography.com
She formatted the website, created my watermark, and basically gave me a much needed kick in the seat. It was such a thoughtful gift. I am forever grateful for such an amazing friend. That website is the reason I don't update my blog anymore. Why should I when that site is so beautiful??

September
* The highlight of our Sept2010 was our trip to Las Vegas! I had to travel down to attend a conference for work, so Jeremy decided to tag along for a little R&R. Our conference wrapped up on Thursday, so we stayed a couple of extra days for fun. Some friends met us down there and we took advantage of some nights on the town! We had a terrific dinner at Nero's (a steakhouse in Caesar's Palace) and went dancing at Studio 54 until the wee hours of the morning. Our friend Brian even got a tattoo! It was crazy, but isn't that what Vegas is all about?
* And as you can see in the above photo - I've gone brunette! After 26 years of blond, I decided I needed a change. Perfect timing for the fall and winter months, don't you think?

October
* In October I took another photography class. The subject being landscape. I love photographing flowers. Jeremy teases me because whenever we go anywhere, I come home with more pictures of flowers than anything. I can't help it! That is just where my eye is drawn.

* We attended our second Oktoberfest in Leavenworth. The whole gang went over for a day of delicious food, a beer (or 6...), and people watching. If you've never been, we highly recommend it. We have had a blast! The prices keep going up, which is a tad irritating, but it's worth it.


November/December
* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! Anyone that knows us, knows that we're big Harry Potter fans in this family. We have a tradition of seeing the movies with Jeremy's dad (::waves to Scotty::) when they come out. This year Jessica and Umar tagged along since we basically forced them to sit down and watch the other 6 movies. We cannot wait for #7!
* The holiday's this year were pretty low-key. For Thanksgiving we had a delicious turkey. (seriously, I just patted myself on the back again for that one)
* Christmas 2010 was the first year of my life that we did not have a Christmas Tree. We decided to go to the North Cascades for Christmas, so since we weren't going to be home, we didn't pick one out. I definitely missed our tradition of going to Tazer Valley (the place we were married) to cut down our tree.

* The weekend before Christmas I spent the weekend in Idaho, visiting The Hitts. I got to see my longtime best friend, Cami, her husband, and most importantly - my beautiful nieces. Sometimes I miss them so much it hurts. They're growing up too fast!
Lexie on her 3rd birthday

Jordan Lee - 15months
* November was the start of something very exciting for us - we began the planning for our trip to Europe!
This May we will be traveling to England and Ireland! Very exciting and more on that to come.


That about wraps up our 2010. I am sure there are plenty of details I have left out, it flew by and I feel like we were busy every weekend! It was a great year, filled with exciting adventures, and that seems to a trend that is carrying over into 2011.