Happy Holidays!

Knowing that some of you may be visiting this blog as a result of our Christmas card, I’ve been motivated to post some new content!

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is only 10 days away! October and November just flew by. They were tough months to be ASU football fans, that’s for sure. But seeing so many family members in November definitely made up for it! At the beginning of November we made a long-weekend trip to Seattle to watch ASU football (they won and broke their losing streak!), but also got to see my brother Joel (who works a few times a month in Seattle), Sean’s cousin Heather and her new baby, Clementine, along with the rest of that family, Heather’s husband John and her other three children, Lavinia, Owen and Tessa. And as luck would have it, Heather’s parents (Sean’s aunt and uncle), Maureen and Linc were visiting at the same time. Heather and John hosted us for an afternoon with a delicious lunch and a great visit. It was so fun to play with all the kids—they have so much personality and they’re so bright! Other than seeing family (which was one of the best parts of the trip), Sean and I did manage to sneak in a few tourist-y things. We visited the Space Needle, the Experience Music Project (and got free admission to the adjoining Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame where we saw Griff Tannen’s hoverboard from Back to the Future II), the original Nordstrom, the original Starbucks, and of course Pike Place Market. And what would a vacation be without experiencing some great food? We had breakfast every day at Lowell’s, which looks right out onto the water (excellent hash browns, by the way); grilled cheese sandwiches and soup at Beecher’s Handmade Cheese (and watch cheese being made); and a delicious dinner at Etta’s, where Sean had some of the best mussels and oysters he’d ever eaten. It was our first trip to Seattle and I hope it’s not our last—I know there’s a lot more to see and do!

Knowing we’re from the Midwest, friends often ask if we’re going anywhere for Thanksgiving, to which I always reply: “As long as Sean is physically able to get to the ASU football game that weekend, we’re staying in Phoenix.” So although we travel every year for Christmas, we always count on being here for Thanksgiving. It was nice last year when Jim and Robin came down and overlapped with a post-Thanksgiving trip my parents made. And this year was great because although Jim and Robin weren’t with us, my parents (Bob and Ellen) came down and my brother Christian and his girlfriend Anna came from Florida! Sean and I were experienced Thanksgiving dinner chefs by now, after Jim and Robin’s visit last year, so it was our pleasure to host my family for the weekend. We had dinner at the Roaring Fork for my birthday, ate at one of Christian’s favorites, Gordon Biersch for lunch the day he and Anna arrived, visited the Desert Botanical Garden (which was hosting a Chihuly glass exhibit), took in the ASU-UCLA football game, and then before we knew it the weekend was over!

This is our year to be in Kansas City for Christmas (last year we were in Minnesota) and we’re really looking forward to it…lots of friends and family to see! We’re pretty quick to complain about how “cold” it is down here, so we’ll see how we adjust to the temperature! I’m willing to give up the warm temperatures for a chance at seeing snow and having a White Christmas, though. Although it will be nice to see Katie (Sean’s sister) and Adam (her husband), we won’t have to worry about not spending enough time with them, as they’ll be joining us in Phoenix for New Year’s and the Insight Bowl (KU vs. Minnesota)! There’s also a chance my brothers Joel and David will be coming, so hopefully we’re in for another mini family reunion like we had in Seattle in November!

And speaking of Christmas, I did finally get some decorations up in our house. Our tree is lit and decorated (albeit with fake/empty gifts underneath it), our lights are up outside and I’m hanging up Christmas cards as we receive them in the mail. At first I thought it would be hard to get into the holiday spirit without any snow, but people down here in the desert sure love to decorate! There are many houses in our neighborhood and throughout other neighborhoods we’ve driven through that are absolutely glowing with lights, santas, reindeer and other holiday decorations, it’s hard to NOT get in the spirit!

Other than our trips and visiting family, Sean and I continue to enjoy our jobs. I recently finished up on a two-day, 300 person conference that my Center hosted for nonprofit professionals, so now things have quieted down a bit until after the holidays. Sean recently traveled to exotic Washington, Utah, to take depositions, and continues to gain new experiences in his various cases.

Brinkley just got a haircut and has been doing a little bit of shivering around the house, as we don’t turn the heat on (it just feels wrong to turn the heat on when you live in the desert) and neither Brinkley nor Sean is very fond of the dog sweater I bought him. He’s definitely gotten soft since moving to Phoenix…Sean and I remember watching him happily romp through the snow in front of the Lied Center back when we lived in Lawrence!

Merry Christmas and happy 2009!