Bringing in the New Year, Seattle

Unsure of what to do for New Years...
Once the bad weather got better, we headed to Seattle (after all the snow melted). We stayed with Sarah and Stefan- so exciting to see Sarah growing in her pregnancy. She is due in March and we couldn't be happier for them! That will probably the next time we head up there- to meet baby girl Coe and a few other new faces. (Congratulations to Heather, Shelly and Anna, my other girls that just gave birth!)

Stefan and Sarah:





It was also great to see Dan and Rebecca who hosted the shindig for the evening. We also finally met Eloise, Celia and Adam's new baby girl. What a cutie!
I was bummed that I missed seeing my brother Kendall, but glad to hear that he had a very relaxing holiday season!

Sarah and Shelly:



Chris and Jason: Cheers!

Saying goodnight to Eloise:



Dan, Jason, CD and Betsy:



Rebecca and Robyn:



Brandon and Molly (Congrats to them, getting married this year- woo hoo!)

Christmas

Christmas was a very relaxing affair this year. Paige and Dave came to visit for a few days and we had a blast.
Their first day here, the weather was good enough to go on a plane ride. As most of you know CD is currently working on getting his instrument rating and once that happens we will have more liberty to travel by little plane instead of doing long drives to meet up with friends and family.
Dave and CD taxing towards the hangar (a bit of snow is visible in the background mountains).



Paige and Dave also brought a 3D puzzle of Venice (luckily not the whole city!). We've all been there together and it is one of my favorite places in the world. This was my first 3D puzzle and as such it had some new challenges. You know how the front and back of buildings sorta looks the same? Chew on that for a minute...
Steph and I building Venice- it took more than a day! (oh wait, that's a different Italian city...)



On Christmas eve we were joined by our friends Stephanie and Craig to share a holiday turkey dinner. Everything was delicious and the company was great!



Christmas day was very low key, just the way I like it. We slept in a bit. Got up and started enjoying the eggnog (CD and Dave made it earlier in the week) as we opened presents.
CD: gift distributor



The day after Christmas we went to the beach to see some big waves and enjoy a bit of the intermittent sunshine.







That night we had reservations at the Benbow Inn down by past Garberville. It was a fun and tasty dinner. CD's parents went there regularly 30 years ago when they lived near the Bay area.
The whole gang with the Drinking Bear: