Christmas 2007

Despite us being far away from our family and friends we had a great Christmas and don't want our holiday (aka rest and relaxation) to end. We are so greatful for our family members for sending us fantastic gifts. We opened presents this morning, made breakfast, Dan took a christmas nap (of course), we fiddled with our presents, called family, fiddled with our gifts some more, enjoyed our free time together and made a yummy ham dinner, followed by Harry Potter. It was great! We only wish we were closer to our families...especially so we could have played with our new niece and nephew!!!

Here are some pictures of the day:

Clearly we are enthralled with our gifts...and sleepy

Talking with our families - we miss you!!!

Carlie cooking fudge and Dan baking his bread

***We must insert here that we were able to take all these pictures of the two of us and not just one of us at a time because we received the coolest gift ever. See below:

We spent most of the afternoon playing with this little guy. It is a super flexible camera stand that can pretty much attach to ANYTHING....it's amazing! So we placed it in all sorts of crazy places and had lots of fun.

Here is our post-christmas, destroyed apartment. The camera was attached to our celing light.

Dan enjoying his Christmas chocolate - he's a chocoholic

Dan's amazing rolls. Aren't they good looking? He baked them on his new pizza stone

We like making a fancy dinner, even if it's just the two of us.

Dan has his goatee back!!! He had a few days off from the CG...

The rolls turned out fantastic!

There is still 1 minute of Christmas left here, so MERRY CHRISTMAS and We hope everyone has a great end to the year and a fantastic New Years!

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Our Bests and Worsts

Dan's Top 3 Best Things That Happened in 2007

1. Gaining a nephew (technically 2006) and a niece.
2. Graduating from Coast Guard Boot Camp.
3. Learning new creative skillz (painting, bread baking, upholstering, sewing, general cooking, baking, make-up, refurbishing furniture, pottery, and home decor)



Dan's Top 3 Worst Things That Happened in 2007

1. Being away from Carlie from January to May.
2. Being away from Family ALL YEAR LONG.
3. Having to give input on this blog - jk...kinda!!!





Carlie's Top 3 Best Things That Happened in 2007

1. Graduating from Willamette University - yay!!!!
2. Driving across the country with Natalie this summer
3. Being a leader for TaB (Take A Break) - doing service in Texas.



Carlie's Top 3 Worst Things That Happened in 2007

1. Being away from family and friends while in Florida.
2. Being sick all winter/spring without Dan to bring me chicken noodle soup.
3. Leaving the college life and running track for the real world and laziness.

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The usual

Well, it's been a couple of days since we last posted. Nothing too exciting has happened since then :) Carlie has been busy at work and Dan has been busy being creative...the usual. Currently we are trying to get all our christmas gifts and cards out, it's unfortunate that we have to mail our gifts this year rather than see our family in person. But we've got to do what we've got to do. It has been more interesting here in Florida. The weather is absolutely wonderful, 70-80's and beautiful sunshine. I'm even thinking of maybe going to the beach later this week.

We've also made some friends from church, which is exciting because we've been friend-less in Florida for quite some time. We've been hanging out for game nights and also went to an international dinner night (I made paella and it turned out pretty good!). I've also been meeting a friend to go running every Tuesday and Thursday. It's good motivation to get back in the habit of running again. This Saturday I'll also be running in another 5K, the Say No To Drugs Holiday Classic - this time I'll be in slightly better shape! There is also a free all you can eat pancake breakast afterwards and lots of prizes....all I've got to do is run over a steep bridge for 3.1 miles and cross the finish line at the beach! Sounds good.

We hope you all are enjoying the crazy few weeks before Christmas. We Miss You! Remember: When shopping at Target please put all unwanted items back in their proper locations and do not ask team members ridiculous questions. Thank You!

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O (teeny tiny) Christmas Tree!

This weekend Dan and I bought our teeny tiny Christmas Tree! It's 3ft tall! We've never had a fake tree before, so this Christmas is a little weird. In Oregon, we go out into the woods, pick out our Christmas tree, chop it down, bring it home and decorate it. EVERYONE in Florida has fake trees, people at work even laughed at the idea of having a real one. "But it'll die...." Apparently, they don't know about water. But in any case, it was fun decorating our tree and adding some lights to our apartment. We still have some more decorating to do. Dan is also making his own stocking, because he didn't like any at the store and he wants to make one that is more "him" We'll see if this happens....and what it will look like???


This weekend was also great because we have a new family member! Our niece Leila, was born and we are soooooo excited and can't wait to see her cuteness in person. Hopefully it'll be soon....

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