New *Decorated* Office

I recently got a new office at work, and I've been wanting to decorate it. So Dan and I spent some time this weekend framing and hanging some pictures around the walls. I love them!! Most of the photos are from our road trip around the U.S. during the summer of 2005, and they are beautiful. My talented husband took almost all of them - he's got a great eye for gorgeous photography. Everyone who's visited my office so far has been wowed by them and wants to know where I "bought my photos"! I love telling them that Dan took them and about our 2-month camping trip that resulted in so many awesome pictures. I love being reminded of the memories we made, and now I have a ton of scenic views to enjoy while I'm working!

The Big 3-0!

I love celebrating my birthday - the more celebrations the better! My 30th birthday was on Friday, and we had a fun dinner at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza that night with a group of our friends from church. Some of them used to be part of our small group Bible study, but aren't now, so it was great to get everyone together again. I also got a delicious birthday cake from Coldstone's - the best ice cream store on the planet!!

Celebration #2 was on Saturday night - my wonderful husband took me to see Cirque du Soleil "Corteo" at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, north of San Diego. It was spectacular!! I had never been to a circus before (at least not one that I remember), and Corteo had all the best elements of the circus with amazing choreography and music. I would highly recommend it! There are some Cirque du Soleil shows that are pretty racy, but this one was family-friendly, and we saw plenty of kids having a great time in the audience. The best part of the show was when Dan got chosen out of the audience by a couple of clowns trying to find a body to fit into a casket they were rolling around the stage! They grabbed him and gave him a "check-up" to see if he would fit in the casket - and the woman clown just about ripped his shirt off in her excitement! It was hysterical - more for me than for Dan (he was pretty embarrassed about having his chest revealed to a bunch of strangers, but I figured they all just got more for their money!!). I wish I had gotten a picture of that, but anyway, it was an awesome show, and a fun way to celebrate my birthday! Here's to the beginning of the best decade of my life!!

We Love Christmastime!

We had a blast this Christmas! Since Dan gets two weeks off for the holidays, we always make the most of it and visit both our families in one trip. It saves us from having to fly across the country during Thanksgiving weekend, which is a nightmare! So this year, we flew to Williamsburg, VA first to visit the Jesters. We got to see Dan's cousins, John and Carrie, and their son Dillon one evening, and we went to Christmas Eve service at Robin's church. She played piano for the service and sang a solo and did an awesome job! And Christmas morning was tons of fun with our nephew, Benjamin, who's 3 years old now and really gets into all the gifts! He wanted to help everyone else open their presents after he finished with his. Our little nephew, Nathan, is one and a half, and he's happy to let Benjamin open all his gifts for him. That'll change soon! The only bad part of Christmas was that Nathan got really sick with pneumonia and RSV!! They had to take him to the ER on Christmas night because he was having so much trouble breathing! It was very scary - but he's doing fine now.

We flew from VA to Nashville, TN, to visit the Campbells next. My family never, ever stayed in Nashville for Christmas! We always drove to TX to visit our extended family during the holidays, so I have very few memories of what Christmas is like in my home town. My parents are going to put their house on the market soon and are considering moving out of TN, so it made Christmas in Nashville that much more special this year. Another exciting part of our visit was seeing my best friends, Melody and Michelle. Melody and her son, Skyler, and her parents came to my folks' house for a visit, and then Dan and I drove up to Springfield, TN to see Michelle, her husband, O'Bee, and their son, Brendon. All in all, it was a fun-filled holiday season with family and friends that we'll cherish!

Here are some photos of the Nashville friends we got to see.

Debby and Melody

Mel, her son, Skyler, and Mr. and Mrs. Anderson

Debby and Michelle

Michelle, O'Bee, and their son, Brendon

The Past (Almost) 5 Years

This is our first blog and we've been married for a while, so here's a quick run-down of what our lives have been like! Dan's originally from Long Island, NY and Debby grew up in Nashville, TN. We each moved to Denver after college, met at church there, and got married in 2003. Since we got married, Dan's changed careers from counseling, to teaching, to currently being a high school principal. Debby's stayed in the marketing field, but has worked for different companies along the way. We fell in love with San Diego during a vacation, and moved here in 2005. One of our favorite things to do together is travel, and we've taken a lot of trips over the past few years! Some of the best have been our honeymoon in Kauaii, numerous visits to see family in New York, Virginia, Tennessee, and Texas, a 2-month-long camping road trip we took around the U.S. while we were "between jobs," and a vacation in England and Scotland that we took with Debby's family and Dan's parents.

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