2012 in review

Although our year has been documented by this blog, I can’t resist the chance for a good summary.
Years from now, we’ll remember this as the year we returned from our Grand Adventure and the year where we bought our little piece of land.


Us, ringing in 2012 in Amman, Jordan.
It was also the year where we each lost a grandmother.  This is Jack’s step-grandmother.

This is my paternal grandmother.

Both were wonderful women who were the rocks of our families.  Both lived their wholes lives in Washington, had long happy marriages, full lives and devoted families.  The recent pictures of them are from our wedding.
On a lighter note, here are some other highlights of the year.

• Weddings attended: Amanda & Ryan in Austin, Porter & Kami in Seattle
• Babies born: Kieran in November to A&B
• Cultural milestones: our 10-year high school reunion
• Best fiction book (Cari): Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese
• Best non-fiction book (Cari): Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of our Lives by Annie Murphy Paul
• Best Hike: the Hoh River backpacking trip over the fourth of July
• Best live performance: this is a tough call, but I’ll say it was the dress rehearsal of Orpheus and Eurydice at the Seattle Opera

Living downtown has been a blast because of all the opportunities to go to games and shows (many of them last minute and free)

• Best game attended: the Mariner’s game after Felix Hernandez pitched a perfect game, where the whole stadium was the King’s Court
• Best sports moment: winning our family pickle ball tournament at the end of a summer surprisingly full of opportunities to play pickle ball together
• Firsts: owning a car, buying land, Jack winning his fantasy baseball league
• Projects (largely) accomplished: scanning massive quantitates of old family pictures

We are grateful to have found jobs waiting for us a this end of our Grand Adventure and also for the last 10 months where we’ve spent more time with our families than in the last decade combined.  It has also been great to reconnect with old friends.
Happy Holidays to you all!