So, the new year has officially begun. Incredible. A lot has happened in the eighth year of the 21st Century. Let us review chronologically:

January - Me and my then-fiancé-now-husband Jake welcomed in the new year with Brandon. The story is too ridiculous and amazing to publish on the internet. We also threw Jessica a going-away party, which produced this amazing photo:


February - Apparently nothing happened in February worth documenting. Sarah turned sixteen. I guess that’s kind of a big deal? Ha.

March - The gang took a trip up to our Northern neighbor, Seattle. It rained. Surprising?


April, May, and June a lot of wonderful things happened. Jake graduated from his Nursing program and can now be considered a “college graduate” which is a big deal, as he is the first one in our group of friends to do so. But everyone knows what these months were building up to…


JULY!
the month of holy matrimony for me and the the most wonderful man in the world :) Highlight of the year for sure. It was great to have alll of my most wonderful friends back in town at the same time for the first time in a while. For the Bachelor’s party, the boys went camping (cred. Pat Jacks for photog)…


for the Wedding, we were blessed with great weather and an all around smooth and enjoyable day.


The Honeymoon was most wonderful, as I was able to travel Oregon/California with my husband :) So much awesomeness is such a small month.


August - Mm, August was very warm. We did some stuff, like Edgefield and hanging out in our oven of an apartment, but the saddest part was saying goodbye to our Australian friend Ben.


Also, I started my Junior year at Warner Pacific in August. I’m a smart one.

September - Two amazing things in September; I got to see M. WARD LIVE! As well as Cold War Kids!!! M. Ward will always be superior, but CWK was fun too.

M. Ward singing his heart out.

Um, the gang also went up to Seattle again, this time not to mosey about, but to go to PAX 08, which translates to GEEK FEST 08. It was pretty entertaining and we saw some interesting characters… sadly, not documented. Jacob also became a licensed Nurse, passed the big test and now can legally work as an RN :)

October - Homework happened. A LOT of it.

November - First Holiday season with Jake as husband and wife… did I mention he’s my husband now? Oh, yeah :)

This was taken on Thanksgiving.
Jacob also finally became employed as an RN, sadly, not at a hospital yet, but it’s a good start!

December - Ah, December. Brandon turned old, Jessica came for a visit, and Portland, Oregon was hit with an ARCTIC BLAST!!!! It snowed so much and it hasn’t happened like that in Portland for 12,000 years or something. So my honey and I went on winter wonderland walks :)

me deep in snow.


us doin’ what we do (which is being adorable all the time)

We also got our first Christmas tree!!! :D It was wonderful and lovely, and I had soo many presents under it.



And today it is already the 3rd day of the new year. I will be married for six months the 17th of this month, crazy!! 2009 will hopefully be filled with great adventures, good grades, fun times, and amazing friends :) I love everyone, and I am glad my memories are filled with such wonderful folks :) Happy New Year, let’s start planning what we wanna do. My list:

- travel by airplane
- start jogging routinely
- expand my culinary expertise
- road trip(s)
- camp-out with friends (!!!)
- Tennis match: Jake & Rachel vs. Brandon & Justin
- get drunk (maybe, I’ll be of age!! :P)
- leave the country (maybe not overseas this year, but possibly Canada and/or Mexico!)
- hug out-of-state friends
- experience a lot of new things

Let’s do it guys! Feel free to comment with your own lists :)