A Look Back at 2009

After our first full year of having a blog, it seemed only appropriate to review our favorite blog memories as we close out 2009 and look forward to 2010. We had a great year together, with Roxy, with friends, and with family and can't wait to see what 2010 has in store for us.

A few of the many highlights of the year included:

• Our travels (to the eastern side of the state (Yakima and Spokane), Las Vegas, Maui, Suncadia, Boston, Connecticut, Bellingham, Seabrook, and Corey was able to hit up San Diego and Sonoma for bachelor parties).
• Seeing friends and family from near and far (Aunt Karen from Holland wins the award for traveling the furthest).
• Corey's new tattoo.
• Roxy's first birthday which we celebrated by participating in her first race.
• Our first anniversary.
• Corey's completion of his 180 Challenge.
• Going on our first hike together.
• Snagging Seahawks season tickets for the first time.
• Completing my first marathon.
• Winning a trip to Maui through work.

In addition, we were able to celebrate the marriages of Brian & Katrina, Gina & Nick, and Spence & Renata; the arrival of Mick's son Xavi; the arrival of Katy and Tyler's twins Charlotte and Hannah; and the engagement of Brooke and Brian.

We wish you all a happy New Year and are looking forward to spending time with you in 2010.

A look back at a few of the many fun times we had in 2009.

Out With the Old

Though our condo is a decent size, for two people who have a lot of stuff, there just isn't much storage space for all of our 'treasures'. After living here for over two years now, the places we were storing stuff needed a bit of an overhaul. Rather than spend a precious weekend day cleaning out and organizing closets, drawers, cupboards, etc, I thought the perfect time to do this would be this week since we both have it off. So on Monday morning, we dove right in.

After taking down all the Christmas stuff, we started tackling drawers, closets and cupboards within each room, ultimately coming up with 2 bags of garbage, 4-5 bags of recycling and a huge stack of items to be taken to Good Will or to Buffalo Exchange. Even though we have a walk-in closet in our room, those of you who know us well know that it is jam packed. To help solve that issue, I packed up all my summer clothes and shoes (which we know I know need for about 7 more months) into a huge bin which is now in our storage unit in the garage. I'll swap these clothes for winter clothes in late spring, thus leaving our closet less packed and more organized in the meantime.

It felt so good to clean things out - not only did we get rid of stuff we didn't need, we found things we'd forgotten about, have ideas on how to use some of these things, and we don't fear for our lives when opening cupboards and closet doors any longer.

Love that we got this all done in time to kick off the new year with a nice, clean house.

I didn't think to take any 'before' pictures but here are a few of the most notable 'after' shots:

Our bathroom closet.

'His' side of the walk-in closet...note the nice, neat stacks on the shelf.

'Her' side of the walk-in closet. Again, enjoy the nice, neat stacks now - they won't stay this way forever.

All this stuff is ready to be donated / taken to Buffalo Exchange - love getting rid of stuff we don't need / use.

Date Night

The only thing better than date night with Corey is date night on a Sunday night when neither of us have to work the next day (or entire week for that matter)!

Last night, armed with gift cards from Christmas, Corey and I headed downtown to kick off our week long staycation.

Corey used his Banana gift card from my grandma to stock up on some great deals and then we headed over to the Cheesecake Factory for a delicious dinner, courtesy of the gift card my brother gave us. After that, it was over to the movie theater to see Up in the Air.

We had a great date night and look forward to having the entire week off together!

Mmmm gotta love the Cheesecake Factory!

Merry Christmas #2

My parents, brother and grandma arrived on Saturday for our final Christmas celebration of 2009.

Everyone loved the gifts we got them (video game for my bro, CJ jeans for my mom, GPS for my dad, and gift card / throw with arms for my grandma) and we loved everything we received from everyone else, including my Kindle 2 (can't wait for Maui and Hawaii - I've already started downloading books) and my UW Snuggie (for both Roxy and I). Corey got the puffy Eddie Bauer jacket he's been eyeing (and talking about) for months, among tons of other goodies.

After gifts, we spent a nice, relaxing day together, followed by a yummy dinner (homemade veggie enchiladas) and then a few of us watched Up (super cute movie!).

We are so lucky we were able to see and celebrate with both families! Thanks everyone for all of our fabulous gifts!

Grandma getting ready to open her gifts! (Notice Roxy diving into her crate after one of her gifts in the background.)

Roxy LOVES giving my dad ear kisses. Not sure why, but she always has.

Corey in his new coat. If you look closely, you might see his face...

Rox and I + the UW Snuggie. Love it!

Dad, Scott and Roxy, who just wanted some snuggle time on the Snuggie.

Sometimes, the holidays just really wear you out.

Merry Christmas!

Corey and I woke up early today to get started on opening presents (both for Roxy and ourselves). Roxy had a blast playing with her new toys and wore herself out quickly. Corey spent much of the day playing with his new BlackBerry Bold 9700 and I spent time finding outfits to wear with my new galoshes and relaxing before we headed over to Joan's for dinner.

Consuelo and Brio joined us at Joan's for our gift exchange with her, stockings and a delicious dinner. Brio and Roxy didn't get along but it was nice to have the pups with us so we didn't have to worry about getting home quickly to feed / walk them.

We had a blast and are so lucky to be able to spend today with the fam. Looking forward to seeing my family tomorrow!

Merry Christmas to everyone - hope you were all able to enjoy time with friends and family!

Present time!

Loving the bully stick.

Worn out...

Dinner with the fam; everyone is wearing the crowns hidden inside of their crackers.

Christmas Eve at Our Condo

Last night, Corey's mom, dad and brother joined us at our place for dinner, dessert and to commence the opening of presents.

Dinner included toasted spiced ham drizzled in honey, fancy green beans and roasted red potatoes with onions and peppers. It was the first time we'd ever cooked a ham and it turned out really well. For some reason, cooking a ham made us feel like adults (i.e. old) but it was fun and super easy.

After dinner, we opened presents - we were spoiled! Gifts included a new fleece for Miss Roxy, clothes, a gift certificate to Volterra (wahoo for date night!), a pastry bag for decorating (I'm going to aim for the best looking desserts in Ballard!), a new version of Lips for the Xbox (yes, we tried it out last night), and much more. And this is just the start! We are headed over to Joan's tomorrow for stockings, exchanging gifts with Consuelo and Christmas dinner and then my parents and grandma will join us tomorrow to wrap up the Christmas festivities.

For dessert, I made cranberry apple crisp and served it with vanilla ice cream. Seemed like a festive option that everyone would enjoy.

A few photos from Christmas Eve are below and all photos can be found here.

Corey and Elliott playing COD Modern Warfare 2 (which was one of Corey's gifts from yours truly).

Roxy enjoying her new fleece from Joan. Super cute!

The guys in their new hoodies.

Moran fam photo opp, though apparently there was something exciting on the ground.

Mama Moran and her boys and grand pup.

Curtis had to test out Corey's hat...might have been a bit too big.

Gossetts' Holiday Shindig

On Saturday, a huge group of us (20+ to be exact) headed over for some great food, lots of laughs, and a $1 gift exchange! With a Southern theme, the food was great and ranged from Ezell's chicken, to Corey's soon-to-be famous baked beans, to homemade macaroni and cheese and tons of delish deserts. We were able to see old friends and meet some of Chris and Natalie's friends that we hadn't met before.

Once dinner was over, we started up the gift exchange - with the $1 limit, we no idea what to expect. There were some practical gifts (a mini pack of Kleenex, soda, candy, dish soap) to perfect gifts for the kids (Nerf gun, coloring kit) to funny gifts (a 'Peace' sign, which is what I ended up with).

Of course, I had taken photos off my camera that day and forgot to insert my memory card before we left for the party, so I didn't get to snag any photos, but was able to 'borrow' Natalie's (thanks Natalie!). Check them out below.

Lisa loved the wine...

All the gals!

Mmmm, Ashlie's mac & cheese was the bomb.com.

Clearly something crazy must have been on TV when Natalie took this pic...

Holiday Sweater Pub Crawl

With the holidays rapidly approaching and many folks needing an excuse to make use of a holiday sweater (or search one out as in our case), Sara organized a holiday sweater pub crawl through Ballard tonight.

About 20 people - from her co-workers to friends of friends - showed up in their holiday best to take on bars like The Smoke Shop, Old Town Ale House, Hattie's Hat and King's.

Big thanks to Laura, Corey's co-worker who loaned him her Eddie Bauer sweater (in a women's medium I should add). Corey was the talk of the pub crawl - he rocked that sweater and actually looked somewhat classy (as classy as you can be in a holiday sweater), while I on the other hand embraced tacky with my velvet, present-covered sweater and gold poinsettia pin.

I included some photos below. Others are on my Flickr site.

Had a blast and looking forward to making this an annual tradition!

Mr. Classy and Ms. Tacky.

Half of the crew at our first stop: The Smoke Shop.

On our way to stop #2.5: Old Town (Peoples Pub wasn't ready for ~20 of us so after a few minutes there, we were on our way).

Holiday card for next year?

The Gordens. Note Gina's reindeer pin and Nick's turtleneck.

Tara and Laura - both taking festive to the max!

Ian, Brady, Matt and Ebe hanging at Hatti's Hat.

Moran Holiday Photo

You've probably seen this photo by now but I couldn't help posting it on our blog as well. I LOVE Roxy's head tilt in our family holiday photo. Can't get enough.

Happy holidays from the Morans!

Jello Shots, Dick's Burgers, and Gnomes...OH MY!

You know you're in for a fun night when a holiday party kicks off with cherry and lime jello shots and burgers from Dick's. That's exactly how my work team holiday party started off last night at my co-worker Stephanie's house.

We all had a great evening at the Moultries', filled with great food, tons of yummy drink options and many laughs. The highlight of the evening was the $10 (or less) White Elephant gift exchange. Most desirable gifts included a yard gnome, a Zen garden, Nerf gun, and the highly coveted bright blue monkey and banana covered fleece boxers (which I'm proud to say were my contribution).

Thanks for having us over for a fabulous evening Stephanie and Billy!

A few of my favorite photos from the night are below; the rest can be found here.

The hubby enjoying a Dick's hamburger.

The festive Jello shots.

Ready, set, GO!

The work crew: Tony, Doyin, Dara, Siiri, Stephanie, Stacy and I.

This Nerf guy was wanted by all the guys.

Boss man and his wife with their original presents (both were stolen shortly after this photo).

Everyone needs a pair of underwear for your hands, right?

Dara donned Billy's 6th grade jacket and showed off his moves.

Holiday Parties Begin!

I love the holidays - in addition to the all the obvious reasons, it means fun parties with our friends and co-workers.

Last night we kicked off the party season with the HMG holiday part at Brian and Eileen's house. Eileen cooked up an amazing spread so in addition to stuffing ourselves with great food, we were able to spend some fun quality time with all of co-workers and their significant others, and everyone had the chance to show their competitive side with a Balderdash-like game. This is really the one time all year that we're all together and it's so fun to catch up with everyone.

Next up: my T-Mobile team party tonight. Check back for details tomorrow.

In the meantime, here are some photos from our HMG evening.

Corey making friends with Frosty.

The festive dinning table. Love it!

HMG'ers: Niels, Matt, Pat, Brian, Natalie, Corey, Laura, Erin.

HMG gals - the ones who keep the office afloat.

Brian opening the host gift the HMG team presented to him and Eileen. Between the high chair back and glasses, he looks ready for someone to sit on his lap and go through their gift wish list.

Frisbee Fun

Who knew playing with a Frisbee could be so much fun, not only for Roxy but for us as well. (Make sure your sound is on!)

(Apologies for the darkness / poor quality. Had to catch this right when it happened and didn't have time to get all the lights on.)

Meet Moorea

The Reeders became puppy parents this week and last night, we had our chance to meet Moorea. Moorea is named after their honeymoon location and was born on their anniversary - how appropriate! She's a Goldendoodle (Golden Retriever / Poodle) and is absolutely adorable. She's eight weeks old and is only about 13 lbs. right now but is about Roxy's size.

Roxy is looking forward to an upcoming playdate in the Reeders' backyard.

Congrats Lisa & Jason!

A few photos from last night are below. The rest can be found here.

Playing with the toys we got her as a welcome home gift.

Hanging with her momma (who's in the 'throw with arms' that we picked up for Miss Moorea so she'd be allowed on the couch).

My cute hubby with Moorea.