So, we never got a Christmas letter out this year. A blog post will have to suffice, although many things have been blogged already- if that is the case, the title will be a link to the original post. Our ten best pieces of life from 2010. In order.
10. Jeff’s 28th Birthday. Maybe Jeff should write about this one but o well. Jeff’s birthday this year we partied it up 12 year-old style. We had a pizza party with cupcakes at our favorite joint, Chicago’s Pizza. After pizza, we went bowling then came back and played some games.
9. The Crate. Back in October, we spent 24 hours living and networking in a big green box called the Crate. It was a fundraiser for FAME, Fellowship of Associates of Medical Evangelism, and by the end we had made our goal! It was surely a different way to raise money but thanks again to all who supported us and FAME!
8. Jeff’s Man Trip to the Appalachian Trail. Back in June, Jeff and 3 other guys (along with some non-hiking females) took a trip down to Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountains for a two day hike on the AT. I wasn’t able to go because of work but that let Jeff marinate in some testosterone for awhile. He also had been reading some books fostering his manhood so this was a culmination of sorts.
7. End of my Intern Year. June 30 was my last day as an Intern ever! July 1 was no walk in the park, however, as I was on the most difficult rotation of second year (PGY-2 we call it– post-graduate year 2). At least that one is also over now, as well as the second most difficult month. It has been a transition from doing a lot of busy work and having a fair amount of responsibility to doing more shadowing on rotations like surgery and ortho. But I also have more weekends off, which is nice. I would think I would have more holidays off (me working St. Patrick’s Day above), but I have worked July 4th, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s Eve so far this year… With the exception of my month of nights, I have been able to see Jeff more so its a win-win for us both! Or maybe even a win-win-win!
6. Halloween Party. I blogged about this recently, but as much work as hosting a party is I do enjoy it. Everyone was a good sport and found some sort of costume and even participated in the walk-off competition. I enjoyed making fun cupcakes and other fall-themed treats. We’ll see if it becomes an annual tradition for us as our party has been rotating around for the last several years.
5. Life group. I believe we talked about this last year, but we have continued to lead a group of 8 every Wednesday night for Bible study. Steph, Jill, and Arin above are in our group (unfortunately, Mark is not). Laura, Adrienne, and Jenn are also in our group. Yes, that is 7 girls and one Jeff. He is being a trooper but having more guys would be one thing we would maybe like to see in the future. We are excited about our upcoming study of the book Radical by David Platt- I’ll keep you posted over at One Book One Month!
4. North Dakota Family Christmas. The most recent of our top ten. We do have a flickr page with our photos posted now. We left at midnight on Dec 22 and drove to Grove City, MN an hour west of Minneapolis to visit with Jeff’s dad’s brother’s family. The next day we moved on to Grand Forks, ND where Jeff’s mom’s sister lives and hosts the family Christmas. Christmas Eve we went to church, had a music program, and opened presents from our gift exchange. Christmas Day we stayed at the hotel with good breakfast and hot tubbing then went cross country skiing in the afternoon, followed by a fabulous turkey dinner. Sunday we had another good breakfast, some poetry time and played lots of games. We headed back starting Dec. 27 and took 2 days to drive back home to IN. Successful family time!
3. Panama. You would think our one international trip of the year (unless you count Cozumel for a day… no) would come in at #1, but it was a quick trip and largely work-related for me. The fact that Jeff was able to come with made it way better though. There are several blog posts about this trip already so I won’t re-hash the trip, but it was a breath of fresh air for us both.
2. Tucson. I think we had a tough choice between our top two. We really enjoyed all the hiking we were able to do and scenery completely different than what we see at home. Our favorite were the Chiricahua Mountains pictured above. We also loved the Bed & Breakfast we stayed at and the little get-away feel the trip had.
1. The Cruise! It’s tough to beat 6 days and 5 nights of sun, good food, and water activities! Our first cruise and probably not our last. I think we agree that our fav part of the trip was our bike trip around Key West with crazy Lloyd. And the food… although our waistlines could’ve done without the unlimited dining options.
Well, that wraps it up. A really great year overall. May 2011 bring as many joys and surprises!
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