Merry Christmas

from both of us, to all of you. wishing you a very merry christmas!


we heard that herod was a pretty mean guy...

so we brought in the troops!

Seattle Symphony 2008

every christmas time andrea and i try to get all dolled up and do something nice.


this year we ate at wild ginger. a nice little asian restaurant above our favorite concert venue, 'the triple door.'


after dinner we wondering across the street to benaroya hall to see the seattle symphony. they were performing their holiday concert 'winter dreams.' the music was amazing! it's always great to hear good classical music. to be honest though, we felt the program was rather short.



what better to end the evening then stopping by the pyramid brewery on the way home for a winter warm up...and spinach, artichoke, chorizo dip!

Thanksgiving 2008

once again we had and orphan thanksgiving. we invited all of our transplanted friends over to share in giving thanks for the bounty...which we deep fried! jon and selky [aka red dog] tend to the bird in the deep fryer and the birds in the drive-way.


this smile was for not having to cook turkey tom in the oven this thanksgiving. although i [brooke] must say that last year she made the most amazing turkey i've ever had in my life!


anson, from portland, did a fabulous job on the stir fried green beans. it was awesome to see that everybody jumped right in to help.


once again, the vets [kris ann on left and melinda on right] did the honor of carving the bird. i have to learn one of these days. jon supervised the legalities of the situation!


this is selky; also known as 'red dog.' she wanted to come in and socialize, but had to stay in the mud room because...well, she was muddy. she'd join us later for games.

the adult table [kris ann, jon, melinda, brooke ...taking photo..., andrea and stosh].


the kid's table [mark, rich, and anson]. they behaved very nicely!


too much turkey; too much dessert.

we had a wonderful evening that was shared with wonderful friends. we ate, drank, played games, and closed the evening around 12am. we were glad to spend it with our orphan friends!

until next year...thanksgiving out!

our home: 1032

if you haven't checked it out yet, visit our house's adventures at 1032.

Noe Wedding

November 8th was a great day! Not only did I get to see some of my awesome friends that I miss so much, but Kyle and Doan got married! They had 2 beautiful, yet very different ceremonies. The morning ceremony was a traditional Vietnamese ceremony held at her parents' home for family only.

The bride in her [handmade] Vietnamese dress. It was stunning.


We wore what is called an 'ao dai' all handmade in Vietnam.


The groom and his family approached the home with gifts for the bride and her family. We received them at the door, then brought them into the home for her mother and father to accept.
The bride's gifts [robe and hat] were taken up to the bride, who was in her bedroom. The groom then went upstairs to receive his bride!


The 'altar' was adorned with gifts for the bride and her family.


The couple stood at the 'altar' while her parents adorned her with jewels, and presented them both with gifts from her family in Vietnam [who could not make it.]


Brooke and I at the Vietnamese ceremony.


This was Doan's little 2nd cousin...isn't he adorable in his little ao dai?


I miss my friends!


Doan's family photo.


The Bridesmaids with Doan.
[left to right] Priscilla, Cat, Doan, Angie, Andrea


Doan and Kyle...newlyweds!


Our dresses were quite colorful against the gray Midwest sky.

____

The Christian ceremony was in the late afternoon and was held at the Dayton Art Institute.

Mr. and Mrs. Noe!


Brooke and I at the Christian ceremony.


Me and the naked Indian.


constantly in motion


Cat & I...doin' the bridesmaid thing


Roomies! I love these girls.


Brooke and I, always having fun!


Can you believe we got Mom out there?...she was going 'low.low.low.low.low...'


Brooke made some new best friends. They were awesome. Her whole family was awesome!
[left to right] Kahn, Giak, Viet, (some random white dude,) Brooke.


Mom taught Brooke how to dance to the 'hip' Vietnamese music. He picked it up pretty quickly. That's because if he messed up she would yell at him and hit him on the shoulder. Then she would smile and give him a big hug. Oh Mom...


It was awesome getting to see some friends from Cincy!
[left to right] Andrea, Kyle, Doan, Theresa, Renee
[who is that...tina turner!? this was Doan's third (and final) 'party' dress]


We love this couple!!

Kyle & Doan:
We're serious...you should move out here when Kyle's done down in Texas! We promise you good times:) You are a beautiful couple. We wish you years and years of happiness together!
Thanks for a great day. We miss you greatly.

there's a new blog on the block.

sorry for the long break from our weblog. it's not because of laziness; we've been very busy.
proof will come soon! thanks for understanding.

tune into to 1032 for a different sort of action.

Halloween 2008

what better way to christen a new home [1032] then to have a bunch of friends over to celebrate halloween! we were so busy moving that we forgot all about getting costumes together. i think for the time we spent on them, a ninja and the unabomber came out well!

mary beth and ann marie were the first to arrive. they saw the attic stairs and got so excited...so we just left the stairs down all night!

so naturally, all the guys wound up drinking beer in our attic.

that's right! we've got john mccain in our attic! who's in your attic?

and a ninja!


don't let the ninjas out of your attic...
they'll kill everyone at your party.


whether they're friendly at first or not.


mary beth, melia, and eline


mark, chad, and the unabomber.

ninja, sarah, and fiona.

melia, defender of the cupcakes and ready for bed.

as always, the party always winds up around the fire pit. although there were no burned costumes this year, we had a blast geting warm and chatting around the fire.

we had a great time, but we kept turning to talk to justin, scott, or julia. we missed you guys! maybe next year you'll make a special trip out here for halloween!