Mara's Website

It has been an incredibly busy but also incredibly fun year for us both. The year started off with us starting to hang out outside of work and beginning to date in February. We enjoyed many snowboarding trips together (you learn a lot about a person trying to do the Thriller dance together in a ski resort lunch room!). :)

Summertime led to many sports activities (mostly races) for us both which kept us incredibly busy, in shape, and Mara's dog, Anika very tired (which might be the best part about it!). After a failed 2007 attempt to race up Mt Washington in New Hampshire (the race was canceled due to weather), Will succeeded in climbing it in 2008 (the same weekend Mara had her failed attempt at completing an Olympic distance triathlon due to it being canceled part-way thru due to lightning). The average grade of Mt Washington is 12% and the steepest part is over 22% (think standing up and leaning forward on your bike so you don't topple over backwards)!

We took a trip to Europe together in June/July (see that update for more pictures from the trip) and then moved in together only a couple weeks after returning from our trip after Will sold his house in Loveland in record time (5 days and he had a full-price offer!). Our animals have done very well adjusting to life in the new house. Anika likes having a yard again and two cats to stare at (aka stalk). Penfield has found all the plants in the house and attempts to eat them frequently and Priscilla has branched out and found new places to sleep (she loves the quilt on the downstairs couch). Both the cats have become much more brave and venture out to say hello even when we have guests here! Though keeping the house clean with three long-haired animals has been an interesting challenge.

We have been enjoying life in Denver. We frequently go to all the various ethnic restaurants which are within close walking distance. We can bike to downtown about as quickly as we can drive (and no parking fees!) so have been to a few events there as well. We love the neighborhood we live in since we are so close to restaurants, concert venues, the infamous cupcake shop, but are also only a block away from City Park with a zoo, the nature and science museum and LOTS of space to run (and chase squirrels and geese. Ok, Anika is the only one who seems to enjoy that part). The park also got its cool fountain up and running again this Summer, so we have a light show every night during the Summer that we can see by walking out our front door. Pretty cool!

We have been lucky to have lots of time to spend with friends. Between having friends over for dinner, going to concerts together, just walking around the park together, running races together, we have had lots of opportunity for fun times! We have also enjoyed some out-of-town guests (and in the last week had two different groups of friends stop by in Denver while here for work/work-related activities. So it has been fun getting to see friends from all over!

Mara has also been busy scrapbooking and finally completed the two albums from her trip to South Africa last year (which her friend, Peggy, who was also on the trip finished her online scrapbooking album at least a year prior!). :) Next Mara will be able to *start* the other 2007 albums and maybe eventually get to 2008. Ahh... the work of a scrapbooker never ends!

We were able to dust off our Thriller dance moves and perform it (yes, the entire 5 1/2 minute dance!) at a Halloween wedding reception for our friends Derec and Camille. The "audience" loved it and we instantly had many new friends anxious to know how we had learned the entire dance. :) Luckily nobody noticed we ended 8 counts too early when we skipped a step accidentally. :)

For Thanksgiving, we had TWO meals (yeah, not so good for the waistline!). We spent the Saturday before Thanksgiving at Will's family's house to be able to see his parents, both his sisters, brothers-in-law, nephew and two cousins. And then we hosted at our house on the actual day of Thanksgiving where we had Will's parents, Mara's parents and sister, aunt and uncle for the meal and then her other aunt and uncle stopped by after dinner (and for a small piece of pie with LOTS of whipped cream). :) We had a great time cooking up a storm with two turkeys (one roasted, one fried), two sets of stuffing, and all the other traditional Thanksgiving food. We had leftovers for a week and still couldn't finish it all!

Speaking of food, we have been cooking meals a-plenty and trying out new recipes (some turn out well, others leave something to be desired) :) but we have really enjoyed the adventure of trying out new things.

For the holidays we "get" two weeks of forced vacation from HP, so will spend the first week hanging around Denver (hopefully getting up for our first snowboarding day of the season). We will spend Christmas day at Will's parents' house and then fly out the 26th to spend the following week in Charlotte with Mara's family.

2009 is sure to lead to many new adventures as well. While we haven't decided where to go on vacation (this seems to be the question Mara gets the most from her friends!), we have a couple options and will see what pans out. :) It will most certainly involve lots of snowboarding trips within Colorado, however, and hopefully some training for whatever races we decide to sign up for!

One thing we do know, however, is that we have LOTS of space for visitors and would love to have you come see us!

Hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season!
Love, Will, Mara, Anika, Penfield and Priscilla