December activity

December did not bring rest, but more fun times with friends and family. The beginning of the month brought some special visitors. Julie (and Chris), Kris (and Rob), EG (and Tiffany) all came for a long weekend visit. They arrived on Thursday night and departed on Sunday! It was all too short, but oh so much fun. We had a sitter on Friday night, we headed out early to catch happy hour prices...which meant more drinking (and eating). We rallied until about 2am, and I think we could have went longer, but I am sure the sitter wanted to go home. Saturday we just hung out then grilled up some delicious steaks for Chris's bday, played some euchre, and continued to put our drink on. It was so much fun to all be together, it just doesn't happen often enough. Until next year....
The next weekend Scott and I visited New Orleans to see John Prine with Iris DeMent at the House of Blues. It rained all weekend, but it was so nice to be together just the two of us in an amazing city. We ate, drank, walked, shopped, listened to live music, stayed up too late...but, since we were sans Carsten we slept in and took naps! It was glorious!!!
Starting the weekend off right, the Roddiger's (who sat Carsten for us) advised us to start off with two....um, I would have been on my ass! We had one then opted for dinner, then more drinks up and down and off Bourbon. What a night!

The following weekend was filled with last minute shopping, venturing around Austin, and preparing ourselves for the long drive home. We drove through the night on the 21st, Carsten slept the entire way...12 hours and 1 minute door to door. Christmas celebrations started on the 23rd and concluded on the 27th, all of them wonderful and more memories created. Carsten was still a bit more interested in the paper than the actual toy. Next year I am sure will be a different story. It was fantastic to see family while we were home, going to have to catch up with all our friends on the next visit...sorry. With Christmas falling on the weekend it was tough to fit everything in our schedule. We hope the holidays blessed everyone with fond memories of past and kindled new memories made. Here is our Christmas tree and pic of the best present ever!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

November activity

So sorry to those of you who do check our blog...it has been two months since I posted a pic or news or anything. Blame it on the holidays, blame it on being lazy, blame it on being too busy...or just deal with it! Check out a few pics from of our November activity.

Bethany turned 30 the beginning of November, the Burkemper clan surprised her in KC and last minute Carsten and I decided to join the fun. We surprised everyone, it was a fantastic night. It was too short, but wonderful to see everyone.
Scott traveled to Uruguay for a business trip, he was away for one week. Carsten and I drove to Houston to visit Ginger and James, our dear friends from Shanghai. We have not seem them since the move and so lucky they are so close to us here in the US. Ginger and I visited during the day, checked out the home they are building, and then dined with James in the evening. I also got to meet her "second" (i like to call Carsten her first) grand baby. We had an awesome trip with the exception of dealing with this for three days.....he was cutting his molars!
We met up with the Schnellers in Dallas for the Cowboys game. Thank goodness they won or both Scott and I would have puked! Just kidding. It was a great day, sunshine, cold drinks, good food, great friends.
For Thanksgiving, we went to Stonecrest Ranch. Food was delicious and the hosts were the best part of it all. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful network of friends who are near and dear to our hearts. We followed up our Thanksgiving with a quick trip home for the weekend. Adam put together a surprise anniversary party for Hoot and Kay, they were both surprised! It was a fantastic party, saw a few people that I have not seen in years. Carsten ran around until he was tuckered out!
A small photo shoot before we left. The ranch is SO picturesque and of course we think Carsten is adorable. So we snapped a bunch of pics with a rocking chair, stool and the house.