Happy Birthday Andrew

We love you 25 times more than ever!

Newest Member of the Beghtel Family

Meet Enzo! Dad and Denise came back from Hawaii bearing gifts, and we were blessed to become the proud parents of a (ferrari) Red Plumeria plant. He won't bloom for a few years, but we expect that he'll grow leaves in a few months. Denali just adores her baby brother!

More Winter Sport

Matt and I spent last Sunday up at Mt. Hood Meadows conquering the slopes. I skied and Matt snowboarded. We went with my dear friend Rachel and her fiance, Andrew, and had a great time...and sore muscles the next few days.

As long as I can remember...

...I have always loved cats. While helping cleaning out some old boxes I came across these photos. I think I was around 3 years old and by the looks of it was granted all my wishes. Wish number 1: a cat. Wish number 2: a cat. Wish number 3: a cat. Unfortunately they were not mine to keep and it appears that when wishes number 2 and 3 were taken out of my little arms I was not going to give up number 1 without a fight. Not even for all the candy at the Wonka factory.

Winter Sport

The family went snowshoeing the Monday after Christmas. Dad got to try out his new Christmas present (snowshoes) and AJ, Ali, and Aaron tried out the sport for the first time.

We went to White River Canyon and had a few peeks at Mt. Hood's peak as clouds mostly obscured the top. AJ, Matt, Denise and I ascended a very steep slope to a view point and then slid back down in the interest of time.

What a fun and beautiful day.

Liverpool at Kell's

Here's Matt and I at Kell's Irish Pub this morning after Liverpool's 2-0 win! We're wearing our new team gear given to each other yesterday.

Thanks to Mike for coming on our Boxing Day date and taking this photo...you and your wife are always welcome on our dates!

Merriest of Christmases

On Christmas Eve we celebrated with the Geist side of the family. After the extended family left, the Geist men decided that a lightbulb needed to be changed in the kitchen, but found that the bulb had detached from the metal part. It was major electrical surgery at that point to get the bulb out. When the new bulb was in, Ali enlisted me to help with preparations for Christmas day at the Kelley/Nicola celebration.

Matt and I spent the night at Aaron, Alison and Andrew's and thought that we could all fit comfortably in the King bed. Instead, we 5 all slept by the Christmas tree. Dad and Denise came over in the morning and we had breakfast together. Ali and I got really cute, Denise-sewn aprons which we promptly tied on and kept on until we had to change out of our PJ's to go to other family gatherings.