New Years 2009

New Year in Germany means lots of fireworks. This New Year was our last big bang with Chris before he left Germany, so we decided it needed to be a really big one.

It was like Christmas all over again for these two. We took our fireworks and combined them with two families from the ward and had a spectacular night!

Winter in Germany

There are some great things about winter in Germany. Two of the greatest are Christmas Markets and Snowboarding.

Who is that masked man? Well, it's Chris and he somehow managed to stay
warm and outlasted me on the slopes.

It was super cold, but so beautiful we couldn't help but be excited to be there.

I tried to get a few pictures of Jon at the Christmas Markets, but I was shaking too much when I took the pictures and it's very dificult to tell that the picture is of Jon, so you get pictures of me.

Hamburg

Chris, Jon, and I found ourselves sitting in the livingroom after dinner the night before a long weekend trying to decide what we should do with our rare time off. Just before midnight, Chris found a web site that offered blind booking. We put in the dates we can fly and for 38 euros we can get on a flight. It was very exciting. You select the dates, give them your credit card number, and then wait to see where you're going.

It was about midnight when we discovered that we were flying to Hamburg at about 8:00 the next morning. We got busy packing and left early to get on the train for the airport. With no time to plan, we found an information center and wandered through the city of Hamburg. We took a boat tour of the harbor, a boat tour through the city, a tour of a U boat (Chris didn't fit very well), and spent some time walking around the city. It was a great weekend and an exciting way to go.

Jon had a Hamburg hamburger. He shared a bite with me and it was a pretty good hamburger.

Bali

We had an amazing 10 day honeymoon in Bali. We spent the first couple of days in Bali exploring silver jewelry factories and spending time by the ocean. Then, we spent the next 4 days on a boat. We snorkeled everyday, had an opportunity to see some amazing things on my very first dive, and explored some of the outer islands. The next few days were spent exploring more of the culture of Bali. We went to temples, different ceremonies (including a funeral), and touring more factories (weaving, wood carving, painting, etc.). We had an amazing time and came back with some great souvenirs and some amazing memories. And, we were able to get Jon into the ocean to surf. It was a quick surf session, but I'm told it was well worth it.

Wedding Pictures...finally

We want to thank all of our family and friends who supported us on
our wedding day.

Oregon

Columbia River Gourge
Oregon Coast

Dave's house

Enchanted Forest

Pretty mountain and snowboarding
Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood

Minature Trains at Dickey Praire, Oregon

Waterfalls and tree hugging at Silver Creek Falls and hanging out in Molalla after returning from Afghanistan. Heidi flew out to welcome me home and got drug to the Demars family reunion.