Slackers

That's us! Well, I guess Crystal is really the slacker since I'm the one that updates this blog (how fun is it to talk about yourself in the 3rd person?). So it's been way over a year since the last time I posted and how in the world am I supposed to do a recap for that much time!? I barely remember what has happened over the last year :-) I'm going to do my best to be thorough and succinct in this post and then try to stay more up-to-date in the future - as well as add more interesting things like photos of us and our friends/family instead of random videos of dancing small people :-) (see my last post as reference point).

I've decided that, instead of writing a book, I'll try to categorize our life and then hit the high points in each category.

Marriage:
Freakin awesome. Jeffrey and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary this past July and we are so glad that we were able to spend the first years of our life together in Boston (no offense, family and friends, but it was good for us to be on our own away from you all :-) ).

Church:
Super duper great. Jeffrey and I helped kick-off a 9:15 classical service at Citylife this past year, which has been a great growing experience. Our community group grew so much last year that we had to split off into two groups - and Jeffrey and I both think Boston is the first time in our lives that we have seen community 'work' so well. We have amazing friends here who are intelligent, thoughtful, accepting, and who love the city and love each other.

Family:
Our nephew, Jack, was born last April and he is so precious! We definitely don't get to see enough of Lydia and Jack but, when we do get to spend time with them, we are thankful for every minute. Jay and Emily will be moving their family to Birmingham, AL in July for a one year orthopedic fellowship. Tiffany is halfway through her first year at UNC-Chapel Hill, Garrett spent the fall semester in Copenhagen studying abroad, Jenna started her job a nurse and helps deliver babies ALL the time, and Brett continues to improve his golf professional resume as head golf pro at Raleigh Country Club. The Dysart parents are finally empty-nester's and are loving their new identity and the West parents are doing great as well (both sets of parents visited us in Boston in 2007). We've had some rough spots with extended family health over the past year or so but it has led us all to prayer and submission to God's sovereignty - and, thankfully, everyone is doing well or at least improving in amazing ways.

Work/School:
I'm still working at Brightcove as a Software Engineer and LOVE IT. I work for the best company - seriously. My co-workers are so much fun, the technology is engaging and challenging, and I enjoy going to work every day. I take dance class all the time and have continued to teach and perform when I can (I put dance in the work section because it's really much more than a 'activity'). I did a technical review for the book Object-Oriented Actionscript 3.0 about a year ago (you can see my picture in the book if you find it in Barnes and Noble or whatever). Jeffrey is almost done with school (graduates in May) and is finishing oh so well! He sees patients all the time now, did a residency last May at a community health center in Roxbury, MA, was selected to be a Teaching Assistant at school, and is getting ready to take the last part of his dental board at UNC-Chapel Hill in February. He's had a great experience at Tufts Dental. We don't know where we will be when he graduates but we're focusing on Chapel Hill, NC and Boston, MA.

Travel:
We took a big trip to Alaska last August with our friends Stuart and Emily - where we backpacked through Denali National Park. It was an incredible trip - I can't write about it b/c there's too much to tell, but I will post pictures later. We've also been all over New England - camping, hiking, going to the beach, touring, outlet shopping, skiing, leaf peeping, etc. We live in a very fun and beautiful place. Jeffrey and I are taking a Vermont B&B ROMANCE trip this weekend to just enjoy each other and play in the snow so hopefully we'll have pictures to post next week.

Kids:
Our 3 year-old dog, Gus, is doing great and now pees and poops in all the right places ... most of the time. No plans for human kids right now :-)

Activities:
Jeffrey is now roasting his own coffee beans (using our oven) and possibly training for a marathon (training for the Boston marathon time frame but he might end up doing a different one). He was elected as a deacon at our church last year and is still totally obsessed with beer (hence the beer club membership his parents gave him for Christmas). I've also discovered a new obsession of mine - Core Fusion (http://exhalespa.com). It's a killer workout, created by dancers, and I LOVE it! I wrote a book during the span of one month (http://www.nanowrimo.org) and go to see as many dance performances and musicals as I can (we have some great companies come through Boston). Jeffrey and I have also become quite 'green' lately (intentionally) and, as of late, try to think deeply about what and how much we consume. Seeing pristine Alaska had a lot to do with this mind/heart change (plus, lots of reading) and we have big plans for how we are going to conserve resources in the years to come.

Ok, I said this wasn't going to be a book but I guess it is. Oh well. Pictures to follow ...