It has been a long time

Since I have failed to post much in the past few months, here is a quick update on what Luke and I have been up to.
In the fall I started my 4th year of teaching. And as if teaching wasn't enough of a commitment, I took on an assistant coach position for the girl's soccer team at Seattle Christian. Even though the time commitment was a little more than I had anticipated, I truly enjoyed getting to know the girls on the team and building relationships with them outside of the classroom setting. In the end we placed 3rd in state.

Luke has also been quite busy. He is currently pursuing a his masters in Systems Engineering, and on December 14th he finished his first course, engineering economics. As a result he has been able to apply some of the concepts he learned to our investment portfolio and long term financial planning. It is rather interesting and just slightly over my head : ). In addition to class, he has been rather busy at work.

As our busy schedules started to come to a close, we found ourselves heading into the holiday season. This year we spent Thanksgiving in Yakima and found it quite relaxing. Christmas was spent with the Walker's. We were so anxious for the break and we thoroughly enjoyed our four days over in Bremerton. After getting together with Luke's extended family for some holiday parties, the five of us spent Christmas morning together. That evening my family joined us for dinner and had a great Walker/Maissen family feast.

Luke and I are now thoroughly enjoying our last few days of break before we have to head back to work on Wednesday. Below our a few pictures from Thanksgiving and Christmas.

White Christmas

Luke and I (someday we will send out Christmas cards!)
Family picture with the Walkers
Cousins and significant others
Christmas dinner
Puzzles have become quite the holiday tradition

Thanksgiving with the Maissen's