Bea and the Miracle Bassi Baby

Last Sunday Paul and I visited our friends Glynne and Lorenzo Bassi for a great dinner of homemade Pizza, our favorite!! We were so excited to finally meet baby Grayson now that he, Glynne and Bea have been back in the states about six weeks after spending several months in Italy after Grayson's very unexpected birth in early July. Born at just 25 weeks (1 lb, 13 oz.), what a miracle it is that Grayson is doing so well! What a cutie!! We were also amazed with how much Bea has grown since we saw her at the Bunny Brunch last April. She is a proud Big Sister. Not even quite two yet, Bea is super cute and quite the little lady. She definitely impressed Paul and me with her ability to speak both English and Italian and was able to translate Italian into English for Paul!! We are so glad to have the whole Bassi family back in the Twin Cities!

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The Whirlwind That Was 2008: A Year In Pictures

As we launch full speed ahead into 2009, we are still asking ourselves how 2008 flew by so fast... much of it seems like a complete blur...

We both feel like work dominated much of this past year, and while we are so very thankful for the stability of our jobs given the economic environment across the country we have both made New Year's resolutions to try to find a bit more life balance this year!

Despite a frenetic pace pretty much all year long, as we reflect on the past 12 months we realize that we were able to have some fun along the way and have much, much to be thankful for!

A few highlights include our escape from the frozen tundra in February to visit beautiful Cabo San Lucas, Mexico where we enjoyed fun, sun, some fabulous food and of course, margaritas. In February Becky also enjoyed a "ladies night out" at a very fun Fashion Fight Night event--a fun, unique way to spice up a very COLD winter weekend!

In April we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary with a nice dinner out-on-the town and took Spenser and Abbie, our nephew and niece, to the Junior League's first annual Bunny Brunch. What a great time to see all of the kiddos dressed in their Easter attire. Over Memorial weekend, my sister, Katie, and I surprised mom with a secret 60th Birthday trip to Asheville, NC and had a great time visiting the Biltmore Estate, hiking, eating great food and doing a little shopping!

Summer time brought "princess" Abbie's 5th birthday and some 4th of July fun at the Brown Cabin at Goodner Lake, Ace's 10th birthday, Spenser's baseball debut, and opportunities to hanging out with friends.

In September I was fortunate enough to head to Philly to visit my dear friend Swati for her baby shower (Baby Sonya is a doll and was born happy and healthy on my birthday, November 19th!!!) and Paul took Spenser to a Vikings Game!!

In November, we celebrated Paul's big 4-0 with family and friends at Pop!! a favorite restaurant before heading out for our two week adventure to Peru. We look forward to creating many more memories in 2009!

Ringing In 2009...Just A Little Bit Early...

Paul and I attended the 2nd Annual Junior League of Minneapolis Eve of the Eve Gala on..you guessed it...December 30th. Like last year it was a great event and its always fun to get dressed up and celebrate while contributing to worthwhile causes.

We also can't wait to plan a party, likely in Spring or Summer, so we can have all our friends over and have fun with the photo booth rental we won in the silent auction! While I did not win any Tiffany Jewelry in the "heads or tails" game like last year, I was amazed that I again made it to the final round of the game!

As for New Year's Eve I must admit I didn't make it to midnight this year...maybe next year!

A few fun pics from the event with Paul and JLM friends Anna Lee Wahls, Laurie Dolan, and Jennifer Ryan.

Christmas Blessings of Friendship

I have always felt so fortunate to have so many wonderful friends and was so excited to be able to catch up with a few dear ones while back in Columbia for the Christmas holiday! My college friend Anne Marie was home from her Peace Corp. assignment in Lesotho in Southern Africa for just four weeks and we were able to squeeze in a quick visit while she was nearby visiting her grandmother. We were also so excited to see Cheryl and Joe Stephens, more college friends from Mizzou, and meet baby Cate, the latest addition to their family! With their recent move back to Columbia hopefully we'll see them a bit more often?

Lunch with the Stevens family was another highlight as Mariam is one of my oldest and dearest friends of at least 23 years---if my memory serves me correctly we first became friends in 7th grade art class---woah, we're getting old! We were so excited to meet their darling twin girls Lucy and Chloe (age 15 mos) for the first time!

A Balmy Missouri Christmas!

The long drive from Mpls. to Columbia, MO all seemed worth it when we finally arrived to be greeted by family, a great Christmas dinner followed by way, way too many desserts, and surprisingly warm weather, nearing 50 degrees. The day after Christmas was even better topping out at almost 70 degrees!!! Our visit to Columbia was pretty low key and allowed for some much needed rest and relaxation. In between eating and eating some more we also managed to see Slumdog Millionaire, one of the best movies to come out in years!!

Living the Life of a Pampered Pooch

We were excited to bring Ace along with us for our Christmas Day trek "South" to see my family. Paul was especially happy as this year marks Paul and Ace's 10th Christmas together! (Ace says a special thank you to "grandma" Bihr for allowing him to come along!!)

Ace had a particularly great 10th Christmas as Santa brought snazzy roughwear snow boots this year to keep his paws from icing up when his "personal trainer", aka Papa Paul, takes him on long walks during the bitter cold winter months! Truth be told mom and dad are very excited about the snow boots, but Ace is not so sure. We hope to get him to actually wear the boots long enough to take a picture real soon--so far one paw is all we've successfully attempted!

Ace's Christmas treats were particularly abundant this year as two HUGE bones to chew on were waiting for him in Columbia along with some milk bone treats. Ace even scored international treats with the arrival of a Christmas package from Amanda Cooke, our friend from England. If all of the treats weren't enough for Ace to be satisfied until next Christmas, Ace found another special attraction at grandma and grandpa's house that he doesn't have at home--we think he just might have discovered his "sleep number," but we hope that won't prevent him from being invited back.

Ahhhhhh...how nice it must be to be a pampered pooch, sleeping away the long car ride as we fought to stay awake behind the wheel on boring I-35, and then fought to stay alive on the insanity that is I-70!

A Brown Family Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve Paul and I joined Paul's Parents, Pat and Marv, along with his Brother Karl's family for Christmas Eve dinner, church at his parents church in Fridley, MN, and of course, gift opening! For the past couple of years the adults have forgone gifts and have given donations to Heifer International in honor of one another. Paul's parents identified this worthwhile cause which is a non-profit organization whose goal is to help end world hunger and poverty through self-reliance & sustainability. Paul and I were particularly excited to again give to this cause as a good portion of its support goes to help poverty stricken areas of Peru!! www.heifer.org

Watching Spenser and Abbie's excitement mount as they patiently waited to open gifts until after churchwas definitely the highlight of the night!! Spenser was thrilled with his gifts from Uncle Paul and Aunt Becky, especially the signed photo and football from his current favorite NFL player, Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears (Aunt Becky admits she didn't even know who this is...at age 8 1/2 Spenser's sports knowledge has clearly surpassed that of his Aunt, unless maybe the topic is the Mizzou Tigers and even that would be debatable!!) Abbie was also very excited to open all of her gifts, especially the American Girl doll from Grandma Pat and Grandpa Marv and the Hello Kitty water dispenser from Uncle Paul and Aunt Becky. At one point she even exclaimed, "I can't believe I have gotten good stuff...I have so much good stuff, I need to give some of it away! Priceless!