Christmas!

Our nieces & nephews reenacted the Nativity scene. Here are the wisemen bringing gifts to Baby Jesus.

My parents came to visit for Christmas, so we took them to see some of the cool places in Seattle, like the Space Needle.

Ryan & Mike's "perfect" fruit pizza. So tasty!

Merry Christmas from Ryan & Debi!

Our 3rd Anniversary

Ryan was so nice to give me this beautiful bouquet of roses! He surprised me by dropping them off at my work before I got there. He left a funny note with the roses inspired by the following joke.

My wife struggled with a career crisis: Should she quit her job? Knowing how panicked she was, I called our florist and sent her a bouquet with a card saying "I believe in you."
Later she called to thank me. "But I'm confused by the card," she said.
"Really? Why?"
"Because it reads 'I be leaving you.'"

Debi's Work Christmas Picture

This is most of the staff at Olympic Physical Therapy where I work. I feel lucky to work with such good, smart, nice, happy people!

"Whistle Down the Wind"

We went to the 5th Avenue Theater last night to see "Whistle Down the Wind." It was a good story, the singers were absolutely amazing, and the theater's extravagant Japanese architecture was really interesting. Ryan and I wondered how they attached that huge dragon above the chandelier to the ceiling! (It really is quite large, much bigger than it looks in the picture.)

Candy Turkeys

This Thanksgiving was my first ever Barrett Family Thanksgiving and Ryan's first since 2001. We enjoyed a wonderful turkey dinner and then we participated in the traditional candy turkey building. We had a great variety of candy to use and as you can see, our imaginations went wild! Ryan decided to make a "giant" turkey using an apple for the body and he built his tail on a skeleton of wooden skewers. Everyone's turkeys were ingeniously designed and constructed, although due to the nature of the building materials, all our turkeys slowly fell apart. They were cute while they lasted though!

The Locks

We went to the locks with the Ross kids (our 3 nephews and 2 nieces).

We were lucky enough to see this huge "scrap barge" enter the big lock from the low-leveled Puget Sound. The water level rose quickly in the lock and then the gates opened, allowing the "scrap barge" to continue on its way into the higher water level of Lake Washington.

Dinner at the Space Needle

After receiving a generous donation from some nice grandparents, Ryan and I were able to go out to dinner at the Sky City restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. It was one of the coolest dining experiences either of us has ever had. The restaurant slowly rotates so you can enjoy a 360 degree view of the luminous city of Seattle and the surrounding water as you eat. It really was amazing!

Lake Washington

We live just a few blocks away from beautiful Lake Washington and the public "beach" (which is really just a park with a shoreline if you ask me). We have had some fun times at the "beach" as well as on and in the water. It is quite a fresh-tasting lake! (Ask me how I know.)

Our Little Apartment

Ready for a tour?

Here's our kitchen and bedroom. You can see the bathroom at the end of the hallway in the kitchen picture.


Here's the living room and "the study," which is really just an extension of the living room. Ryan spends a lot of his time here.


And the dining room finishes off our tour.

The Mariners Won!

I went to my first Mariners game ever and they won by 1 point (8 to 7) in a thrilling come-from-behind victory! It really was a great game to watch.
I-ch-i-ro!

Goodbye Utah, Hello Seattle!

Ryan and I moved from the great state of Utah in August, where we lived quite happily for several years. It really was hard to leave behind so many good friends and wonderful memories. We are excited, however, to be settling in for at least 4 years in Seattle. Ryan is officially a "First Year" medical student now and has successfully survived one week of classes. I am on the brink of getting a job in downtown Seattle, the city of one-way streets. I think I will take the bus to work if I do take this job because I get lost every time I go down there!