Spring Break

Ryan & I had Spring Break for the first time since high school so we went to a magical place to celebrate... DISNEYLAND!

We had a great time doing all sorts of fun things like...

...trying on hats at The Mad Hatter.


...taking a picture with Mickey & biting his head off.


...getting soaked at Splash Mountain & driving at the Autopia.

And of course, after our two days of fun at "the happiest place on earth..."

Theo Chocolate Factory

Today we went on a field trip to the Theo Chocolate Factory. It was pretty cool since we learned all about the production of chocolate "from bean to bar," we got to wear hairnets, and we did quite a bit of taste testing. It was good stuff, but you know, too much of a good thing can become a bad thing. I don't think we will be able to eat chocolate again until probably . . . tomorrow!

Whistler Trip

Ryan broke out of med school "prison," I took a day off work,
and we spent the weekend at Whistler with Ryan's parents.
We had a wonderful time skiiing and enjoying the beautiful
mountains & the peace that comes with being away from it all.

Mission Friends

While serving in New Braunfels, Texas, I was fortunate to have not just 1, but 2 wonderful missionary companions: Sister Miller & Sister Engels. Amazingly enough, we all happened to be in/near Seattle last week and were able to get together and reminisce over lunch and bowling. It was great fun, just like old times!

A Fun Breakfast

We made a "fancy" breakfast for ourselves the other day and we threw a few "specialty" pancakes into the mix. Cute pancakes definitely taste better than those plain, round, boring kind!

Ryan's Birthday

For Ryan's birthday we celebrated by going to Snoqualmie Falls. It was so beautiful at the falls and in the surrounding forested areas. It was a perfect day to walk around there. Ryan thought it was a perfect day altogether and he thinks life would be so much better if every day were his birthday. I agree, but I worry that he would age quite quickly if that were the case.

New Year's Day

We had so much fun skiing up at Mt. Baker on New Year's Day with Ryan's dad, his brother Shawn, and our friends Kris & David.

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!