Christmas in Nevada

We went to see Missy's parents in Nevada for Christmas this year. It was a nice, relaxing time. It snowed on Christmas Day so we even had a white Christmas! We also did some video chatting with some of the rest of the family.

In Retrospect ...

We have now been in Chicago for about a year. We are settling in, getting familiar with the lay of the land, and getting overall acclimated to our new home. We both feel that it wasn't as hard as we expected getting used to such a larger city than we were accustomed to. And while there are a lot of things we miss about Minnesota (mostly people), we do like Chicago. As has been our tradition the last couple years, we thought we would take you all through the past year in pictures. This year will be via blog posts as Nathan's former website is currently down. We do like the other format better, as it was easier to customize to our liking, but this will do. In each post, click on the photo to see more from that event.

Zoo Lights 2008

We went to the Lincoln Park Zoo for Zoo Lights this year. We happened to go on a very wet and rainy night. We got so soaked that we had to buy ponchos at the gift shop! We did get to see a few animals but mostly lights. Even with the rain it was still a good time (how can you beat being able to wear such high fashion such as yellow ponchos?!).

Mustache Monday

With November gone so went the facial hair ... into mutton chops that is! It was quite the sight to see that many mustaches all in one place at one time!

No-Shave November

Nathan participated in "No-Shave November" at work this year. Those that signed up weren't allowed to shave for the month of November. Here is a slideshow of the progress:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Thanksgiving Weekend

For Thanksgiving we went to a friend of a friend's house. We had a very nice and relaxing time visiting, not to mention delicious food! Saturday we went to Stoughton to visit with some relatives. It was good to see everyone!

Holiday Window Displays

We went to see the window displays at Macy's on State St again this year. This has become one of Missy's new favorite holiday traditions! This year's theme was hope and "A Million Reasons To Believe..." On our way there, we also saw another building with interesting lighting. While we were looking at the displays it started to lightly snow. That added to the atmosphere of the evening. 

The Smashing Pumpkins

We went to one night of the two-night "Black & White" concert of The Smashing Pumpkins. They put on an entertaining show. It was a really fun night, and the only thing that could have made it better is if the crazy lady behind us would have passed out sooner! ;-)

City Hall and Union Station

We decided to take part of a day to go see the banners at City Hall and check out Union Station. It was fun to see the inside of Union Station, particularly the warped stairs. The albums these pictures are in also have other pictures of sights around Chicago since we have been here. 

History In the Making

We knew that moving to Chicago would open up many more opportunities to us, but we never dreamt that we would be able to be a part of such an important, historical event. We were privileged to be able to attend the Election NIght Obama Rally at Grant Park. It was an absolute amazing experience. So many emotions ran through us, and the whole event seemed so surreal. Being there brought us a great sense of connection to our country. In addition to the pictures posted at Picasa (click on above picture to see the others), there are also some videos posted at youtube. Please check those out as well!