Wow this has been a long time (again)! Well, here’s what has been happening in 2006 so far…

• January:

• Skiing/Snowboarding in Sunrise Arizona

• CES in Las Vegas

• February:

• Skiing/Snowboarding in Telluride, Colorado with Jim and Crystal

• March:

• Denise’s birthday

• Melissa’s birthday

• Engagement party for Jim and Crystal

• April:

• Jeff’s birthday in Seattle – 40th (WOW) – Click image below for pix

• Kara’s birthday

• Kisha’s birthday party was great!

• May:

• Parents visiting with Kara

• Andy returns home to Germany (We will miss you!!)

• Tracy’s birthday

• Jessica’s graduation from ASU

• Darin’s birthday

• New roof on the house – what a painful process! – I do not recommend Lyons Roofing, but cannot think of one that would do a decent job. No one seems to care about quality anymore! There is one exception to this which is S&P Quality Home Improvements – Steve is awesome!!!

• June:

• Darin starts in a new job (still at Motorola) – Hooray!

• European trip (June 3 – 20 for Darin and until July 17 for Kisha) – Site

• Eric’s Birthday – Fun!

• July

• July 4th celebration of our Independence from the British oppressors – Perhaps Iraq will have an Independece Day they will celebrate when we finally leave

• Jim’s birthday!

• Kisha returns home!!!!!! Hooray!!!!!

• Some sort of party for Kisha’s return

• 2006 AZ Beerfest in Flagstaff, AZ – Good times

• August

• Jenny’s wedding in WA – Beautiful Wedding –

• Camping on the Mogollan Rim in NW Arizona

• Helen’s reception in NY – Unfortunately we cannot attend. 🙁

• September

• Rocky Point – Mexico

• Oktoberfest at the Bokatius Haus

• October

• Visitors from Germany

• Visitors from Indiana

• Kisha got Lasik surgery and she is loving the ability to see well without contacts or glasses

• Octoberfest in Tempe – volunteer at the ticket booth – Fun watching everyone get drunk and stupid.

• November

• Thanksgiving – we have so much to be thankful for. Thank you higher power or universe or ourselves.

• Went to Dave Attell at The Improv – pretty funny

• December

• Crystal’s birthday party – Happy Birthday!!!!

• Many Raclette meals and other holiday meals with family and friends – Yum!

• Christmas in Europe with Jim and Crystal skiing and drinking delicious beer

• More in 2007!

This year has been a busy one with our “daughter” Ann-Katrin finishing up her year with us and heading back home to Germany. Andy was our exchange student (see Photos) from Niederrau, Germany northeast of Frankfurt. She lived with us from August 2005 through May of 2006 and attended the high school down the street from our home in Tempe. Kisha and I have had ongoing discussions concerning our desire to attempt parenthood, but thought that a trial child would be a good way to go.

Andy went with us on almost every trip and even took a friend on a few of them. She got to try snowboarding for the first time with us in Sunrise, AZ and, even though there wasn’t a lot of snow, she still had a great time and picked up on it very quickly.

We didn’t do a lot of snowboarding in 2006 since Arizona didn’t have the best conditions, but we did get the opportunity to go to Telluride, CO for a few days and that was wonderful. There are a few pictures of that trip in the photos section.

In April we celebrated my brother Jeff’s 40th birthday in Seattle. It was a nice surprise for him as Kim arranged a secret gathering and we had a great weekend together.

In May my Dad, Mom and sister (Kara) visited from Indiana for Jessica’s graduation from ASU. Luckily it was also the same weekend as my birthday. We piled into our new Pilot and visited Sedona, AZ area for a day and had a wonderful time (see photos).

May also meant that Andy needed to head back to Germany since the school year was over, but we were able to visit her and her family during our trip to Europe in June/July. We spent the day with Andy’s family hanging out in their garden and eating and drinking. World Cup was going on so we also spent time watching the game with Andy’s grandmother who is really into the sport.

We traveled around Europe visiting The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. You can view our trip site here: click

Kisha received a scholarship to the University of Leipzig to participate in a program for German Teachers from the United States. It was a great honor for her since they only chose twenty teachers from all over the U.S. Even though it was nice for her to be able to stay longer in Germany and gain a deeper knowledge of the language and culture, I was sure glad when she got home in mid July.

We went to Jenny and Sorin’s wedding in Richland, WA in August. Brian and Nami had just returned home from a year in Japan teaching English so it was extra special to see everyone there. Grandma Meier is as active as ever and it is always so wonderful to hang out with her.

In August we also went camping with a few friends in northeast Arizona. Our friends Eric and Denise have quad runners so Kisha and Crystal took their first quad rides and had a great time. There are a few pictures of the camping trip as well.

Another first for us was going to Rocky Point, Mexico in September with a bunch of people. We rented a house that easily slept 20+ people and was a short walk from the beach.

We also experienced a great loss this year with Kisha’s mother passing at the end of September. Thank you all for being so supportive as she works through such a heartbreaking loss.

In October Kisha made the leap and had Lasik eye surgery which corrected her vision to better than 20/20. She still can’t believe that she can see without corrective lenses. I watched the procedure and I am truly amazed about the process.

Thanksgiving was at our home this year and all of the Arizona based family and friends came over for the day. We had 15+ people in the house and tons of delicious food that everyone helped make. Rick and David visited from Los Angeles and we also celebrated Rick’s birthday since it fell on Thanksgiving this year.

As the year wraps up we’ll be spending the holidays back in Europe, traveling with our friends Jim and Crystal. We plan on doing some skiing, site-seeing and beer drinking (of course). For New Year’s we’ll be in Zurich watching the fireworks display with an expected 300,000 other tourists/locals along the lake.  It should be a wonderful trip and we’ll be sure to send out a link with stories and pictures.

2007 is already shaping up to be an exciting year. We are invited to two weddings (one that will take us to Hawaii for the first time!) and we’re planning our first European trip with the (Klein) parents!

We wish you all the best this holiday season and hope that you have an amazing new year!

With love,

Darin, Kisha, Isabella and Mooch

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