Last night our fun began at "Mama's", where we dined on delicious pizza & appetizers. Abby & Ryan joined Chris, Michael, Sophia and I to begin our night of fun. After we had our fill of fabulous pie, we headed to our annual Bowling Extravaganza.
As I watched my beautiful family enjoy the New Year's celebration last night, I indulged myself in a review of our 2008. In lieu of a "Christmas Letter", I'll share my thoughts with you here.
Each year, since our first year in Arizona, we've celebrated the new year's eve at the base bowling alley. For a small price we enjoy unlimited bowling, snacks, raffle prizes, sparkling wine/sparkling juice @ midnight and a passable breakfast buffet at 12:05 A.M. Every year has had it's memorable moments...Sophia's first foray into the world which is "Nastase family bowling" came when she was a tender babe of 1 month and 1 week old!
2008
We started our 2008 @ the bowling alley. Abby had joined us for Christmas (after a brief but agonizing weather delay) and thankfully had stayed through New Year's Eve. Earlier in the day we took the kids to Nogales, Sonora, Mexico and then out to eat. It was Abby's first time in Mexico! Erin, Matt & Collin were in Ohio, with Matt's family, and Michael was in Omaha with friends. Even though we were missing half our family, everyone was healthy & happy, so it was a great way to kick off the new year!
In February, my parents paid their yearly visit; we had so much fun and "made fond memories"!
March brought our grandson Collin's first birthday, unfortunately he had developed a c. diff. infection and wasn't able to travel, so we had to postpone his birthday party. Alexa had the opportunity of a lifetime-a family trip (with her dad's side) to Italy! They spent a couple of weeks traveling to her ancestral home & exploring the famous cities. Her favorite thing was the "Italian Ice". It was hard to let my baby go overseas for such a long period of time, but I know she loved every moment and I am so happy that she was able to experience it.
You can follow Collin's blog here: Collin's blog
In April, I made a quick trip home to surprise Erin for her birthday (May 1). We got a hotel room for her & Matt and I was able to stay and take care of precious Collin. It was as much a gift for me as it was for her, I think! I treasure the memories of Collin's and my daily walks around the complex, our building block play & unlimited story reading/cuddling. Unbeknownst to me, Erin had planned a surprise for MY birthday and had organized a large birthday party for me at a local restaurant!! It was so amazing to me that so many friends and family took time to come out and celebrate with me...I felt so special and loved!
May brought one of the best events of the year...Ryan and Abby moved to Tucson! Ryan had retained his internship at a business here in Tucson while attending school in North Dakota; it turned out to be relatively easy for him to transfer to the U of A and to the Air National Guard Unit here in Tucson. Abby acclimated easily, working at a bank & attending college. They moved into a very lovely home, close to the foothills, but still close enough for us to see them often.
In June, Chris and his team were awarded the prestigious "Raytheon President's Award" at a banquet in Washington, DC. It was wonderful for him to have his hard work acknowledged. The month got better when Erin and Collin arrived to surprise dad on his birthday! We had a celebration the night before, so he wasn't expecting anything more. He, of course was overjoyed to see his baby girl and her baby boy. I was so surprised at how much Collin had changed in just a month & a half; he was so big! It was so special and wonderful to have them here; we threw him his "belated First Birthday party" at the club's pool and he loved every minute of it! Throughout the visit, he and his aunties had big fun chasing each other around, playing hide & seek, the musical cube and various other games.
July was mostly spent at the pool! Our family's big excitement was that Ryan and Abby got engaged in a romantic proposal on a beach in Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico!! We had a small "engagement dinner" on their way back into town and were so thrilled to celebrate with the bride and groom-to-be. They have set a wedding date of August 8, 2009.
You can follow Ryan & Abby's blog here: The Adventures of Abby & Ryan
We celebrated Ryan's 21st birthday twice in August...we are so lucky to have him in town! We also spent a hilarious weekend camping with our friend Dan (and his son & friend) and even fit in some fishing and our first winery trip with Abby & Ryan.
September was another monumental event in our family...my baby sister, Melissa, got married! She and her husband, Joe, had a fairy tale wedding in a castle in the Loess hills southeast of Omaha. We spent a wonderful week plus in Omaha, it was awesome to see both sides of our family and to be a part of Melissa & Joe's Special Day. While in Omaha, we celebrated Chris's dad's 69th birthday...Nastase Family Events are always imaginative, rollicking fun! Soon after our return, Abby's mom, Marlys, arrived for a quick visit to see Ryan and Abby's home & to shop for wedding dresses. We were thrilled to meet her; she is as lovely & sweet as her daughter and I was honored to accompany her and Abby to the bridal shop. The kids did a great job showing her some of the notable spots around Tucson and we were able to have her over for an authentic enchilada dinner! (Thanks to my German mother's famous recipe!!)
God continued to bless our family in October in many ways. First, we got a new addition to our family in the form of a furry little ball named Bruno. More importantly, Michael moved back home! We've all enjoyed Michael's hilarious personality and the interesting t.v. shows he's introduced to us. Bruno quickly adopted Michael as "his boy" and the two are pretty much inseparable. We also learned that we are expecting another addition to our family! We are so excited and feel so blessed to be welcoming another little Nastase to our bunch!!
In November we celebrated Michael's 20th birthday and Sophia's fifth birthday! Michael also made the amazing choice to enlist in the Navy! We are so proud of him and can't wait to watch his career unfold.We also had a "faux Thanksgiving" celebration the week before Thanksgiving with Ryan and Abby (they traveled back to North Dakota for a joint celebration with her large family & Ryan's mom's family and Erin, Matt & Collin.) On Thanksgiving we dined with our good friends, the D.s and had an amazing feast! We were then lucky enough to travel to Pine Top, AZ to stay with our friends the B.s at a little resort. We snowboarded, sled, hiked, sightsaw and ate amazing dishes prepared by our friend, Simon. It was a wonderful way to start the Advent Season, which came and went with speed I haven't experienced before!
December was a whirlwind of school activities, Christmas parties and holiday preparations. We officially celebrated Sophia's birthday at the Reid Park Zoo; we had a "cold wave" of rainy weather (in the low 50's) and we all complained bitterly, until we realized that it was about 60 degrees warmer than back home in Nebraska!! (Sorry Nebraskans, to rub it in. I couldn't resist.) 
Erin, Matt and Collin were scheduled to join us for Christmas, but unfortunately Collin had some hydration issues, then developed C. diff. again, so they had to cancel. Thank God that his issues weren't serious and he has recovered nicely...we have been so blessed that Collin (other than a few hiccups that can be expected with a child with short-gut syndrome) was so healthy in 2008! 
Chris finally started his new position, the one he had "earned" back in September! His first day was two weeks before Christmas break...I think it's great that they're "breaking him in gently!" He will be supervising production control, which is similiar to what he did in the military. He's very excited about the new challenges he faces and the new team he'll be working with. He's now had a week of vacation from work and I think it's going to be a struggle to restart this Friday. I am definitely going to miss the wonderful, lazy days that we've shared!
This year at Christmas, we decided to start a few new traditions. We started by celebrating Christmas Eve with "The Feast of the Seven Fishes". This is a Sicilian/Italian Catholic tradition that has a fish dish which represents each of the seven sacraments. It also follows the ritual fasting on Holy days by consuming fish instead of meat. We had the appetizers in the afternoon and then went to our beautiful church for the Children's Mass. Sophia LOVED the Nativity story as reenacted by our Youth Group and narrated by our wonderful priest, Father Maldonado. We then headed to home to finish our feast; we had alot of fun with our culturally diverse menu (shrimp cocktail, pickled herring, crab salad, fried calamari, teriyaki salmon, clam chowder and lobster tail) and were stuffed beyond belief when we were done! The kids, as our family tradition dictates, each opened one gift. Then we retired for the evening.
In the morning we awoke to the happy cries of discovery; Santa had come! We dined on what is now our new "Christmas Morning Breakfast"-Creme Brulee French Toast. In a word, "YUM!" Ryan and Abby joined us and we commenced the present opening, ate a delicious Honey Baked Ham, played some games and felt gluttonous. It was good.
After Christmas, thanks to the generosity and care of some wonderful friends, Chris & I were able to spend a couple of romantic days away. We slept in, ate amazing food and enjoyed every minute! We desperately needed it and came back feeling rejuvenated & refreshed!
Thank you for indulging me my walk through Memory Lane; it was an exercise that had two purposes...to document the milestones of our family AND to help me recreate the family blog I inadvertently deleted a month ago. :( I can't promise that my future entries will be more exciting than this one, but I am pretty confident that none will be as long as this!
In closing, I wish you and your family a wonderful, amazing, magical 2009! May you experience unlimited laughter, great health, prosperity and peace.
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