Het afgelopen jaar...

Hier is een lange samenvatting van het afgelopen jaar. Deze keer wel in het Engels want het werd geschreven door Angela:

2009 will never be a year forgotten… here’s the Christmas letter that went out to friends and family

This year it was a little hard for Kevin and myself to imagine the picture for our Christmas cards without our beloved dog Piombo so, instead, we have decided to send out an end of the year email to everyone. For some, there will be a lot of stuff you already knew, but we wanted to make sure everyone was filled in.

I finally graduated from the university!! I received a Bachelor’s degree with a double major in International Business and Management. I actually managed to graduate in the top 5% of the entire Business School. It feels absolutely amazing to have graduated, it was a long four years, just ask Kevin. Not a day went by that I did not whine about some project or professor. During my studies, Kevin was busy growing his business. He now has some very steady clients and works on projects that some entire IT teams are not able to get done. He is really talented and I believe he has found his true calling.

Soon after my graduation, we bought a house in Eden, Utah. The name is certainly fitting for this amazing town in the Ogden Valley. It was not amazing for our first month though. The day before we were supposed to close, the inspector needed the water turned on, and to everyone’s surprise there was a leak. Even though we were buying the house through a short-sale (one step before foreclosure: the owners were behind on payments and the bank had to approve the sale- which also means the owner will not see any money from the sale) the owner did the responsible thing and tore the wall open and fixed the leak. We were still in Montana, but had to be out of our house and had the rental van reserved and everything. Worst case scenario happened: our closing date got moved, but the owners were a blessing, they left us a key to move in anyways. So we moved in, still waiting to close, and then there was some paperwork missing. The bank needed someone to come and pump our septic tank. They came, pumped and noticed there was a problem with the drainage from the house. They did not give the paperwork to us or our realtor until after closing, and, soon enough, there was an issue with the plumbing to the septic tank. To make a long story short, we were without water for days (besides the record amount of rainfall!) and Kevin was out digging a hole in the middle of the night with Action Plumbing. Not only did we have to deal with this, we also had company (poor Holly!). The next day Holly cut her visit short (who knows why?) and the Action team was hard at work, so hard in fact that they blew some of our pipes. Fortunately, they were mainly over the garage, but a little in an extra room. We had to then have the emergency team come to cut the wall apart and dry out the place. Boy did they! They had dehumidifiers set up and Kevin and I were raisins in no time short. I was also coping with the most incredible pink eye I have ever seen. After 3 days standing over the septic tank, it is only to be expected. Well, the week went by and they were back and put the dry wall up and I painted. The rain finally stopped as well, June average for Eden: .5 inches, June of ‘09: 6 inches.

In June, we also adopted our second kitty, Lola, from a local shelter. She came from a high kill animal control in Tooele (pronounced nothing like it is written). A women who runs a rescue group took her our, and had her up for adoption at a local PetSmart where we found her! She and Micia play, although Micia can be quite a bully even though she is half the size of Lola. Lola’s favorite toy is a little foam ball she carries around everywhere.

The summer went on. I looked for a job, to no avail, fortunately the valley happenings kept me busy. First, we had the Garlic Festival. There was more garlic than I have ever seen in my life! My dad came down for that one. We went armed with a box of wine and garlic chocolate chip cookies. We ate vegetables straight from the garden, hula-hooped to a local band and got interviewed by NPR.
The next festival was the Balloon Festival. My mom, sister, nephew and niece made it down for that one. It was unlike anything I have seen before. The sky all around our house was just filled with colorful hot air balloons for three straight days. We also got to make a summer visit to Park City and watch the Olympic hopefuls train on giant jumps landing in a swimming pool!

Kevin and Tullia went on a three day hiking trip with some new Utah friends to King’s Peak. King’s Peak is located in the Uinta mountains and is Utah’s highest peak, with an elevation of 13,528 feet (4,123 m). They sure were tired when they got back, Tullia had hiked so much her paws were bleeding! While they were gone a pair of golden eagles had made a tree in our backyard their home. They stayed to greet Kevin and Tullia on their return, and let him know they were watching out for Piombo and me.

We took a fantastic road trip from home to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Baja California in Mexico, San Diego and back through Las Vegas. Our first night in Vegas we were able to book a hotel for $4! We did not have any luck gambling, but we signed up for cards everywhere and reaped the benefits of it being my birthday month. We were able to hook up with a good friend while we were staying in Los Angeles. We had not seen Katie since we all lived in Rome. She has made a wonderful life for herself in California and I am so happy she took the time to meet up with us for a fun night in Santa Monica. The next day we were thrilled to find an amazing restaurant in Venice Beach. Our Mexican experience wasn’t quite as wonderful. Kevin was sick and we were going down for surf lessons and there was a storm brewing. The pro surf competition was happy, but alas, we were not brave enough to try to learn with the record waves and red flag warnings. We did get a fun day of boogie boarding in though. We made it to San Diego, which, along with Atlanta, tops our list of super cool cities we don’t want to live in, but wish we knew someone that did (darn Andrea ;)). The gaslamp is incredibly cool, as well as the seals at La Jolla. We were back to Vegas, this time we got another amazing deal, which included two tickets to the awesome magician, Dirk Arthur who had actual lions and tigers in his show. It was nice to come home to our house after such a long trip.

We missed the pets so much and were happy to pick up the dogs from being boarded. Piombo seemed to come back with a kennel cough, but seemed fine otherwise. But, he did not get better and we decide to take him to the vet. The news was devastating, it was not kennel cough, it was blood running down the back of his throat due to a large tumor in his nose, which had eaten away all of the bone that surrounded it. We had Moniek and Alan visiting us from Belgium, but we asked them to leave. Although it was difficult for Moniek to leave her son, she would see him again and we would soon loose our son, having his life cut short due to cancer. I do not want to minimize the pain I felt when I lost my brother, but I can honestly say, I have never felt pain to this extent (Kevin was equally devastated). I would have given anything, including my own life, to have Piombo here and ok. But alas, this is the world we live in. Kevin and I still take it one day at a time, a poem by Pam Martini expresses well what we are going through for those who don’t understand:

Just A Dog
Bonds of love between humans and animals expressed.
Someone who I thought was a friend
Came to visit me today
He asked why I was crying
Like my world had come to an end
I told him that I had just lost
Someone who was truly dear
That had remained by my side
Who used to defend me at any cost
Oh my! Said my former “friend”
I’m sorry, I didn’t know
Was it friend or family?
My heart was broken, unable to mend
As I explained that it was both
For my beloved pet had died
But this person who I thought
Would understand, did not
So, this is why you’ve cried?!
I thought it was terrible
That a person had passed
That someone important had died
But HE WAS JUST A DOG…

He was “just a dog” to you
Perhaps that much is true
But he was my morning sunshine
And loyal through and through
We were, in this life, bound
By invisible bonds of love
Unconditional and real
No greater could be found
He had become a part of me
And others he’d come to know
Who accepted his presence
Like a member of the family
Sometimes I took for granted
His kind and gentle eyes
His huge and loving heart
And the playful way he panted
I thought he’d always be here
And now that he is gone
It’s hard for me to go on
Without my best friend near
But HE WAS JUST A DOG…

Life goes on and I was still on the job hunt, but the emptiness in the house was overwhelming. Tullia was as overwhelmed with loss of her companion as we were. She would pace around the house whining, which in turn would only make us cry and the only way to I could make any sense out of Piombo’s death was to adopt another dog in need. We visited every shelter within a two hour range of here, we did not find a dog we were looking for, but we were able to help out a local animal control by fostering a dog until he could get in and be neutered. His time was running out, and although Zeus wasn’t the dog for us, we could not bear to stand by and have him put to sleep. We fostered him for about a week and he went in for his appointment to get neutered and during his recovery he found a home! I searched and searched petfinder.com and various other sites looking for the dog that needed us as much as we needed him. When I found him, I was really hesitant and emotional. Was I ready? I kind of decided, with the help of Kevin, that I would never feel ready, but it was time. Argo was in an animal control shelter in Casper, Wyoming, nearly eight hours away. I called the local humane society and they gave me the number to the local Rescue Ranger, who rescues animals from that particular shelter, because it is high kill. She was an angel, she tested him with other dogs and cats and picked him up for me and got him half way to me. So, I made the seven hour round trip drive to pick up the emaciated dog. He was born in Arkansas, and had moved with his family to Wyoming. He had spent his life tied to a chain outside, never taught anything but clearly abused and beaten. He was just the dog we were looking for, as Kim, the Rescue Ranger, put it, he was a diamond in the rough. He has gained about 10 pounds, but still has another 10-20 to go. He is a lover and is a great addition to the family.

Things continued to look up, as I finally found a job! I had received job offers, but none were what I wanted to do. I had started to wonder if I ever would, was it me or was it just that it was the worst economy since the great depression? I can stop wondering, I was recruited from a fabulous company right here in our valley at Wolf Creek Utah. It is a full season resort, golf in the summer and skiing in the winter, the lodging includes a hotel, condos and houses. I work in the lodging department: guest services and marketing. I work with an amazing group and my commute rarely takes more than 3 minutes.

I also had the opportunity to meet up with some old friends this winter. Michelle and Pete were running a half marathon in Las Vegas, we all decided it would be the perfect place to meet up. Michelle came down from Montana, Dawn flew in from the UK, the other Michelle from California and Jessie, whom we haven’t seen in twelve years, flew over from Conneticut. It was quite the weekend! Dawn and I played roulette Saturday night until 9 on Sunday morning! We actually stumbled back to the hotel with more than we had left with! Michelle completed the race literally seconds over her goal time, way to go! It was so fun to be around them, they are such important people in my life, and we just do not get to see each other enough. Hopefully we can make it an annual occurrence and maybe next time include the hubbies and kids, I think Florida is in the works?

With the end of the year on us, we are eagerly awaiting a visit from Kevin’s sister, Annick. It will be her first trip to the United States, and, although she will miss out on Montana, she will get to experience Utah, not to mention the quick trip her and Kevin will make to Vegas. We are excited to have her over here for Christmas. For Christmas Eve dinner, we have deer steaks and cranberries planned and for Christmas dinner, Kevin will be cooking a duck on the rotisserie and I will bake a cheesecake! Kevin is also excited to show her all the resorts, and see some new ones himself.

So, 2009 has consisted of some of the biggest and brightest moments of our lives together so far: my graduation, moving to Utah, buying a house, finding an amazing job, buying the beloved hot tub, but it has also included the darkest and most painful moment of our lives: the loss of our special boy, Piombo. We also got to welcome the new additions to our family, Lola and Argo, and are excited to see what 2010 has to bring!

In 2010, we are planning on becoming foster parents. Our classes start in January and may take several months to complete the in depth training. I should also start receiving benefits from my employer sometime at the beginning of the year as well, which will be such a relief for the both of us. We are also eagerly anticipating the visit from Kevin’s other sister, Danielle, her significant other, and our two nephews, Siebe and Jesse. They will be here for some awesome skiing/snowboarding and Kevin’s big 3-0 birthday. We are hoping to visit Europe in the spring, but details are yet to be decided. I have not been over the pond in all too long!