Best of 2008 Recap and Photos

2008 was an amazing year for us. So much has happened it's hard to believe that only a year has passed!

In fall of 2007 we decided that we would begin to make our way back to the Pacific Northwest. At the time we had no idea that it would happen so quickly, but Mac applied for a job as Director of International Outreach at Green River Community College and was hired in late February 2008.  Early in the year Josh took work trips to France and Russia (rough gig).

Mac left Monterey in March and began her position at the end of the month, making the long drive up I-5 with mom and cat (Ripley) in tow. Josh stayed in Monterey until late April and then made his way up to Washington. We stayed with family for a few months as we searched for our first home. We stayed with Mac's brother, Cam, in West Seattle, and realized how much we liked the area.  By the end of May we were moved into our home.  We found a great house on a large lot.  The home is in good shape but can use a bit of touch up (and with our great style, who better for the job?).  We're right next to the park, and just 10 minute drive to downtown (without all the traffic and parking hassle of living in the city).

Mac's job has allowed tons of great travel, which began just after the ink on the mortgage papers were signed. The day after the boxes were moved in (and definitely not yet unpacked) Mac was off to a conference in DC. Home for less than 72 hours, she then headed to Vietnam for two weeks.

The summer was busy with hiking, camping, catching up with friends and preparing for one of our favorite events: Burning Man. We camped with the Bunnies again this year and were fortunate to initiate Cam and kLav into this wonderful experience. Of course, Laura came again and we rocked the playa with our events, which included daily Hoppy Hour, managing the immigration station, creating visas for bunny-worthy (former) humans and the Billion Bunny March, which drew over 800 bunnies (and there were only 9 of us bunnifying)!

We got to spend tons of time with our good friends, Jeremy and Molly, on the playa this year, which was amazing. This lead us to meet their friends/campmates (BRCAC-Black Rock City Animal Control), many of which live in Seattle.

Somewhere in there Mac went back to Vietnam and then to Singapore for work, Josh traveled to Dominican Republic and Hungary. Mac also went back to Vietnam (yes, again) in October and Nepal in November (and took a few days off to trek through the Kathmandu Valley). See the video post at http://hizon.blogspot.com/2008/12/nepal-video.html

It was so wonderful to be able to spend the holidays with family this year, minus the air travel. Thanksgiving was spent visiting with our adorable niece and nephew, Edie and Oloan as well as attending Mac's family's annual Tree Hunting event.

Josh headed to Singapore in December for work. We were fortunate to spend opening weekend at Stevens Pass this year, celebrating Josh's brother, Steve's, 30th Birthday.

Christmas was another family-filled event, which will continue into 2009 with our Hizon/Saugen get-together in Leavenworth in mid-January.

As a result of spending so much time with our cool friends Jeremy and Molly we have connected with the Seattle crew of BRCAC, more commonly referred to as Ctrl+Sea. They are all such amazing, beautiful people who have welcomed us into their lives. We have only scratched the surface of the fun, artistic and entertaining experiences with them. We look forward to continuing to spend time with them in the coming year. It has been so wonderful to find a group of people here who share our lifestyle, love of art & costume-making, are hilariously entertaining and always down for a good time.

In 2009 we hope to spend more time on photography and art projects, spend some time volunteering in our community as well as look forward to beginning the hard core remodel and house projects. Yay!