December 2015 Another year gone by and how time changes things. A year ago we had no grandchild, Jess and Kyle were engaged but not married, we had never been to France or the Netherlands, we hadn’t met John and Nicole’s two children (nor had Dave met John or Nicole), Erin was working in downtown Seattle, Tim and Meghan were not engaged and dad and Lil were still on their honeymoon (perhaps they still are). What a year it has been. As there will be too many words we’ll use a few pictures (each worth a thousand words) to share our year. To start the year, our Seahawks had an amazing run to the Super Bowl, only to have it end in a disappointing last minute interception. We’re still working through our grief but time marches on.
	Our next big highlight for the year was a trip to Europe. We flew to the Netherlands to visit with Lynn’s nephew John and his wife Nicole plus their two boys. We had a great time as they showed us around Arnhem (the town where John works) and Hussein (the town where they lived). We saw amazing artwork, tasted new foods and mostly just enjoyed spending time together and getting to know them. What amazing hosts!
From the Netherlands we went to Paris for several days (see Eiffel Tower picture on card) and then to Beaune for several days to be in the middle of Burgundy wine country. Then we were off to Saint Jean de Losne to connect with our friends Dee and Tamra and board a self-drive canal boat for a week in wine country. It was an exceptional trip with amazing wines, great food and made all the more enjoyable by sharing it with such good friends.
We returned home for the fourth of July and spent the long weekend on our boat with our daughter Kimberly (and of course Abigail). We came home in time to move Kimberly’s ducks from her house to ours (long story). They will be staying with us until next March when she is looking to buy a house and take them with her to North Bend. That is assuming they are willing to leave the pampered life to which they have grown accustomed with their own pond, oatmeal every morning and daily conversations with Lynn.
Also in July we celebrated our ten year wedding anniversary. It was such fun to see the changes in our wedding party as we took this year’s picture and compared it to the one from 2005. And thank you to everyone for the many good wishes (and great wine).
	One last July milestone was the groundbreaking for the Shoreline Veterans Recognition and Memorial Plaza. Lynn has been working with the Shoreline Veterans Association to make this project a reality and they have been making great progress. Between this project, the annual North City Jazz Walk, duck raising and her kickboxing classes, retirement is never dull or boring for Lynn.
With August upon us it was time for another milestone as we gathered to celebrate Erin and Jess’ 30th birthday. And then we added a new August birthday to the family as Ellison Stephen Devoir was born on August 30th (see picture on our card of our cutest grandbaby). Rolling into October it was time for more travel. We spent a week in Hawaii to share in the wedding of Jess and Kyle on the big island (see picture on card). It was a beautiful setting and what a beautiful bride! Our season tickets for the Huskies finally paid off in November as we watched a spectacular Apple Cup. Now for a bowl game and hopefully one more win. So, we’ve had a full year. We continue singing at church, with Rotary and wherever we have the opportunity. We hope you and yours have great memories from this year as we look to the future. As we remember friends we’ve lost this year we hold those still with us even closer and look forward to making new memories in 2016. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Lynn and Dave!