2015 - A Whirlwind of a Year

I am very excited for a new year. 2015 has been a whirlwind. Here's a few things we did in 2015:

• In February, I got a new job ($11k raise - as a result of Ramit Sethi's Dream Job course) 
• In April, Aaron's grandmother passed away, prompting us to go to Wyoming and Iowa unexpectantly. We got to see family Aaron hadn't seen in several years.

Aaron's grandma in the pink. This was our first time visiting her in March 2014.

• In June, we got a puppy. 

  

  Lavender "Lavi" Smith - 18lb Rottweiler when we got her

  
  
• Between February and October, I learned SQL!
• In August, My sister got married and we went to Lake Tahoe for the first time!
• In September, We bought a house!
• We actually closed on the house on Sept. 11th and we left for Europe on Sept 12th. We only had enough time to walk through the house before we had to go back to the apartment and go to bed so we could get up early to catch our plane.
• In September, We went to Europe!
• We flew into Budapest, stayed one night there.
• We hopped onto a river cruise in Budapest and traveled up the Danube for 7 nights.
• Lots of great food and wine. (Aaron just requested a couple nights ago that we start having wine with our dinner.)
• Saw some cute little towns in Slovakia, Austria and Germany.
• Apricots and Sweets tour in Durnstein was great. So yummy!
• Did a 20 mile bike ride in the Wassau Valley (Durnstein to Melk). Gorgeous!
• Aaron and I played chess.
• We got off in Vilshofen, Germany and bussed it to Regensburg (I bought a durndl and Aaron bought lederhosen) and then onto Munich for the Oktoberfest. We stayed for 3 nights and had a blast with two other couples from the cruise ship. 
• We did an Austrian Lakes tour. Gosh, those Alps. They take your breath away.
• We saw Neuschwanstein Castle.
• We took the train from Munich to Paris and stayed 5 nights in Paris
• We did a 6 mile bike tour on Sept 27th - all traffic was stopped in the interior of Paris. Otherwise I would have been terrified!
• We caught a show at the Moulin Rouge
• Shetland ponies!
• Rollerblading!
• 20 ft snakes!
• We did a Pastries and Sweets tour 
• We tried about 6 different France-specific items. My favorite was the caramels from the only caramélier in France, Henri Le Roux.
• We did the WWII tour
• Saw the WWII museum in Caen
• Saw the beaches that the troops stormed on D-Day.
• We had 5 days left once we got back from Europe which we used to move straight into the new house.

  

  The "Hunting Lodge" in Munich - Aaron in his lederhosen and me in the durndl

• In October, Aaron had surgery
• In November, We celebrated 1 year of marriage and two years of our relationship!

  

  Our wedding at the Benson Hotel in Portland Oregon