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| In a tree! |
We are excited to say the announcements are out! Many of you have probably received them
already and have followed the link to our blog, very good! Now that we've had a blast creating and
sending out the “Save the Date” magnets, the wedding is now feeling more and
more official. J Our magnet photo of Andrew and I in the tree
was taken at Mt. Diablo State Park. We
had a great day traveling to a few of our top favorite places in the Bay Area,
including Lake Merritt in Oakland, Mount Diablo in Walnut Creek, and world
famous Baker Beach in San Francisco with the Golden Gate in the background. At Mt. D we planned to hike around the
hillside until we found a picture perfect spot.
Instead we stumbled up a hill of loose dirt and grass and saw this
beautiful old oak tree. You know what we
were both thinking - how cool would it be to kiss in a tree ;). Sure enough we made it happen! With some struggle and much anticipated
excitement Andrew boosted me up to where I could then pull myself onto the tree
branch. Andrew followed
with ease and we
found ourselves happily seated to enjoy each other’s company. We had a blast talking, laughing and smiling
for the camera. Believe it or not, the way
down was more nerve racking. Here’s a
photo to prove it. Although it doesn't look that high, the thought of landing on a rock or twisting an ankle was in
the back of our minds. We made it, no
injuries to speak of. Just another
Rebecca & Andrew adventure!
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| Posing at Lake Merritt |
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| Santa's guarding our front door |
Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone so fast we are
getting ready for Christmas. The holiday
season is wonderful with friends gathering, work holiday parties, house
decorating and good home cooking & baking!
We enjoyed getting our Christmas tree last week and putting the lights
up that night. The tree remained simple
for a week until we got around to hanging our ornaments last night. Now it feels more complete, looks pretty, and
smells great. We hope to enjoy it for
the month until we’ll take it down just before our trip to Michigan for New
Years. The holiday plans have settled;
we are always flexible on days due to 3 Bartlow siblings in healthcare. We will celebrate with the Crawfords
(Rebecca’s mom’s side of the family) on Sunday the 23rd, do an early
Bartlow “Christmas morning” on Xmas Eve Day and have our annual Christmas Eve
night with the Hevenors (the Bartlow family friends- adopted cousins, aunt
& uncle). Our Xmas Eve celebration
with the Hevenors tends to get a little crazy.
Festivities include a champagne toast and a mixture of different drinks,
and of course the ever popular White Elephant gift exchange. In the past, we've gifting random stuff we didn't want anymore. In the past, you
might have gotten a gift like unwanted earmuffs, a decade-old ice cream maker,
or Andrew’s personal favorite, wrapped batteries with a sticky-note saying
“gift not included” (good one Todd!). We've since moved on to “nicer” gifts with a $20 limit.
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| Our fire place! |
This year, for the first time, we
will be going home to Michigan for New Years!
By working in the hospital both Thanksgiving and Christmas I've bargained for the 1st of 2013 off and actually get a week away from
Eden ICU and Royal Ambulance. Thanks to
Andrew and Sport Basement we will be flying on company miles and able to save
some money. J It’s amazing how much the holidays add up!$! The MI events are exciting, including
Christmas with his mom’s family, a holiday with his dad, grandma and friends,
and quality sibling time with his bother and girlfriend. Hard to believe, but I've never truly met
Ryan Bauer. Crazy…but our busy schedules
have never collided. Between school, work,
a tour in Afghanistan and living over 2,000 miles apart, we haven’t been able
to make it happen. I am more than thrilled
to meet my future brother-in-law! It
also sounds like we’ll have some wild time to share at Ten Buck, the Bartz
(Andrew’s mom’s) family tradition to go to the hunting cabin every New
Year’s. We shall let the fun begin with
the snow, games, and the annual taco flipping late night New Year’s Eve
tradition! We return to CA shortly after
the New Year. A few days later, we’ll
head up to the mountains for a late holiday with my dad and his wife. It’s a busy schedule we’re really looking
forward to it all.
As far as the wedding plans go, we have taken this month to
relax a bit and love each other’s
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| Our Tree! |
companionship. Once we signed the catering and photography
contracts we decided to let the details wait for January and on. With all the key players involved: caterer,
wedding planner, DJ, photographer, and baker we really don’t feel stressed a
bit. We are enjoying planning a private backyard
wedding! Andrew and I have spent the
extra time baking, reading, relaxing, shopping, cycling and climbing
together. This past weekend we just
about did it all, with a 25 moderate intensity ride and 3 hour rock climb. Oakland and the bay area continue to impress
us with all the things there are to do, restaurants to visit, and hole in the
wall places to go! We are happy with our
home, really like where we live, and are blessed with one another’s
presence.
We look forward to visiting with you all. If we haven’t seen you in a while we should
meet up! Give us a call or send us an
email, we’d like to be in contact.
Take Care & Happy Holidays!!!
-Rebecca & Andrew
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