The Birkett's 2008 in review

The next time I blog it will most likely be 2009. This year flew by, and I know it seems we say that every year but this year it really does seem to have gone by faster than normal. It's been an amazing year, to say the least, in our household.

The year started with a bang. The New York Football Giants dominated the NFC playoffs winning all games on the road on the way to the Super Bowl. To cap off their amazing playoff run, the Giants won Super Bowl XLII in an amazing and thrilling game over the New England Patriots. I'll have to say seeing your absolute favorite team, playing your favorite sport winning it all as an adult is one of the best feelings in the world. I've been around to witness the Giants win their other two Super Bowl Championships, but as a kid you just don't appreciate it as much. Unfortunately, the San Francisco Giants didn't play as well this season but Bri and I were still able to enjoy a few games in the nice (and foggy) San Francisco weather. The silver lining in the SF Giants dismal season was that pitcher Tim Lincecum was awarded the NL Cy Young award. 2008 seemed like the best year of sports in a very long time. If you haven't figured it out, we are huge sports fans. While we have our favorites (Bri = baseball, Dawn = Pro Football), we don't discriminate. We split a partial season for the Golden State Warriors, and enjoy being a spectator at just about any sporting event. We won't forget watching the exciting NBA playoffs - capped off by a Celtics victory, or what about Tiger's amazing win in the U.S. Open and who will ever forget Nadal's thrilling win over Federer at Wimbledon - a match for the ages. AMAZING. As sports fans we've been spoiled. To finish out the year, we're going to attend the Emerald Bowl at AT&T Park, to see the California Golden Bears play the Miami Hurricanes.

Another favorite past time for the two of us is traveling. We love it. Seriously we can't get enough of it and can't wait to share this with Baby Boy Birkett. Over the past few months we've been repeatedly been told by very well meaning people that we better get used to a different lifestyle. Bri and I are very realistic and understand that our lives will never be the same once he arrives. That being said, I don't see us shying away from travel and the sooner we start those journey's the better for all of us. Bri and I went to Thailand in February to get our first taste of Asia - unbelievably neither one of us had been to this part of the world before. Just short of two weeks we experienced three completely different aspects of Thailand. From the bustling and packed streets of Bangkok, to the sleepy streets of Chiang Mai and finally to the pristine beaches and waters of Phuket - we savored it all. One of my favorite memories was taking a Thai cooking class while in Chiang Mai.

About midway through the year we enjoyed some R&R on the Big Island of Hawaii with family. We spent the week laying on the beach, checking out Volcano National Park and hanging with our adorable nieces, Jesse and Hannah. Around Labor Day I had to travel back to Tokyo for work ( I was there earlier in the year for business), but this time around Bri met me at the end of the trip for an extended weekend of site seeing in Tokyo and then down to Kyoto. What no one really knew was that we found out I was pregnant one week before I left on the trip. I think we'll fondly look back on that trip and always remember our exciting secret we were carrying around. Towards the tail end of the year we found ourselves in New Jersey and Nashville. A whirlwind year of travel, but all of it full of wonderful memories. Those were just the trips we did together!! Bri traveled up, down and across the country for work and I found myself on several work related trips (domestic and international) and in NJ a few times.

We would like to take a moment and talk about how blessed we are in terms of family and friends. Since the end of 2007 we've been joined by 3 nieces (Hannah, Jesse and Emma) and one nephew (Griffin). It has been awesome watching them all grow and develop and reach milestones. Whether it be in person or via pictures and phone calls. Our parents are fantastic and we can't wait to share our child's milestones with you (even if he's not your first grandchild, we hope its exciting none-the-less).

So that's an abbreviated look at our year. We realize how fortunate we are and don't take anything for granted. We're excited for 2009 and can't wait for everything it has in store for us.

At 23 weeks our child is a heavy as a large mango.