Merry Christmas - 2009

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:8-11

First off, we'd like to wish all of you a Merry and Blessed Christmas. As we come to the end of 2009, we look back at all of the adventures we had during the past year and feel blessed by all that the Lord has brought into our lives.

JANUARY
The New Year started off on a high note, as we rang it in asleep on the couch.

It quickly picked up from there, as we celebrated with Amanda and Jeremy in anticipation of the birth of their daughter. Christy threw them a baby shower on that VERY snowy January day.
A few weeks later, we got to celebrate with our good friends Aaron and Alea Kluck as they got married
Alea and her Dad - Todd - Such a precious moment!
Congrats Mr & Mrs Aaron Kluck! Christy also started attending a book club which has re-awakened her love of reading. This year alone she has read over 20 books (some for the book club - but quite alot just for fun!) - a big jump from barely 2 a year!

FEBRUARY
On Valentine's Day, we got to meet Molly for the first time. Molly (Amanda & Jeremy's daughter) is our first niece, to go along with our two nephews born last year.
MARCH
We were able to celebrate with Brian's brother John as he turned 21 this year (sorry no pictures were taken!)

At the end of the month, we took a trip down to Missouri to see our good friends and to celebrate Brandt's 6th birthday. It also happened to be Christy's birthday at the same time. It was a nice time to catch up, plus Brian got a few days off of work during his month-long install trip.
APRIL
Our nephew West (son of Tom Jr and Autumn) had his first birthday. We piled into the truck to head down to Warren to celebrate. West is such a sweet little boy - he loves to share his toys with everyone!
MAY

Christy took Brian to Guacho Steakhouse for his birthday followed by "Monsters and Aliens" at the big Novi Theater :) We had fun and left VERY full!

We took a trip up to Flushing to attend Molly's dedication service. They even let Brian hold her. :) Christy was asked to be Molly's godmother and was able to take part in the dedication service.
We also took a road trip to Allen Park with Jeremy, Amanda and Molly to visit Christy's Grandpa Joe and Grandma Helen. It was their first time meeting little Molly and they seemed to really enjoy getting to know their first great granddaughter!
We decided to put in a garden this year. Instead of tilling up the back yard, Brian (with some technical assistance from his brother John) built square-foot garden boxes. We put in 6 yards of 50/50 topsoil-peat and only got the truck stuck once. Christy planted over 10 different fruits and vegetables.
JUNE
The first week of June, we took our vacation for the year (our first as a married couple!). It was part vacation, part celebrating our friends Alex and Mary getting married (finally!!). We visited Boston, Cape Cod, Rhode Island, Bar Harbor and Portland. It was a great time, with a lot of driving and good seafood.

Our first night in Boston we ate dinner at Cheer's (the touristy one, not the Bull and Finch Pub) and Brian had the Norm burger - it was huge!
While hoofing it around Boston, we took a rest and a picture in a park near the harbor.
A sailboat out in Bahstahn Hahbah :) We loved watching the boats come in and out of the harbor. The water has such a calming effect!
Brian in a lobster boil (yes, Christy made him do this - it was done willingly! ;) )
Samuel Adams statue in front of Faneuil Hall
One of our favorite TV shows is "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" on Food Network, showcasing some of the best local restaurants in this fine country of ours. We managed to visit four restaurants in three days, and they were all worth the trip. First stop was Mike's City Diner. We managed to take the T (Boston's public transit system) and not get lost. The Chocolate Chip pancakes were fantastic.
The best way to get around Boston is to let the subway operator drive. We took the T all over, this mural was in one of the stations
We took a drive out to Cape Cod, and we visited Plimoth Plantation. The plantation is a historical recreation of a Wampanong Indian village and early English settlers to the area. It is a very interesting look into the lives of people in the 1600's.
The English settler's village
Us somewhere on the trail between the Indian village and the settlers village.
We had a lot of sites to see on the Cape, so we made it to the Pilgrim Monument too late to climb to the top, but we did get to see it up close.
We also walked out to this lighthouse, which is in the middle of a golf course
Then we drove like crazy (which is normal out East) to Evelyn's, our favorite restaurant out of the group from Triple D. Pictured are the Clam Cakes and the Rhode Island-style Clam Chowder. Both AMAZING.
The view of Nanaquaket Pond from our table
The next morning, after a T delay and a really long hike, we found Kelly's Diner, in an old Diner car with all of the original interior. When we told the waitress that were were from Michigan and that we had only come in because of Triple D she let us know all the juicy details about Guy and how they shot the show in the diner.
After playing bumper cars on the way out of Boston, we headed toward Kennebunkport, Maine.

On the way, we stopped at JT Farnham's, another Triple D stop. Rest assured, we did more than just eat on this trip.

The fried clams were delicious along with the lobster roll! Guy sure knows how to point us in the right direction!
A shot of the salt marsh outside of JT Farnham's
The seagull was just sitting on top of the sign, we thought it was fake until it moved. S/he made for a nice picture ;)
We stayed at the English Meadows Inn in Kennebunkport. Bruce, the innkeeper, was a great chef, host and tour guide. He gave us a heads up on a real nice drive and a great place to eat overlooking the Kennebunk River. We througly enjoyed staying in the "Tack" room!
After we drove by the Bush compound (yep, where the first President Bush lives), we stopped at a lobster shack and took a picture or three of the water.
We made it up to Bar Harbor and the Coach Stop Inn. Jeff and Natalie, the owners, were fantastic. The breakfast was wonderful, especially since we got to sneak into the kitchen in the middle of the night to get delicious baked goods and yummy hot drinks. The Wild Blueberry Fritters can't even be described they are so good. If Natalie ever decides to give us the recipe, we won't share the details, but we will share the fritters.
Our room at the Coach Stop
A tall ship in Bar Harbor harbor
Christy's friend Alissa and her husband Jeremy went to Bar Harbor on their honeymoon - she was able to tell us to go to "Poor Boys Gourmet Restaurant" and get lobster - and boy were we glad we did!

Brian getting his lobster on
Christy's first whole lobster ever. After the meal, Christy wanted some bibs to take home for other eating adventures.
We explored Acadia National Park, going up to the top of Cadillac Mountain. The views in every directions were simply breath taking. God truly created some amazing views!
We also stopped by the Azalea Gardens - Christy was SHOCKED at all the different variety's of azaleas - they were all so beautiful!
We also hit the beach, even though it was a bit cold for swimming. We enjoyed laying on the beach, reading as the waves crashed just a few feet away. Again - gorgeous views!
That night, we went to a restaurant recommended by Natalie (did we mention that the Coach Stop Inn is a wonderful place, and no, we aren't being paid to say that). We had some of the freshest seafood, got an ice cream while walking around Bar Harbor, and enjoyed a picture perfect sunset on a nearby beach.
On Thursday we finally made it to Portland for all of the wedding festivities. We were excited to see all of Brian's college friends, and we managed to get almost everybody in the picture.
Brian got all tuxed out, since he stood up in the wedding.
The original Msals
Brian, Alex the groom and Andy Z (l to r)
Some groomsmen
The wedding party
Congratulations Alex and Mary!!!
The Groomsmen's better halves (Christy, Elizabeth, Natalie, Sara)
First Dance
All the Msals
Christy's favorite picture of Brian
We celebrated one awesome year of marriage on June 28th. We spent most of the day traveling, as Brian accepted a job offer in Centralia, Missouri and we were looking for housing in the area.

JULY
To celebrate our nation's birthday, we went camping Up North with Jeremy, Amanda and Molly. We spent four nights in a tent, cooking over the open fire pit and enjoying the perfect weather. We saw the fireworks in Frankfort, the best place (in Christy's humble opinion) to watch them.

Christy and Molly at the beach
Brian holding MollyMolly seemed to like doing that
A scenic lookout on M22 looking out over Lake Michigan

(see all those stairs? yep, we climbed them!) Brian got a chance to visit with Frank, his fifth grade teacher who he is still in contact with, at Frank's cottage out on Harsen's Island. The views of Anchor Bay, the St Clair River and Canada were wonderful.On July 10th, we went to the Tigers game against the Indians. This was one of Brian's wonderfully awesome birthday gifts from Christy.
Tigers win. Tigers win.
We did a lot of work on the outside of the house to get it ready to put on the market. We put down 10 yards of mulch, 3 dump truck loads of gravel and 4 yards of topsoil. We also put in a bunch of potted flowers all over the front yard to make the house seem "inviting"
We also had some paver work done around the house. We were so excited to start harvesting our garden. The vegetables had such a "fresh" taste! Christy even tried her hand at canning! She also made tomato/pasta sauce for the first time! We loved being able to go out the back door, pick whatever we wanted for dinner, and having it on our plate within an hour! Delicious!

Some of the fruits of our garden labors
Some of the flowers that Christy planted around the house.
Christy can not remember the name of this flower to save her life - anyone know what it is?
Brian started his new job with Hubbell Power Systems on the 13th, and spent a lot of time traveling between Centralia, Nashville and Detroit.

AUGUST
While Brian was in Missouri (or any of the above mentioned cities) Christy had to keep herself busy! So Christy went with Amanda and Molly to Frankenmuth, it was Molly's first visit! Molly loved looking at all of the decorations at Bronners.
Christy's sister Leslie and Molly

SEPTEMBER
On one of Brian's weekends home, we took a trip to the Michigan Renaissance Festival in Holly. It was Pirate weekend, in honor of National Talk Like a Pirate Day. Arrr, it twas a beautiful day out, matey.
One of the shows that we really enjoyed.
On another of Brian's weekends home, we went to the Henry Ford Museum. We had fun looking at all of the exhibits.
Afterwards, we saw "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" in IMAX 3D - it was VERY funny!
After attending a Women's Expo Christy decided to start her own business as a Pampered Chef Consultant. She is having SO much fun teaching others about new kitchen gadgets and how to cook affordable dinners! If you would like to host a show for her, please contact her using her website.

OCTOBER
Brian officially moved out of the house into his own apartment in Missouri. For work. Christy was able to drive down for a weekend to visit. Brian attempted to acclimate Christy to the area, and took her out to dinner at Les Bourgeois Blufftop Bistro for a sunset dinner overlooking the Missouri River.
NOVEMBER
Not much really happened this month....Except Thanksgiving.... That was fun :) 3 dinners in one weekend! We had ALOT to be thankful for!

Well, as you can tell our year has had "high" points and "low" points, but over all it was a great year full great memories that we'll cherish all our lives. We do ask that you keep us in your prayers as 2010 will be a year of big changes for us. We will HOPEFULLY be moved to Missouri by the Summer. The "hopefully" due to us needing to sell our house (anyone want to buy a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom cute little house?). We will miss our friends and family here in Michigan but are looking forward to the new adventures that await us in Missouri!

As we go into this Christmas season, we hope you stop and pause to remember what this holiday is really about - The birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. He came to earth to save each of us from our sins so that we one day can go to heaven and live with Him. We hope that each of you are truly seeking to have a personal relationship with Him. He loves and cares for YOU!

Please feel free to leave us a comment and let us know how you're doing! (if you don't have a gmail account or a blogger account you can leave an anonymous comment - just leave your name so we know who it's from!)

We hope you and your family have a blessed Christmas and a very happy New Year!
With Much Love,
Brian & Christy Msal