Heather's Year in Review

Heather's version had pictures in it, but Blogger hates me and won't take them. The bit at the end was much funnier with the related pictures; I'll try to get them up.

The Year of the Fogg
Happy Holidays to you all! This is what we have been doing this year – so thank you all for another great year of memories and special times shared together! Here are some of our highlights from 2005.

January: We started the year off well with a mini-family reunion when we threw a surprise birthday party for Becky. The whole family came together for the weekend from around the country; as did Becky’s best friend from California – boy was she ever surprised! It was a great weekend visit for us all – and Heather’s first big dinner for 20! At the end of January, Mike started a new job with a company called Chugach where he now works as an Office Manager of the US Patent and Trademark Office. Mike decides to keep his part-time position in retail as a way to earn extra comic convention funds. Heather starts the year with a TA’ship with the Psychology department teaching Psych. 100, an Internship with the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, work as an Independent Consultant for Westat, and Database Manager for the Global Terrorism Project at UMD. Insanity doesn’t begin to describe it!

February: This month was a rollercoaster of high and lows. As Mike settled in to his new routine with the job in Virginia, we started off with high times in DC celebrating a friend’s birthday. But the month came to a very difficult end when Michael’s grandfather passed away on the 27th. We were all the more thankful for our family trip to the beach last summer where Poppa was able to enjoy using the pool and had his feet in the ocean.

March: Always a great month with Becky and Jeff - they host the greatest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations! Knowing they’d soon be moving out of the metro area, this year all of our adventures together were all the more poignant. This was also our first time to host Easter celebrations in our home – Heather’s parents and Aunt were able to join us along with Becky and Jeff for a creative Emeril style turkey. Yes, that is an edible turkey in the trash bag in the fridge. Ask me for the recipe – I got it from Becky! =)

April: Heather and Becky embarked on the second annual Washington, DC Cherry Blossoms in the Rain tradition. We also made a trip out to a local Wildlife Refuge full of wetlands for waterfowl and other animals – one of many items on “The List” of things to do before Becky and Jeff move in June.

May: Not only was May the big month for Star Wars, Episode III, but also brought Heather’s parents out for a Mother’s Day visit and hiking at Great Falls. Since we spent Heather’s birthday at the theater for the opening of Star Wars, later birthday celebrations brought Heather a new bike from Mike. May marks the end of Heather’s TA’ship with the Psychology department and brings her down to the three remaining jobs in DC, Rockville and College Park, MD.

June: Two new babies joined the Fogg Flock this month – Sonny and Jezzy. For those keeping track, that does bring us up to eight, and yes we do realize we have a clinical problem – NEB (never enough birds). We also took a trip to Newport, RI to see Becky and Jeff’s new house and celebrate Jeff’s birthday. START (the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism) had its launch this month at UMD with a 12 million dollar grant over three years from the Department of Homeland Security. It’s an exciting accomplishment for all of us who have worked these past 4 years on the Global Terrorism Database project at UMD. At the end of the month, Mike took a trip to NC for the Heroes Comic Convention. He’s now found a new favorite convention and hopes to go every year. Heather attempted her second comp, in criminological theory, but sadly did not pass it this time around. I blame the jobs, but studying certainly would have helped!

July: We had two good visits to Ohio in July – one to Dayton to celebrate Independence day with Heather’s family at Kings’ Island and one to Boardman to celebrate Mike’s Great Aunt Juanita’s 93rd birthday. We also went to see ‘Carmen’ in a local opera house this month as a special Easter present from Mike – a dream come true! On and interesting note, Mike also shaved his head (again!) this month – Heather is still getting recovering from the trauma.
August: The tradition continues for the fourth consecutive year with a week in the Outer Banks in North Carolina. This year, the Imhof clan including Heather’s brother’s family spent a week in the surf of NC relaxing on the beach and playing with Ryan (3) and Owen (2). We had a wonderful trip – it was so hard to come back to real life when the week ended!

September: Heather drops job number 3 this month when her year long internship with CSOSA ends. It was a good experience to work for a federal agency and to test the waters of program evaluation for offender supervision programs. Now she is thankfully down to 2. Labor Day weekend was spent at a friend’s wedding in Ohio, with a quick visit to both Boardman and Dayton. Later in the month, Mike threw his second annual Baltimore Comic Book Convention Cookout – now fondly known as Fogger-Con. We had a great turn out again this year and we believe a good time was had by all.

October: Heather drops down to one job as the project with Westat comes to an end, whew! Another month of excitement and, uh, family growth? This month we saw Stomp in Baltimore especially for Mike. Was a great show and we hope to see it again on its next pass through our area. Mike’s parents came out for a bit of home-improvement and installed new French doors to the patio for us. Was a huge project and we were so thankful for the help! The other big news of the month was when Heather found a cat in the road on the way to work on October 18. She had been hit by a car and was very badly injured. Thousands of dollars in charitable donations from around the country – and a huge thank you to everyone who heard the tale and sent in their generous donations! – and Savannah is now a part of our family, much to the birds’ chagrin. She is still recovering and will remain with a wired jaw through the new year, but the vet is very optimistic for her quality of life once her broken jaw is healed. In the meantime, tube feedings every two hours have become our new way of life.

November: Savannah came home from her three weeks in the animal hospital just in time for Mike’s 30th Birthday party! Mike had the guests come as a favorite movie or TV character and the costumes were fantastic! Our parents came out for the big do – and Mike and his Dad played the role of the “Jones Boys,” complete with the dog Indiana. Heather’s college roommate, Jen, came out from Columbus, OH as well – we couldn’t have asked for a greater gift! Thanksgiving found us in Dayton with kitty in tow (and some unhappy birds at home with a sitter) and a minor tube feeding emergency gave us a new vet in Dayton to be thankful for – we’ve discovered that vets are amazing people!

December: This year we will be spending Christmas with Mike’s parents in Boardman, then continuing on to Dayton for a visit with Heather’s side of the family. Heather is preparing to re-take the theory comp in January, but that whole studying thing is still causing a problem. Must learn to do that! We’re both looking forward to seeing Savannah (dubbed Frankenkitty) without the bolts in her face after the first of the year.

We hope 2005 has been a great year for everyone and we wish you all the best in 2006!
Happy Holidays!
With Love From,
Heather and Mike

In the year to come, may you always have someone to scratch behind your ears; may you take time each day to get a little perspective on the world, and may you never put your foot in your mouth! (unless you really, really want to)