12/22/2008 - Happy Holidays!! Our lives have changed a lot over the last few years, where did all the fun go?!? 2007 was all about traveling and friends, 2008 was all about careers. We still don’t own a house and are still holding out on kids, so we don’t have a lot of stories to remember 2008 by…

About a year ago, Michelle was days away from quitting her job and taking the winter off to ski…instead she ended up staying with UBS and going into a great new management role with the Private Wealth Management division. She splits time between UBS’ offices in San Francisco and Palo Alto (about 45 minutes south of San Francisco). Michelle’s career is starting to take off…she even has one of her ideas being piloted in branches around the country.

Cody is still killing himself at the office. He is working about 80-90 hours per week, but no deals to speak of this year – it is a tough market for Investment Banking, to say the least (though Deutsche Bank is doing well, relatively). Given the current economic climate, who knows what change lies ahead. We both work for global, European banks in the most difficult times for financial services companies in the last 75 years.

The only big news, outside of work, in the winter of 2008 was our second niece, Erin, was born. We didn’t get to meet her until the fall, but it was worth the wait.

2008 was not all work, though. In February, JR, Cody’s oldest friend, came out to ski during Cody’s only three days on the mountain in 2008. Michelle managed to get about 12 days in last year, as she was still part of a ski house on the West Shore of Lake Tahoe. In May, we managed to get down to Puerto Vallarta to celebrate our three year anniversary. It was six days of lying on the beach and eating a lot of food. We both read books (yes, even Cody) and didn’t check in with the office too much. We weren’t the biggest fans of Puerto Vallarta, but it was great to leave reality for a week.

We were also able to celebrate 4^th of July with Mick and Tara in Washington DC. We caught the fireworks show on the Mall, visited an art gallery, and gorged ourselves at some great restaurants. They live in a fantastic DC neighborhood with a lot of great people, and have made quite a life for themselves.

In August, we went to a beautiful wedding in Colorado (our friends Rob and Suzanne). That gave us a chance to spend some time with Cody’s dad and visit JR. The day after the wedding we squeezed in a trip to take Michelle whitewater rafting for the first time. It was a blast, though we did lose Cody’s dad twice, as he got tossed from the boat on a couple of nasty rapids (great pics here).

We started September with a trip down to Keith and Christy’s in Redondo Beach to watch the Buckeyes get shellacked by USC - it was a painful few hours at the LA Coliseum. We were able to put that tough experience behind us by watching the Bucks beat Purdue at the Horseshoe during our trip back to Ohio in October – somehow, Michelle’s parents managed to grab us 5th row seats for our birthdays! That same visit, we got to see our oldest niece Kaitlyn, our nephew Sammy, and we also met our new niece, Erin, all the while being spoiled rotten by Michelle’s mom and dad.

Finally, we ended the year with a long overdue Thanksgiving visit to see Cody’s mom and her best friend Carolyn in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Five days spent eating, visiting family, and forgetting about work was the perfect way to start the 2008 Holiday season.

We plan to spend the rest of the holiday season in the Bay Area with our annual trip to Vegas during Christmas. We hope all is well with you and yours, and wish you Happy Holidays and a safe 2009!

- Michelle and Cody