New Orleans

We arrived in New Orleans on Friday 2/26 for the AAAAI (American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology) Annual Conference. I was presenting my research that I have been working on for the last year.

After we settled in, we headed to Bourbon St. to watch some live jazz.

The big poster presentation....

We enjoyed as much Creole food as possible during our brief 2 day stay in NOLA.

Dinner our last night at K-Paul's....

Big Sky, Montana

Lone Mountain, Big Sky, MT....

beautiful picture taken at sunrise by Mike.

We headed out to Big Sky, MT, one of our favorite places to visit, to join Laura's parents for a week of skiing. We arrived on 2/21/10 and were greeted by this beautiful view of Lone Mountain.

And a cold Fat Tire....yum!

Cocktails at Lone Mountain Ranch...before dinner at Buck's T4.

Our first day of skiing was sunny and beautiful!

Drinks at Andiamo, mountainside, then we headed to MR Hummers. Classic Big Sky restaurant, owned by Bernie, long time friend of my Dad's.

Skiing day 2: we couldn't wait any longer and headed up the Tram to the top of Lone Peak...the views were beautiful and the skiing was great!

Tuesday night we had dinner at Rainbow Ranch, and a beer and watched the olympics at the Corral.

Another beautiful Big Sky stop, the Pinnacle.

Wednesday night, cocktails at Moonlight Basin, and then had home cooked spaghetti in the condo!

Mom's traditional picture at Moonlight...

4th day of skiing, 3rd and final time up the tram, this time we headed down Marx....awesome!

Lunch at Moonlight

Moguls...

Dinner at the Cabin...love that place!

What a fun trip had by all!

Welcome back to MI Mom and Dad! (they were lucky enough to stay 2 weeks!)

January and February were busy months....

...so busy we didn't take any pictures. We worked pretty hard those months, often opposite schedules, and were so excited to finally have a much needed vacation....Pics from Big Sky and New Orleans to come!

New Year's Eve

We had a fun, but laid back night at Megan and Mike's new home. Many of us had to work the next day, but it was great to all get together to celebrate 2010!

Kyle, Ryan, Mike, Laura, Rupal, Alicia, Megan, Mike

Snowshoe and good friends at Elk Lake

On December 27th, our last day of vacation, we headed out to the Goetz's home on Elk Lake for some time with family and friends. My grandma's both joined as well as my parent's, the Stilwill's and the whole Goetz clan. Great fun was had by all. We enjoyed a snowshoe on the Goetz's Elk Lake property, snacks, wine and good company!

Kate, Amy, and Laura

Justin (Amy's husband) and Mike

We had a great day and can't wait to get together with our long time Elk Lake friends again soon....

Christmas 2009 in Traverse City...

Mike and Bee (Christine and Todd's dog), on Christmas Eve/Christine's B-day. We spent Christmas Eve at the Elsenheimer farm, it was great fun to get to know the whole Elsenheimer family better! Mike and I attended church at TC Presby, and it was great to see familiar faces in the congregation where we were married.

Sibs in front of the Elsenheimer Tree

Christine and I with Bee, the poodle...

Mike and Avery, coloring one of her many Christmas gifts on Christmas Day!

The following day, Dec 26th, we celebrated Christmas with the extended Nichols clan...my dad's siblings and all of their kids....

My parent's beautiful tree...

I wish we had more pictures to share, next year we must get some group shots!

Oh Christmas Tree....

Christmas 09 came upon us before we knew it...and unfortunately since Mike and I had three weeks of work without any of the same days off, we didn't make it out to cut down a tree. Instead, we headed to a tree lot that boasted trees from Northern MI, which make getting it off a lot seem a little better. It was a mere 5 degrees the night we picked our tree...freezing!

It turned out really beautiful, and despite that fact that it was hand picked in a lot, not a forrest, we love it! Not nearly as fat as previous years :)

Internal Medicine Holiday Party 2009

Our holiday party was a great success again this year! Unfortunately I was on call until 8pm, so couldn't host the usual pre-party at our place......hopefully next year!

Nina, Meaghan, Laura and Alicia

All the girls :)

Connecticut Thanksgiving

Toby was sure glad to see us when we got home to Connecticut for Thanksgiving!

We were very happy to be able to have enough time to travel out to CT to spend Thanksgiving with the Howes! We had 4 days of relaxation and enjoyed exploring the cute little towns of CT.

The whole family on our last night.