Happy Holidays!

2007 has turned out to be another big year for our family. It is almost exactly a year from the date that we moved to Tucson, and we're writing this holiday note as we begin packing for our big trip to Africa...but we're getting ahead of ourselves. This year can be summed up in a few words: family, travel and change!

• FAMILY

We certainly have spent considerably more time with family this year now that we live in Tucson. Scott's parents and older brother Eric's family live just a short walk from our house. Family dinners, chats at the local coffee house or a round of golf are all regular occasions together! With Mark's family just two hours up the road, we've had weekend slumber parties in Scottsdale and been able to spectate at our niece and nephews' sporting events. We've also been fortunate to have a couple of big Leber family trips together this year to Rocky Point, Mexico and Sedona, where the entire family was able to get together and Todd and his wife, Christina, came down from Seattle. Although Christine's family is now further away, we were excited to have Jeannie and Christine's mom as our first guests in Tucson this summer. (We think they may opt to visit when cooler temperatures prevail in the future;) With Christine's parents currently stationed in Aviano, Italy, it didn't take much arm twisting for us to plan a vacation to see them! We had a wonderful time traveling around Italy and Eastern Europe in March. In just a few days we are headed to DC to spend Christmas with Christine's parents and her sister Jeannie's family. The most exciting news by far this year regarding family has been about how our family has grown. In February, Eric and Aumi welcomed their second son, Dawson; and in October, Jeannie and Scott welcomed their first son, Maxwell. Last but not least, as you can tell from the picture above, our own family has also grown with the addition of Tucker, who we adopted from the Pima County Animal Shelter at the end of April.

• TRAVEL

Moving to Tucson actually resulted in more work travel for both of us. Scott spent the better part of this year traveling back and forth to New York. Thank you to all of our kind friends who allowed Scott to crash on their couches for weeks at a time! Thankfully, that chapter of our lives came to a close with the sale of Coastal Soccer in September! Having transitioned to being a "virtual" employee for Navigant Consulting in January, Christine was also doing a bit of traveling to San Francisco and Los Angeles this year. Like Scott's travel, that all came to an end when Christine resigned from Navigant in November! Of course, the biggest travel news is our adventure to Africa, which begins in just a few short weeks! With both of us transitioning out of our previous careers, we thought there would never be such a perfect opportunity to just push the "pause" button on life and set off on a big adventure. We depart for Johannesburg, South Africa on December 31st and have a return flight from Cairo, Egypt on April 2nd. We won't ruin the surprise by giving you the whole itinerary, but we will certainly keep you posted. Check back regularly for updates and photos of our trip over the next three months!

• CHANGE

Apparently, we like to keep everyone guessing about what we'll be doing next. Last Christmas we were sending out change of address cards, and this year the big news (which we've already divulged) is that we're both "unemployed", although we prefer the term "self employed" much more. The plan once we get the travel bug out of our system is to get our noses back to the grindstone and start two new businesses. We already have things in the works, but it wouldn't be any fun if we didn't leave a few surprises for 2008!

Warm holiday wishes from our home to yours.

Much love,

Scott, Christine & Tucker