Goodbye 2009 - Hello 2010

Well, it's really hard to believe, but it's New Years Eve already. Yes, December 31st 2009.

I can't quite believe the year has been and gone and we are now dawning a new year! I haven't even gotten caught up from the summer yet! Whoopsie!

2009 has been quite the year for Cory and I. It's been busy and hectic at times, it's been crazy and fast-paced. It's been emotional, it's been scary, it's had lots of highs & lows and it's had lots of really fun and wonderfully memorable times. One thing I know for sure is that 2009 will be forever etched on my memory!

We started the year excited about what it might hold, but completely unsure what the year was going to throw at us. It threw a LOT in our direction. Sometimes we ducked, sometimes we just braced for impact and other times it feels like I fell apart. But even with all those things, I'd still have to say that 2009 was a wonderful year in the "Book of Me".

My wonderful boyfriend asked me to marry him and we had the most wonderful wedding imaginable. We had a lot of friends visit us from far and wide, and my Mum, Alfie & Morgan came all the way from London to see us. That was one of the real highlights!

The Summer was really fun, but with the Graves Disease we had our own fair share of struggles. I had my thyroid radiation and started on the "regulation road" as we call it... where we try and balance the synthetic thyroid supplements perfectly so I have enough thyroid hormones to make it through each day.

Autumn was a LOT of fun! We tried to do as much fun stuff as I had energy for, and we even went to my first real football game, the OSU homecoming game. To be completely honest, I don't really get "American Football", it's all a bit weird to me. The rules don't seem 'natural' and the whistle blowing every 30 seconds is frustrating to me... oh well, perhaps I'll learn the rules enough to understand a game sometimes!

Winter has been fun, but has gone by so quickly and the weather has been mild. Oh, and I celebrated my first Thanksgiving this year too! Again, it's not something I 'totally' understand, but it was fun and the food was great! ;)

I absolutely love Christmas, and always have since I was a child, so I was very pleased to work on all the Christmas stuff and get the house decorated. I loved our Christmas tree too, it was just beautiful! I just wish my family could have been here to celebrate with us, or somehow we could have orchestrated it that we could have been in several places at once...

So, with 2010 on our doorstep Cory and I are excited for all the things the New Year will bring our way. We know for sure that there are some struggles coming our way, and challenges that we will have to face together, but we also know that it will be a good year. We will have some fun times, make some wonderful memories and best of all, we'll do all these things together!

Christmas in the Fast Household

When I was a child I was always allowed to choose a gift to open on Christmas Eve. So, Cory and I have decided that we will continue this same tradition in our house too.

On Christmas Eve we went to visit with some good friends of ours. It was really a fun time, talking with them and laughing about silly things. They're really special people and fun to be around.

When we came home we opened our Christmas Eve gifts and it was late (and we're old, I guess) so we went to bed!

This year we decided that we would have a relaxing Christmas morning, instead of rushing round trying to get here, there and everywhere on time.

We hadn't set an alarm for the morning, and when I first woke it was still really dark outside, so I looked at my watch - it was only 6.15am! Too early to wake up Cory. So, I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. At 7.15 I nudged Cory to test how sleepy he was and said "Merry Christmas!" He replied, "Merry Christmas" but he was still sleepy.... At 7.45 I couldn't wait any longer. I nudged him and said "It's Christmas, we have to get up!"

I have always loved Christmas, and the magic feeling it brings. It isn't about the presents but it's just a really special time of year... Don't get me wrong, the presents and the food are nice, but they're more a bonus... the cherry on top!

So, we settled into the couch and started opening our stocking gifts and it was really a fun and relaxing way to start the day!

Then we opened our gifts from each other. We had set a budget this year, and I'd spent it all on his main gift so I was excited to see if I'd chosen the right gift for Cory. I had, and he was really excited... and I was glad! I'd got him a North Face jacket, and not only did I not really know if it was the right style, but the sizing was a little weird too. I bought the size he usually gets in NF stuff but it looked huge when it arrived... It was perfect though and I was happy!
It would have been terrible if he only had one main gift to open and it wasn't the right thing! *Phew!

Cory did really good on my gifts too. He got me an awesome Brown Betty teapot which I adore and use all the time, and he also got me a beautifully framed photo from our wedding. It's a 20x30 and we put it up on the huge blank space in our bedroom, and it's more than perfect! He also got me some craft stuff and things from home. He's a real diamond geezer!

After opening gifts we called my Mum and Dad back home. It was great to talk to them and the boys too. Alfie said it "was the best Christmas ever, he got everything he had ever wanted". He's a sweet, sentimental little boy and even though he was sick with the swine flu he was having a fun time. Morgan was just so excited about everything, and it was great to hear the excitement in his voice as he explained about the gifts he'd got and asked if Santa had made it to our place.

Morgan was a little worried that Santa might not remember where we were, so he left a note out with the cookies and milk telling him not to forget about Me, Cory & Tittr here in Oregon. He's a real fun little guy, and looks out for his Auntie Mary!

After talking to them and calling some other family back home we made a yummy breakfast and got ready! It was nice to not be rushing around like a headless chicken!

Once we were ready we loaded the gifts up into the truck and headed to Cory's parents place. We were going to exchange gifts there and have dinner with them.

The afternoon was lovely. Genie did a great job with dinner and it was a really fun time had by all. It was also Cory's Grampa's 80th birthday on Christmas Day, so we sang "Happy Birthday" to him and Jesus and we had birthday cake from his party!

It had been a long but very fun and memorable day... we headed home and put our feet up for the rest of the evening!

Here's a few photos for ya:

Cory helping his Grandmother open her gifts

Last year I introduced the Christmas Crackers tradition and this year we even got everyone to wear their crowns! ;)

Yep - it's a crazy person infront of a pretty Christmas tree!

Our first Christmas as Mr & Mrs Cory Fast

Merry Christmas & update from The Fast’s

Merry Christmas & Update from the Fast's

So, I guess I should firstly say that I am not a ‘regular’ at writing these update letters… So I am hoping to keep it short and sweet (a bit like me I guess – hahahaha)!

Anyway, 2009 has been quite the year for us. For those of you who live on the moon and don’t yet know - I have immigrated to the USA! Yes, I am now living in beautiful Oregon! The process was fairly stressful and very lengthy, but it was very worth it, and I am now the proud holder of a Green Card.

I’ve been here for 12 months now, and will say that all-in-all, it’s one of the most wonderful places to live. It is beautiful all year round and we are excited for the snowing to start here in a couple of weeks (or days from the forecast I heard this morning) – the snow is hard work, but it’s such fun!

I do miss my family & friends from home though, and am trying to be good at keeping in touch… and we are VERY excited for our trip in the spring and will try and see as many of you as possible!

The other big news from us is that we got married! Yes, that’s the reason I am no longer little Friel – I’m ‘Fast’ now!

Our wedding was just about as perfect as it could be. My Mum & two nephews came from the UK, we had friends travel from the UK, Finland and all over the US to be with us. We have so many special memories from that day – a big thanks to all of you who made it SO special – and yes, that includes those of you who were in on the ‘Bandit’ plan to kidnap me from the wedding reception!

Other than immigrating and getting married, the main thing going on with us is unfortunately my health. A few days before the wedding after several tests and Doctors visits I was diagnosed with Graves Disease. GD is an auto immune illness and basically, it causes my immune system to attack the thyroid. I was having fairly intense symptoms and was put on medication to help with those while I waited to see the Endocrinologist. Back then, I don’t think we really knew what an uphill struggle we were in for.

A few weeks after my diagnosis, Cory and I went to the hospital to receive my radiation treatment. It was a scary time, but for us it was a step in the right direction. A step to getting better and we were in the struggle together. Once my thyroid started to die off it went very quickly… It seems like it should have been on a gentle downward slope, but instead it took a sky dive and that is not fun to experience. I quickly fell into being hypothyroid (under active thyroid function) as well as having Graves Disease. Oh what fun!

We hadn’t been warned what a journey it would be (I think my Dr was surprised that I crashed so hard & fast too), so every day we were learning. In fact, I’d say we are still learning. I am now taking synthetic thyroid replacement medication, but we still have a few months of my thyroid dying and getting regulated to deal with before I’ll be standing on my own two feet.

Anyway, I know it’s easy to moan about being ill, and to say what a horrible time it’s been, and it really has, but I’d also like to say that it’s been quite an incredible journey too. Cory and I as newlyweds have had to really be strong together, and he has been just wonderful. He has taken care of me when all I was able to do was be a grump and stay on the couch. He has seen me through the good days and bad, and has helped me keep pushing on, keep fighting, and keep looking forward to the day when I have my energy back, and have this illness firmly under my thumb. I am so thankful for a husband that is my best friend, my soul mate and my life partner. That is more than I could have ever wished or hoped for.

We also attend a great church here in McMinnville, and that has been such a blessing to us. The pastor, Charlie, has such a gift as a speaker and is captivating to listen to. This whole summer every single sermon that he has preached has felt like it was specifically focused on us and our situation. God knew what we needed to hear, when we needed encouragement, when we needed direction and when we just needed to rest in His awesome power. He has carried us both through this hard time, and is still doing so today.

We are looking forward to the New Year, and all the new challenges it will bring along. We’re also looking forward to our trip ‘back home’, to seeing dear family and friends, and to hopefully having restored health. Wishing you all a wonderful 2010, filled with joy, happiness and laughter!

Love & hugs to you all, from

Cory & Mary xoxoxoxox

YAY for Andrew & Adie

So, Cory and I are excited, bcause tonight we get to go pick up Andrew and Adison from the airport. They're arriving from NC for three weeks over the holiday season.

We just heard a couple of hours ago that one of their connecting flights was cancelled, so they had to switch to a different flight, but the good thing (I think) is that their flight now arrives at 7pm instead of 11.30pm - at least we'll get back here to Mac at a reasonable time!

It'll be good to see them both, we don't get to see them often enough :)

That's all for now, time to go and bake some yummy cookies....

Catch ya later :)

It's begining to feel a lot like Christmas

This will have to be a quick post, I have a ton of stuff to do today, but I don't know if I will get to write for a few days, so thought I'd make a quick post and update.

I still have tons from the summer to update, I promise I'll get round to those soon... My goal is before the New Year! Yikes!

Anyway, with December firmly here and Christmas rapidly approaching we finally managed to get our tree.
We went up this weekend and picked out the most perfect tree. Cory cut it about half way up which looked like it would be about right. We went to help Doug (Cory's Dad) cut down the one for him and Genie, and we carted them back to the four wheelers. I was getting excited.

Cory climbed a tree for some mistletoe too. No Christmas decorations would be complete without that! I know you're supposed to "shoot" it out of the tree, but we didn't have a gun and it was getting dark!

While Doug brought the trees back to the Farm on the trailer Cory took me on a one of the trails on the other four-wheeler. It was a lot of fun. The trails are so pretty!

We visited a while with Cory's parents, and niece Julia. Everyone was excited about the news they'd just heard, that Cory's sister in law, Katie was six weeks pregnant.

So, on Sunday after church and lunch we decided that we were going to put the tree up... Cory had to cut about two and a half feet off the bottom of it, and about another six inches off the top to make it fit, but it looked perfect!

We had a lot of fun decorating the tree, some new ornaments, some old, and John & Janet brought us some ornaments that they used to have on their tree back in California too.

I added a few other decorations around the living and dining rooms and we were just about done. The house smelled so Christmassy, and it sure looked it! I love my tree - I think it's just perfect, and I'm excited for this Christmas...

... Our first as Mr & Mrs Cory Fast!

(Here are some pics from the Christmas tree hunt)

Newest addition to the family.

This past weekend my brother had a little baby girl. She was born healthy in the early hours of Saturday morning
12th December 2009.

They have named her Charlotte Ann.

The Big Day!

The big day was a lot of fun, and I have so many special memories that it's hard to narrow it down to blog post... but I'll try! ;)

The tables, chairs, linen, china and silverware all arrived in the morning of the big day, and we had our close friends here on hand to help get the last few bits & pieces done... we were expecting perhaps a little sprinkle of rain, so we set up everything except the linens, and a friend of ours was going to put them out right at the last minute before we arrived back from the ceremony.

Mum & I headed to the salon to get our hair done leaving everyone buzzing around getting things done. Once we got back Mum and a good friend Tara got working on the flowers for Anna and I, and I went round to have a quick squizz and make sure everything was right and in place.

As soon as everything was finished Cory & Andrew headed to the farm - they needed to double check a few things up there and were also getting suited and booted up there!

Excitement had started to set in... I could feel the butterflies in my stomach!

Once they left I started to get ready. Anna was already dressed and looking gorgeous, and I hadn't even tried my dress on yet from the last amendments the dress maker had made! So, as I did my make up I hoped the dress would be ok...

With make up done, I enlisted the help of Anna and my Mum to do up the lacing at the back of my dress... It fit... we were in luck! (There was one small flaw on the dress, right under the zip at the back, but my Mum decided that it was best to not point it out until much later in the day, in fact, I think she told me about 9pm or 10pm that evening when I said I thought I'd ripped it!

Right on time John & Janet came and knocked on the door for us. John had decorated the 41 Chevy beautifully, and they were ready for Anna and I.

Dave took my Mum and the boys in our truck and drove behind us to the farm! Oooooh, I was getting excited (and I was very glad that the weather wasn't too hot yet).

We arrived at the farm, just a few minutes late and everything was perfectly laid out there. The boys had done a good job on all the last minute arrangements. I was so glad I wouldn't have to worry or run around changing things right before the guests arrived.

I went into the house and Cory's Mammaw was there. She gave me an Irish linen handkerchief and a sixpence. She had bought the Irish linen years before when she was on a trip to Ireland with the plan to give it to Cory's bride on her wedding day, and the same with the sixpence. It was very sweet. I promptly put the sixpence in my shoe (it's not the most comfortable place, but it's traditional) and I hid the handkerchief in a flower arrangement next to where we would stand during the ceremony (just in case I needed it).

With the sixpence in place I realised that I had all the traditional items except for "something blue".... As I was wondering what I should do I rummaged through my handbag.... nothing!
hummm.... but then I had an idea.

I grabbed the blue ball point pen from my purse and thought for a brief second... I knew exactly what I would be my "something blue". I wrote on the outside of my right calf "Cory's Mary". It was what Cory's niece called me and subsequently had turned into my nickname. It was perfect!

A few moments later Mike told Anna to come get me - He was done taking the photos of the men getting ready and he wanted me up there next.

YIKES!

So, I went up there, asked Mike if he would usher everyone else downstairs and I was ready to see my groom! I was excited to see him! This was our special moment.

I remember that moment clearly. Mike gave me the sign and I opened the door. Cory was standing with his back to me, looking out the window at the garden below that was set up for our ceremony. As I started walking towards him he turned around and I could see in his face right there at that moment that he was filled with pride to have me there as his wife.We checked out each others outfits and Mike snapped shots. I almost didn't want to go back downstairs where I suspected it might be a little frantic... If not frantic, it certainly wouldn't be as calm and peaceful as it was right there where we were!

The next while was dedicated to photos... lots of them... then our guests started arriving and I knew it was almost time!The ceremony was just beautiful. Danny and Doug (Cory's Dad) did the readings for us, and Andrew played a song while Cory and I poured the unity sand. We did have a little sprinkle of rain right as Gerald was giving his talk, but it was just a sprinkle and we survived without having to retreat to the house or send people in search of umbrellas - phew!

After the ceremony we had a cookie and punch reception there at the house. It was a good time for guests to visit with each other, and it also meant they didn't have to just stand around 'watching' as the rest of the photos were being taken.

Then it was time to head to the reception...

Rehersal Dinner (now with pics)

The rehearsal dinner was planned for the Friday evening, at the farm, and we were having Wallerys pizza - our favourite!

After spending the day working on stuff for the reception and trying to get everything done, and run all the errands we headed to the farm. We had three in the front of the truck and three in the back but I still needed to make a quick stop... I needed to pick up my dress from the dress maker!
I sure hoped it was perfect, because I didn't have time to try it on again. I dashed into the house, leaving everyone in the truck, picked up the dress, thanked Judy and ran back out again. I just "hoped" it would be OK when the time came to out it on!

Pastor Gerald arrived just after us and we had a quick run through of how things would go, and where everyone would be situated throughout the ceremony. Julia was our flower girl, but they hadn't arrived so instead, Danny Roe stepped in for her! I must say, he did a wonderful job as a "flower girl"! hahaha

Thankfully everything went smoothly, everything seemed very straight forward enough... so, we headed inside to grab a bite to eat.

It was a lot of fun having everyone together, and I loved how relaxed the evening was. Whoever said rehearsal dinners had to be stuffy!?!?! :)

After dinner and visiting with everyone for a while we headed back to our place to do the absolute last minute things for the next day... I hadn't gotten used to one of the medications my Dr had prescribed me on the Monday, and it made me so sleepy that instead of taking one every 4-6 hours I was taking one half of a pill, once a day in the evening. I made the mistake of taking my pill not long after we got back from the farm, and within about a half hour I was out cold. I had fallen asleep on the couch and would not go to bed. I guess in the back of my mind I knew I had a ton of stuff I still wanted to do, but my body wouldn't co-operate, it wouldn't play ball...

Cory & Andrew worked hard getting the garden ready. They worked til about 11.30pm, and they had Dave, Danny, Steve, Anna, Mikko & my Mum helping too. I was so proud of the work everyone had put in, but I felt a little hint of guilt that I hadn't been able to do my part. Why on earth did I have to be sick now, why couldn't it just wait til after the wedding, and after everyone had gone back home... I was more than frustrated with myself.

As promised, here are the photos...

Danny made a wonderful "flowergirl"
Umm yeah, I don't know what we were doing with our arms...

"Mary, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
Hummmmmm - Let me think.... Aren't we already married?!?!?!

I added this one because I think the face Erik is pulling is hilarious!