Dear Friends and Family,
As 2012 draws to a close we give thanks for our health and
well being.
This year was a big one for vacations for us. I took Tim and Kristin to Yellowstone
for Spring break. Our spring break
comes at an interesting time for Yellowstone in that the road into the West
entrance is closed for both cars and snow equipment (snow mobiles and snow
buses). So, there is not a
way to get to Old Faithful or any geyers.
Nevertheless, we had a great Yellowstone experience by driving a long
way to the North Entrance and seeing Mammoth Hot Springs and wildlife in the
park including hearing wolves howl as they coordinated to harass a herd of
buffalo.
In the summer we went Glacier National Park in Montana. The roads were open and we had a great
time at the park and the nearby towns.
For my birthday Missey and I took a trip to Puerto Rico. We realized it had been 8 years since
we took more than a weekend together without the kids. I always thought we wouldn’t become one
of those couples that never gets away by themselves. We were one of those couples for 8 years, we’ll try to avoid
anything like that again!
The other 49 weeks of the year were pretty busy too. Kristin graduated from high school and
started at Oregon State in Corvallis.
Dad’s day weekend and seeing the Beavers football game was a highlight
for me. Tim is a 6th
grader and has science labs, Spanish, and spelling tests. He plays piano for his school
band. Grace is a sophomore and
seems to have a fair number of things to work on for school. She plays clarinet in the school band
and banjo for her fun instrument.
Missey works at Viewpoint and when she isn’t busy with that drives the
carpool, cooks, and takes care of the rest of us. I’m working at TransCore/DAT trying to be Agile and make the
customers happy. I do a fair
amount of driving the carpools, volunteering for the Junior High youth ministry
and school lunches, helping with homework and trying to keep the repairs ahead
of the aging house.
It’s a blessing to be living close to Missey’s family. We all gathered for Thanksgiving,
Birthday celebrations, and we’ll be getting together for Christmas. My Mom and Al came up for a visit and I
got some family time in by adding some visiting to a business trip to Southern
California. I need to get everyone
down to California for more of a visit.
Are Christmas letters becoming a thing of the past as
Facebook keeps us in touch with more immediacy and pictures? Perhaps, but I still like the Christmas
cards, and I just don’t leave time to write something personal in each
one. So, your getting the
Christmas letter even if you already “liked” all the news on Facebook. Maybe next year I’ll feel differently.
Have a blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with
happiness.
Ralph, Missey, Kristin, Grace, and Tim
