a Christmas newsletter....

I lvoe these things...a genealogy goldmine! I still write them, and am glad my sister does, too! used to receive a ton of these every year, but only got Lisa's this Christmas.....

Tom still works with computer networks for Learfield in Jefferson City. We attended his 30th class reunion this year. I guess we ARE officially old! I,Lisa, still sub at the local school. I was offered a supervisory retail position but the pay and hours weren't good enough to justify spending that much time on my feet having the shopping public treat me like dirt.

Max is in 8th grade and is now 14, although at 6'4" he looks a lot older. Last spring he played trombone in district band, threw discus in track, was student of the month, and was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. Over the summer he got contacts and he played basketball this fall. His biggest event of the year was getting baptized in June!

Logan is in 6th grade, is 12 years old, and now happy to announce he is officially just a smidgen taller than mom (I really didn't expect, at 5'7", to be the shortest person in my house this soon!) He just got glasses and looks sharp in them! His big event of the year was passing out during a song service at church. Being the good mother that I am (yeah, right!) I thought he was goofing off. I sternly told him to stand up just as he collapsed in the pew. Thankfully after a doctor visit and some tests they determined that he was just dehydrated.

We are slowly but surely getting the basement back to normal, after some flooding issues. We've ripped out carpet, baseboards, and drywall. We got the foundation cracks and drainage issues fixes. Hopefully this year we'll get it so the boys can move down there.

It was an eventful year for Tom's credit. After getting lots of credit applications for a guy with a name similar to Tom's we ran Tom's credit report. Somehow Tom's credit report had been merged with this other guy. Not long after getting that mess all straightened out Tom got a call asking about a large purchase on his card made in Texas. Yep, someone stole his account. Knock on wood, we haven't had anything else pop up after fixing that issue.

We took a big vacation road trip this summer. Stops included the Oklahoma City National Memorial, Cadillac Ranch (coolest graffiti ever!), Petroglyph National Monument, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, Sedona/Red Rocks, Montezuma's Castle and Well, Tuzigoot National Monument, Grand Canyon, and Four Corners (Where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado intersect-can stand on the marker and be in four states at once.) The scenery was breathtaking and we had a great time!

Lisa and the boys did a 5k sponsored by our high school youth group in December. All proceeds went to provide clean drinking water in Africa. The boys walked/jogged and finished in around 45 minutes. I didn't finish. I was helping a friend with her 11 month old granddaughter who was hungry and fussy, so we took a short cut back to the church. I still had fun adn the boys were not at all happy that I beat them back to the church, even if I did technically "cheat".

Hope you had a great 2012 also....tom, Lisa, Max, & Logan