In case our Christmas card didn’t make it to you…here is our Christmas letter from this year:
I know it’s a cliche this time of year, but wow – 2008 has really flown by! And all in all, it’s been a great year. It wasn’t quite as “action packed” as last year, but we did have a lot of events that kept us on the move!
The year started off with Dan deciding that Baxter needed a way to get rid of all his energy…so he decided to get involved with the Twin Cities Disk Dog Club. There are more dogs than humans in this group, but everyone involved loves to play Frisbee – and the dogs probably love it more than their owners! In January Dan entered Baxter in his first Frisbee competition, and where else would this event take place but on a frozen lake. Talk about an interesting first experience! Turns out Baxter can recognize people he knows, so when he saw me standing on the sidelines cheering him on, he decided he needed to take a break and come say “HI” to me. The crowd loved it, but I think Dan was wishing I would have stayed in the car! From that point on, Dan was hooked (probably more than Baxter was) and he entered in a couple more local events. Baxter even won first place in the Novice division at an event in April. And how do you top that? Well, naturally you go to a National qualifying event in Colorado. So we took a week’s vacation and visited family on the way out to Denver. Once we got there, we realized that wasn’t the smartest move. Baxter was really tired after chasing the cows on the farm all week, so he was more interested in laying down and watching Dan throw Frisbee’s than actually running and catching them. Even though he didn’t do very well, we still had a great time and continued to take part in competitions and demonstration events all year. Including being part of a half-time show for a Junior High football tournament.
As much as we talk about Baxter, it’s almost hard to believe that Dan and I do anything else but dote on him…but we do! Dan has had a great year; he finally decided to take the leap and go back to school. He studied four long months for his GMAT test (a test he needed to take to get accepted in a MBA program) and was then accepted into two schools here in Minneapolis. He settled on Carlson School of Management (which is part of the University of Minnesota) and has just finished his first semester. It is something that I would never be able to do, so I’m very proud of him!
I also did something I’ve always wanted to do this year…I went SKYDIVING! It was great! One of my friend’s asked if I wanted to join her, her sister and her Dad when they went; it was actually their gift to their Dad for his 60th birthday…so you know what I’m getting Dad for his birthday next year!! We went to Skydive Twin Cities in Baldwin, WI, which is just 30 or 45 minutes past the MN/WI border. I was pretty relaxed the whole time…until the door opened and my friend jumped out. That’s when I freaked-I may have screamed and insinuated that I was no longer interested. But the person attached to my back didn’t care, and jumped anyway. It was so much fun! There is only 60 seconds of free-falling before they open the parachute…then the rest of the ride is just absolutely beautiful! I can’t wait to do it again! Of course Dan didn’t join me; turns out jumping from a plane is not on everyone’s “To-Do” list.
Just about every other free moment this year was spent with more house projects. We took four feet off the front of the garage and put in a mud-room…which is now the best part of the house. But by doing that, we caused the garage to become incredibly tight. So we built a shed in the back yard to store all of our yard stuff and de-clutter the garage. From there, it was a lot of yard projects…the obnoxious task of trying to grow grass, putting up a gate to the back yard on the side of the house, landscaping and buying flowers, new windows, a new front door, painting the shutters…it never ends. Even now we are prepping for our next project. Dan is going to fix a couple cracks in the walls in the living room then I’m re-painting the inside of the house. I liked the yellow when we first moved in, but two years later I’ve decided the living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway and upstairs landing is a little too much yellow.
It’s been a great year, and most importantly we’ve been blessed with good health and wonderful family and friends. Don’t forget to check out our website for pictures and details of any of the other things we’ve done this year. We don’t always update the events as often as we should…but the photos are always getting updated.
And remember-we welcome visitors 🙂
Merry Christmas and Happy 2009!!