Annual Holiday Letter

This is our annual holiday letter that we usually send out with the Christmas cards (which I sent out extremely late this year--oops!) The best part about posting it here is that I can link to the "story" if I blogged about it.

If you have been regularly following our blog, you already know that 2009 has been a whirlwind for us!

Bryan celebrated this year’s historic Presidential Inauguration by selling his Honda and buying a brand new Volkswagon Jetta turbodiesel (his own economic stimulus.) For a while, he put down his guitars to tweak his beloved new car. And then he promptly wrecked it…twice. He continues to slave away work on the USS Enterprise, and if you would like to get in on our lottery of when the old ship is finally going to leave the shipyard, send your guess along with a contribution to the money pot!

Speaking of making bets, Jen finally, finally earned her Master’s degree in May! Her family flew in to DC for the pomp & circumstance and some sight-seeing. She has spent this year hopping from project to project at work, beginning with SOCOM’s ASDS, then to Bryan’s ship for several months, and is wrapping up the year on the refueling and overhaul of the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

Brandon graduated from his racecar bed into a bunk-bed, and his very own room. He entered into second grade, where he is earning straight-As and not giving his teacher as many fits as last school year. He chose soccer over football for the fall season and became one of his team’s best players.

Tyler graduated from preschool, started kindergarten and loves it! He is just starting to read, and plays spelling games with his older brother (who is a little jealous of his little brother’s new smarts.) He took over Brandon’s old racecar bed and now shares a room with Nick.

Nick graduated out of diapers and into underwear! We’re still working on night-time training, but the hard part is over with. He also moved out of his crib and into Tyler’s old fire truck bed. He has become obsessed with all things Scooby-Doo and Shaggy—he even found Scooby Snacks at the store.

We did have a major loss to the family this year. Loki was euthanized mid-August due to the pains of extreme old age. He was cremated and sits in his urn at Jen’s bedside table. Maggie was immediately allowed to come back into the house to help alleviate our loss, and seems to be doing okay without him. Brandon is asking Santa for a cat this year (so we’re in trouble.)

We hope you all have had a good start to a great holiday season. Ours started with a trip to Jen’s hometown of Hereford, Texas, for Thanksgiving. She was very happy to go “home” for the first time in 5 years, and to see her grandparents and some of her cousins. The boys loved being spoiled by Granny and PaPa, and Nick keeps asking to get back on the airplane to go see them. So we hope you are surrounded by your family and friends this Christmas!

Love, Bryan, Jennifer, Brandon, Tyler, Nick, Maggie, and Loki (in spirit)

P.S. We are sorry for the lack of a family Christmas photo this year. With our work schedules, we have a hard time just going to the grocery store and getting the laundry done! However, you can view us in our Halloween disguise here, or see Jen & Bryan painted up for the KISS concert here.