Merry Christmas 2009

December 2009

Dear Family and Friends—

We are always grateful for the spirit of this season when people tend to turn their attention to the things that matter most—family, faith and friends. We also appreciate the opportunity to reflect back on our year, and wanted to catch you up on what we’ve been up to.

Since I’m getting old and can’t really remember what happened this year, I turned to our blog at nathanandmegan.blogspot.com to refresh my memory:

It looks like I’ve been a management consultant with Accenture for a year and half. In other words, I’ve accumulated 64 nights at Starwood Hotels, 58 nights at Marriott properties and Gold status on Star Alliance flights this year. I’ve spent most of this year doing growth strategy and innovation projects for health plans, health associations, pharmaceutical companies and management consulting companies in the Midwest and on the East coast.

It turns out that Megan took up gardening this year, with two bed-sized plots installed in our backyard producing delicious homegrown vegetables in just 2 – 3 short months. Her other pastime was showing me the rooms she painted while I was gone on business trips. She continues to enjoy living near her family, as well as by a good group of her Stampin’ Up friends and customers. We also celebrated our 8th anniversary by going on a cruise to Mexico (without the children!). 

It seems that Alison is greatly enjoying life as a second-grader. She takes great pride in getting her spelling and math homework right and is always anxious to teach us the things she’s learning about. As our little sports enthusiast, Ali learned how to ride her bike on two wheels, joined a softball league during the summer, and played “knock out” with her aunts and uncles at Thanksgiving during our trip to Tucson. She continues to take piano lessons and enjoys practicing first thing in the morning so that we all wake up to her melodies.

It’s apparent that Kaitlyn (our “girly-girl”) is an aspiring fashion designer who is able to turn shirts into skirts, pants into jackets, and shorts back into shorts. Her second year of pre-school (upgraded to the three days-a-week plan) has really been great for her and for Megan. She’s reading like a little champ and sounding out long words with confidence. She loved visiting Utah for my sister’s wedding, and especially enjoyed the pretty “princess” gown.

There never seems to be a dull moment when Max is around. He’s just a happy-go-lucky kid who loves to explore (read: “get into things”) and experiment (read: “I wonder what will happen when I turn this opened package of rice upside down on the kitchen floor?”). He’s speaking in little sentences even understood by people outside of the family! And, he just enjoys staying home, playing and wrestling with his family.

At the end of 2009, one thing is clear: we feel privileged and blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2010.