The Davises of Newbury Park, The Barkers of Salt Lake City, The Kenningtons of Ontario, Oregon,
The Robinsons of Roseville, The Pimentels of Bakersfield, The Feddocks of San Carlos,
and the Kurts of Canyon Country, CA

The Davis Family Letter

Dear Ones, 

We're looking forward to Thanksgiving, when the Kurts and the Wurtzes (Dianne's family) will join us, and Stephanie will come down from Rexburg.  What a happy crowd we'll be!  Our weather has been pleasantly warm lately, so Thanksgiving Day will probably be a nice one.

 

We really enjoyed having Tim spend about five days in Southern California recently.  He came for a reunion of his priests' quorum, along with the advisor the boys all loved so much.  The young men, most of them now married, were able to catch up on what each of them has been doing since their priest days.  And I got some very rare one-on-one time with our son.  I took a day off work, so we talked the day away, and on Saturday, he and I went to the temple.

 

Jayma seems to be doing well with her pregnancy.  Things are moving along as they should, so we're hopeful that the whole pregnancy and birth will go normally.  Thanks for your prayers.

 

Christine and Val's big news is that they are moving to Barcelona, Spain, probably in May or June.  Val will be working in a different office for the same company.  They've already started learning Spanish and Catalan, both of which are spoken there.  They find that Catalan comes a little more easily, since they speak French, and Catalan is a combination of Spanish and French.  Christine and Val have found a home to rent which is near a good school for Matthew.  I live my thrilling adventures vicariously through them!

 

Christine was recently called to be the Young Women president, with the understanding that she will be moving away in the near future.  Busy gal!

 

Dianne made an adorable Pokemon character costume for Ethan for Halloween, and I'm sure the other costumes were cute, too.  She enjoyed having Tim spend a day with her while he was here.  Jeff continues working hard on Lymabean.com.

 

Stephanie's student teaching in Salt Lake with start after Christmas.  She and Mark will be graduating from their respective schools in April, when both will be doing some serious job hunting.  Naturally, we hope both of them find jobs, sooner or later, in Southern California.  They would like that, too.

 

The BYU-Idaho newspaper did a recent article on Stephanie's artwork, and her fame is spreading.  She has some work hanging in a nearby clothing shop, and people have come into the shop just to see them because they read the article.  One young man, whose girlfriend loves Stephanie's work, commissioned Stephanie to do a painting that includes the words "marry me."  It is to be a gift to accompany his wedding proposal!

 

Kathy's teaching art one day a week at the high school where her husband works, and she loves it.  I've never seen anyone with all the clever craft and art ideas she has.  She also loves being the mommy of 18-month-old Jane! 

 

Natalie continues to have a good time at BYU.  We look forward to having her and most of the others (except Tim and Christine) with us at Christmas.   

       

I had Veterans' Day off, so Blair and I spent the day in Santa Barbara, strolling the main street.  Actually, he was doing the strolling while I zipped around in my Viper Blue scooter.  The day was gorgeous and we enjoyed window shopping and just being together.  We also saw the movie Marie Antoinette, which was very interesting and beautifully made.

 

I'm thoroughly enjoying editing LaMarvelous's amazing book on the life of his wife Joyce and himself.  What interesting stories are in it! 

 

Walt's wife Gerrie has had a terrible tragedy in her family.  A granddaughter and her husband, who had only been married a year, were sailing with friends on a nearby reservoir just a couple of weeks ago.  A wind came up that capsized the boat, and the couple were drowned.  The two friends were able to make it to shore, but the water was 41 degrees--too cold to last very long in.  Of course, the family is profoundly saddened by this.  Tragedies like this remind us of how grateful we are for the gospel.

 

That reminds me how much teaching the Gospel Doctrine class means to me.  It takes some time, of course, but I'm learning so much.  This calling reminds me that we need to be focusing on our purpose here on earth and on our Savior, and not to be overly distracted by less important things.    

 

Love forever to all our precious family members,

the Davises

The Barker Family Letter

Dear Family,     

Time does fly!!  Things just keep happening and I can't keep up very well.  I haven't gotten much past Christmas yet.  I love Family Letters!  We have had a cold winter, but today, it is wonderfully warm.  It was almost 50.  What a change.  We still need more snow.      

Hopefully, the snow for this weekend won't cause problems for Brigham and Kristi.  They will be moving into their Condo.  It is in Saratoga Springs and they are VERY excited to have their own place.  they have been living here since they moved from her Aunt's basement apt.  It has been fun having Audry here.  She is 4 and as four year old(girls) go - never stops talking.  We will miss her.  Hopefully, all will go well.     

Wiley will graduate in the spring.  Kate will only have to do her student teaching.  Then off to Law School for Wiley.  We will keep you posted.  They are doing well and will be here this weekend to help Brigham move.  Mike, Becky and boys will be here to help too.  Becky does Spanish Insurance translation work from home and needs to come down this weekend for some training.  Perfect timing.  She won't be much help with the moving.  Their newest baby boy is  due in April.  That is three.  We will have fun here.  Mike is very busy with work and church.      

Jonathan has a new JOB!!  He is SOOO excited!  He will be one of the assistant Prosecutors for Green county(Springfield, Missouri.)  That is just what he wanted to do.  Springfield is a beautiful city about 3 hours south(east) of Kansas City.  They have been down to look at houses and love the area.   A friend of JD's has a sister who lives there now and will help them where she can.  They have two stakes there.  Madi will start school there in the Fall.  She will be 6 in August.  How exciting!!     

Andy and Chrystie have a new baby girl.  She is 3 months old.  We went down to see them in December and really had fun with them.  We left Salt Lake in a snow storm and when we got to Florida, they were wearing parkas and mittens.  They were COLD.  We were wearing shirt sleeves.  It was in the 50's.  Isabel is 4, Kevin is 2 and little Elizabeth is as sweet as can be.  She has wonderful cheeks.  Chrystie enjoys being at home with them.  Andy loves his work as the Area Defense Council.  He loves the Air Force.  If he signs up again, he will probably have to go to Iraq or Afghanistan.  We will see what happens.  He has been in the AF for almost 4 years.      

Jenny and Greg are still plugging along.  Jason is learning to read and loves it.  He has lots of fun in First Grade.  Sydnee is 3 and would be in charge of the world if you let her.  She is the crabbiest one, ever.  We tell Jenny, JUST WAIT.  I am sure Mom said that lots of times.  If Sydnee wasn't so cute, we would have left her on the corner long ago.        

David has been quite busy at work, lately, and adding that to his calling, he doesn't have much time for much else.  He still takes good care of me.      

I have been changed from my old job to a new position.  Did I tell you?  I am the Secretary of the Tech squad.  It is NOT the most exciting job there ever was.  Quite the opposite.   A lot of the support was moved around and I was moved to the squad that would not be 'too much' for me.  NOW, instead of having LOTS of work to do each and every day,  I have a thing or two to do almost every day.  The day I do the agent's time(payroll) is the busiest day i have.  On my squad I have Tech agents, ET's and computer people.  Exciting.  Nice guys.  One of the computer guys told me that when I come to the squad, I had better bring my knitting.  Even they know how unexciting that squad is.  I am doing OK, so far.  There is lots of construction going on and I have moved  to a different floor for now and then I will move again.  Now, my squad is not even in the same building.  Every day is an adventure.      

I am looking forward to the spring weather.  It will be nice to be able to be outside.  We miss you all.  We love to hear about what is going on.  We are the luckiest people because we have each other in our family.  That is the greatest thing ever.                                       

Love to all of you  Karen and David    XXXOOO

The Kennington Family Letter

Dear Family,

It is good some people are keeping track of what month it is so I will remember to write the family letter! Now if I can just remember back to November.

For Thanksgiving we had Vanessa & Mark and Amber, Carter and Spencer, Conrad and pregnant Sarah, and Jeff and Brielle. Only half of our family can now fit in our house. We will have to build a bigger one next time. Although Clint and I don't even use half the rooms we have now. It was wonderful to have a happy noisy time. Sarah was watching the little boys with some consternation, thinking perhaps her children would never draw on walls or dump out all the Monopoly money, two puzzle boxes and two Pictionary games cards all into a big pile like Spencer did. (We had a nice time scrubbing the walls and sorting pieces for several hours.) I'm sure she will forget having that thought as time goes on.

For Christmas we got Casey and Katie, Jon, Carrie and Dallin, and Conrad, Sarah and brand new Athena, who was born 9 days overdue in the downtown Boise hospital. Casey helped me set up a couple of websites I have been asked to do by the Nyssa Tractor and Sparks Auction people. I don't know how they found out I can do websites. It is coming along pretty well. The old websites were pretty ugly, I must say.

The weather cooperated and Clint and I showed our age by going to bed on New Year's Eve at 10:30 pm our regular time. We were very glad to see 2006 come to an end because of the effort and work that has gone into it. Not only Carol's death and having to settle her large and complex estate, but reorganizing our business as Kennington Farms LLC (changing a business name is something one should rarely if ever do) and bringing in Tyson and Breanna, taking over Hugh's finances, and Clint and I starting our own trust. After having gone through the experience with Carol's estate, we highly recommend starting a trust for couples. With all the work Carol's trust was, it would have been much more painful if we had gone through probate. We have spent so much time at the attorney's and the CPAs and the banks that I am beginning to think I could open my own financial and estate planning office.

But there have been wonderful things too, among them Dallin and Athena being born and Jeff and Brielle getting married. I quit my job teaching (although I was just offered a full time English position at Nyssa High School, which I turned down) and I'm enjoying the Relief Society calling. We broke even with the business this past year even with the animal health problems we've had, and Tyson is a real asset to the farm, although his Great Pyrenees dog Coda seems to like hanging out at our place more than she should. (I don't have a dog on purpose.) Hopefully 2007 will treat us well.

We have been looking at floor tile so we can replace the 30-year-old self-stick linoleum squares. There is beautiful stuff out there. I replaced most of the ceiling fixtures in our house with gorgeous Italian-looking lamps from Home Depot.

We love hearing about all of you!
The Kenningtons

The Robinson Family Letter

Dear Family,

It seems like Thanksgiving was a long time ago! We went to Truckee to be with Heather, Brian and Clementine. There were only the 5 of us. A small group, but fun. Heather does a good job of cooking. Their new wood burning stove works great at heating the house. Clementine kept us all entertained.

Genna and Jeff were on their belated honeymoon in San Diego over Thanksgiving. Jeff had never been there. They had a pass that gave them unlimited visits to Sea World, the zoo and the Wild Animal Park. Jeff can stay in the family now that he loves Sea World as much as we do.

Christmas was terrific. We had the whole family all together. Craig and Rachel stayed for a week and the Myers stayed for 4 days. Genna and Jeff wisely decided to sleep in their own bed every night and drive over most days. Clementine's first Christmas was a success. She loved the wrapping paper as much as any gift.

Jenni, Christine and Nick Kurt came up for a couple of nights at the end of Christmas week to deliver our very beautiful custom quilt! It was nice to spend time with them and get to know them better. They finally met our in-law children and our granddaughter.

Genna and I drove to Truckee a few weeks later on a Saturday to watch Clementine while Heather and Brian took cross-country skiing lessons. Brian also learned to skate-ski. They have a fun enclosed little compartment Clementine can sit in that sits on skis and straps across Brian's chest so he can pull her as he skis cross-country. It is a fun time for them. It can also be pulled behind his bike, turn into a stroller and a jogger. It is a good thing she likes it because she will spend a lot of time in there.

Craig and Rachel were in that ice storm that swept several states. They sent amazing pictures of their neighborhood encased in ice – chain link fences, tree branches, street signs, everything. No snow, just ice. Very beautiful pictures, but I think I am glad we weren't part of that.

Genna has enjoyed her 5 week break from school over the holidays, but that is over now. Jeff is starting to work long hours at the tax office. They have been called as nursery leaders for the younger nursery class in their ward. There is an older class (30-36 months) as well. There are quite a few kids in their ward!

An egret found our little pond and has been after the fish! We put our patio table, chairs and a trellis over the water to keep the egret out. It is very persistent! Craig thinks we have a few fish left, but they spend all day hiding so it is hard to know. And they used to be such friendly fish. We'll have to get a better solution than balancing all the patio furniture over the water.

Craig is now one of the Gospel Doctrine teachers. We have 3 that rotate. He enjoys studying for the lessons. I am not able to see him teach as I am still teaching the 12 year olds Sunday School. Maybe someday.

We love you!
The Robinsons

The Pimentel Family Letter

Dear Family,

We had a wonderful Christmas!!  Bret was home for 3 weeks, and Andrea and Roger were both home for 15 days.  It was heaven!  It was so nice to be together for so much time.  I did get a little panicky the week before I went into surgery.  I had scheduled it for Dec. 20th since the kids would be home and they could help get everything together for the holidays.  I got my Christmas mailing done the week of Thanksgiving, and was doing pretty well with Christmas preparations, but I didn't know what to expect so I started to worry!  Bret was already home, and Roger and Andrea arrived the day of the surgery.  I had a vaginal hysterectomy and a little bladder repair work--they call it a sling.  I loved that button that I got to push to give me IV morphine! During the first night in the hosptral I started hearing that loud noise in my ear that I had when I had a blood clot in my jugular vein so I had to stay an extra night while they looked into that.  I had an ultrasound and they couldn't see any blood clot so I was able to leave after 2 nights.  After about 5 days the noise went away and I am back to "normal."  I was glad to be home and was sort of tired, but Andrea did all of the cooking and the boys helped pull me up off of the couch.  I was surprised at how little pain I felt once I was home.  Now I can hardly remember that I had surgery! 

So things were a little low-key for Christmas, but I got all of my kids home which was the best gift ever!  Andrea got laid off of her job the week before Christmas (this happens frequently in the advertising industry.  She was one of many), but she was certain that she could find a higher paying job.  It turns out she was right.  As soon as she sent out her resume and on-line portfolio she got calls for interviews.  She had a bunch of on-the-spot job offers and took a great job with a cutting edge agency with a much higher salary than before.  Especially nice since she just moved to a more expensive place in San Francisco (she was across the bay in Alameda).

Roger has an internship for an advertising agency in New York City this summer, but is also interested in one in Colorado so he hasn't made a commitment yet.  He will participate in the April commencement at BYU, but depending on which internship he takes he might not officially be done until after the internship.  He would like to look for a job in the San Francisco area and share rent with Andrea.

Bret is in the 2nd year of his 4-year doctoral program.  He is teaching one day a week at Clemson Univ. this semester.  I love when he comes home so I can hear him practice.  He did a beautiful musical number for the branch while he was home, accompanied by Roger.  Ron is going to Georgia in March and will be able to meet up with Bret.  I want to go!!  He has been dating someone and we are crossing our fingers!

Glad the cold snap is over.  Too bad a lot of the citrus grown around here was destroyed.

Ron's brother, David, and his family just moved back to the Netherlands--back from Sudan where they lived for most of last year.  They came to visit over Christmas so Ron and the boys went to see them in the Bay Area .  Andie stayed here with me since I wasn't ready to travel.

Our stake had our turn at the L.A . temple for the 50th anniversary celebration.  Each stake is invited on a Saturday and they hope all endowed members can come.  There is a nice meeting with the temple presidency and the stake leaders in the 3rd floor assembly room and the wards are assigned to sessions immediately before and after the meeting.  We had over 800 people at ours in December.  It was very nice to see so many people we knew in the temple that day.  Our little branch is doing well.  Constant changes, but we love our callings.

Love you guys!  -sarah and ron

 

The Feddock Family Letter

Dear Peeps,

That's corporate for "people." As in, "I'll have my peeps call your peeps." Breanne can't stand it when Michael and I say peeps. I guess it has some other connotation at school, or maybe we're just not cool enough to use a word she has heard at school. I think she just doesn't realize how very groovy her parents are. Where have we gone wrong?

Our girlie turned Sweet 16 yesterday (Nov. 18th). Well, she was already sweet but now she's the 16 part, too. The festivities began Friday evening as she went ice skating with her best friend. The friend stayed over night and the next day several girl friends from Breanne's Mia Maid class met here and we walked to a favorite Japanese restaurant a block or two away. Dad paid the bill after they ordered, we left, and the young ladies had a wonderful, grown up time on their own. I remember Mom making a Chinese lunch for me and my friends for my 16th bday. She even made green invitations that read top to bottom and right to left as they would in the orient. Anyway, little Michael was crushed that we weren't staying to eat with them but he was quickly healed when we walked next door to Chuck's donuts to drown our sorrows in maple bars. It's surprising how much he can eat when it's something he really likes.

After the restaurant the girls walked back here and hung out, opened gifts, and ate one of our favorite ice cream desserts. It's an Oreo crust in the 13x9 pan, a layer of ice cream on top (mint chip this time), a layer of ice cream topping (Hershey's syrup), then topped with a layer of Cool Whip. That never lasts long around here. You can do any ice cream/topping combination. Like Butter Pecan and caramel topping would be good.

After the girlies went home we had pizza for dinner then went to see Kenneth Cope do a concert in our own stake center! Linda gave us a CD of his and we listen to it almost every Sunday morning. He is an LDS singer/songwriter and is so inspiring. You can't listen to his songs without your testimony growing. His guitar chords and progressions and clear voice are mesmerizing. He also quoted a couple of his favorite Shel Silverstein poems. Very cute.

Tomorrow Bree will go to the DMV to take her written test for her learner's permit. Here we go!!

Mini-Mike will turn 6 in a couple of weeks. He is such a little smarty. With a quick and grown up sense of humor. Maybe that happens when you live with three adults. And what an observant child. Especially when it comes to cars. His Dad has over 100 slot cars (they are Hot Wheels-sized cars that run on an electric race track). Over 100, okay? So the two Michaels are walking home from G'ma and G'pa Feddock's house. At night. As they are walking along, Michael-the-dad notices a '69 Pontiac GTO in an underground apartment parking garage. The garage is not not well-lit, and the car is black so detail is a little hard to distinguish. Michael says to Sonny Boy, "Hey Mike, check out that GTO, I have a slot car just like it." Little Mike just glances over, turns back to walking, and says, "Yeah, but the spoiler on the trunk is too high." Just like that. With just a glance. He's done that sort of thing before. He really seems to know the lines and proportions of cars. What does it all mean?!!

A couple of weeks ago little Michael was the star student in his kindergarten class. Being the star student means they get to be the line leader every time they line up, they get to bring in a poster of pictures of themselves to tell about to the class, etc. One thing you can do is have someone in the family come in to talk to the kids. That's when Michael and his Daddy got up to talk about the model car they've been working on. So cute! His poster was fun to make. Besides putting up various pictures I put a larger picture of his head right in the middle. I cut it out so it's just his disembodied, face/head, with his enthusiastic smile. The teacher liked it.

Since I haven't found a part-time job yet I have had the pleasure of going with his class on a walking field trip to the San Carlos police department and also to a ranch on the coast where they learned about animals, where some food and clothing come from, etc. What a bunch o'cuties. I do feel a little bad that Michael is cuter and smarter than all the other children. And he can read like you can't believe. I'm not even bragging.

Here's a little funny I'm telling on my boy. Last week I was making his lunch for school. We were out of bread so I put peanut butter and jam on a wheat tortilla, rolled it up and cut it in half on an angle. Irresistable, right? Well, he came home and there was only one bite out of his PB roll-up. What? I asked him about it. I commented that I know he likes PB & J, and that he's used to the wheat tortillas now, so what's the deal? He said "They are not in the right spot." "What does that mean?" I asked. He went on to explain that, "Everything has a spot, like feet go in shoes, and peanut butter and jam go on BREAD and NOT on TORTILLAS!" I will be sad when we don't have a little one around anymore. Their perspectives are so refreshing and delightful.

I'm enjoying my calling in Relief Society. It's not as overwhelming as I thought it would be. That's probably because I've been SO blessed with two wonderful counselors and a fabulous secretary. I had no idea how wonderful they would be, and in ways I didn't know we would need. Funny how that works! They truly carry me. We are working on assessing the literacy and culture change needs of our Spanish ward members and hope to put something useful in place there.

That's about it for now, kids,

Lovelovelove, the Feddookies

The Kurt Family Letter

Dear family,

I have been absent and behind in my letters.

Christine (15) is in 10th grade and doing well. She took the classroom part of her driver's education this past summer. She is currently on a waiting list for the behind-the-wheel part... much to her unhappiness; she will not get her license on her 16th birthday in January. She is quite the pixel artist - she draws amazing things on the computer, as well as in her sketch books that travel everywhere with her. She is contemplating joining the working world... she is beautiful and grounded... making her the neighborhood therapist for the girls and something to be admired for the boys. She recently received a plate of cookies from an anonymous admirer.

Christine made her Halloween costume in June - so she could wear it to an Anime (Japanese cartooning style) convention. I can't remember the name, but it involved dressing in black - which seems to be the order of the day. We are planning her 16th birthday... we allow friends-party on the 8th and 16th birthdays... so here we go...

Nicholas (13) has had a challenging year at school. He loves to read, and does so in class... his teachers are frustrated by the fact that he can quote their lectures, even though he was reading. He can answer the test questions verbally, but getting them on paper is a challenge... his teachers are working with him, to give him the credit for knowing the curriculum, while working with his particular style of learning. He is a gifted and brilliant child! He comes up with the most creative solutions! He is about to receive his Life Scout award in the next month or two; next stop, Eagle! Pete and Nick have been huddling over his Eagle Project... it will have something to do with collecting books and getting them to the USO... For Halloween, Nick dressed up as a character from one his books - Ichigo - a Japanese character with a big sword. Nick particularly talented in the kitchen and at the BBQ... he often BBQs at ward parties, as well as at home, and the help is greatly appreciated - in both places!

Jake (10) is a brand new Webelo! He is a lively and creative one. He builds the most amazing things out of Lego's, cardboard and scrap lumber! He is doing quite well in school. Jake has been doing his best to protect himself and his little sister from the bullying of some neighborhood boys who ride the bus with them. He did a magnificent job, until it got a little out of hand, and he needed to tell us - nothing terrible, it just wasn't stopping. A phone call to the principal of the school took care of it. The bus driver, parents and kids were spoken to by school administration, and all is well now! Jake is our knight protector! For Halloween he was a Disney video game character - Cloud Strife from the game Kingdom Hearts - he carries a big sword.

Katie (6) is flying through first grade. She has no trouble AT ALL making friends. A new first grader moved into a house down the street, a few weeks ago... she and Cameron were fast friends.... He's had dinner with us every night for nearly two weeks... this may need an adjustment. He and Jake are buddies, now, too... it is a recipe for disaster... but we will keep an eye on it.... Katie dressed up as Raven from the TV cartoon series Teen Titans... her white tights and blue hooded cape look very cute!! She loves to wear dresses still, but will play in the dirt without a second thought - go figure!

Our family made a trek to New Jersey again this last summer. We visited the same friends as last year... but this time we took day trips to Palmyra , Baltimore (for an Anime convention - with our NJ friends), Gettysburg and New York City ... the history of both country and church was a real thrill! Our hostess is an incredible treasure trove of historical and personal information... she was a pleasure to have along... we learned so much! Pete is keeping busy as Scoutmaster.... He works hard to get his boys advanced in their ranks and is a wonderful teacher! He was brave enough to take them all to scout camp this summer. Whilst there, they lost all of their candy bars to a bear, who broke open the locked cooler... the bear passed by all the fruit and went right for the chocolate - (Jen thinks it was a female bear...) and who wouldn't! Our cooler will forever have bear teeth marks in it... The boys really like Pete and his story telling talent; he really connects with them. The scouts will have a fund-raiser auction in the spring. The YW president is not going to be able to chair it this time, so Pete and Jen will take up that responsibility. The funds raised go to scout camp and girls camp... and that is not to be missed. Our ward makes a good chunk of change from that event. Jen will make several things, and Pete will coordinate the logistics.

Pete took us on the annual trek to the train shop in Pasadena .... We buy an LGB train car every Christmas... Jake was chomping at the bit this year. We can't put up the trains until the tree is decorating and we were slow to get that done... the engineers are happy now...

Jennifer is keeping busy as Webelos leader. Her 12 10-yr-old boys keep her hopping. One den meeting in particular will remain her for a long time. She taught them how to play chess. While this phenomenon was seen once before, it was thought a fluke... BUT, the 3 ft square paper board, and labeled disks entranced the boys that night, for a whole hour. Pieces and moves were discussed. The boys were broken into two teams to play against each other. They hovered over the board, huddling about their moves. Jen gave them instructions regarding the consequences of certain moves and what they ought or ought not do... but the boys made their own decisions... they danced around the room, whooping and hollering when they captured or cornered pieces... then they'd huddle up again... it was the most amazing sight... to see these rowdy, rough and tumble boys mesmerized by the game of chess. They were given a package of game rules and instructions. My sons, who can have very short attention spans, and can be very rowdy, are also mesmerized by the game. Her class heard all about how Dad used to play by the newspaper, and how he could do that... and that he used it to learn the game. They heard about how the older grandsons made it a goal to beat Grampa at the game... Jen suggested to the parents (at Pack Meeting) that they think about giving their scouts a chessboard for Christmas... after telling them the story. I know that one boy in particular, who has a learning disability, will get one... he is really interested in the game.

We are happy and reasonably healthy. Our children are doing well and keeping (mostly) out of trouble. Christmas and New Years will be spent at home... and we like that!

All our love, Pete, Jen, Christine, Nick, Jake and Katie

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Sept. 2006 Letters
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