31 Years Together and Another Christmas Season

Dear Family,

We had a complete blast through December. Curt and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary this past month. While life is never without ups and downs I am forever grateful for the answered prayers of faithful parents in my behalf. What else could explain the possibility of me marrying such a terrific man?

Our holiday weeks were the most eventful with Andrew, Willow, Alex, Ashley, Marie, Matt, Abby and April keeping the house fun and busy. One night we had Alex and Ashley on the piano, Marie on the viola, Abby playing French horn, April taking the high notes on clarinet and Curt on trombone. That was pretty fun. Except for hosting the Christmas Eve party for the Curtis/Taylor families we mostly just enjoyed each other's company.

After Christmas we drove down to Arizona. Actually we were six adults, an infant and a dog and the drive went fairly smooth. Matt and Marie spent a few days with Matt's sister in Mesa while Abby, April, Curt and I drove on to famous Joseph City. WOW! We had a blast. 'Joe' City is one of those towns that you pass driving through no-where and you say to yourself…I wonder why those people live there…how do they survive…and what do they do for jobs? Except for a grocery store I think it is a pretty great place to live. Boyd and Julie's home is very well updated, comfortable and nicely decorated. I wish we could have seen the 'before' pictures because the 'after' is so nice. In approximately 36 hours we…went to Olive Garden(Flagstaff) , played games, went four wheeling, hiked to some incredible, incredible, petroglyphs, went shooting, looked for buffalo, visited Boyd's digs at the church, ate fresh blackberry waffles, visited a large older home with themed decorated Christmas trees in every room and on every floor, met some really friendly people, toured the high school (huge and totally over the top for 100 students!), and played racquetball. AND they didn't charge us extra for our dog to stay with us. What a vacation!

We left Boyd and Julie's to head further south to visit Amy, Joseph and the grandkids. They have made so many wonderful updates to the home they are renting. I had forgotten how much I miss their hugs and it was fun to see everything the kids couldn't wait to show us. Matt's sister and brother-in-law hosted a backyard barbeque for all of us. That was kind of funny to be sitting around a campfire looking at the moon through palm trees. The next day we went to a dairy farm, fed the calves, goats and such, took a hayride to tour the facilities and tried 6 different flavors of milk. No coats…ah…that felt good. Another day we went on a great hike with a waterfall and some petroglyphs. It was fun to hike through the saguaro cactus forest. The kid's legs as well as our miniature dachshund's 3" legs held up pretty well. On the way home from the hike we stopped at Home Depot, loaded the kids in one van and sod in the other to finish their smaller grassed area. Their family was enjoying their 18" by 10' strip so much that we just had to finish it with them. On New Year's Eve we had a private fabulous fireworks show but the designated drivers headed to bed early. The week was too short and New Years day found us heading north to responsibility. April's cell phone is somewhere en route… probably on a reservation somewhere.

The Lord has been good to us. I'm glad last year is over…that was a tough one for many reasons. I am so grateful for the blessings, guidance and comfort the Lord provided for us this past year. I am so grateful for each of you. I know that many of the grandkids don't read the family letters…but in case you are…I want you to know how much we think of you, pray for you and love you. Your grandparents weren't the only ones that wanted to hear about how you are doing and cared about being 'there' for you. We will always be interested in you. We love you.

Uncle Curt & Aunt Susan