Long Overdue Update
5 years ago
Friday, December 25, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
December 18, 2009: Where have we been!?!
Wow, I can't believe it is already Kelly's birthday and Christmas is a week away.
Here is our holiday greeting for this year, and we may still get something real in the mail. Only time will tell...
Happy Holidays from the Carpenters,
We hope this letter finds you and your family and friends happy and healthy again this year.
2009 kept us busy here in Wyoming. Our biggest change was deciding to purchase a home 8 miles north of Cheyenne in June. We love country living, and are settling in with our new snow blower, lawn mower, etc. and have already used the nice sledding hill in the open space behind the house. The boys have adjusted well to the new house and we even hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner this year with Kelly’s parents in town from Texas.
We lost our family dog, Reba in November after having her somewhere in our family since January of 1999 (she lived with Scott’s parents in Michigan when we lived in the Marshall Islands) Her recurring leg arthritis problems were really creating a diminishing quality of life for her, but we take comfort in the fact that she loved spending her last two years in her original home town and her last five months out here with a big yard to roam after being cooped up with town-life in Billings and Cheyenne.
The beginning of the year involved several weekend hockey trips for Nolan’s tournaments in WY, CO and SD, and even a few for Barrett toward the end of the season. Both boys continue to enjoy the hockey.
Nolan had another exciting year with baseball and scouts also keeping him busy in the spring. He and Scott went on their first spring scout camping trip in the Laramie Range, and liked it enough to go again in October (in October the temps got down to 26 overnight!). Baseball also kept us busy and Nolan continued to amaze us with his hitting the ball! Nolan is now in 2nd grade and continues to enjoy school and the learning challenges. He continues piano lessons too and has played in a few recitals.
Barrett really excelled at swimming this year and by summer was taking lessons with much older kids at the YMCA. He played rookie league baseball this year and had a lot of fun. Barrett also has started piano lessons and even had his first recital. He also finished pre-school in the spring, and qualified for the Trailblazer program for Kindergarten. He loves Kindergarten and is adjusting to the life of a school kid. Barrett even learned to ride his bike this year, and loves having the new long driveway to ride on.
Travis has had a challenging year, but conquered learning to walk in October! It is so awesome to see how much he loves walking and how much he loves to help now that he can get around. His Neuro-Fibramatosis (NF) is still creating leg-length and potentially other issues that will challenge him in 2010. He absolutely loves penguins and has created quite a little rookery in his big-boy bed now that he is out of the crib. One of his favorite things to do is visiting the real penguins down at the Denver Zoo.
Kelly has stayed very busy around the house and with the boys, making sure they make it to school, piano, medical appointments, sports, scouts, etc., especially when Scott is at work or working some crazy shift. She regularly helps out in the boys classrooms and has continued to be s hockey manager along with some fun belly-dancing. She and Nolan took in the Texas A&M football game in Boulder in Nov and had a great time (even though the Ags came up a bit short).
Scott continues to work at the National Weather Service and this year started training in the Incident Meteorologist Program. This included a week of training in Boise, and his first training dispatch to a fire southeast of Eugene, OR in Sept. Although the dispatch was brief, Scott enjoyed the experience and looks forward to the next training opportunity. He still tries to play Sunday night hockey with the “Old Puckers” when work allows, and played in a USA Hockey Adult tournament in Denver in the spring with some friends from Cheyenne.
In mid-August, Barrett, Nolan and Scott went up to Rocky Mtn Natl Park and camped out the night before trying to hike Flattop Mtn. The 9.2 miles roundtrip took them about 7 hours but they celebrated making it to the top and surviving the hike down. It was a great confidence and brotherhood builder for Nolan and Barrett supporting each other on the long walk uphill and they are so proud to have made it (and to have earned their trail tags). Scott and Nolan were a little sore the next day, but Barrett was ready to go again! They’re already planning another challenging hike for next summer.
Although Scott worked midnight shifts most of Frontier Days this past year, we still greatly enjoyed the events and are already looking forward to the last full week in July 2010. As always, if you plan to come up for the “Daddy of ‘em All” this summer we’ll definitely welcome you.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
The Carpenters
Here is our holiday greeting for this year, and we may still get something real in the mail. Only time will tell...
Happy Holidays from the Carpenters,
We hope this letter finds you and your family and friends happy and healthy again this year.
2009 kept us busy here in Wyoming. Our biggest change was deciding to purchase a home 8 miles north of Cheyenne in June. We love country living, and are settling in with our new snow blower, lawn mower, etc. and have already used the nice sledding hill in the open space behind the house. The boys have adjusted well to the new house and we even hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner this year with Kelly’s parents in town from Texas.
We lost our family dog, Reba in November after having her somewhere in our family since January of 1999 (she lived with Scott’s parents in Michigan when we lived in the Marshall Islands) Her recurring leg arthritis problems were really creating a diminishing quality of life for her, but we take comfort in the fact that she loved spending her last two years in her original home town and her last five months out here with a big yard to roam after being cooped up with town-life in Billings and Cheyenne.
The beginning of the year involved several weekend hockey trips for Nolan’s tournaments in WY, CO and SD, and even a few for Barrett toward the end of the season. Both boys continue to enjoy the hockey.
Nolan had another exciting year with baseball and scouts also keeping him busy in the spring. He and Scott went on their first spring scout camping trip in the Laramie Range, and liked it enough to go again in October (in October the temps got down to 26 overnight!). Baseball also kept us busy and Nolan continued to amaze us with his hitting the ball! Nolan is now in 2nd grade and continues to enjoy school and the learning challenges. He continues piano lessons too and has played in a few recitals.
Barrett really excelled at swimming this year and by summer was taking lessons with much older kids at the YMCA. He played rookie league baseball this year and had a lot of fun. Barrett also has started piano lessons and even had his first recital. He also finished pre-school in the spring, and qualified for the Trailblazer program for Kindergarten. He loves Kindergarten and is adjusting to the life of a school kid. Barrett even learned to ride his bike this year, and loves having the new long driveway to ride on.
Travis has had a challenging year, but conquered learning to walk in October! It is so awesome to see how much he loves walking and how much he loves to help now that he can get around. His Neuro-Fibramatosis (NF) is still creating leg-length and potentially other issues that will challenge him in 2010. He absolutely loves penguins and has created quite a little rookery in his big-boy bed now that he is out of the crib. One of his favorite things to do is visiting the real penguins down at the Denver Zoo.
Kelly has stayed very busy around the house and with the boys, making sure they make it to school, piano, medical appointments, sports, scouts, etc., especially when Scott is at work or working some crazy shift. She regularly helps out in the boys classrooms and has continued to be s hockey manager along with some fun belly-dancing. She and Nolan took in the Texas A&M football game in Boulder in Nov and had a great time (even though the Ags came up a bit short).
Scott continues to work at the National Weather Service and this year started training in the Incident Meteorologist Program. This included a week of training in Boise, and his first training dispatch to a fire southeast of Eugene, OR in Sept. Although the dispatch was brief, Scott enjoyed the experience and looks forward to the next training opportunity. He still tries to play Sunday night hockey with the “Old Puckers” when work allows, and played in a USA Hockey Adult tournament in Denver in the spring with some friends from Cheyenne.
In mid-August, Barrett, Nolan and Scott went up to Rocky Mtn Natl Park and camped out the night before trying to hike Flattop Mtn. The 9.2 miles roundtrip took them about 7 hours but they celebrated making it to the top and surviving the hike down. It was a great confidence and brotherhood builder for Nolan and Barrett supporting each other on the long walk uphill and they are so proud to have made it (and to have earned their trail tags). Scott and Nolan were a little sore the next day, but Barrett was ready to go again! They’re already planning another challenging hike for next summer.
Although Scott worked midnight shifts most of Frontier Days this past year, we still greatly enjoyed the events and are already looking forward to the last full week in July 2010. As always, if you plan to come up for the “Daddy of ‘em All” this summer we’ll definitely welcome you.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
The Carpenters
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