NL_2006

2006 The Year in Review

Dear Friends and Family,
     Greetings and best wishes to you and yours at this most wonderful time of the year. 2006 has been a pretty rough year for our family with Danine�s back injury at work in Oct. 2005 and other things. We don�t want to bore you or depress you about it, but we hadn�t expected everything that has resulted from it. Fortunately we have been blessed with good friends, loving families and a wonderful God. This last month has been the best of the year for us! Danine ran into an old friend at the beginning of Nov. who introduced her to First Fitness and Zavita (the Rainforest Miracle). Danine has lost 10 pounds and 16 inches in 10 days with the Suddenly Slim Weight Loss program and is working to get off all of her prescriptions and get pain free with the help of a physical therapist and the personal mentorship from the president of both companies. It looks like she is going to be able to avoid surgery and any invasive procedures and get healthy again, besides looking great! She wants to add the disclaimer to anyone who received our family photo that she already looks much better than that picture reflects! If you are interested in checking out these products or businesses, you can go to her websites at www.firstfitness.com/Danine or www.zavita.com/Danine.
     So here are some of the other good things from this past year. Danine worked at the Colorado Renaissance Festival this summer as �Silly Sybil the Singing Strumpet.� She was on the street cast and did singing telegrams about the shire. Jim and the boys loved dressing up and going to Larkspur nearly every weekend with her. Danine has been substitute teaching since last April, and the flexibility and hours has been enjoyable for her. She is still active in P.T.A., P.T.O., a cub scout Den Leader and an avid Broncos and Survivor fan.
     Jim is still working from home for Oracle. He is the Cub Master for Pack 86 at Grant Elementary, on the Council for The Jedi Assembly and active in the Rebel Legion. Jim got to go to Dragon Con in Atlanta, GA over Labor Day weekend and hang out with all of his Sci-Fi friends. He pitched for Grant�s baseball team and proclaims that his hobby is doing laundry.
     Garrison is 11 and a 5th grader at Whittier Elementary. He really enjoys the Multi-exceptional classroom that he is in for the 2nd year. He has the same teacher and a lot of the same kids in his class this year. He was playing the viola and attended a neat pirate themed music camp this summer, but he changed to the baritone this fall. He did an excellent job at his concert last week. He is a Webelos 2 in scouting and is looking forward to earning his Arrow of Light this March. We have been looking at several Boy Scout Troops and think he has chosen one to cross over to. He and Grant are working hard on earning their religious badge for scouts with a friend from church. He still loves building things with Lego�s, Bionicles, playing chess and participated in a Science Club this fall. He also has developed a liking of Renaissance and �Filk� music and the broad comedy of �Puke and Snot.� We are so excited that he should be graduating from speech therapy this spring.
     Grant is 9 and in 4th grade at Grant Elementary. He is currently preparing for his performance as �Mr. Crabby� in the 4th grade musical Frosty the Snowman. He started playing the saxophone this fall and sounded great at his recent concert. Grant and Jim are now sharing a sax. Grant played baseball this summer as well as going to Cub Scout Day Camp. He is now a Webelos 1. Grant ran cross country this fall and played indoor soccer for Grant Elem. Grant won 4 trophies in Photography and Literature in the Reflections Art Contest. He likes Pokemon, doing anything active and playing with his brothers and friends. His personality keeps growing with his height.
     Griffin is 7 and in 2nd grade at Grant Elementary. He is a Wolf Cub and really enjoyed his first scouting Day Camp as a Cub. He played modified t-ball this summer. He likes watching Pokemon, playing Star Wars and jumping on the trampoline. He and Grant love to ride their bikes. He is still in speech therapy, but graduated from occupational therapy this summer. He recently won 3 trophies in Literature, Photography and Music in the Reflections Art Contest. He is a sweet boy, tries to be kind to everyone and is a constant eater. We joke about him having his pre-breakfast snack, breakfast, mid- morning snack, pre-lunch snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, after- dinner snack and a bedtime snack. He is getting so tall, and obviously has a great metabolism.
     Hali, our 2-year-old Golden Retriever, continues to bring joy to our lives every day. Even though she seems to find the boy�s favorite toys as chew toys, and still eats Kleenex, she is a wonderful addition to our family.
     We are looking forward to a most excellent 2007, and we hope you are, too. Many blessings to you and your families.

With Love,
Danine, Jim, Garrison, Grant, Griffin and Hali