2009!

Where did 2009 go!! I guess it’s true what they say; Time flies when you’re having fun! 2009 certainly was a fun year for our family! The capstone of our 2009 fun will be Christmas in Honolulu with the entire family and Cherrish’s mom Ruby and younger brother Garrett to celebrate Cherrish’s college graduation. She has earned a bachelors degree in business management after 7 long years. She realized it was worth every sacrifice when the kids said to her “Mom, we are sooo going to do college when we should and not after we have families!” Other fun times this year included visiting Paw, Paw, GG, Sheila & Hy’s family, along with my mom and two brothers at Lake Powell where we spread the ashes of both GG and Paw Paw’s mothers. Matt and Cherrish made there annual trek to the Star Trek convention in Las Vegas this year and enjoyed reconnecting with their Trekkie friends. Another fun moment for Cherrish this year was her visit to Oregon where she spent time with Caitlynn, grandma Cheesman, and her cousins.

2009 has also been a year of transitions for Matt as he began working for a new manager and became a full time worker from home. He still works as a programmer for HSBC and thanks to the flexible worker program that the company offers, both Matt and Cherrish have been able to drastically reduce their carbon footprint by eliminating their daily commutes. Cherrish also transitioned into a new role at work and now works as a Consulting Engineer for HSBC North America and both of us are thrilled to be HSBC employees; especially during the economic challenges that defined 2009 for so many people. Matt continues to do an amazing job in the role of “Papa Matt” and Cherrish remains the luckiest girl in the world as she continues to be amazed by the happiness he has brought to her and the children’s lives. Of course he still enjoys photography and even launched a website where pictures of the kids in their various sporting activities and his nature picture can all be found. Matt still loves time alone hiking and kayaking when he gets the chance. Just yesterday he suited up in his wet suit, grabbed the kayak and headed down to the creek behind our neighborhood despite the freezing temperatures. He was prepared to break through a thin layer of ice as he and his good friend Charlie did last winter. To his surprise though, when he put the kayak in and climbed into it, the ice did not give. We may need to add kayaking to the Hawaii itinerary! He did get in some hiking at some of his favorite stomping grounds during his very relaxing and wonderful visit to California where he was able to spend time with his father and mother in November for a week. He also was able to visit with a couple of our “other moms” (Pam Taylor, Carol Ballard, & Kathleen Walker).

The children continue to thrive. Caitlynn turned 17 on Dec 3^rd ! She has been getting all A’s and B’s at school and is enjoying her new school in Olympia as she continues to work towards her goal of attending BYU in just 2 short years. We talk or text almost daily and are all excited to be able to spend time with her while in Oregon and Hawaii over the holidays. James will be 16 in January and is getting himself ready to enter the workforce and get his drivers permit. He still enjoys baseball and he picked up a new sport this year as he joined the ski club and began snowboarding. He continues to do well in school and loves nothing more than time with his friends playing Xbox. Chandler passed up Cherrish in height this year and is currently 5’6” tall! She is a typical 13 year old teenage girl, spending lots of time on Facebook and experiencing her first kiss on the top of the Ferris wheel this summer. Her best friends Courtney and Amanda came out to visit for a week in July and Chandler spent a week with them in Oregon. She is looking forward to seeing them when we are in Oregon on Dec 18-21^st . Jordan has also grown and is maturing as he turned 10 and entered 5^th grade. He enjoyed baseball once again and is currently playing basketball and in a bowling league. He continues to make many friends and became a “big brother” to his friend’s one year old sister Katie, who absolutely adores him! During the summer Jordan was also busy at 3 different weeks of camps and is quite proud of the fact that he was chosen to be part of the Select Choir for his elementary school this year.

We are all looking forward to the New Year and grateful for every moment we are able to spend with our family and friends. We wish all our friends the happiest of holiday and a joyful new year!