December 17, 2011
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
We hope you had a good year in 2011. With Christmas right around the corner, we are wondering if we will have a white Christmas here in Minnesota this year as we have had only a few inches of snow this winter and most of it is gone with warmer temperatures on the way. Quite a contrast to the foot and half of snow we had this time last year.
Mariah (20) is a junior at the University of Denver. She just returned from a 5 month study abroad program in Mendoza, Argentina. Mendoza is on the west side of Argentina up along the foothills of the Andes Mountains and is known for its vineyards and wines. She honed her Spanish language skills while there living with a host mom, taking her classes in Spanish, and interacting daily with all the locals. She also took the opportunity to visit numerous areas in Argentina including Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls, along with Santiago, Chile, and Punte Del Este, Uruguay. She is studying accounting and would love to find a job where she can continue to speak Spanish, travel and explore the world.
Kara (17) is a senior at Eagan High School and is excited for her upcoming graduation. She is on the golf team and is looking forward to the start of the spring season already. She has been on the yearbook staff the last couple of years and enjoys working with photography and design layout. She is interested in studying advertising and business next year in school. We traveled to various colleges in the Midwest this year to help her find her next home. She is planning on attending Drake University in Des Moines, IA next fall.
Hailey (15) is a sophomore at Eagan High School. She now has her driver’s permit and will be able to take her license test next April. Hailey was confirmed this fall at Easter Lutheran Church. In the summer she plays soccer and during the fall was on the sophomore volleyball team. She will again be playing on a traveling volleyball team this winter.
Ray got a few more rounds of golf in this year thanks to some early practice rounds with Kara in the spring (a great reason to get more golf in). He also continues to “hunt for Tupperware in the woods” (geocache), ride bike (although no long rides this year), and began wood turning with a new lathe he got in January. He travelled quite a bit the first half of the year to Asia and Europe for Advantek, getting to go to a few new places along the way, including Germany and Holland.
LeAnn has been doing a lot of scrapbooking in preparation for Kara’s graduation, and reliving a lot of the memories that the old photos bring back in the process. She also enjoys golfing and yoga as often as she can. She is still teaching pre-school classes for the city of Eagan. In February, she went with her mom, Lois and Ray’s mom, Karren to visit Mariah in Denver for Moms and Grandmas weekend. They toured the city and got to go to a bunch of Mariah’s favorite places.
In February, we went to the Phoenix area to visit LeAnn’s mom, and take in a spring training baseball game, golf, and lots of sunshine and warm weather. In June the whole family spent a long weekend with Ray’s family on Madeline Island in Lake Superior enjoying the peace and quiet in a beautiful setting with near perfect weather while we were there. In August we went up to Cloquet to take a whitewater rafting trip on the St. Louis River. October brought us to Ft. Worth for the wedding of LeAnn’s niece Amy Moberly to Jeff Collins. The wedding was beautiful and the weather cooperated for the outdoor event. While there, we also went to visit the area that Ray grew up in Dallas, which brought back a lot of old memories for him and his mom.
The highlight of the year was Ray and LeAnn’s visit to Mendoza to visit Mariah for a week in November. We stayed in a small boutique hotel near Mariah and explored the city and country, both by foot and by bike. We went kayaking, zip lining, and biking through wine country. We also spent one night at a very modern winery about 1-1/2 hours south of Mendoza. Since it was spring down there, everything was green and growing, in great contrast to the beginning of winter up here.
Have a Great Year,
LeAnn, Ray
Mariah, Kara, and Hailey
Email: bloom2511@hotmail.com
Mariah’s blog: www.onesmallgrainofsand.wordpress.com
