This year Jon and I decided to only send paper copies of our Christmas letter via “snail mail” to those who couldn’t or likely wouldn’t check our blog, such as grandparents or those with limited Internet access. (You get the picture.) And to you, our Web-enabled friends and family members, here’s the lowdown for 2010:
January undoubtedly flew by … once we got back into the employment groove after the “machine” came to a dead halt in December, thanks to fabulous (paid!) vacation time. Jon still works at his engineering job of more than a decade, while I’m still at my same full-time and freelance journalism gigs of five years now.
February held a couple of surprises in our church duties: Jon and I had taught the 17-year-old Sunday School class for a grand total of three weeks (that has to be the shortest calling on record) when he was called to be the Ward Executive Secretary, and I was called to be the Assistant Den Leader for the Wolves den in Cub Scouts. Yep, you heard right. (I still recall the several-minutes-long laughter my boss at work rolled in when I announced this to him ...) It was definitely out of my sphere of experience, but I learned what a phenomenal program Cub Scouts really is.
March marched right by with ne’ery an event, according to my calendar’s recollection.
April ushered in our 6-month wedding anniversary … Wow 6 months already, time to attempt to eat the first half of our (extremely voluminous portions of) frozen wedding cake! (We didn’t make much of a dent in the cake.) Additionally, my mom underwent her first knee replacement surgery (her first surgery ever)! All went well, though the physical therapy afterward was extremely arduous.
May’s Memorial Day extravaganza was a trip to Kartchner Caverns. Neither Jon nor I had been there before, and I was absolutely amazed at the sheer majesty of Nature's intricate designs on the cavern walls. They were absolutely awe inspiring.
June was rife with parental events. My dad underwent successful surgery to remove a malignancy, which was caught early, eliminating the need for any further treatment. They had to go in with a “roto tiller” (per his description) and really go deep, he says, thus he is STILL healing now in December, but everything looks good, his doctor reports. Three days later, Jon’s mom, Betty Lou (Haddock) Hess, passed away after having been in hospice a few days. Her fun spirit, knee slapping (not always her own knees either), and goodness will be missed.
July started off with a bang, as our fourth of July celebration occurred on Monday, July 5th. Jon and I went to the Titan Missile Museum, in nearby Green Valley, to gaze at the Cold War era built missile silo. (Of course, it’s not activated, but its mere presence leads one to fantasize about all sorts of future movie plots that could take place there ... ) Since my job involves technical articles about military technology, I actually found this silo of interest. And later that evening, Jon and I went to the uber-tiny locale of Benson, Arizona and saw what was an astonishingly spectacular and long-lasting fireworks display – as good as any I’ve seen in major metropolitan areas.
August brought a couple of trying events: Mom’s second knee replacement surgery. (No, they didn’t botch the first job; this was the OTHER knee!) The other difficulty was that my wonderful feline friend and companion of 8 years, Mackenzie (“Mackie”), passed away. I got her when she was a tiny kitten, and still miss her … She added so much to my life.
September started with a Labor Day weekend hike to Seven Falls at Bear Canyon Lake ... which was sheer labor in and of itself! I say it was an 11-mile hike; Jon would say it was 8. The reason I say 11 is because we had to hike 1.5 miles over hills to even get to and return from the 8-mile trailhead, thus it all “counts” to me! The first half of the hike was, frankly, grueling. We hiked in direct sunlight, and it was nearly 100 degrees that day. It was a sheer endurance test with my "inner voice” repeating, “OK just keep going, just keep going …” Jon said if we had to turn back, that’d be OK, but of course that spurred me on to try even harder and be that much more determined to finish the hike, which we did. The 2nd half of the hike (the path back to the car!) was so much easier and more wonderful, because we were going back to the car (ha ha) and because Mother Nature smiled upon us and it suddenly got overcast and even started sprinkling. So we weren’t being full-on blanched by the sun anymore! Needless to say, I was in a much better mood on the return path!
October was time for our one-year wedding anniversary! Jon and I went to Silver City, New Mexico, and stayed at a vintage cottage that was indeed magical in the Land of Enchantment. [Catch the details of our anniversary trip in a separate blog writeup entitled "Our first anniversary sprinted toward us!"] It was a wonderful opportunity to enjoy one another’s company without the “busyness” and interruptions of everyday life and technology, and we did a lot of nature-oriented and historical sightseeing.
October also included a surprise for me: I got released from Cub Scouts and put into the Young Women’s organization at church, assigned to work with the MiaMaids (ages 14-15).
October also included a surprise for me: I got released from Cub Scouts and put into the Young Women’s organization at church, assigned to work with the MiaMaids (ages 14-15).
November was the icing on the cake, literally, as I took my first official cake decorating class at a local craft store. I have wanted to take cake decorating classes for absolutely years on end, and finally thought, “What’s stopping me?” So I took “Decorating basics” and was absolutely ecstatic when my yellow frosting roses looked pretty good!
December had a definite sting to it, literally. The evening of December 2, Jon and I went to sleep, expecting a full night of peaceful, refreshing slumber … but it was not to be. After seemingly only a few moments of REM sleep, Jon had the light on, saying he’d just been stung twice by a scorpion! (FYI, the scorpion was about 2 inches long, and Jon caught him thereafter by the tail with pliers and flushed him down the commode.)
Since neither of us had a scorpion clamp our flesh previously, we didn’t know what to do. So … we Googled, of course. The two or three websites we went to all said if your eyes start moving in a weird way and you start tingling, you should go to the ER. So about 3 hours later, we found ourselves in the halls of a local hospital. We were probably only at the ER about 1.5 hours total (3 a.m. to 4:30 a.m.), so they were pretty fast, but basically, they told us that it had to be super extreme, like he had to be walking like a drunkard and practically have his eyes rolling back in his head or something – and within the first hour, basically. [The medical advice restated in this blog is not to be taken as medical advice for all -- consult your doctor should this happen, but better yet, don't try this at home (or anywhere!)]
Jon was really miserable, but I was glad he was OK, at least according to the doctor. By then he had all the typical symptoms and some unique to him: Walking funky, ears funky, teeth hurting, eyes dodging around involuntarily, feeling sick, and having tingling in his feet, hands, and legs, in addition to burning and pain nonstop at the two sting sites. Not a pretty picture. Of course, though I could tell he felt miserable physically, he retained his naturally upbeat disposition, quipping a couple times and trying to keep a level-headed perspective.
Jon was really miserable, but I was glad he was OK, at least according to the doctor. By then he had all the typical symptoms and some unique to him: Walking funky, ears funky, teeth hurting, eyes dodging around involuntarily, feeling sick, and having tingling in his feet, hands, and legs, in addition to burning and pain nonstop at the two sting sites. Not a pretty picture. Of course, though I could tell he felt miserable physically, he retained his naturally upbeat disposition, quipping a couple times and trying to keep a level-headed perspective.
Now, as we head into the holidays (Christmas next week!), we’re still racing to get the final tasks done in time for Christmas, but we hope everyone (including ourselves) will take a moment to remember the true reason for the season: The gift of the savior Jesus Christ. We wish you and your families a wonderful Christmas and a great 2011.
