Holiday Letter 2007

I thought I'd post the holiday letter we are sending out here on the Blog, for all to see.





Here goes:

Greetings! We hope this finds everyone healthy and happy.
We have not sent out a holiday letter for a few years and with everything that has happened in our lives this year, we felt the need to reconnect!
At the beginning of the year we started looking at preschools for Nathan and we found one at Discovery Park (which is one of our favorite parks in Seattle!) Kirstin actually camped out to get him into the program. Nathan loves going to school! They take the kids out in the park every day, rain or shine. The kids spend their time playing all over the park (500 acres) in places they’ve named Muddy Mountain, The Bat Cave, and The Owl Logs. They take hikes, play in the classrooms and have lunch and circle time. Nathan (and Kirstin) have made many new friends!
In March, Kirstin had sinus surgery. This is not something she would ever want to do again, but it has been a great help. Kirstin’s parents came to help out after the surgery. While they were in Seattle they looked into alternative cancer treatment clinics in Seattle for Larry. They found a clinic that incorporated the standard chemotherapy with naturopathic medicine and acupuncture. After many discussions, everyone decided that Martha and Larry would spend about 3 months living with us while Larry went thru treatment.
Despite all our hopes, at the end of Larry’s 3 months of treatments, his condition hadn’t improved. It was decided that he would continue treatments in Seattle. By the beginning of September Larry was getting weaker. It was pretty clear that he wasn’t going to fight off this disease and they decided to stop the treatments which were so hard on his body. We arranged to have all of Kirstin’s brothers and sisters come to Seattle. We were even able to get Kyle back from Afghanistan a few weeks early so he was able to spend time with Larry while he was still able to talk. Larry passed away at our house the first week of October with everyone by his side.
We all traveled to Steamboat a couple of weeks later for Larry’s memorial service. It was a very nice service with lots of family and friends attending.
Two days before Larry passed away, Martha and Larry bought a house 4.5 miles north of us in Shoreline. Martha and Kirstin’s brother, Erik moved into the house and it is wonderful having Grandma and Uncle Erik so close!!!
This is the year that Nathan got his first stitches! One afternoon in the middle of March, he was walking around playing his recorder (musical instrument) and he tripped and fell. He ended up with about 5 stitches on the inside of his lip and about 4 on the outside. Fortunately it was right at the corner of his mouth, so you can hardly see it now!
Since Kirstin never seems to have enough to do (ha! ha!) she became a board member of the Crown Hill Neighborhood Association (CHNA). This organization formed in May and Kirstin has been helping to organize events and raise awareness about issues in the neighborhood.
Brian and Kirstin continued their athletic adventures. Brian put a team together to run the Mt. Si relay in April. It is a 56 mile relay and each team member runs 2 legs, totaling about 11 miles. He has done this for 5 years now! Kirstin and Brian both ran the Beat the Bridge run in May. This is a great Seattle race where there is a draw bridge 2 miles into the 5 mile run and at 20 minutes after the last group starts, they raise the bridge. If your don’t cross in time, you have to wait until it comes back down. Very fun!
Kirstin did two triathlons this year, one in June and one in September. This is her new favorite sport.
Another one of our favorite activities these days is Orienteering and “Street Scramble” events. We’ve done several of these events, both with and without Nathan.


These sports are a combination of Running or biking, navigation, map reading and scavenger hunts. It has been a great way to get to know the different neighborhoods and parks around Seattle.
Nathan and Brian went “camping” with a group from Brian’s office Labor Day weekend. They stayed in a tent (Nathan’s first tent experience), went hiking and Nathan rappelled from the balcony of the cabin! It was a great experience and Nathan is looking forward to more camping.
Soccer still plays an important part in our lives. We had season tickets to the Seattle Sounders again and Nathan is finally willing to give Sammy Sounder (the mascot which is an orca whale) a high five.
Kirstin coached the girls soccer team again this year. This was her 3rd year with this team.
Brian is hoping for a healthy year next year! He had surgery on his ankle to remove a bone chip which has been giving him problems for the past 5 or 6 years. While healing from this, he started having gallbladder problems, which has been a recurring problem for the past couple of years. After a couple of bad attacks, Brian had surgery to remove his “ucky” (his surgeon’s technical term) gallbladder. He is now recovering and we hope to be able to celebrate the holidays with out a hospital visit!
Nathan got to spend some time with his Montana cousins this year. We went to Missoula for Brian’s sister’s wedding in June and we went to Helena for Thanksgiving. Nathan LOVES his cuzzies!
Now we are looking forward to staying in Seattle for Christmas and New Years. Kirstin’s sister and brother from California will be here too.
We hope you have a wonderful and safe Holiday season!
Love,Kirstin, Brian and Nathan