Welcome to our Family

2006 has been a busy year with some great highlights. We've had visits from family to the northwest and many guests at our place in Winthrop - see the Methow Page. We spent our summer vacation on a low key 2 week stint at that the place and endured the 108 degree heat by floating down the Chewuch River at the local swimming hole. The Methow Valley is a gorgeous place in every season.

Peg is embarking on her writing career which will soon be her full time profession, though she will still do some locums work in pediatrics. She is tied into an excellent writing group that consists of writers from around the country and a well-known writer who is their instructor.

Mike is still running the residency program at Swedish Medical Center which has been doing very well, gaining national recognition for its innovative online curriculum and excellent faculty group that has been assembled. The most fun Mike has though is with his video camera which is funding by earnings from his medical procedure video business sideline.

Daniel is in 11th grade now at our local high school. He is a typical teen, hanging out with his friends, playing his electric guitar, and heading towards finishing his last few years of high school. Here are his thoughts about the year:

"This year of 2006 was, to say the least, one of the most normal years our family has had in a long time. This year we weren’t running around the globe, or going on any adventurous hikes, we just decided to relax for a year, and that’s exactly what we did. My personal achievements where few and far between, but I have no particular regrets. I began driver’s education, (and have yet to finish the required drives…) done well in the past year and had a great summer at home. I also discovered that I have a gift in some of the fields that would be professionally known as psychology, and have decided that I would be quite interested in pursuing these topics after high school. This was a big step for me because I had no idea what road I wanted to take after high school, and now I have something to look forward for to. Overall I would dub the year 2006 as, “The Year of Recuperation”, and I can’t wait to see what’s next…

Kristin is in 8th grade and busy with her friends at school and in soccer and volleyball. She had a great soccer year and was one of those forwards that other teams didn't like to see coming at them. As predicted, the guys are hanging around our house a lot more this year. Dad is subtle but attentive...

This past year has been great. Last year I was on my school volleyball team and our team won 1st in the city for the second year in a row! I am still playing soccer and we are in the city championship games right now, we have only the final game and that game is the championship game. So during the summer I did a lot of things that were fun, such as camps and cabins. I went on a missions camp with my church and my friend Brenna, that was probably my highlight of the summer. I also went camping at Banks lake, and learned how to water ski. This winter I will be snowboarding, I'm excited. Well have a Merry Christmas!

Zorro is 2 years old now and has been joined by his nephew - Oliver (now only 10 weeks old). The two of them promise to be quite a pair - both love the snow and our Methow place. More on them as the year progresses.

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