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Christmas 2007
Dear friends and family,
Another year has come and gone. We have been in Utah for 4 years now - hard to believe it has been that long ! Layne still works the graveyard shift at the Church Press running the trimmer. He spent his spare Fridays during the summer as a "docent" at the This is the Place Heritage Park, working appropriately in the Deseret News Office, all dressed up in his 1860s outfit. He was the official sheriff at a Civil War reenactment this year, with padlocks and chains to "lock" up the bad guys to a tree.
Maureen still does medical transcription for St. Mark’s Hospital and does genealogy research for a couple of clients in her“spare time,” though she is really wishing she could get back to some of her own research. She is still playing with the Murray Concert Band but they moved the rehearsal night so she had to drop playing with the symphony. That was a good experience though, including playing for a production of "Brigadoon" this summer. This was her "I Choose Joy" year. See the Pink Crayon page if you want to know more about that.
We went to Texas in October and spent the weekend with Jenner and his family, including the annual Halloween party on the Johnson Ranch in Milford. That was a lot of fun. We also had Josh's birthday party while we were there, just a few days early. Mark introduced us to Geocaching (www.geocaching.com) and we have enjoyed the few finds we have been able to make, and sending a coin and another travelbug on their way. We did a couple of quick caches while we were in Texas. Charlie and Josh went with us for one of our "treasure hunts."
Russell and Sherrie and their family are still here near us. Sherrie's brother, William, is also living with them right now. Russell is still working for InvesTools doing phone tech support. He gets a little frustrated with this work after 10 years or so helping people with their computer problems (including mine !) so he is looking for a change in career. Hasn't decided what to do yet. Sherrie has been making lots of cards and working on scrapbooking this year. The kids are growing way too fast. David is in 5th grade, Mary in 2nd, Emily is in kindergarten, so Brandon is home alone. Well, mostly almost, Sherrie babysits a little girl most days, so he's not quite alone.
Jenner and Sandee and the boys are in Arlington, Texas. Jenner still works for Peisner Johnson and enjoys his accounting work. They opened a new office in Waxahachie, which is about the same distance for him to drive, but is against the main flow of traffic, so take a lot less time - so more time to go golfing ! ! Sandee has decorated some great cakes, including the green dragon for Josh's birthday. Charlie started kindergarten this year.
Mark has had the most changes in his life this year. He spent part of the year engaged but decided things were not quite right, and so this was called off. He was here to visit us from Germany in January for a week or so, and then again in September when he finished his tour of duty in Germany. He did a lot of traveling during the summer before he left and added several countries to his list. He was assigned to another Army unit in Savannah, Georgia, at Hunter Army Air Field and Fort Stewart. He had only been there a few weeks when he was told he would be leaving for Iraq in 3 weeks. He knew he was due for a rotation in the spring, but it got bumped up. He hadn't even finished doing his inprocessing when he had to start his outprocessing. He had to move out of the apartment he had just moved into, cancel all his utilities and cell phone, make arrangements for the new car he had just bought, etc. It was a pretty hectic time. He is doing weather briefings for the Army pilots and should be back in Savannah in about May.
Glenn is starting his third year at Alta View Hospital. He recently finished a training class to officially "clerk" and do records entry. He has done this unofficially on several occasions when they have been short a person. He still continues as a CNA also and has good friends where he works. A big new hospital opened here in Murray, but all of the personnel from his floor stayed at Alta View.
We hope you have had wonderful experiences in your lives this past year. May God’s sweet blessing of peace be with you all through this season and the coming year.
To see some of our latest family pictures go to our family page.
We wish all our friends and family a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.
Layne & Maureen
