Christmas Update

Hi All:
We hope you had a wonderful 2008. Things here have been very busy, as usual.

Our hunters did well this year: Andie got her first buck and Darin got his biggest buck. Darin also killed a 5x6 elk that isn’t pictured. I killed a lot of time and got exercise, as usual. We were all very happy with their successes, and I got to brag about them at work.

I finished my Masters Degree and started my first teaching job in the fall. I am very happy with what I’m doing, and I look forward to getting much better at it.

Andie is a freshman this year, and she is doing very well in school. She likes high school much better than junior high. She was the only freshman with a 4.0 in the first quarter. She played volleyball on the JV team and really enjoyed it.

Darin is still managing at Chester’s. He really enjoys the customers and getting to visit with everyone when they come in to shop. If he could figure out how to do that part and get to skip the boring stuff, he would be thrilled! He got to go on a special hunt in November that took 10 points to get. That is where he bagged the buck you see here. That was probably his highlight for the year.

We are grateful to have been blessed beyond belief yet again this year. We hope the true spirit of Christmas fills your hearts and homes this season. Merry Christmas and God bless you all.

Darin, Rhonda, & Andie

Lit up like a Christmas Tree...

I realize that this holds no candle to M&M's Christmas explosion, but I thought I'd share our tree and our outside lights. I really like them. Which tree picture is better? With flash or without? The no flash ones are a bit blurry, but they are cool nonetheless.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Long time no write....

At the request of my partner in crime (codename: AJ), I have been thinking about something interesting to blog about.

Well to update yall on ALK's medical stuff, we went to Boise on Dec 5 to see a dietician. This lady was AWESOME, and really took the time to explain how the whole thing works to us. Andie really understands her condition better now. She put Andie on a very strict diet that allows no sugar, no grain, no milk, no raw veggies, and nothing difficult to digest like seeds or whole nuts. She assures us that this is a temporary diet. If Andie stays on track with this for 2-3 months, she may be all healed up and we can start adding foods back in to her diet. Doctor seems to think we can pinpoint the problem foods, avoid them, and all will be well. Andie and I are VERY hopeful that she is right.

Anyhoo, fast forward to now, at Christmas time, when I always make some sweet treat for my little family to enjoy. I have been losing sleep over what I can do for her. I finally found a website with a few recipes that use almond meal instead of flour in them. We made bread the other day, and it was surprisingly good, though the flavor was quite nutty... I am doing an orange cake today. I will let you know how it comes out. It better be good, the almond meal is $10.69 a POUND here. It's lucky we even have it here, and we wouldn't if D didn't run the grocery dept in the store. He's been great about finding us the obscure ingredients we need for these recipes.

So our life in December has been this: Go to grocery store. Read labels. Argue with child about if food is allowed or not. Buy or don't buy. Ask for payment plan. Plan ahead for taking lunches to school. Cook hot breakfast at 6 am. Nag child to write in food journal. Ask child if she is better yet. Try to make the best of it. Worry. Pray. Pray some more. :)

So that will do it for an update on Andie. Sorry its been so long. Life is so busy sometimes. Blogging is more fun, I should do it more.

Merry Christmas, family!