Happy Holidays!

Welcome to the 2009 eco-tentious holiday letter! Actually, it has nothing to do with being ecological...it is just easier this way. And it affords us the opportunity to be lazy and simply link to all the fun things we did this past year.

Overall, this has been a fairly uneventful year, relatively speaking. Caden is growing faster then we chose-not-to-believe possible. Our home went through a few face-lifts. We went through a pet change and Jon got a new job.

First, on a sad note, our dog Lucia died shortly after last year’s Christmas Letter. We noted last year she was going through a bunch of medical issues which finally got the better of her at the way too early age of 2. We made a little page for her here on this site (click Lucia). We held out for a long time on getting another dog. Probably mostly because we were afraid to risk going through that ordeal again, but also, it was kind of nice to not have to worry about a dog when we wanted to travel. But, we couldn’t fight the urge of needing a dog in our life. So before we have a second child running around, we wanted to get a dog settled in our lives. We got a new puppy at the end of November; a red-heeler/ border collie mix named Zoe. We have posted some pictures of her here as well (click Zoe).

We took a few fun trips this year. The first was to Mexico in June. Maybe this wasn’t our best move as individuals much less as parents as the swine flu pandemic was all the rage then. But what they heck, we did it anyway. We took all of us and our niece, Dana, to help us with Caden. It was fantastic. 6 star resort, no crowds, and all the drinks, pools, slides, and sand we could handle. And only Dana got the swine flu when we returned! That’s probably not nice to make light of, but it was a minor case and I am sure even Dana will tell you it was worth it. Some pictures to validate the risk (click Mexico).

We also got in our annual camping trip. I wish camping trips were not an “annual” event, but that is about all we can manage. Though this one went so well and Caden enjoyed it so much, we might venture to try some more next year. This time we went up to Aspen with all of us, and our nieces Kendra and Shae. It was very pretty and plenty of fun even though we had a few torrential down-pours. The heavy rain and lightening at night made for quite the show in the tent. Kendra and Shae may argue that “fun” factor, but Caden had fun, we all survived and we got to be some place pretty for 4 days. More here (click Aspen)

Our house has been the busiest member of our family. We (by “we” Katy will tell you is “Jon), took on a number of big projects. Some by our own hand and others we actually hired out (that is news worthy because Jon refuses to let anyone else do his home projects and Katy hates having contractors work on our house almost as much as she hates to have Jon work on our house). The first was a new deck. We had a deck, it was a death trap. No one except the dog was allowed on it, which was a silly rule because nobody in their good senses would climb the pile of rusted nails and splinters. We managed to start the project and finish it inside of 4 months which, if you ask anyone who has done a deck project, is impressive. Check out the pictures and more witty and clever deck stories (click Deck).

The garden and other yearly projects were also in the mix, but the other note worthy projects were related to “greening” our house. Boulder County started a program called ClimateSmart that provided loans financed through property taxes to improve homes to be more energy efficient. We took advantage of this in a big way. The big pluses are the loan is tax deductible and it stays with the house should we move in the near future...which is entirely possible. Anyway, the big projects: replacing the patio door and garden window, insulating the walls, and, the most expensive and most impressive, making the house entirely solar electric (more eco-tentious gloating here). The windows are not done yet, but the rest is. Check out some pictures of the solar project (click Solar).

And the new job. This is not just good news for Jon, it is good news for all who know Jon. For the past 8 years Jon has worked at Ball Aerospace in Boulder. It was really a good job. Great people, great benefits and good pay. But the work was not as challenging as it could have been. So for the past year, Jon has been looking for something different (while making people miserable in the process no doubt). This past month, at long last, Jon took a job with Surrey Satellite in Denver. It is indeed still aerospace, but it is a small company (very small, 7 employees and counting) with a different approach to the bloated aerospace industry. To date, it has been very fun, and rewarding. In-fact, as we write this, Jon is getting ready for a 10 day trip to London for business (click Surrey).

Katy is still working part time from home as a realtor. She is enjoying her time with Caden while being able to make some money. Also this year, Katy discovered the joy of biking. In three separate events, she rode a 25, 35 and 50 mile ride. We both hope to do some longer rides this next year.

Caden, now a precocious 2 year old, is as busy as anyone could expect. He takes art classes, gym classes, music classes, and participates in general mayhem. He loves to play catch, dance, color, climb, do puzzles, play basketball, ride his bike, play in the park, eat snacks, cook, read, run, laugh, and swim. He is a complete joy to be around.

We hope this holiday season finds you and your family happy and healthy. Have a wonderful holiday and a prosperous new year!

Love, Jon, Katy and Caden

Welcome to the 2009 eco-tentious holiday letter! Actually, it has nothing to do with being ecological...it is just easier this way. And it affords us the opportunity to be lazy and simply link to all the fun things we did this past year.

Overall, this has been a fairly uneventful year, relatively speaking. Caden is growing faster then we chose-not-to-believe possible. Our home went through a few face-lifts. We went through a pet change and Jon got a new job.

First, on a sad note, our dog Lucia died shortly after last year’s Christmas Letter. We noted last year she was going through a bunch of medical issues which finally got the better of her at the way too early age of 2. We made a little page for her here on this site (click Lucia). We held out for a long time on getting another dog. Probably mostly because we were afraid to risk going through that ordeal again, but also, it was kind of nice to not have to worry about a dog when we wanted to travel. But, we couldn’t fight the urge of needing a dog in our life. So before we have a second child running around, we wanted to get a dog settled in our lives. We got a new puppy at the end of November; a red-heeler/ border collie mix named Zoe. We have posted some pictures of her here as well (click Zoe).

We took a few fun trips this year. The first was to Mexico in June. Maybe this wasn’t our best move as individuals much less as parents as the swine flu pandemic was all the rage then. But what they heck, we did it anyway. We took all of us and our niece, Dana, to help us with Caden. It was fantastic. 6 star resort, no crowds, and all the drinks, pools, slides, and sand we could handle. And only Dana got the swine flu when we returned! That’s probably not nice to make light of, but it was a minor case and I am sure even Dana will tell you it was worth it. Some pictures to validate the risk (click Mexico).

We also got in our annual camping trip. I wish camping trips were not an “annual” event, but that is about all we can manage. Though this one went so well and Caden enjoyed it so much, we might venture to try some more next year. This time we went up to Aspen with all of us, and our nieces Kendra and Shae. It was very pretty and plenty of fun even though we had a few torrential down-pours. The heavy rain and lightening at night made for quite the show in the tent. Kendra and Shae may argue that “fun” factor, but Caden had fun, we all survived and we got to be some place pretty for 4 days. More here (click Aspen)

Our house has been the busiest member of our family. We (by “we” Katy will tell you is “Jon), took on a number of big projects. Some by our own hand and others we actually hired out (that is news worthy because Jon refuses to let anyone else do his home projects and Katy hates having contractors work on our house almost as much as she hates to have Jon work on our house). The first was a new deck. We had a deck, it was a death trap. No one except the dog was allowed on it, which was a silly rule because nobody in their good senses would climb the pile of rusted nails and splinters. We managed to start the project and finish it inside of 4 months which, if you ask anyone who has done a deck project, is impressive. Check out the pictures and more witty and clever deck stories (click Deck).

The garden and other yearly projects were also in the mix, but the other note worthy projects were related to “greening” our house. Boulder County started a program called ClimateSmart that provided loans financed through property taxes to improve homes to be more energy efficient. We took advantage of this in a big way. The big pluses are the loan is tax deductible and it stays with the house should we move in the near future...which is entirely possible. Anyway, the big projects: replacing the patio door and garden window, insulating the walls, and, the most expensive and most impressive, making the house entirely solar electric (more eco-tentious gloating here). The windows are not done yet, but the rest is. Check out some pictures of the solar project (click Solar).

And the new job. This is not just good news for Jon, it is good news for all who know Jon. For the past 8 years Jon has worked at Ball Aerospace in Boulder. It was really a good job. Great people, great benefits and good pay. But the work was not as challenging as it could have been. So for the past year, Jon has been looking for something different (while making people miserable in the process no doubt). This past month, at long last, Jon took a job with Surrey Satellite in Denver. It is indeed still aerospace, but it is a small company (very small, 7 employees and counting) with a different approach to the bloated aerospace industry. To date, it has been very fun, and rewarding. In-fact, as we write this, Jon is getting ready for a 10 day trip to London for business (click Surrey).

Katy is still working part time from home as a realtor. She is enjoying her time with Caden while being able to make some money. Also this year, Katy discovered the joy of biking. In three separate events, she rode a 25, 35 and 50 mile ride. We both hope to do some longer rides this next year.

Caden, now a precocious 2 year old, is as busy as anyone could expect. He takes art classes, gym classes, music classes, and participates in general mayhem. He loves to play catch, dance, color, climb, do puzzles, play basketball, ride his bike, play in the park, eat snacks, cook, read, run, laugh, and swim. He is a complete joy to be around.

We hope this holiday season finds you and your family happy and healthy. Have a wonderful holiday and a prosperous new year!