2009 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas from Darren,
Mindy, Trevor, and baby Austin

In one word, 2009 was turbulent, but we had a lot of fun amidst the chaos and change.  We made a trip to Utah in May for a baby blessing, Mother’s Day and the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championships at BYU.  We spent Memorial Day weekend on a bike trip on Orcas Island.  We enjoyed biking into camp with Dawna’s family and took Trevor hiking and canoeing.

Throughout the summer, and even once in the winter, Darren and Mindy spent several weekends out on the river enjoying the scenery and the rapids.  In August we traveled to Spokane so that Darren could compete in the annual Spike and Dig volleyball tournament.

In October we purchased a F150 truck that Darren and Trevor are in love with.  For Halloween we went with a garden theme where Darren was a fern, Mindy a toadstool, and Trevor was a garden gnome.

Darren

Darren has a new calling in church and he is back in the Young Men’s program, this time working with the 14-15 year old scouts.  This year Darren was able to go on enough river rafting trips, including the White Salmon River which has a 10ft waterfall, to earn his status as a guide.  In August, Darren was reassigned to work on the 787 program in Everett and has been working a lot to prepare for the first flight by the end of the year.  In December, he finished his first class in the Engineering Technology Master’s Program through Central Washington University.

Mindy

Mindy has spent the majority of this last year nurturing and teaching Trevor and growing a new baby.  She joined Darren on several river rafting trips earlier in the year on rivers like the Skagit, the Wenatchee, and the White Salmon.  Mindy was excited to have a yard with a dedicated garden space and after lots of hard work this spring and summer our family had a bountiful harvest.  In July, she marched with her former drill team, the Ballard Eagles, in the Torchlight parade.  Mindy has also had lots of practice this year making cakes for family and friends including a cake based on the game Operation for her father-in-law and a rafting cake for Darren’s surprise 30^th birthday party.

Trevor

Trevor will turn two in the next couple weeks and he is learning new things every day.  He is talking a whole lot more now and cracks us up all the time with his quick wit.  He loves to play with cars and trucks and has names for many of them, dada-truck (the one that looks like our truck), papa-truck (the one he got from Darren’s dad), green-truck (the green one, duh), etc.  He also loves to push a chair up to the sink, put on his apron, and help with the dishes.  His list of words continues to grow and we are consistently amazed at how quickly he absorbs new things.

Austin

We are so excited to announce that our son, due in mid-April 2010, will be named Austin John.  When we were trying to pick out a name we finally decided on either Derek or Austin.  Having no idea how we were going to decide between the two, Mindy asked Trevor if he could say Derek, to which he replied an emphatic, “no”.  Then she asked if he could say Austin and he broke out in a big smile before saying, “Aww-ss-teen” and that settled it.  Already Austin has been such a delight to our family.  Trevor will frequently address Mindy’s belly as Austin and give him a quick hug or kiss.

 

**Family Picture Blooper Reel**