Another year has gone by, and after a year and a half in our new home we love it even more.

Owen turned three in May. We threw a party for him and were fortunate to have Amy's grandparents from Arizona in attendance. Owen spent a good part of his summer as Dad's little helper, following Chad around the yard during every weekend project. Owen continues to try to keep up with his big brother by taking interest in everything that interests Ryan--Legos, Bionicles, Mario Kart on the Nintendo, and looking for lizards in the back yard. One thing that is uniquely Owen's is his love for cars and his infectious and energetic enthusiasm. This fall, Owen started preschool at the Montessori Children's House. Despite some misgivings about starting "skool," Owen has adjusted to the new routine and made some new buddies of his own. At the first parent-teacher conference, Owen's teachers said they wished they had more "sweet little boys like Owen" in their classroom.

Ryan finished up a great first-grade year and promptly started a series of summer camps at a local church. He's got a regular group of friends from school and had his first sleepovers with his buddy Kevin. Much to our relief, Ryan's front permanent tooth finally came in where he'd knocked out the baby version as a toddler--although he scared us to death by knocking out another baby tooth in a freak slide accident in May.

Shortly after starting the second grade this fall, Ryan started in his first youth soccer league. During the first few games he was more interested in picking grass and fiddling with the goalie net than he was in the game. But by the end of the season he was in the middle of the crowd, kicking shins while trying to kick the ball. He can't wait for the spring/summer soccer season to start. Ryan has discovered the joy of reading, and he will spend hours curled up with a book, much to his mother's joy. We're trying to find more serial books that will keep him hooked ... right now he is reading The Edge Chronicles series.

After leaving her editing job at the Laboratory when Owen was born, Amy rejoined the workforce this year. Amy went to work part-time for Trans-Lux in July as an executive assistant to the company's former CEO. The hours are great (9:00-1:00) and her office is located a block off the Santa Fe Plaza. So between working and keeping her three boys in line, Amy's been busier than ever this year.

After 10 years at the Lab in the same position, Chad made a career change. In July he accepted a new position as a team leader in the Lab's Computer Education group. He's now leading a team that teaches and manages classrooms for web development and programming courses. He loves his new group and team. Shortly after changing jobs the Lab shutdown all operations for several weeks. Employees at the Lab were expected to report to work as normal but were not allowed to work while safety and security practices were reviewed and employees received related training. All is back to normal now and Chad's having fun teaching web development skills to others.

Chad wants to remind everyone that this web site is for family and friends. Visit the site often and register for an accountso that you can leave comments to the photos and stories we post here.

As a family we were able to visit Amy's parents in Oklahoma and Chad's parents and sister's family paid us a visit in February. We were grateful to have a few friends visit us during the year and we hope to see more visitors in 2005. So far New Mexico has seen more snow this winter than in recent years, and Chad and Ryan are looking forward to hitting the ski slopes. Come out for a visit!

We want to wish many blessings to our family and friends who live near and far. Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year to all!

Love,

Chad, Amy, Ryan, and Owen