Merry CHRISTmas!!

Hope you all had a great day. Here in south- east Alaska did. A bit of rain, hail, snow made for a nice day to stay inside.
Looking back on my post regarding our Traditions, I realized I forgot to include one of the best.
Lori found a way of doing gifts that keep us from adding this or that gift to keep things "even". The idea is based on the 3 gifts of the Wise Men to Jesus... Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. A "gold" gift is one to Cherish, a "frankincense" gift is to Use, and the "myrrh" gift is to Amuse. Some years they are easy, others years they overlap alot. This year the Gold gift for Charles and Meg was a poster collage of our trip to Europe this summer.
We were real bums in the afternon. We have the kids the 1st season of Heros and spent several hours watching. It was nice not to have the commercials.
We feel and are very blessed to have what we do and to live in a nice place and have a great family.
Merry CHRISTmas!!

Polar Dip for the Loony

Sikta has an annual "polar dip" where the crazies go out in 42 degree water up to the chest. I wasn't expecting a huge turnout since I hadn't seen this done before(we where in California last year). There were well over 100 kooks who did the "dip" and received a certificate signed by one of the local psycologists. We bullied Charles and Anna into doing it. Charles went all the way under while Anna did the least she had to.

Charles "Longfellow"...his feet do show it!!

Charles competed in the Poetry Out Loud again this year. He didn't win, but his stage presence is so good. He actally likes being up there. His best friend Berret won the local competition and will go to Anchorage to compete for the State. If she wins there she would go to Nationals where they have scholarships available for the winners. The competition has a set list of 500 or so poems that the kids can pick from. They do one that is under 25 lines and their choice for the other. At the State level they do 3 poems. All of the kids were really good. Grandma got to see Charles do his poems and meet his friends.

Grandma Visits

This fall we have managed to get my mom out of California for a while. It has been a good opportunity since my dad is in the nursing home and not doing very well. Mom knows he is well taken care of and now that she doesn't have to watch him every minute she can see us...meaning the rest of the family. She went to Logan to be with John's family for Thanksgiving and even got to see her first great-grand child when John took her up to Idaho Falls for a day. She then got two weeks of rest at home and she came up here to see us in Sitka. She is leaving today to spend another week at David's in Seattle for Christmas. Then she'll have a week at home before going to Idaho Fall the first weekend in January to see Anneka, Mike, and Samantha. Then we'll let her rest for a while. I think she forgets how strange our family is. She doesn't have to say much...just sit back and be entertained by non-stop craziness. She got to experience a nice snow fall...10 inches over a two day period, Charles singing with the Vocal Jazz, Charles in the Poetry Out Loud competition, Church with us, our church Christmas party, decorating our house for Christmas, good food(moose steaks), etc... We really enjoyed having her here and getting to see us in our new environment.

Meg' 18th!!!

Meg turned 18 in November, but her party was in December. And what a party! 15+ friends, lots of food, music, games, lots of fun!! Meg enjoyed this eventhough she would have rather not been reminded that she is getting older. She sure is a great part of our family and we love her lots!
It's a good thing these guys can sing...but you'd never know it from this clip of "Happy Birthday".

2007 Christmas Letter(Long)

I have been doing my letter after New Year's, but with so much happening it wouldn't have been prudent to wait... Enjoy... You may receive a copy of this in the mail...

Christmas 2007

Hey Relatives and Friends,

Wow, how to summarize the year 2007? It was full of beginnings, ends, and continuations. Rick has a new position at church…Bishop of the Sitka Ward… We have 2 new additions to the family... One in the form of 6 lb. 9 oz. Samantha Moya Smith, our first grandchild and one in the form of Anna-Maria Mück our AFS exchange student... We have a new doctor in the house... We have experienced England and Paris... We still live in Alaska and it still rains...

Anneka/Mike At publishing date Lori is in Idaho Falls helping Anneka, Mike and Samantha. Our first grandchild was born Tuesday 6 November. She was officially 3 weeks early, but since Anneka tried to go into labor 10 weeks early we are grateful that we Samantha got another 7 weeks to “simmer”. Yes, Mike and AJ are doing well, but there is a new star in the family. Mike is continuing to take classes for his electrician journeyman’s license and AJ has been still working at the bank. They are living in Mike’s parents’ house while they are on a Church mission in Florida.

Lori is now officially Doctor Hart. She finished her Ph.D. after jumping through all the hoops. She then started working at the mental health clinic at SEARHC(where Rick works). Eventually, she was offered a job with Weber State University…the school she worked for when in Logan… as a professor of nursing. Part of her duties will be to help develop classes for a Master’s of Nursing program. She has to attend some faculty meetings in Utah during the year so she can see Samantha(Anneka/Mike too). In fact, she just got back from Idaho after helping AJ, Mike, and Samantha for 3 weeks. Lori arranged for us to get some used kayaks, so she is becoming familiar with the water surrounding our little cove.

Rick is still with SEARHC. Usually this “STILL” comment is in a not good sense, but in this case it is with pleasure that we say it. The staff is wonderful, the other doctor(Pam Steffes) is great, and the chance to be an employee with great benefits can’t be beat. Rick traveled 7 times for work this year..one to Yakutat and 6 to Prince of Wales Island(Klawock). Using his benefit for the continuing education he needs we all traveled to England in May/June so Rick could attend the British Contact Lens Association meeting in Manchester. He learned to drive on the right side of the car and the left side of the street. He has also used some of his sick leave to be with his parents as his dad gets worse. Being bishop at church is a huge responsibility. He is in charge of everything at church now. A very busy and scary experience, but rewarding.

Meg has been working hard this year. She has worked in a local coffee shop where she has trained to be a barista. She works part-time after school and Saturdays. Drama is still her passion and her work with the Drama/Debate team has paid off. She is involved in NHS(National Honor Society), Drama, and music. She is also beginning to make plans for here post-high school life. She just turned 18, but has had no desire to drive yet. Meg has traveled a bunch with 2 trips to Anchorage, places all over the southeast(Alaska that is), California, Utah, England, and Paris. She spent 4 weeks as a Junior Councilor at Kennolyn Camp near Santa Cruz. Oh, she is painting her room…Picasso, Chagall, Van Gogh, and Monet…she copies the picture on the wall and then fills it in. Photography has been big for her and her birthday present was an photo enlarger for the darkroom she is setting up in her bathroom.

Charles is a sophomore and is involved in Drama/Debate, Student Council, irritating his sisters and the dog, and hanging out with his many friends. He got to go to Anchorage twice this year for Mock-Trial and for a state Student Council thing. He too has been all over the southeast, California(for his 5^th year at Kennolyn), Utah, and Europe.

Anna came to us in August from the Bavarian region of Germany. Her English is excellent. In fact, she has been doing both drama and debate, is in Honors English, Calculus, and AP Chemistry, and having a boyfriend. She has learned to take the teasing our family give and can also give it back. She is fun to have in our family and we are glad to have her.

Richard is at Utah State University. His classes are going well. He spent the summer here in Sitka working at the Raptor Rehablitation Center. He’ll be up here again for Christmas and has plans to work up here again next summer. Richard is working at the USU library in addition to carrying a full schedule.

D’Artagnan is a great dog. He is HUGE… about 90 lbs.! He loves being in the water and swimming… the problem is getting him out. He is 20 months old now and Lori is getting him to walk off the leash without running off to the woods.

Our Europe trip had two main reasons. One, Rick has always wanted to attend this British conference and Two, it was for Meg’s 16^th birthday trip…to see top quality theatre. We saw Sir Ian McKellen(Gandalf) in King Lear in Shakespeare’s home town, Othello in London at the Shakespeare Globe, and Wicked, The Lord of the Rings Musical, and Spamalot on the West End. We got to spend a couple days with Annika, our first exchange-daughter. We rode the tube/underground in London. Paris was a whirlwind… we spent 2 days there and saw lots. We took the speedy Eurostar train under the English Channel to London.

Lori and Rick traveled to San Diego and visited/helped Rick’s parents. Rick also went to his folks’ in September to help. His dad has Alzheimer’s and finally had to be put in a nursing home this summer. He has really deteriated quickly. Rick’s mom is feeling the stress, but has been doing well. She spent Thanksgiving with John(Rick’s brother) and his family in Logan. She has plans to visit us in a couple of weeks and then be at David’s(other brother) for Christmas. Then to Anneka’s for the blessing of Samantha.

We hope your Christmas season is full of love for each other and for our Savior.

Love, Rick, Lori, Meg, Charles, Anna, and of course, D’Artagnan

Ultimate Stocking Stuffer

This is also the very best of the best Christmas present. Samantha's mom... ie, my eldest daughter ... stuck "poor" Samantha in a Christmas stocking and took pictures. She doesn't look too distressed about the whole thing...in fact, she looks pretty darn cute!! In about 3 weeks I get to actually hold her when Lori and I go down to Idaho Falls.

En Garde D'Artagnan!!

Meet Samantha the Musketeer!! She is in a classic infant pose known as Tonic Neck Reflex or a fencer's pose. This will disappear in a few months as she starts to roll over. Lori didn't get the whole picture because one leg on the side where the arm is pulled up is also pulled up. Pretty cool, huh?