2015 Annual Holiday Newsletter

Happy 2015 holidays to all of our friends and family....

I am astounded about the leaps we've made over the last year.  And yet, so many things remain the same as always.

Palmer is all-boy.  As I pored over the pictures from 2015, I noticed a theme: We are an active family with many sporting-type activities.  

I sometimes poke fun at Rick for having so many different hobbies (this mainly happens when he calls me from some sporting store telling me about an expensive piece of equipment that he just "has to have" for hunting or skiing or boating or fishing or golf, etc.)  

However, looking at photos I think Palmer may have that same level of all-inclusive interest.  This past year, he dabbled in soccer, swimming, BB gun shooting (Davy Crockett pretending), tubing on the boat, snow skiing, ice skating/hockey, bike riding, and golf.  He also regularly inquires about when he can start tennis lessons and play tee ball... Sheesh.

Meanwhile, Grace has gone from a young infant to a thriving toddler full of movement, activity, words, and opinions.  

This fall, Grace graduated to a stage of having her "own" activities and started preschool and attends a weekly music class.  We've seen Grace develop into a little girl who loves to entertain and be silly.  She is also good at entertaining herself and plays on her own or alongside her brother very well.  We discovered this year that Grace has inherited the same curly locks as everyone else in her family.

Rick continues to work as a corporate attorney at Gardere.  A lot of his clients and connections are down in Austin, Texas, so he (and often the rest of us!) trek down to the Hill Country regularly.  

No complaints on this end.  I enjoy seeing my brother and sister-in-law (and their almost born baby boy!) who live in Austin, and we always love to spend some time in Horseshoe Bay/Lake LBJ during the summer.  

Meanwhile, I have a wonderful life balance between a part-time gig making commercials and freelancing for the news networks.  As such, I get to be with the kids a lot - which is ideal (albeit hectic).  Although it's sometimes a crazy juggle, usually it's a great opportunity to dabble in work while still being engaged at home and flexible to handle everyone's schedules.  We also have some real estate investment projects that I manage in my "spare time".  I am very thankful that Rick is supportive of me in all of my roles.

As in past years, we enjoyed some time away with an annual snow ski trip.  The Burrus family met us in Taos, New Mexico, and we sent the kids to ski school.  Rick and I marveled at Palmer's continued improvement on the slopes and his enthusiasm for "someday getting to ski on the big mountain."  Palmer's instructor told us that Palmer is just a few lessons away from being able to ski anywhere at the resort with us.  Rick intends to hold the instructor to that next year.  ha!

Over the summer we traveled up north to one of my favorite places from childhood - Mackinac Island. Northwest Michigan is such a special place in this country (and to me).  I was born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and went to Mackinac Island from time to time as a kid.  Our dear friends Brian and Sara Cordell joined us on the trip.  We traveled together through the various towns and harbors and got to know Will, their newly adopted son from China.

The other Cordell, Maggie, has been a great friend of Palmer since they were little, and we enjoyed throwing Will into the mix.  The trip logistics were too hard to bring Grace along, but we look forward to the foursome banding together for future vacations with the Cordells.

But don't feel sorry for Grace - she gets plenty of attention and even had her very own girls' weekend in Washington, DC with Aunt Samantha earlier in the summer.

Things are always interesting around here...

...and we look forward to your updates and wish everyone a happy holiday season and a wonderful season of new beginnings in 2016.

-Bethany, Rick, Palmer, and Grace Jordan