Our annual christmas card and letter.

December 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

Another year has come to an end and we wanted to give an update to everyone on how we are doing. We will just talk about the highlights because everyone knows that life is mainly sleeping eating and working... and homework or video games of course.

Three camping adventures helped separate the year. Our first was for college credit we signed up for a Hiking Arches class where we spent 3 days hiking through Arches National Park. We met some new friends, learned a lot about Southern Utah, and saw some beautiful country. In all we had a great time and everyone should visit the Fiery Furnace. We spent 3 days at Bear Lake in northern Utah. It was a blast eating raspberry shakes, riding our bikes around, and eating hot dogs and marshmallows for every meal. Our last trip was spending the 24th of July weekend camping with Rouie, Kapono, Asa, and Nannie in the backcountry near Price. We also made a weekend trip to Oregon to surprise Granddad Bud on his 80th birthday. We had a wonderful time and loved playing in the ocean in Newport, OR and being with family.

Vanessa graduated from the U of U with a BS degree in Family and Consumer Sciences: Human Development and Family Studies. Steven graduated from the U of U with his BS degree in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism: Adventure and Outdoor Programming. We are grateful for the opportunity to go to school but we are so glad that we are done! We worked so hard for these little slips of paper, thank you for all of the support.

Steven has had four different “jobs” this year. The most consistent one has been working for the church as a night janitor. He knows all about the secret tunnels under Temple Square and they do not look like proper adventuring tunnels. He interned with the BSA National Parks Council getting all the pre-camp stuff set up for Beaver High Adventure Base. He spent the summer at Copperview Recreation Center working with special needs young adults. He loved working with this population and had many adventures while walking with them to the library, taking them swimming, and on field trips around the valley. And finally he interned at CLAS Ropes Course in Provo, Utah. Where he basically did every job the company had. Vanessa has been very steady with her employment and thus far has outlasted three of her fellow part-time employees at the Marriott Library as a Photo Archivist.

Thank you for all of the help and support that you have given to us in the last year. We wish you the best for the New Year and a very Merry Christmas!
Love,
Steven and Vanessa Lowe