December 2011
Dear Family and Friends,
We hope you’re enjoying a wonderful holiday season – this Christmas finds us, again, so grateful for abundant blessings. Our experiences this past year have included:
January: I got our 2010 Christmas letter out! I’m a little earlier this year, although you still won’t likely get this before Christmas!
February: Hosting the annual Barrus Family Presidents’ Day Ski Weekend, which by no means includes all of the Barrus (Bonnie’s) family, but we love having whoever can come. We have guests from Utah, Idaho, California, sometimes Texas and New Jersey, and this past year, Ohio!
March: Welcoming home our returning missionary: Hail the conquering hero! Scott flew into the Salt Lake Airport and hit the ground running – since his return, he’s worked construction, spent the summer working as a high adventure leader at a scout camp, and completed fall semester at BYU-Idaho, which he has loved. He hasn’t been home much, but it’s still so great to have him home!
April: Kendra celebrated a milestone – she turned 16! Driver’s license and first date were quick to follow. A high school junior now, she’s worked hard and enjoyed another season of marching band competitions on the rifle line, continues to play the piano (because I make her), does quite well in school, and is developing some mad photography skills – our baby is growing up! We also had a great time with the first ever Adamsonpalooza, all of our children together for the first time in way too long. We were, sadly, missing a few in-laws and grandchildren -- next time!
May: Mindy’s husband Eric graduated from The Art Institute of Seattle Culinary School. He continued to work at
Seattle seafood restaurant Blueacre for a few months, but has recently made an exciting change – he’s now the culinary liaison at Alinea in
Chicago, rubbing shoulders with great chefs and becoming one himself. Mindy left her job in
Seattle, to much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth (she’d made herself quite indispensable there) and joined him in
Chicago this month. So they’re now getting acquainted with the windy city and looking forward to whatever comes Next!
June: Heather’s husband Ryan graduated from the Ohio State University Medical School. After sifting through lots of possibilities for residency, they decided on Charlotte, North Carolina, where they’ve bought a lovely little house and are doing very well. L, age 3, is lively and fun and smart, and LE, age 1, is walking, signing, and giving her big brother a run for his money! We also enjoyed a wonderful trip to Costa Rica in June, with Bruce's sister and her family -- pretty much a once in a lifetime experience!
July: We set out on a wonderful vacation to Canada, Banff National Park area, where Bruce, David, and Scott got back on their bikes for the Canadian section of the Continental Divide Mountain Bike Trail. We enjoyed staying in incredibly beautiful Canmore, Alberta, while they pedaled. Things did not go exactly as planned; i.e., lost luggage delays, a bridge washed out and trail closed due to weather, but they managed to ride about 150 miles through some incredibly scenic country and we met them at the border in Montana. Then we drove over to Washington, where we dug for clams at Birch Bay, several of us went salmon fishing, camped on the Olympic peninsula and hiked down to the beach (so beautiful and such great memories for our family!). We then went on over to Olympia and visited with dear friends – just an absolutely wonderful trip!
August: We celebrated my mother's 85th birthday with a surprise visit from my brothers and sisters -- from Texas, California, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho. We had a great weekend together!
September: David was deployed to Spain for a month, which was an improvement over his many deployments to the Middle East – shorter period of time and nicer place! He was able to use his time when he wasn’t flying to see a little bit of the country. He and Angela are still in New Jersey at McGuire Air Force Base, but are anticipating a likely move this coming summer. They spent some time in Ecuador following Dave’s deployment, where Bailey, age 4, really improved her Spanish, and Matty, age 1, just charmed everybody!
October: After renting a small duplex for about a year and a half, Tara and Joseph bought a house in Emporia, Kansas. They have worked so hard making the place their own – Bruce went out and helped them put a new roof on, along with a few other projects. They’re now in a much more convenient location for school, church, and Joseph’s dental clinic. Tara still has a bit of a drive to the university, where she spends a day or two a week accompanying for the music department. K-Lady is 9 (do I really have a grandchild that old?), J-Boy is 6, and A-Girl is 3.
November: We headed up to Seattle for Thanksgiving, where we helped Mindy downsize dramatically (she’d already done most of it by the time we got there) and get ready to move. We were also able to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with our dear friends, the Erskines – a tradition during our years in Washington, and we’ve missed it terribly! We brought Mindy, her dog Blue, and the few belongings she was moving with her to Utah, then she and Bruce headed off to Chicago – which makes me wonder: why do we keep helping our children move farther away from us????
December: Scott’s finished up at school, Kendra has a couple more days, and then we’re so excited to be heading to
New Jersey to spend Christmas with Dave and Angela – and Mindy and Eric will be there too! We’re flying to Denver on the way home, where we’ll spend a couple of days with Heather and the kids, crashing at her in-laws’ home (thank you Christensens!). While I lament that our children are scattered and so far away, it does give us a really good excuse to see the country, which we love!
We hope your year has been filled with the love of family and friends. Let me close with this quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley (and thank you to our friends Scott and Marcie Turner for sharing it):
“What a glorious and wonderful season of the year this is. Our hearts change. Our attitudes change. Our way of thinking changes. There is a little more forgiveness in us. A little more of kindness. A little more of love. A little more of patience. A little more understanding at the Christmas season of the year. What a glorious thing it is we can become a little better than we have been during the remainder of the year. Christmas means giving. The Father gave his Son, and the Son gave His life. Without giving there is no true Christmas, and without sacrifice there is no true worship. Thanks be to God for the gift of His son, and thanks be to His Son for the gift of His life. How grateful we are at this Christmas season.”
Our love,
Bruce & Bonnie Adamson and family
bbfamwagon.blogspot.com
December 2011 
May: Mindy’s husband Eric graduated from The Art Institute of Seattle Culinary School. He continued to work at 
