For those of you who did not get a copy:
Our 2011 Christmas to our dear
Family & Friends,
We hope this letter finds you all in
good health and a smile. This year we decided to write a family letter for
Christmas, and we hope to make this a tradition. We are very excited to give an update on us!
A little introduction about us, we
rent a house in South Charleston, West Virginia with our “furry kids:” 4 yr old
golden retriever Autumn and our 5 yr old ragdoll cats Mayberry & Wassail.
David works for the state of West Virginia, Disability Determination Section
supporting the IT department and Caryn works at CDI Engineering Solutions, as
clerical Human Resources supporting engineering divisions Aerospace, Process
& Industrial, and Life Sciences.
We found a new church home this year
that we absolutely love. We are growing
more in our faith than we have in a long time. Recently, we just finished a
class called “Not a Fan,” teaching us to be more than a fair weather friend to
Christ. Please continue to pray for us
in our faith journey, as we are never done growing when it comes to faith.
Caryn has taken on a new hobby,
couponing. Very much like the “Extreme Couponing” show on TLC, but on a lesser
scale. Yes, we have a rather large ‘stockpile.’ We have not paid more than $.25
for a toothbrush or toothpaste since April.
This is not only a hobby but also saves a lot of money! (the best kind of hobby). In addition, Caryn has
started a family blog just about our daily lives, creative home décor ideas,
and recipes. Our blog, “Conner’s Corner” can be found at http://davidandcaryn.blogspot.com/, please stop by and
check it out occasionally and see what we have going on throughout the year.
David has picked up a hobby volunteering in the
Free and Open Source Software community, on the Ubuntu Linux Operating System. Ubuntu
is just one of many community driven computer software projects, and David
participates in quality assurance testing of new software releases. He has also been maintaining a website for a
local AKC Golden Retriever breeder, and has enjoyed the opportunity to expand
his web design and development skills.
Caryn’s sister Catherine came for a month long
visit during July. We had a great time spending time with her! During her visit
we took a long weekend and went to Dublin/Columbus, Ohio to visit our friend
Amy and we all went to the Columbus Zoo for the day.
In
September; we had a fantastic vacation, we went to Connecticut and stayed with
Caryn’s Aunt Carol, Uncle Gerry and cousin Matthew. We had a great time
visiting Caryn’s father and his family. We
went to the historical Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT. It is a 19th
century historical seaport. David really
enjoyed the whaling ship that they were restoring. We even made an impromptu trip to Boston, MA
and LOVED it! It was our first time going to the City of Boston, so it was great
to have Matthew with us, since he knew the “T” (the metro) very well! We even
met a cousin of Caryn’s that she had never met; he came into city for the day
with us. We took a tour of Boston, from Prudential
Building Observatory called the Skywalk Tour and by way of the “Duck-mobile”,
which is an amphibious “restored/remake” WWII DUKW vehicle. We were able to see
the city by land and sea! If you ever get a chance to go on a duck tour it is
really worth your time and very entertaining!
Thanksgiving Dinner was at David’s Mom’s.
On Saturday after Thanksgiving instead of going to the crazy busy stores, we
went with all of David’s family to see a movie, “Arthur Christmas.” In addition
we, with David’s Uncle Eugene, cousin
Paul, and niece Katianne took a side
trip to an old rail tunnel called the “Flinderation Tunnel” which is now part
of the ‘Rails to Trails’ in Salem, WV.
It is supposedly haunted, but we met no unexpected company while at the
tunnel. We had a wonderful time visiting
with the family, playing games and catching up.
Since we do not have any kiddos yet,
we will share that our dog, Autumn, and our two cats – that is right I said
two, we have a new cat named Wassail (a rescue) and of course the resident cat
Mayberry are cute as ever. They provide us endless amusement and companionship.
This is life at the Conner’s Corner
– always busy but never dull; 2011 has been filled with exciting things and has
gone by fast. God has blessed us with
good health, good jobs and you – our loving and loved family and friends. We
hope this year –end finds you as blessed as us and we pray that the New Year
brings you more than you can ask or imagine.
Peace be with you this
holiday season!
David & Caryn
