Happy Holidays to all our family and friends. We hope you had a happy and productive year, and that the new one will bring new challenges and opportunities to all!
Doug’s book All the Money in the World finally came out in October of this year and is now available at Borders and Barnes & Noble as well as Amazon.com for those of you who are web-enabled. The exhibition catalog for Barter, Bits & Dollars (Doug’s first exhibit for the ANA) is currently in design by Whitman publishing – yet another book to Doug’s credit!
Loren continues to take piano lessons and she is still playing the flute in the School Band. Loren is now a veteran of recitals, most recently as part of a duo with her friend and classmate, Kelly, on the piano.
Patti continues to work as a consultant in the Energy Industry. This year her work has taken her to Washington D.C., Greensburg, PA, Calgary, Alberta and Baltimore, MD. Her work is still organized around a 4 day week – she leaves Sunday evening and returns on Thursday night. The airline miles and hotel points are much appreciated by the rest of the family, though we would rather have her around more often…
This year Doug and Patti broke down and allowed Loren to choose a new kitten. Loren named the her Champagne, but the kitten soon earned the nickname “Stinker” from Doug because she stank-up the house the first week she was here. Fortunately, she has mostly recovered from her malodorous beginnings, with only an occasional relapse, so the Casa de Mudd has returned to its normally fragrant self.
We had an adventurous year with trips to San Diego, Mesa Verde, rafting and horseback riding, ballooning, and skiing. Everyone had fun, especially Loren. Loren shows promise as an excellent skier and wants to take advantage of the Colorado 5th grade ski passport as much as possible this season (she gets to ski free at most Colorado slopes AND gets big discounts on equipment!). The trip to San Diego was a great hit – we all decided we would like to live there, and Loren got her first experience of body surfing – which she took to like a true Mudd!
The final act of an adventurous year will be a trip to Florida over Christmas – a visit to Grandma Fountain in Jacksonville, followed by 6 days in Disney World to celebrate Christmas and Patti and Doug’s 11th anniversary at the site of our honeymoon!
Loren had a great year in soccer – staring with a successful last season in developmental soccer and then moving up to competitive league play with the local Pride soccer club. Her team, the Stingrays, completed the season with an undefeated record with Loren playing as a mid-fielder.
Happy Holidays,
Loren, Doug and Patti