Dear Friends and Family,

Christmas snuck up on us this year but what a great time of year! Carrie and I have been incredibly blessed this year with the biggest news being that we moved to Monterey, California so that I could attend the Naval Post Graduate School.

Alex is now 9 and growing taller by the minute. He is soaking up the wealth of activities here by playing sports. His undefeated soccer team saw him go from a bench-warmer to a team allstar. Now participating in basketball, his enthusiasm is contagious. He has also made new friends who find endless hours of joy playing Nintendo.

Stephanie continues to blossom as my little princess. She too played soccer and is content to read, play in her room, or spend time with Carrie and me. She enjoys her school and has a memory that rivals a computer. She is becoming more and more like her mother every day.

Our newest addition to the family is Buster, our dog. Although Carrie was initially hesitant toward him, she has been showing signs of loving the little butter ball. We got him from the pound and he has been making our house interesting to say the least. Peachy, our cat, decided to stay in 29 Palms by getting out before we left. We still have the hamster but even he has tried to escape 3 times. You’d think we were running a pet prison here!

Carrie found it hard to leave good friends from 29 Palms. Once here, she decided to scale back on volunteering and to go back to school. Of course now in addition to attending classes in accounting at the local community college, she found herself getting involved as usual. So now she is getting straight A’s, keeping our house and family together, and donating her time to various local activities. She played on a soccer team and is now coaching Alex’s basketball team with her assistant coach, me.

I’m going to school full time and studying when I am not in class. I continue to train for marathons with a twist next year. I am running two marathons… a week apart. I am enjoying my time here in Monterey and trying to incorporate as much family time as I can. I do not want this place to slip by without getting out of it all I can. I continue to maintain my webpage (www.bigfoot.com/~jdgrose115) and have been involved with programming and other computer classes.

Our family has been blessed this year with a successful move and happiness to fill our days. We have found a good church family and our concentration is on family and education (with Buster in obedience school, all 5 of us were in school at once!) as we look forward to another year of togetherness.

We want to wish you happy holiday as we head north to Seattle for the holidays. Our invitation is open to anyone who wants to visit. We promise you will not be disappointed.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and God Bless You all.

Love,
Jason, Carrie, Alex, Stephanie, and Buster