Christmas 1995

Hello one and all and Merry Christmas to Everyone!

We would like to wish you all a Happy Holiday Season and let you know what our family has been up to this past year.  Our big project of the year was the yard, and Ryan spent many hours outside installing the sprinkler system and then we finally got some grass.  We couldn’t afford to do the whole yard at once, so we chose the landscape installment plan.  We have one more installment of grass to receive before the yard is all green, but that will have to wait untill the spring.  After the sod was laid we would sit out on the back porch and just watch the sprinklers come on--it was such a beautiful sight!!  The grass makes a huge difference in the appearance of the house and we have enjoyed it so much already (especially Cole, altough he still goes to the dirt to throw rocks). We even planted a small garden, although we were not great at taking care of it.  Maybe next year we will do better.

Ryan is still working at Erudite software, and the company is growing quickly.  Ryan likes to brag that Erudite was named the fastest growing company in Utah over the last five years.  He is now a project manager and doing a fine job at it.

Paige is working at the Lehi High School day care again this year part time.  It’s a nice job since it is so close to home, only 25 hours a week, and Cole can go to work with me.  Cole is now old enough that he doesn’t get beat up by those two year olds anymore, and he enjoys going to school everyday.  He has his friends that he is excited to see, and he knows almost all of the kids’ names.  Of course being around other kids his own age has it’s disadvantages, too.  He now can say “No” and “Mine” with the best of them, and he knows how to fight for the toy he wants.  Oh well, I guess he would have learned it anyway eventually.

Paige also started up a new little buisness venture this summer--I am now Bubbles the clown.  I do birthday parties for kids and do all the games, prizes and balloon animals.  It’s been fun, although not a great money maker.  I have managed to stay in the black, however, and I haven’t spent more than I made with the parties.  It’s a fun hobby and we’ll see how far I go with it.

We took off for Las Vegas in November and went to COMDEX (the giant computer geek festival).  Cole stayed with his grandparents for two days and we went and had a good time checking out the new products and trying to get as much free stuff as possible.  We didn’t do too badly.  Several T-shirts, and a few hats for starters.  It was a nice little vacation, although the standing in lines was not fun.  We did have a nice dinner at the Planet Hollywood inside Ceasar’s Palace, though.  Ryan was invited to a new product demo and got me invited, too.  I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement so I won’t go and give out all the secrets of this new product.  It was really fun even though they had the name on my name tag as “Parge”  Erickson.

We bought a new car this fall, although it’s actually not a car, it’s a “project”.  It’s not a new car, an 87 Camry, but it runs great and the air condtioning works, which is more than we can say for our trusty old Mazda GLC.  We’re trying to find a good home for the Mazda now.  Ryan’s been doing some work on the Camry and we had it painted and it looks really nice.  We’re happy with it and hope it lasts a good long while for us.

I think that’s all the news from our family, you are now caught up on out last year’s events, except for one small thing.  Next Christmas we will be a family of four.  We’re expecting a baby this spring!!

We hope you and your families are doing great and we wish you a Merry Christmas and all the joys of the holiday season.

Ryan, Paige and Cole Erickson