Once again we are going green with our Holiday newsletter and sending this out electronically! First off, we wish you and your family a blessed and safe Christmas, and a properous, healthy 2011!!
2010 was quite a year for the Jerauld household. The year started with Alek recovering from his ACL repair surgery. It went really well and he recently ran a 10K! We vacationed for Spring Break in Newport, RI. What a beautiful place! It was nice to be out East and we got to see Aunt Honey and Uncle Ralph (Bob's family) in Connecticut. Evelyn, Bob's Mom, joined us for the week and Anna and John (Daria's parents) met us in Newport for a day.
Upon returning from our week away, it was back home for Alek to finish up his Freshman year at Iowa State and Olyvia to finish up her Senior year of high school. Of course, the party preparations began! We were bound and determined to "kick it up a notch" from Alek's party the year prior - no easy task. But we did it! You can see all the wonderful photos here http://picasaweb.google.com/TheJeraulds/OlyviaSGraduationParty2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCObB-NT4hIeotAE# . Olyvia's party was centered around Olyvia - therefore it featured a mashed potato bar (she LOVES potatos), live music, a silhouette artist and an ice cream bar. Her artwork was also on display. Of course there was Pennsylvania style chicken! Many thanks to Don and Sue Johannsen and Rich Ohrt who cooked chicken for us all day. They are now certified in the art of Pennsylvania Chicken cooking!
We were blessed to have so many join us for the celebration and for Olyvia's Senior dance recital. This performance linked here is not from her recital, but is instead from her dancing as a Freshman at Iowa State. Olyvia is the one who gets blindfolded later in the piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8oPLlr5ED4 . Olyvia's dancing is amazing (yes, we are biased). Going back to all those who joined us for Olyvia's graduation: Paloma wins the award for traveling the farthest. Paloma was the children's tutor when we lived in Torreon, Mexico. Connie and Ben Forcillo - dear friends of Daria's parents - joined us for the week. Also in town visiting were John and Anna (Daria's parents), Evelyn (Bob's mom), Terry and Kelly Jerauld and their girl, Porter (Bob's brother, sister-in-law and their cute doggie), Stella Jerauld (Bob's brother Bart's wife) and Uncle Butch and Aunt Jeanie Wood (Evelyn's brother and his wife). Thank God the house has three full bathrooms! My parents used the camper for their lodging and Uncle Butch drove his motorhome out from Ohio. Vicki and Ken Cottrell (Bob's sister and brother-in-law) and their girls, Hunter and Kendel, joined us later in the week for Olyvia's Senior dance recital. It was a full house for sure - and great fun!
Alek started dating Kimberly Kehoe a little after Easter. They are a wonderful couple and Alek is spending this Christmas with Kimberly and her family in Colorado to do some skiing and to celebrate Christmas in Winter Park. It's hard to believe that he is 20 already! Where does the time go?
Both kids worked over the summer, so taking a summer vacation was really not in the cards this past year. By mid August both kids moved onto campus. Alek worked as an orientation guide for incoming Freshman. Olyvia helped as part of the "U Pack - We Haul" crew to help others move in. It is nice that both children are on the Iowa State University campus in Ames, Iowa. Alek is continuing with his Mechanical Engineering - where he excels and is a natural. Olyvia is majoring in Culinary Science and double minoring in Dance and Russian. Olyvia's language skills are very strong and of course her dancing is great!!
Both of us are doing well at John Deere and work continues to be challenging and satisfying. The best part about work are the people we encounter along the way. An impactful part of the year (for Daria) was having Christopher Roberts enter my life. Chris was a young man working for John Deere in Ottumwa, Iowa who needed to move to Waterloo, Iowa to be closer to family and friends while he battled Clear Cell Sarcoma. He moved here and sat with my team and we became "fast friends." We grew very close and Chris really made such an impact in my life as he battled his illness with grace and determination. I'm happy that his girlfriend, Ashley Atherton, is now such a dear friend. Chris' passing in September was tragic and far too soon for such a young man. You can read more about his story at http://brethoefen.wordpress.com/ccs-friends/ (be sure to scroll down).
Daria got to travel to Raleigh, North Carolina to visit the Cary office and to hire a new team member. While there, I was able to spend a nice bit of time with my brother Andrew and his family. I also got to visit Bob's cousin Stuart and his wife. It's a pretty part of the country and it was nice to see family. Bob's been able to travel to Paris again this year with his work for John Deere - he always manages to bring home wine! Bob's winter project this year is to really make headway on his wine cellar.
Everyone here is in good health and we pray that is also the case for you and your families. Our Bruno (the dog - a Shiba Inu) is getting up there. He's 12 and starting to show his age. He's still hilarious and cute and tons of fun! We just have to shout a bit more since he's lost quite a bit of hearing.
Well, that's about it for this edition of The Jerauld Press. Do stay in touch - TheJeraulds@gmail.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/Daria.A.DiMeo.Jerauld .
Scroll down for some more photos...
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