Learner's Per-knit . . . A Learning-to-Knit Saga: Sock Yarn Scarves Giveaway!

Learner's Per-knit . . . A Learning-to-Knit Saga: Sock Yarn Scarves Giveaway!



Ridge and Arrow then Bees and Honeybees

This past week has been hectic for us. But the up side is that I joined www.facebook.com and www.linkedin.com. Both are places to meet friends on line. Linked in is more for professionals networking and facebook is for fun. On facebook I have reconnected with many friends that I lost contact with. There are many “groups or networks you can join. For those in the Lafayette ward there is an Lafayette Alumni group started by Michelle McFadden. There is another group from the town I grew up in called “SIMI VALLEY LDS FRIENDS - Growing up in Simi Valley | California Style”. There are many groups for just about any subject you are interested in. Go check them out, you will be surprised in who’s there. So bye for now. Michael

We took our family down to a National Park called Garden of the Gods (www.gardenofthegods.com)it is located near Colorado Springs. It has many out cropping of red sandstone rocks. The park is a self drive park with hiking trails and horseback riding trails. We drove through the park and will return in the spring for hiking. Here is what is called Balancing rock. Here is the family hiding under it and holding it up.

The children climbed up this rock for a group picture.

Below is a formation called Kissing Camels.

Here are some photos from around the park.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (a little late)

This year has gone by quickly with several major changes in our family. Thankfully we are all healthy.

In the early part of the year we became grandparents to a wonderful little girl, named Rachael May.

Then Janet’s company relocated us to..... Colorado. We moved to a small community south of Denver called Castle Rock. We are all liking it here very much.

Josef is now 3 years old and still very blonde. He has a great sense of humor and is (mostly) always happy. He is very smart for his age. One day he decided to make himself a bowl of oatmeal, so he got out a bowl, poured in a package of oatmeal, and then he added water to it. Then he climbed onto the counter and opened the microwave and put it in. Luckily he did not know how to start it.

Peter has just turned 5. He is still very active, adventurous and continues to climb everything in sight. He missed the cut off for Kindergarten by 5 days so he will start next year. He loves to sneak around the house and get into trouble with Josef.

William has just turned 9 and is a Bear in cub scouts. He is in the 3rd grade and loves school. There are many children from the ward at his school and even several in his class which is a change from California.

Hanna is now 11 and in the 6th grade. She misses her friends at her old school, but is making some new ones as well. She likes riding the bus to school, though she has to get up early to catch it at 7:18 am!

Monika is 18, and has graduated high school! (Yeah, 2 down and 4 to go). She is out here in Colorado with us and will be attending a community college back in California starting in January. She is working full-time at a local grocery store. She is enjoying making (and spending) her own money.

Kathy & Will are adjusting well to Rachael. They are now living in Will’s Grandfathers house. He passed away in the middle of the year and now Will’s mom, Will and Kathy own the house. They are fixing it up and Kathy is using her experience from fixing up our past houses.

Janet is still working at Schwab, which relocated her position to Englewood, Colorado this summer. She is managing a QA group now and enjoying being back in a development organization. She is enjoying a much shorter commute (only 20 minutes each way vs. 1 hour) and the extra time she gets to spend with her family and her callings. She was called to be the Family History Consultant for the ward, and the Ward Choir director. The Family History calling is wonderful and the director calling is a true stretch opportunity, having never directed in her life.

Michael is home full-time with the children and grateful that it is down to just 5 at home now. He has been working on restoring the sailboat that his father built more than 40 years ago. This will be a multi-year project, but is a labor of love.

We miss all of our friends "back" home in CA. We hope that all is well with your family.

Love the Ulrich's

As promised here a some shots of the inside of our house. Well here is our cat Sqeekers, she thinks that she is a dog.

Jane and Zack lying down together.

Master bed room

Masterbed room fireplace.

Masterbath looking towards the bedroom.

Bathroom looking towards closet. Laundry room.

Livingroom fireplace with stairs to the upstairs bedrooms.

Kitchen looking towards livingroom.

Foyer looking into livingroom.

Dinning Room.

Piano Room looking towards front of the house.

Piano Room and fireplace.

We have settled into our house here and are so grateful for it. The house has plenty of room for all of our stuff, including both boats and cars in the oversized 3 car garage. The basement is unfinished and has all of our storage, catering equipment and food storage in it. The yard is very wooded and peaceful (I know a challenge with our children!).

This the waterfall that is in the backyard.

This is the right side of the back yard looking up the hill from the deck. The deck is off the great room and kitchen at the back of the house.

This is the front yard looking down from our front porch. The front door is up the steps and the garage and basement are at ground level.

This is the front side of the house from the porch looking to our neighbor's house. This was after our Thanksgiving snow storm.

This is our back deck with some of the snow still on it.

And this is our front porch.