2007 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas to our dearest friends and family! We are delighted to be on the brink of celebrating a white Christmas, albeit a very cold Christmas in Wyoming! 2007 has been a wonderful year for us, filled with many blessings.

One of the most exciting and memorable events in 2007 was our summer vacation to Hawaii. First, we drove to Las Vegas where we spent a fun couple of days with Andrea’s sister, Amy, her husband, Chris, and their 18 month-old son, Blake. From there we flew to Honolulu, arriving at 11:00 a.m. – just in time to rent a car and tour the island of Oahu for the day, including stops at the Dole Pineapple plantation, the famous ‘North Shore’ surfing locale, and lots of beautiful beaches along the coast! The next morning we toured Pearl Harbor and spent some time on Waikiki Beach before getting on a cruise ship for an eight -day island-hopping excursion. We visited the Big Island of Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai on our trip, and spent the evening of the 4th of July on the cruise ship anchored in the Honolulu Harbor. The fireworks over the ocean were spectacular as was the lit up cityscape in the background. Each day and destination was filled with remarkable experiences and exceptional weather! As much as we loved visiting the islands, we equally loved the cruise – especially the delicious and never-ending food! It truly was an unforgettable vacation; we are so thankful to have had the opportunity to visit the Aloha State!

The fun and excitement continued soon after returning home, when we found out we were expecting our first child! Andrea is currently 26 weeks pregnant, and our Halloween surprise was finding out we will be having a baby boy! He will fit in quite well with his four male cousins (Amy & Chris had their second son, Chase Alexander, August 24th and Amy & Darin had their second son, Ty Darin, on March 5th!). Andrea has felt fantastic throughout the pregnancy thus far; we feel so blessed and can’t wait to meet our little bundle who is due on March 25th! (any name suggestions can be sent to the return address!)

Regarding our professional lives, Andrea fulfilled her second year as the Javits Grant Director at Arapahoe School where she’s implementing a gifted and talented program for 2nd—8th graders. She loves working with her group of children (every day is an adventure… one never knows quite what to expect!) as well as the challenges that come along with creating a new program. The highlight of the school year was Arapahoe being named a NASA Explorer School; she worked many hours as the team lead writing the grant to supplement the gifted and talented program. Arapahoe School was only one of 25 schools in the nation to be chosen for this honor in 2007, and only the second school in Wyoming to hold this prestigious title! As part of the orientation to the program, Andrea had the opportunity to spend a very fascinating week at the NASA Ames Research Center this summer which she enjoyed very much. In May, she completed her master’s degree in Curriculum & Instruction in addition to starting the administrative program through the University of Wyoming. She will finish her principal credential in May of 2008… and not a moment too soon! Three and a half years later, we’re both burned out with the graduate school scene to say the least!! It has been a long and demanding road, but certainly well worth the effort. Although she has no intentions of using her administrative endorsement any time soon, it will likely serve her well at some point in her career.

Ryan entered and completed his fourth year of teaching, coaching, and being Athletic Director in Shoshoni during the ’06-’07 school year. With a young girl’s basketball team, he managed to post a 10-13 record before losing out at the regional tournament. Despite loving his kids and enjoying his time with them, the political nature of education and coaching took its toll on him, so he accepted a new job as a Life and Health Insurance Specialist with Tegeler & Associates of Wyoming, an insurance and investment company with an office in Riverton. After a summer off, filled with traveling and lots of golf (his newest love!), he began his new career on August 1st. He had been on the job for four months when they offered him the opportunity to run and manage his own office (which is currently the second largest office in the company!). Although very grateful for the opportunity, he politely declined as he really likes what he has going in the Riverton office and didn’t want to make the required move further from family. He is learning new details of the business all of the time and looks forward to going to work each day. Expected completion of the brand new Tegeler & Associates office building in Riverton is slated for March of 2008! A lot to look forward to in the coming year!!

This letter serves as a very small glimpse into our lives in 2007, but we welcome you to email or stop in to visit when we can really catch up! We can be reached via email at: gilbertson120@msn.com. We wish you a magical Christmas and a Happy New Year filled with good health and good fortune always…

With love,

Ryan and Andrea Gilbertson