Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas Family and Friends!

Well, we made it through the year, and the world didn’t end. What a relief!  We hope that 2012 has been a great year for you and your family. We have had our shares of ups and downs, but as we reflect on this past year, we would like to focus on the ups, and express gratitude to a merciful Father in Heaven for our many blessings, and especially for our love and friendship with you.

JANUARY - We rang in the new year with Brooklynn taking a community dance class. She had so much fun, and was so cute.  McKenna decided she wanted to play basketball, so she joined a city league and had a blast.  The highlight (probably lowlight) for us was when Michelle and I were almost ejected from one of McKenna’s games for arguing with the ref.

FEBRUARY - Lauren shared the lead role in her school play, Doc Doc Goose.  She did a great job and had a blast. Tyler was invited to play on the Utah County All-Star football team which was made up of the best players from schools in Orem and Provo. He had a back injury from snowboarding that kept him out about half of the games, but his team won the State Championship.  We also added two rabbits to our little backyard farm (we already have one dog, six chickens and a hive of bees)

MARCH - Lauren was awarded the Alpine School District’s Golden Apple award which goes to one girl and one boy from each school. Lauren was recognized for her good grades and volunteer work with special needs children.  Chris was called to the High Council. It keeps him pretty busy, but he is loving every minute of it.  Michelle is still serving as the Primary President and she is even more busy than Chris!

APRIL - Lauren took up Volleyball. She has a natural talent for it and did really well.  Much to our dismay, Chris found out that his beehive died and we would not have honey this year.  Michelle and the kids took a quick trip to Washington and Oregon to visit family during Spring break.

MAY – A blur of end of school parties and programs. You will have to read our blog as there are too many to list.

JUNE - McKenna and Brooklynn both decided to try out baseball. Brooklynn did T-Ball, and McKenna did coach pitch. And proving that they got all their athletic ability from their mother, they both hit better than most of the boys on their team.

JULY - We added four ducklings to our little family farm.  We enjoyed lots of family time in Idaho with Dad and other  family.

AUGUST - Our two bunnies somehow became 10, when we got eight of the cutest little bunnies you ever saw. We kept one of them, and were lucky enough to have found a home for the other seven. We also found out that McKenna has Celiac disease, which is a severe allergic reaction to gluten. We discovered it when the doctor informed us that she had not grown at all in the past year. It’s a huge lifestyle change, but so far it we have managed just fine.

SEPTEMBER - School started. Tyler in 9^th grade, Lauren in 7^th, McKenna in 4^th, and Brooklynn in 1^st. Tyler played Outside Linebacker on the Sophomore Football team for Orem High School. He had a great time.

OCTOBER –  A blur of football games, harvesting our garden, Halloween, and Primary programs.

NOVEMBER - Lauren joined another Volleyball team. This one was more competitive, but she learned tons and had a great time.  We sold the Ducks after realizing they were too messy, noisy and ate too much food.

DECEMBER - Tyler decided to take up wrestling to keep in shape in the off-season. He says it is harder than football by a long way, but he loves it, and though he had never wrestled before, he already has won one tournament.

If you made it this far then you are to be commended. We live a pretty boring life. Like we said, we’ve had our downs this year, but these are just the ups. We want you all to know that we love you, and hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!

Dear Family & Friends,

Wow, another year has past. It can best be summed up in two words: We survived!

We won’t rehash all the wonderful details, as you have likely read about our comings and goings on our blog http://fourinthenest.blogspot.com. And if you haven’t followed us on our blog, then you probably won’t want to read about it here anyway.

But just a quick recap if you insist:

Michelle continues to be the hardest working woman in the world, juggling the rowdiest bunch of kids this side of the Pecos; wrangling chickens and a dog; keeping the PTA budget in the black; and keeping the Primary afloat.

I (Chris) am still working twelve hour days at two jobs (going on four years now) so I don’t have much time for anything. I spend my only free day of the week (Saturday) doing things with the family, so all of you who keep inviting me to hunting parties and poker nights, don’t be offended if I turn you down. I recently found the hobby of beekeeping, or rather, the bees found me. (read about it on the blog).

Tyler (13) is steadily pursuing his goal of playing football in the NFL. He had another great season, and was invited to play on an invitation-only “super league” this spring. If that doesn’t pan out, he is wisely using his time in school to perfect his talking abilities, so he will likely have a bright future as a talk-show host or radio announcer.

Lauren (11) is pursuing her career in drama at home and on the stage. She is currently rehearsing for her lead role in Doc Doc Goose (it’s an off-Broadway play). She pays for her acting lessons by babysitting in the evenings and weekends. She is full of life, and curiosity, and can be counted on to create a play or skit at the drop of a hat.

McKenna (8) is turning out to be an expert chicken wrangler, and if you can’t find her, it’s a sure bet she’s outside with the chickens squeezing their guts out. She loves to draw and create things, and her many creations adorn the walls and hallways of our home. She was baptized this past year (read about it in the blog), and is preparing to hit the court for basketball in January.

Brooklynn (5) is still the baby of the family in every sense of the word. She likes being spoiled by everyone, and is currently working on an evil plan to create robot parents who would take care of her siblings so she doesn’t have to share us with them. She turned out to be a great little soccer player this year, and loves to do anything her older sisters do.

We’ll that’s us in a nutshell. We hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas, and a Happy New Year. We treasure all of our relationships and friendships, and hope 2012 is a great year for you all.

Love the Gleeds

Here is our "virtual" card this year. Just click on the card. It will take a few seconds to load but will be bigger.

(If you get this via email & FB just know that you are really loved! I am just trying to cover all my bases with family and friends.)

Monday Memories

From August 1995:

Dear Family,

Well, another marathon month gone by. It seems that lately I can't keep up with which month is coming and which is going. Can't complain though, we still have our health, a car that runs (barely), a roof over our heads and food on the table (or at least in a microwavable box).

We have been very busy trying to prepare for Michelle's family. They are coming up for a month the end of July. Michelle painted the whole inside of the house, had the carpets cleaned, did a little redecorating, and had a run-in with some cockroaches. We have had to have the house fumigated but it was well worth the money. I think the roaches have packed up and headed South. THANK GOODNESS!!

We have also been very busy trying to plan our ward camp out and keeping up with our new calling. We have been called to teach the "Sunbeams"!! We have about 12 children but only about 9-10 are active, three of which are triplets!! Talk about staying on your toes. We need a nap by the time we get home from church. They are all very sweet though, and it is going a whole lot better than we had ever imagined. The primary leaders tried to scare us to death by telling us how rotten they were. But they are good little kids who just need lots of love and PATIENCE!

I have been taking night classes again this Summer. That's keeping me busy as well. Hopefully I will be able to get my Associates in the next semester or two and I can get started on my Bachelors.

Well we got to go see the Broadway musical, "Miss Saigon", earlier this month. What a fantastic show. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. I wish that shows like this would come more often, although they are quite spendy. We have also seen "Les Miserables" and "The Phantom of the Opera". Both equally as fantastic. We enjoy musicals a lot. We also had the opportunity to see "Yanni" in concert. That was an awesome show. For the Fourth of July, we went up to Fort Vancouver in Vancouver, Washington to see the fireworks show. It was great! It's the biggest fireworks show West of the Mississippi. Chuck Mangione was there as well, playing and singing patriotic songs in sync with the fireworks. It was all very well done.

Well, that's about it for now. We love you all and hope that you're all doing well. We miss you!

Love, Chris & Michelle

Note: We ended up teaching those cute Sunbeams until the year they turned 8! In the end we had 22 kids in our class because they combined two classes. We loved that calling!

Monday Memories

From May 1995:

Dear Family,

Well, it's sure good to hear from all of you again. In these times where everything and everyone seems to be pulling families apart, we need something like the newsletter to bring us closer together.

Well, things here in Portland, Oregon are pretty much the same. All except the weather that is. It's like someone is spinning the "Wheel of Weather". One day it is 75 degrees and sunny, the next it hails. It is still snowing in the mountains and even the foothills. Go figure. We've stopped trying to rotate our wardrobe according to the seasons. We keep packing and unpacking. It is nice to have seasons again though. The little glimpses of summer are promising.

Work for the most part is the same. Michelle's job is getting very busy with the Summer fast approaching. My work recently sponsored one of the largest fundraisers in Oregon. All the proceeds went ot the Doernbeckers Children's Hospital. That was a neat experience. We were in charge of a game booth while a silent auction was being held. Then we went to the oral auction following dinner. They had some of the children from the hospital that have been helped. It was neat to see exactly what can happen as a result of the hospital and donations. Boy, did it pull at the heart strings though. Overall, it was a really neat experience.

Michelle has been taking Golf lessons recently and enjoying them immensely. The first set is a beginners class and next month she will start the intermediate classes. Hopefully she will get really good and can support us! She is practicing so that the next time Dad visits, she can give him a run for his money.

Well recently we decided to try out our parenting skills....No, Michelle is not pregnant. We are however, the proud parents of 8 baby Siberian Hamsters. And yes, we are painfully aware of how fast they BREED!!!! We are on our third litter in two months!!! Why Hamsters you may ask? Well, our landlord pretty much said-small, caged animals only. That ruled out a Malamute or English Mastiff. The hamsters just looked so cute at the pet store. Now, we are not so sure. Two=cute. Ten=Insanity!

We are getting excited for the months ahead. Michelle has a friend from Hawaii coming up to Oregon to get married in May. Then in June we are going to see Yanni in concert. We are really excited about that. Then in July we are going to see the Broadway musical "Miss Saigon". Finally in August, Mom and Dad and Michelle's family are all coming to visit. For those of you who have seen our house, no, they won't all be staying with us. Michelle's grandparents live just up the street in a big house. They will be staying there.

We had a neat experience the other day at the temple. We met a couple from Hawaii. Michelle noticed the sisters Hawaiian jewelry (of course). After we started talking to them we found out that the man was the brother of Patriarch Kamahaua (not sure about the spelling), who was in the Kailua wards some seven years ago. Anyway he had given Michelle her patriarchal blessing. They are here serving a mission. Small world, huh?

As for myself, I am still working and taking a class to certify with the state for my job. When I finish that, I will start taking a few night classes starting in June at the community college. I have also been helping Michelle with her golf and enjoying the relaxation it can bring.

That is about it for this Gleed family. We think about you all often. We hope to see some of you this summer. We love and miss you all!

Note: So clearly the golf thing didn't pan out! And the hamsters? Why didn't I remember that pets are a lot of work before we got the dog?

Monday Memories

I forgot I was going to do this and something spurred my memory today and I decided to start again. Hopefully, I will remember.

From October 1994:

Dear Family,

Well, we are certainly glad that we can all start keeping in touch again. We are excited about being able to do the newsletter. It gives us a chance to put our computer to good use.

We are doing fantastic. The Lord has blessed us so much recently. We truly know that we made the right decision moving here to Oregon. We are able to live on our own and in a small house close to my grandparents. We have both gotten jobs that are truly wonderful. Chris is working for United Grocer's Insurance as a claims representative. He is making good money and has excellent benefits. I am working for a Real Estate office as an Office Coordinator. We work about one mile apart on the same street, at the same time and with the same lunch hour. It is really convenient. We have lunch together all the time. It is also only six miles from our house. We were truly blessed because we didn't know how we were going to work out the car situation because we only have one car. Now we can carpool together. The biggest bonus is that we really enjoy our jobs an the people we work with.

Speaking of cars, we were having a lot of trouble with ours before we got here and shortly thereafter. But again, the Lord blessed us and it is now running better than ever.

Since we have been here we have been able to do and see a lot of things. We were able to see Pam and her kids, Kenny and Kelly and their kids, Dad and Natasha Olenik. We thoroughly enjoyed being with family. We have also done a little bit of traveling. We were able to go to the Pendleton Round-Up this last month and really enjoyed that. We love Country music and are so excited about having such an abundance of Country stations here. We also were able to go the the Coast, over to Seaside, Tillamook and up to Astoria. We got to see the school where Kindergarten Cop was filmed. We were also able to go down to Bend which took us through Mt. Hood and through the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. We have enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the countryside as we drive. We try not to sleep along the way as to not miss any of its beauty.

Well the Bishop didn't waste any time giving us callings. Chris was called to be the Varsity Scout Committee Chairman. He already has his calendar packed with meetings and Court of Honors. I was called to be the ward YW's Sports Director. I am in charge of coaching the Young Women in Volleyball, Basketball, Indoor Soccer and Softball. So far it is going well. We have a good bunch of girls. We also were assigned home teaching and visiting teaching routes. It is good though, it gives us a change to get to know everyone and to get involved. We are both rather shy and try to hide in the back row.

Chris and I have made a goal to attend the temple every Saturday. So far we have been doing it. (We started two weeks ago) Last Saturday as we were sitting in the chapel waiting for our session to begin, we were pleasantly surprised to see Dennis and Diana Cluff walk in. They drive up in their RV once a month from Ashland to do temple work. It was a fun session. So we visited a while. Speaking of temple work, if anyone has names that need to have work done, please let us know. We would like to be selfish for a while and do our own family's work.

The weather is starting to get cold, really fast. We sort of missed Fall and jumped head first into Winter. The nights were really bad so we had to buy thermal garments and an electric blanket. We are enjoying it though. We have had to scrape ice off the windows of our car in the morning. The other day we went out to a pumpkin patch to pick our own pumpkins. It was rather cold out and they were serving hot apple cider. It was so neat to be picking our own pumpkins. We bought 150 pounds (which was about 10 pumpkins) for nine dollars. We thought we were so cool. It was a lot of fun. Needless to say we are enjoying ourselves here immensely.

We do hope you are all doing fine and that all is well with all of you. We love you and miss you all. Hopefullly we can all get together this next summer for a family reunion. Take care and have a happy Halloween.

Note: We had just moved to Oregon from Hawaii and everything was so new and exciting, like different seasons, pumpkins and apparently country music! :0)

Merry Christmas

Whether I like it or not, Christmas is coming. I really wish I had just two more weeks to finish everything up and enjoy some last minute Christmasy fun. I finally got our cards done and I am hopeful to get them addressed and mailed today or tomorrow. Aside from last year where I didn't send out any cards (bought them, wrote a newsletter and brought them with us on vacation to mail them, but didn't), this is the first year I haven't written a letter with our card. With blogging and facebook I just couldn't think of anything to write about. So the cards are going out with a link to our blog.

We really want everyone to know that while we don't see you all the time we still love and appreciate you and think of you often. We hope that you have a very Merry Christmas and wish you and your families all the best for 2011.

Brooklynn (4 - almost 5)

McKenna (7 1/2)

Lauren (10 1/2)

Tyler (12)

Christmas 2010

Summer 2010 (proof that Chris and I do exist)

Monday Memories...

Originally, I was going to start up a "Flashback Friday" post. Then Friday came and went and I thought Sunday things would slow down and I could do a "Sentimental Sunday" post. Well, that came and went too. I have a minute and it's Monday so there you go.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Idaho to help Chris' dad clean out the basement. Most of it was stuff that his mother had saved during their 50+ years of marriage. Every card, letter, photograph, newsletter, newspaper clipping, kids art projects, etc. to, from or about all the people she loved. If you sent her a Christmas card in 1958, she had it. I am amazed at the things that she held onto and even more amazed that it didn't take up as much space as it did. It was fun going through all the things and reliving lots of memories, some of which had been long forgotten. My favorite thing we found by far was a Valentines card that Chris' sister Julie gave to her mom one year...we had a GOOD laugh over that. It was sad too, knowing that it was all being thrown away. Change is good though, right?

We came across a lot of family newsletters that I saved to keep with the genealogy stuff that Chris inherited. At one time, his family had a monthly newsletter which we were the editors for when we were first married. After the newsletter fizzled out, his mom wrote a weekly letter to her children that she kept up until she passed away. Now with the invention of blogs, we are still able to keep up with one another which is good because I really miss those weekly letters. It was fun to read over those old letters from our early married years. I remember some of the things so clearly and others I have no recollection of at all. So I thought I'd start posting some of those letters periodically. Hopefully my kids will think it is fun to read one day.

This one little tidbit was written by his mom before we were married. She included this in her letter.

September 1992:

"Chris started school at the University of Hawaii yesterday. He's all excited about that, or else it's getting to go with his girlfriend, Michelle each morning. She also is attending U.H."


February 1995 (Oregon):

Hi, how is everyone doing? Good we hope. Things here in Oregon are going good. The weather, however, is really strange. This past week we have been breaking all the records for high temperature. The trees have been budding and flowers blooming. Then all of the sudden at 9:00 this morning it starts to snow. It's now 3:00pm, we have 5 inches on the ground and there is no sign it's going to let up. Not that we mind. We love it, but it sure is weird.

Work is going good for both of us. Michelle's work had a formal Black Tie Dinner to celebrate its 18th anniversary. I rented a tuxedo and Michelle got a nice fancy dress. It was really fun adn quite expensive.

My job is great. I now qualify for benefits. All office visits cost $1.00 and prescriptions are also $1.00. When we have children it will only cost $1.00! I also get reimbursed up to $2,000.00 per year to go to school. We are pretty happy about that. I start school next week to get state certified to handle workmen compensation cases.

We had a good time last weekend. We drove up to Seattle to see Kenny and Kelly's new baby Kyle. I got to stand in the circle and help bless Kyle. Kelly's sister Christine also had a child to bless that day, so after church we had dinner with the Overson family. It was a lot of fun. Kyle is a beautiful baby.

As far as church callings go, Michelle is the YW Activities Coordinator, which means she is the coach for Volleyball, Basketball, Softball and Indoor Soccer. I have been called to be the ward Public Affairs Specialist. I am not quite sure that I am supposed to do, but I think I will have fun figuring it out. We have also been asked to plan our War campout this summer. If anyone has any good ideas, please let us know right away. We really could use the help.

I have decided to follow my dreams and restore an old car. I am not too picky about the car, as long as it was made between 1942 and 1958 and not a Ford. I don't have a lot of money to spend, so it's probably going to take me a while to find the right car.

Michelle is still making her crafts. She has been asked to take them to church several times because the women there think she does such a great job.

Well, as you can tell, there isn't a whole lot of exciting things going on with us, but we hope you are all doing good. We love you all!