Season’s greetings from sunny Las Vegas, Nevada! This year may have been one of the most eventful years in the Statucki family history. To begin, I (Tina) am writing the annual holiday letter for the very first time, so I’m sorry if this letter isn’t as funny, but it will be much more detailed and longer than usual.

The biggest event of the year was when Craig and I renewed our vows for our 25th Wedding Anniversary in the presence of our friends and family. Before the big day, Craig and I took a second honeymoon to Laguna Beach to see the Pageant of the Masters. (It was awesome! Think Gilmore Girls.) We are so thankful that so many people made the trip out to Las Vegas to help us celebrate. I can’t believe that I am old enough to say that I have been happily married for 25 years (at least most days).

Craig and I also decided to downsize our house and upgrade our lives. We sold our big house and bought a smaller one close to my school, but it has a lot of upgrades including RV parking and a fantastic view of the Vegas valley. It is finally my turn to have the short commute and Craig’s turn to suffer through the rush hour traffic on his way home. The house will not be ready until January, but we are lucky to have good friends who are letting us stay in their casita. This is preparing Craig and I for our future retirement adventures in an RV. Our house sold in four days, which left Tazia and Quinton with no time to say goodbye to their childhood home or to pack their stuff. Quinton, however, did come down to help us move what stuff we had left into temporary storage in Lavonne’s garage. We stay with Lavonne every weekend so that Craig can take the dog out geocaching while I do all of the laundry.

Speaking of someone who rarely does his laundry, Quinton also had a pretty exciting year. Quinton spent the summer working for cousin Shawn in Minnesota (Paula’s husband), where he finally realized that he should have listened to me in the first place and gone to trade school instead of college. Upon returning to Reno, Quinton left UNR to start school at TMCC to study Diesel Mechanics. He currently works for Petro Oil as a lube technician, at least until he earns his diesel mechanic certification. Not only will Quinton be happier in this line of work, but he will also make more money to support his hobby of making music. You can find him on SoundCloud if you want to listen to one of his “hit” rap singles. Quinton still calls me every day, which I appreciate.

Tazia calls me more now that she has moved to DC, but probably only once or twice a week. She is in her second year of law school which keeps her quite busy, as she continues to sign up for unpaid extracurricular activities while racking up several thousand dollars in debt each week. She mooched off of us this summer while she interned for the Clark County District Attorney’s office. Her internship provided us with nightly entertainment over dinner, as she bragged about the court cases she observed and wrote several appellate briefs submitted to the Nevada Supreme Court. Thankfully, next summer she will be working as a paid summer associate at a law firm in New York City. Craig and I will be taking full advantage of her absence, as we will be spending a month cat-sitting for her while we party it up with the Russians in DC.

Craig has had the opportunity to visit DC quite often the last few years because of work, but now he will get to be a tourist in the city with me. Craig continues to serve as the Executive Director of Nevada ACTE, but he left Southwest CTA after 8 years to become the new Dean of Students at East CTA. He works in my old office and enjoys yelling at kids other than his own. The new job comes with a longer commute, but it allows him more time to listen to podcasts and audiobooks. In what little spare time he has now, Craig still likes to go geocaching and mountain biking. He surpassed the 3,000 geocache milestone this year with the dog and participated in a mountain bike race in Flagstaff, Arizona, while I went shopping.

Speaking of shopping, I am very excited that the people who bought our house also purchased most of the furniture and decorations. The new owners said that I should become an interior decorator when I retire from my career as an educator. I now get to buy all new stuff for the house and put my interior decorating skills to good use. My favorite part of the new house is my separate crafting garage where I can build, stain, paint, and create all of my crafts without Craig harassing me. Crafting gives me a release from the stresses of my day job as the Principal of Northwest CTA. My school is fantastic (#1 High School in Southern Nevada according to the Nevada School Performance Framework), but our district is going through a major reorganization brought on by the state legislator’s belief that they need to micromanage what we do, which causes me a great deal of grief. Ugh!

On a happier note, we saved $50 per month on our car insurance by switching our address to Pahrump (not because we switched to Geico). Craig is especially happy this season because I cannot access any of my Christmas decorations. I am happy because I am using that excuse to spend our Christmas in a cabin in Lake Tahoe this year with the kids.

We hope you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, as long as we don’t get bombed by North Korea.

Love,

The Statucki Family

Bonus Features

Tina’s Top 5 TV Shows to Binge Watch

1. Murdock Mysteries
2. Doc Martin
3. Gilmore Girls
4. Handmaid’s Tale
5. Alias Grace

Honorable Mention: Buzzfeed Unsolved

Craig’s Top 5 TV Shows to Binge Watch

1. West Wing
2. Sports Night
3. Luther
4. Sherlock
5. Murdock Mysteries

Honorable Mention: Brook’s Falls Bears

Quinton’s Top 5 TV Shows to Binge Watch

1. Community
2. The Office
3. How I Met Your Mother
4. South Park
5. Friends

Honorable Mention: Rick and Morty

Tazia’s Top 5 TV Shows to Binge Watch

1. Grey’s Anatomy
2. Scandal
3. This Is Us
4. People v. OJ Simpson
5. Bachelor/Bachelorette/Bachelor in Paradise

Honorable Mention: Brook’s Falls Bears

Silver’s Top 5 Favorite People

1. Craig
2. Quinton
3. Tazia
4. Grandma Lavonne
5. Tina

Honorable Mention: Anyone Who Smokes

Happy Holidays!

The original plan for this year’s letter was to have each family member write his/her own section since we are scattered about the country. As the most studious family member, I (Tazia) was the only person to complete my section for the annual holiday letter. Since all the other family members failed to complete their tasks, I had to pick up their slack. My dad is trying to claim the credit, saying that he “delegated” the task to me.

Quinton still has not decided what he wants to do for a career. He is currently in his second year at the University of Nevada, Reno majoring in Wildlife Management and Ecology, though his plans for the future change on a weekly basis. Right now, he is considering transferring to another school to pursue a technical degree or possibly joining the military. I’m sure he will have more time to think about the future now that he is no longer involved in cheer; he got tired of the girl drama and has decided he wants to find a stable job. One thing hasn’t changed, though… Quinton still loves spending time outdoors. Every minute of his free time is spent hiking, fishing, and writing rap lyrics for his “upcoming album.” If he wants to get married, he will have to find a woman who enjoys the company of a rappin’ fisherman.

Mom has officially been a high school principal at Northwest CTA for over a year now. Although she hates the long commute to work each day, she loves the staff and students at the school. When she isn’t busy working, she spends her free time crafting, sometimes soliciting my father’s assistance. In addition to hosting several Pinterest parties for her friends, she has also attended several wine and painting classes. Her 25th Wedding Anniversary party is coming up in August, so I’m sure she will be spending the next few months planning the celebration. Her fingers are crossed that they will make it that long, as she keeps redecorating, remodeling, and rearranging the house to my father’s annoyance.

Dad still works at Southwest CTA as the Community Partnership Coordinator and recently finished his endorsement in Educational Administration and the Teacher Leadership Academy; he will be completing the leadership program for the school district in February. The experiences will help him in his continued role as the Executive Director for Nevada ACTE. His jobs keeps him busy networking, traveling, and active on social media. He was recently on the list of Top 100 Educators to follow in Nevada; you can join his 1,589+ followers by following @cstatucki. Dad’s hobby of geocaching has hit a new high. He has found almost 3,000 caches and has found at least one cache on every day of the year, most of which were found with our dog Silver by his side.

This has been a big year for me because I embarked on the most expensive journey of my life. Before I graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno in May with a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs and Communication Studies, I wrote an original thesis, finished out my term in student government, and received the Sorority Woman of the Year award. After applying to graduate schools around the world, I moved to Washington, DC, to attend law school at George Washington University. While my mom is happy that I chose not to move to China, my dad is even more excited that he now has a reason to come to DC more often. My parents came to visit me in October and I enjoyed showing them around the area as a local. When I’m not FaceTiming my parents to see my cat or studying hard so that I can become a lawyer, I spend my time thinking about how much debt I am accumulating in student loans each day.
We managed to get in a few family trips this year, despite all of our busy schedules. When I graduated in May, many family members came to Reno to celebrate with me. After the ceremony, we headed to Lake Tahoe for a nice evening with Grandma and Grandpa Statucki. Later in the summer, we visited the rest of the Statucki clan in Colorado and stopped at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison on the way. Although it was the only national park we visited this year, it was nice to put another stamp in our national park passports. We also managed to meet up with mom’s cousin Barbie and her family for the Fourth of July. Because my brother and I live almost 3,000 miles apart, my parents took separate trips to see us during the school year. After visiting me in October, they headed to Reno with Grandma Lavonne to see Quinton, Tasha, and her family for Thanksgiving. It was a short trip though, as they had to return to Las Vegas to tailgate with Mom’s staff at the UNLV football game. Fortunately, the Fremont Cannon is back to blue.

Although Grandpa Blake passed away at the start of the year, I know that he would be very happy and proud of everything our family has done this year. On behalf of my family, we would like to thank you for your support during that difficult time. Your love and support is greatly appreciated. We hope you have a happy holidays and a wonderful new year.

Tazia, Tina, Craig, Quinton, and the pets.

Happy Holidays!

Welcome to the last Statucki family holiday letter. Since Tina and I are empty nesters, we no longer feel obligated to explain to everyone what is going on in Tazia’s and Quinton’s life. They are grown adults who are getting a college education. Starting next year, they can write their own damn letters.

I am writing this from our new office, which we moved from our bedroom to Quinton’s old room. Since he has left for college, we are utilizing the space more wisely. It isn’t like we turned it into the naked room or anything.

Speaking of offices, Tina got a huge, new office this year that came with her promotion to principal at Northwest Career and Technical Academy. The new job has kept her pretty busy which is good news for me. She doesn’t have as much time to recruit me to help with her Pinterest crafting projects. Shortly after her promotion, we (really it was me) decided that she needed to drive a car worthy of her office, so she gave her hybrid to Quinton and bought herself a Lexus.

I am sure that some of you are still in shock over the news that Quinton is no longer living with us or that he is willingly driving a hybrid, so I will provide his update next. Quinton graduated high school last June and is attending the University of Nevada, or as we in the south call it, UNR. I would love to tell you what he is majoring in, but he seems to change his mind frequently. The one thing that he does not change his mind about is cheerleading. Quinton is on the UNR stunt team and is very busy cheering and stunting at football, volleyball, and basketball games. He enjoys cheering because he is always picking up chicks, literally and figuratively. Quinton also spent the summer working at a cheer gym as a coach, and he was recently hired in Reno to do the same. Now he can start footing some of his own bills!

I know what you are thinking, “I thought Tazia lived in Reno?” She does, and Tazia and Quinton are actually next door neighbors. I think they are starting to grow out of the tattling on each other stage, but it has taken almost the whole semester. Tazia is one semester away from graduating from UNR. She will finish with a double major in international affairs and communications while having a minor in Chinese studies. While many of you may be thinking that is great, I am wondering where she is going to work next year. If you can answer that, please let me know. She can’t be the ASUN director of programming at UNR forever. Tazia is currently applying to law schools around the country and we will learn in the early spring where Tazia is going to further her education. Tina has her fingers crossed that it is somewhere in the United States and not in China.

I have done absolutely nothing since becoming an empty-nester. I am still the community partnership coordinator at Southwest CTA and just finished my coursework for my endorsement in educational administration. After serving a year as the Nevada ACTE president, I am now the association’s executive director. In my spare time, I am still hiking around the desert with the dog looking for pieces of tupperware, otherwise known as geocaches.

In addition to our normal trips to Reno and Lake Tahoe, Tina and I made a couple of work related trips to Austin, TX and New Orleans, LA. We also managed to get away on our own to a Gone With the Wind themed bed and breakfast outside of Sequoia National Park. Tina really enjoyed driving on the windy roads to and from the national park.

We hoped that you have enjoyed the final installment of the Statucki family letter. Wait, who am I kidding? We all know that if Tazia and Quinton have to mail their own holiday letters next year, they’ll need to ask us for money to buy stamps. For this reason and many others, I am sure the Statucki family letter will be back in fine form….or will it. Stay tuned to find out.

We would all like to wish you a happy holiday and a wonderful new year.

Craig, Tina, Tazia, and Quinton

After kindly letting my father write last year’s Christmas letter and since Quinton wanted to start the letter with “What’s up, B$%&#@?!”, it is now my duty to give you your annual dose of Statucki sarcasm and holiday humor.

I’ll mix things up this year and start with talking about dad. This year was a pretty big year for him. According to him, he did nothing. He is currently the President of Nevada ACTE and still hasn’t given me a position on the board. Dad and I have become closer as I spend some of my evenings editing his homework; he has returned to school to get his administrative endorsement. Though he doesn’t like his online classes, I’m sure he will love being able to earn as much money as my mother. In his free time, he still goes cycling and does some geocaching, but he is too busy with schoolwork and his duties as the state president to do it as often as he would like.

Mom has had a busy year of school work and housework. Her job as the Assistant Principal at East Tech and her Executive Leadership course keeps her occupied, but she recently finished her course and received a nice plaque in return for a year of hard work. She has also developed a talent for lip syncing, as she performed Katy Perry’s Roar for hundreds of her students earlier this year. When she isn’t at work, she is at home remodeling the house and Pinteresting away. This year, she redid the flooring, got shutters for the windows, bought a new fridge, redid the backyard patio, and is planning for the next few years worth of remodeling, to my father’s chagrin.

Quinton had a great “F&%$ing” year. After quitting one of the most aggressive sports, lacrosse, Quinton decided he would show off his “sexy-ness” as a male cheerleader. Though he loves his cheer team and hanging out with all the girls, I’m sure my mom’s failed attempt at waxing his chest gave him his doubts. In just a few short months, he has managed to become a NCA All-American Cheerleader nominee and an even bigger danger to the household furniture as he flips around the living room. Quinton, who was also nominated to be the Homecoming King, is in the Interior Design program at Southwest CTA and is in the process of applying to Oklahoma State University, Great Basin College, and the University of Nevada (located in Reno) to study mining engineering. He’ll probably end up in Reno with me, but I don’t mind because our shared apartment will be paid for by our parents.

2014 was a great year for me even though my mom thinks I don’t call her enough. I moved up the ladder and am now the Assistant Director of Programming for the student government and plan events for students to attend. Although I love event planning, there is one thing I love more: China. This summer, I spent 11 weeks studying abroad in China. I improved my Chinese, ate a scorpion, climbed the Great Wall, rode a segway around the 2008 Olympic Stadium, saw the terracotta warriors, and studied at local teahouses. Most of my family and friends are now convinced that I’ll marry a Chinese man, which is probably true. I plan to return to China in the near future, whether it is for graduate school or after I finish law school. I’m undecided as to which path I want to pursue, but I’m confident that you can all come visit my condominium in China in five years. For now, I’ll just enjoy the blue Fremont cannon and my beautiful new 2014 Toyota Rav4.

Unfortunately, the number of family trips this year was very few because of everyone’s busy lives. Quinton went ice fishing for Valentine’s Day and camping for a week in August with one of his best friends, who happens to be a teacher at my mom’s school; we still have the stinky fish in the freezer to prove it. For spring break, he also went on his first college road trip to Elko to tour Great Basin College. Over the summer, Quinton drove a car full of girls to San Diego for their cheer camp. While Quinton was ice fishing, my parents ditched my brother and I to go on their “first-ever, non-work related, children-free” romantic trip to Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands. They also ventured to Lake Tahoe later in the year for their annual NACTE summer conference; that trip was not child free, as Quinton decided to tag along. I missed out on all of summer fun because I was abroad, but now that I’m back I make frequent trips down to Vegas to see my family.

We would all like to wish you a happy holiday and a wonderful new year. In the words of my annoying younger brother, “Catch you on the flipside.”

Tazia, Quinton, Tina, Craig, and the pets.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This year, I thought I’d change things up. By “I,” I mean me, Tazia. My dad’s humorous capabilities are slowly dwindling away with his old age, while mine are finally starting to blossom, so I talked my mom into letting me write our holiday letter – to my father’s chagrin. Our year was definitely busy, but then again, when aren’t we busy?

Since I am the most important, I’ll go first. In June, I graduated from high school and left a lasting mark with my “Hakuna Matata” speech. After what seemed like a five-minute long summer, I left my beloved cat Taz and migrated north to attend the University of Nevada located in Reno just a short drive away from Aunt Tasha and my cousins. Nevada, or UNR as my dad prefers to call it, has provided me with tons of new opportunities. Living in a suite with five other girls poses a daily challenge as we deal with the drama, endless amount of hair everywhere, and the constant sound of blow dryers. I’ve kept busy with my job as an event planner for the student government and with my lego-building and playground-patrolling volunteer duties at the Boys and Girls Club. I’m quite amazed as to how I managed to take 19 credits, pursue a double-major in International Affairs/Political Science, a double minor in Asian Studies and Communications, and my all of my extra-curricular activities, but hey, I was raised by my parents.

Speaking of parents, my mom and dad have successfully been able to keep up with society. My dad continues to walk around like he’s lost in the middle of the desert as he digs through rubble and plants for Geocaches. His obsession with Geocaching, combined with his dedication to cycling, has left little time for him to spoil me; however, I am very glad to say that he loves his job as the Community Partnership Coordinator and Video Game Design Program leader at Southwest CTA, and he is now a Google Certified Teacher… NERD.

My mom, on the other hand, has had trouble adapting to the recent changes. Because her beautiful, loving, and intelligent daughter is no longer in the house, she has filled the empty void by expressing her creative side. With the aid of Pinterest, she has begun crocheting scarves, constructing table centerpieces, and reorganizing/decorating things around the house. When she isn’t perusing craft ideas, she is working hard to maintain order as a dean at East CTA. Though the long drive to and from work can be draining, she utilizes that time to call and leave messages to me simply saying “I miss you.” I can understand why… I mean who wants to be stuck with a dog, a cat, a snake, a technology-absorbed husband, and a survivalist son – all of which are of the male gender, making them terrible listeners.

Quinton is… well Quinton. He may not be good at expressing his feelings, but I know he misses me and my well-meaning attempts at guiding him in the right direction. Quinton is in 10th grade at Southwest CTA in the Entertainment Engineering program and I am still anxiously waiting for the moment when he “accidentally” removes a finger with a power tool. He seems to enjoy school now that I’ve been locked out of monitoring his grades. Quinton’s love for hitting people with sticks has led him to playing another year of lacrosse. Sometimes I regret leaving Quinton in Vegas, but only because he is completely and totally prepared for any type of disaster; because of his survivalist mentality and his excess of army surplus gear, Quinton is currently considering joining the military. His mind changes almost daily (Wow, doesn’t that sound like me?!), but his love for his dog is never-ending. Silver is another year older, another size bigger, and still won’t leave Quinton’s side. Silver has found a friend in Taz – most of the time anyhow – now that he has finally realized that my cat is willing to play tag around the house.

Somehow, in the midst of all of this craziness, we did manage to squeeze in a few family vacations. This year we were lucky because we were able to spend time with Grandpa Blake’s family. Over spring break, we ventured to Washington to visit Great Grandma Karlie’s side of the family and to give Quinton time to play in his natural habitat – the forest. In the summer, Grandpa Blake and Grandma Lavonne took the family, including the Fusons, to Hawaii for a family reunion to meet many of our Suzuki relatives. We were joined by Grandpa’s sister Marie, her husband John, and cousins Kayla and Rhonda, as we explored the beautiful island of Oahu. We visited dozens of tourist sites, swam with sea turtles, parasailed in the middle of the ocean, and spent countless hours shopping for souvenirs. After we returned to the mainland, we made a trip to Lake Tahoe for my parents’ annual summer conference and my new student orientation. In August, my parents took a surprise road trip to Reno for my 18th birthday and helped me in celebrating my newfound adulthood. I returned the favor by visiting Las Vegas in October to watch the Nevada Wolfpack beat UNLV in football for the eighth year in a row; my dad’s trash talk backfired, but I am expecting he and UNLV will eventually get their five minutes of fame in January after the basketball game.

I’m home for the holidays and after begging for years to write the family Christmas letter, I finally got my chance. I hope you enjoyed hearing my side of the story for a change, and from everyone in the family, have a great holiday season and a happy new year!

Tazia, Tina, Craig, Quinton, and the pets

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Tina had complained that my first draft of the holiday letter was not funny so hopefully I can redeem myself or all of you will have to read a letter written by Tazia – and she is rarely funny.

Since Tazia will be leaving us for college next year, we are torn between celebrating her departure as she goes off to conquer her next challenge and being depressed about the fact that we will be spending a lot of money on her education. Tazia is a busy bee considering that she is now the HOSA state president, an award-winning editor of the school’s newspaper, a member of the school board student advisory committee, works with Paula at an internship for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and is in National Honor Society. She has spent more time travelling than the rest of the family including trips to Reno, Anaheim, and Washington, D.C. Tazia is in the midst of her college application process. What a difference a year makes – I was looking at last year’s letter and none of the colleges she was looking at then are on the current list. The most recent list includes Georgetown, George Washington, University of Washington, Washington State, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Nevada-Reno. Once she gets accepted to one of these expensive schools, we will put her up for adoption. Any takers can email or call us directly.

Quinton is now in the ninth grade and has started to demonstrate his athletic prowess (and his lack of it). Quinton spent the spring playing lacrosse at Del Webb middle school and improved dramatically throughout the year. He played indoor lacrosse in the summer against players four years older than he is. He was all set to play fall lacrosse when he had an unfortunate event. He was running backwards in PE class, tripped on his own untied shoelaces, and broke his wrist. How does someone get knocked on his butt by a senior fifty pounds heavier than he is in lacrosse and not get hurt, but trips over his own shoes and breaks his wrist? Quinton is also responsible for a new addition to the family. In January, we lost Batman to old age and Quinton got a boxer-lab mix puppy named Silver for his birthday in June. Silver is definitely Quinton’s dog because he follows Quinton wherever he goes and starts to whine when he is stuck with the rest of us. Wait, Quinton follows us wherever we go and starts to whine when he is stuck with us. Quinton and Silver share the same personality and they can both clear out a room when they pass gas.

Tina is still the dean at East Career and Technical Academy. Based on her stories this year, she is spending more time dealing with discipline issues at work. I am not sure if this is because Tina is getting meaner or the students are misbehaving more. I’ll make sure that Fox News does a “fair and balanced” investigative report on this and report the findings in next year’s letter. Tina’s new catch phrase at home is “that dumb dog” because she utters it every time the cat teases the dog and the dog starts chasing the cat around the house and gets himself into trouble.

I am still the program leader for the digital game development program at Southwest Career and Technical Academy. Due to Quinton’s daily lacrosse schedule, I have started a new hobby – geocaching. Geocaching is like treasure hunting, but for small, worthless items. I typically don’t trade items, but just enjoy trying to find the caches. I am still cycling, but have been spending more time geocaching lately.

We didn’t take any long Griswold vacations this year due to everyone’s busy schedule, but we did take a few smaller trips. We took the trailer out to Laughlin for Spring Break with Shawn, Jenna, and Levi. During the summer, we visited my parents in Colorado and Tasha’s family in Washoe, attended a conference in Lake Tahoe, and took the trailer to Cathedral Gorge State Park and Duck Creek, Utah. Silver is a fixture on the majority of our trips because he likes to be outdoors and will swim in any lake to try and catch fish like Quinton (although Silver is still afraid of our swimming pool).

We wish everyone the best for the upcoming year and a happy holiday season.

Craig, Tina, Tazia, Quinton, and the pets

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

It has been a hectic year at the Statucki household. I’m guessing sooner or later it will start to slow down.

Tazia started her junior year at Southwest Career and Technical Academy (SWCTA) this year. Tazia is in the dental assisting program and after a semester of three dental classes, Tazia has determined that she doesn’t want to be a dentist and is leaning towards being a veterinarian (the cheers in the background are my mom’s). Tazia is editor of the school’s newspaper, state secretary for HOSA, a member of the school board student advisory committee, and is in National Honor Society. With all of these activities, it is a good thing that she passed her driver’s test in September so that Tina or I aren’t driving all over Vegas. In her spare time, Tazia is searching for her future colleges. The list currently consists of Colorado State, Cornell, Oregon State, and Hawaii. We should gamble more so we can win Megabucks to pay for her college.

Quinton is in the 8^th grade. He enjoys fishing and loves going with Grandpa Blake. Blake even took Quinton to Minnesota for 10 days to go fishing. Quinton also got to go fishing when he helped Blake move Grandma Karlie’s stuff to Washington. Quinton is becoming quite the collector of survival gear. Gone are the days where we can threaten him with dropping him off in the middle of the desert. Odds are he could survive there longer than the rest of us. Quinton is also playing his first team sport since our failed attempt to get him to play t-ball when he was five. He is playing lacrosse for a local middle school and even practices with a high school team on his off-days. For someone who has long hair, it seems strange that his goal is to play lacrosse for the Air Force Academy or to go to the Coast Guard Academy.

Tina may have had the most hectic year among us. She was enjoying her new promotion as a dean when she found out that she was going to be RIF in March. The good news was that she got back her teaching position at SWCTA, but she was going to have to go without a paycheck in August. The better news came the last week in July when, due to retirements and administrators leaving the district, she got her dean’s job back at East Career and Technical Academy. Tina is actually enjoying her job as a dean, as she doesn’t spend every weekend grading essays.

My life is boring compared to everyone else’s. I am still the program leader for the video game technology program at SWCTA. I did go to Stanford for a week for some software training and Los Angeles for a week to attend a conference last summer. Between work and taking Quinton to practices, I keep pretty busy.

We made a major change to our Griswold family vacations this year. In March, we purchased a 33-foot travel trailer. This was my compromise to Tina for purchasing my truck last year. I have sold my stock in Holiday Inn because now we vacation at KOAs. We have taken the trailer to Colorado for my brother’s wedding, twice to Reno to visit Tasha and her family, and California twice. Quinton isn’t too happy about the camper as he doesn’t get to use his survival gear as much as he’d like.

We wish everyone the best for the upcoming year and a happy holiday season.

Craig, Tina, Tazia, and Quinton Statucki