Happy New Year!

The Kraft Family’s Top 10 for 2008

#10 Being able to weather the recession so far and have enough money to send out Happy New Year letters to our friends and family.

#9 Watching both Casey (6 yrs.) and Adam (5 yrs.) take on a new sport—wrestling! In their first tournament, they muscled (not much technique, just farm kids not wanting to be on their backs) into 2nd and 4th place respectively for their weight class.

#8 Beginning a new chapter in our lives: Sending Casey to school on the bus for kindergarten. Mom gets to help out once a week with literacy skills for his class and enjoys keeping tabs on him while he is away.

#7 The boys absolutely loved going to Montana where this summer we stayed for 16 days. We enjoyed swimming, taking the dogs for walks, watched baseball games, visited family and friends and rode our bikes on sidewalks. It is sure is a refreshing break for mom too!

#6 Brian was able to juggle many roles this past year: dispatcher, driver, farmer, bookkeeper, manager, mechanic, husband, and dad. He managed all his roles well and enjoys having the opportunity to serve the cattle feeders and run his business, considering what we paid for fuel this year.

#5 Watching the boys develop their soccer skills to become good players who practice teamwork and have fun. Adam becomes available to play when the ball gets kicked out of the mob of kids and usually gets a run away towards the goal. Casey is by far the strongest kid on the team and kicks the ball ¾ length of the field to help out. Mom was able to coach Adam’s team.

#4 We had a memorable day at the fair this year with Adam competing in the stick horse rodeo and winning the best 8 second ride and Casey riding a sheep for a few seconds, then off to the fair food and a couple of rides.

#3 Surviving a tornado while it went over our house is definitely a memorable experience for our family. Brian was home for lunch so it was extremely comforting knowing we were all together while it passed over, but it sure was scary and mysterious and we thank God for His protection.

#2 Telling the boys at Christmas that we are receiving the gift of life and expanding our family to five. We expect a new bundle of joy to arrive the second week of July so please keep mom and baby in your prayers for a healthy and safe delivery.

#1 Maintaining our health and working bodies to serve others, enjoy life, play and laugh often, go down waterslides, camp in the outdoors, ride sheep, enjoy supper out with friends, and most importantly worship our Savior, Jesus Christ, during Christmas season and throughout the year.

Have a Happy and Prosperous New Year filled with love and laughter!

Smoke Signals to Santa

The boys (Brian helps write, Casey and Adam) have a tradition of writing Santa a letter of things they want for Christmas and a paragraph or two of how they have behaved and things to improve on. Then Brian has told them that Santa will read the smoke signals in the sky from our house with what the words were. Here are both boys with their letters and then putting them into our fireplace. One of our own cute traditions.

Casey putting his letter in the fireplace.

Adam with his list of everything a cowboy needs and then standing next to the open door.

We give Thanks!

Thanksgiving was spent in Montana this year and we were fortunate to be able to see my grandparents who came down from the Round Town (Circle, MT). We celebrated with my mom, dad, Stacie, and Great Grandparents. It was a wonderful treat to visit with everyone and eat yummy meals.

Great Grandma Virginia and Grandpa Sarge with Casey and Adam.

Sage Willis with Adam & Casey

We then ventured to Buffalo, MT by Judith Gap to see our friends, the Willis family. We helped them cut down their Christmas tree in the National Forest, but I couldn't convince Brian to bring a tree all the way to Colorado for us. The interstate by CO was closed so we stayed an extra day with our friends- it was great to see them and their new stomping grounds.

Wrestling Tournament

Adam's first match was won by forfeit (lucky us) but his next match proved to be too much for him, he lost by a few points. His third and final match was unfortunately against a girl in a singlet-not her first wrestling tournament. He was a great sport and learned what this wrestling thing is all about. We had previously practiced once a week at Poudre High for 1 1/2 hours with Bill Greenwood & others who put on these clinics for the kids in honor and memory of his son, Nicholas Greenwood, here the website info: www.gritwrestling.com.

Casey is super strong and can push and pull with the best of them, but unfortunately he lacked technique for wrestling moves. He went to practices too and learned some moves, but using them was a different story. He did a great job and took 2nd for his weight class. In the last match, he lost by a one point for first place, bummer!

2nd place finish for Casey in the Nicholas Greenwood Memorial tournament, Nov. 22, 2008.