Well, here we are again. In case you've lost track, from left to right you have me (Scott), Laura, Ryan (seated), and Sean.

Thought we'd show you a few pictures of the last year, so you can see what we've been up to.

In my case, I've been up to about 280.

Don't worry -- this year, I'm actually making a new Year's resolution to lose weight. As you can see, it's overdue.

Earlier this year, I spent five weeks in Livermore, California for work. While there, I met another Butner family -- that's Dave Butner and his family in front of their home in Castro Valley, CA. Dave and I have a common ancestor, Adam Butner, about 7 generations back.

I also took advantage of the time down there to make a trip to Yosemite National Park. What an amazing place! I spent my time in awe of the photographic heritage of the place (after all, Yosemite is where Ansel Adams cut his teeth, so to speak) but still managed to take a few photos.

Ansel's reputation is safe.

Here's a view of the front yard garden -- we are trying to get more and more perennials in there, so that we don't have to plant new plants every spring.

I may not have the artistic eye that our friend Kelly does in the garden, but until we can convince her to come over and consult, we're getting by on our own.

Here's Sean's senior portrait. He's ASB president at Richland High this year, which is keeping him very busy.

In addition to all his school activities, and his part-time job at the Papa John's pizza parlor, Sean and his friends have turned his room in the basement into a recording studio, so on any given day we might have half a dozen young men with guitars and amps down there practicing or recording songs. Sean is austensibly a drummer, but he's also learned how to play guitar a bit.

This fall, they had their first two paid gigs, playing at 321 (a local all-ages club) and making a road trip to a small venue in
La Grande, Oregon where they played to about 50 people, did an interview with the local radio station, and earned enough in tips to pay for dinner at Denny's and gas for the long drive back home.

Contrary to our usual "stay at home" ways, this year found the family on the road more than usual, if not always together.

With both Sean and Ryan headed off to college next fall, much of this travel centered around visiting potential college towns.

This began in the spring with Sean flying out to Chicago to visit Northwestern. I was already in town for business, so we had a good time seeing the city.

Then Sean, Laura and I drove more than 4,500 miles in 6 days to visit several small midwestern colleges. Our trip took us through Montana, both Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Wyoming and Idaho.

Sean's still not sure which school he'll be heading off to. We hope to find out by mid-spring.

On our way back, we stopped and visited friends where we could find 'em. My friends the Waters were very gracious hosts when we were in Omaha, and their son Paul (aka "Spud") suggested a visit to the Badlands National Monument on the way home. On the basis of his recommendation, and because my friend Keith had raved about the place in his Christmas letter LAST year, we decided to make the trip.

As the pictures here attest, it was worth the detour!

Ryan is also shopping colleges, since he will be graduating from Columbia Basin Community College this spring with his Associates's degree. After a couple of visits to the campus, he's pretty certain he wants to go to Western WA University to finish a degree in anthropology.

Ryan is also studying Mandarin Chinese, and hopes to combine the two interests. Here, he's looking at some ancient Chinese bronzes during a trip he and I took to Washington, D.C..

Ryan had his 21st birthday this year, and for a treat, I took him out to the Pasco Police Department firing range with my friends Alan and Alfredo, to do some target shooting. Ryan has always had an interest in military history and weapons, but we don't have any guns other than my mom's old police revolver. So Alan and Alfredo set us up with all sorts of "toys" and we had a good time learning some gun safety and learning how to fire everything from an AR-15, to several different shotguns, handguns, and some Uzi machine pistols.

Even Dad got into the act!

Well, that's about it. Thought I'd throw in one more picture for the season. Merry Christmas, and we hope your new Year is filled with good things

Scott

Laura

Ryan

Sean