I
Just read your Christmas
greeting to everyone and want to thank you for such a great, newsy letter.
It really looks like Christmas today as have had a mixture of everything ,
rain, sleet and now snowing, does look pretty though but know the roads
aren't that good so I changed my plans and now doing some Christmas cards
And have been making my
Hard Candy (wasn’t going to but decided wouldn’t be Christmas without it) so
only doing a small amount this year.
I want to wish everyone a
very Happy, blessed, Healthy New Year. We all are going to have a very
different Christmas as all of us plan to go to Janice and Dave's
For the Holidays, leave
here the 23rd and stay till the 2nd, Really looking
forward to seeing everyone there, hope to all meet in Seattle and then drive
to their home
Which is very near the
Vancouver border. Daniel and Dave plan to get some skiing in and know the
girls will be busy with everything. I have done some decorating
Inside but not much with
being away.
This will be a very
different Christmas for all of us but being together will be great and we
all wish everyone a very Happy, Healthy New Year may 2009 bring everyone
happiness. Sincerely
B.Ann and All
Joe,
Here are some pictures of our family (B-ann Gurto) at Jan and Dave White's
house out on the west coast in Washington over Christmas. Feel free to add a
few to the new website if you'd like.
Hope all is well!
Thanks,
Dan Burford
Christmas Day Family Pic Nancy, Kelly, Dan, Patti, B-Ann, Dave, Amanda, Jennifer,
Dave, Janice
Just a quick letter to add to the Christmas/New Year's page. Just wanted to
let everyone know a recap of our year.
It was a difficult year getting through different milestones without Doug.
Toni graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College in May, moved to Florida in
July, and Luke turned 18 in November. We traveled to Punta Cana, Dominican
Republic in March of 2008, Dallas in May, Myrtle Beach in June, back to
Dallas in July, Florida in July, October, and December. It's bittersweet
having Toni in Florida. She is far away , yet we have a home away from
home. She lives in Fleming Island, a suburb of Orange Park , FL. Orange
Park is about 20 miles south of Jacksonville. She's teaching for Clay
County Schools and seems to like it very much. Luke started post-secondary
classes at the University of Akron. He took English 1 and spring semester
will be taking English 2 and a science class. He still attends the high
school for 3 classes. He has been accepted at Bowling Green State
University, Ohio University, and is waiting to hear from Ohio State
University. Not sure exactly where he is going but he seems to be
interested in Construction Management. I'm sure he'll do fine, as long as
he stays focused. He graduates June 1, 2009 from Field High School.
I am as busy as usual. I am continuing my coaching. I actually accepted
the Head Volleyball Coaching position at our scho ol this past fall. I had
a great team and finished 1st in our county league. We are a Division ll
school and we were ranked 9th in the state of Ohio in Division ll.
(Division l is the biggest). We ended with a 22-2 record. One of my
players received great awards and honors and a full ride scholarship to a
Division l college. I received a few awards as well. I received Coach of
the Year in Portage County and Coach of the Year in District 3 (this
district is comprised of 4 counties--Portage, Summit, Medina, and Lorain). I
was also voted Coach of the Year in Portage County by the Touchdown Club in
Akron. I was honored that my peers voted for me. I am presently coaching
two travel Junior Olympic volleyball teams until May, then my high school
season begins again in June. I hope evryone continues to have a great 2009!
I hope this finds you well
and warm in your cozy house. The temperature on Christmas Day is expected
to be in the 70’s here—sorry I had to say that!
As the family gets ready to
celebrate Christmas and with the year coming to an end, I wanted to share
what has been happening with us. I know I am blessed to have a husband who
loves me and makes me laugh, 4 happy and healthy children, family close by
to spend holidays and everyday time with, a great job that challenges me and
allows me the flexibility to volunteer in the community too and my beloved
University of Florida Gators playing in the National Championship Football
game in Miami & I have tickets for the game !!!
Our year has been full—
Mike transferred from road
patrol to a courthouse deputy position. He is assigned to a great judge who
handles probate & estate cases. Mike is learning a lot and thinks when he
retires he may do paralegal work in this area of law. Although he has not
had too much time to fly we have had more time to go to our house in
Daytona. We had tickets to the Daytona Nascar Race in July and had a house
full of teenagers that attended the race with us.
Steven is in his 2nd year
at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. He is very focused on his
studies in Civil Engineering with a business minor. He is taking Managerial
Accounting next semester so I guess I may get more phone calls from him.
He loves kayaking, camping,
fishing and hiking and through an outdoor club at UCF he met a really sweet
girl Drew who also loves this stuff (unlike his mom and sister). She is
coming to spend New Years with us. Since he is only 2 hours away we get to
see him more than most parents see their college age kids. He is a really
sensitive and sweet young man.
Lauren is a sophomore in a
public high school. She got her driving permit and just finished a driving
class at school. She is actually a pretty good driver. The radio and cell
phone are the biggest distractions. Her passion is cheerleading. She was
on the varsity football and basketball cheerleading squads. In Florida, the
high schools have statewide cheer competitions, so she is on that squad
too. Then she is on a gym’s competitive cheer squad that travels throughout
the state. Those competitions start in January so we will be away many
weekends. She has stayed with Girl Scouts too and is working on her Gold
Service Award. Through it all she maintains good grades, and has a nice
group of friends. Since she is so busy she has not had the time to have a
serious boyfriend which is fine with us. She also can’t find the time to
keep her room cleaned or hang up her clothes- but we try not to sweat the
small stuff. Last Christmas, Lauren got a black Lhasa Apsa puppy that we
named Holly. She has become my dog since Lauren is not home much. She is a
good dog and does well being home alone while we work.
Mike’s twin boys could not
be more different. In Feb, James moved to California to follow his dreams.
He is finding out that he will have to work 2 jobs to make it on his own in
a very expensive area. He was able to come home for Thanksgiving and seems
happy in Calif. Jared is in the Air Force and after finishing his training
is stationed in south Georgia. He was to be deployed overseas in Feb, but
one of the pilots was reassigned so his squad will be in the states until
the fall. Jared is dating a girl from our area who is at Florida State
University which is about an hour from his base. They got a dog together so
guess that means a commitment. He has another year to decide if he wants to
reenlist. With this economy we are encouraging him to seriously consider a
longer career in the Air Force.
My mom & dad are doing well
at 87 and 84. Dad goes to church everyday and then off to his community
service work. This year he was in the hospital for a few days. I kid him
that he is like an old Cadillac that needs an oil change (a blood
transfusion every couple of years) and his tires kicked (which my mom
provides).
Mom stays home more. She
has problems with her vision and balance. I think she hears of her friends
falling and breaking hips and worse, so she wants to be more cautious. She
stays connected with family and friends with her cell phone. And she has
taken unlimited nights and weekends to a new level. They have been married
for 62 years so they are doing something right. They are totally
self-sufficient and we are blessed that they will be with us for another
Christmas.
As for me, given the state
of the stock market, it has caused some angst at the foundation that I work
at. But our board and staff are committed to our mission and so we will
give $8 million to charities in Palm Beach County and not cut any jobs. In
May we completed the construction of our new building that I served as
project manager for. It is a green building and has state of the art
computer and AV equipment. My workload is heavy but I really enjoy it. I
am serving on the board of our Education Foundation and learning more about
public education and developing great relationships with the school
district. For my own down time, I have started doing yoga. Of course I
love college sports and so the fact that the Gators are in the National
Championship game has brought me great joy and a victory on Jan 8th will
start off the New Year right.
Our holiday plans include
Christmas Eve mass with the kids and my parents then dinner at my house.
Christmas Afternoon, Lynne & Henry, my parents and kids will open gifts
(we took it easy on gifts
and made donations to local charities this year) and then we will have
dinner at my house. Unfortunately, Diane & Barry are not able to come down
as Diane is in bed with back problems.
This summer Steven was at
college and since we had little time for a family vacation, we didn’t have a
family vacation. So on Friday we are flying to Nashville Tenn for 5 days.
We have tickets to see Keith Urban in concert. We are looking forward to
cooler weather and time together.
Wishing you all a blessed
Christmas and a new year full of good health and happiness.
Our thoughts are with those
who have lost their loved ones. We will being giving each other an extra
hug this holiday and hope you will do the same.
I
just wanted to wish everyone a happy new year. Since I didn't send out a
Christmas letter this year.
This last year was a
quite one for David and I. We went to Las Vegas late last year at which
time David got food poisoning and we had to spend a couple of extra days
there.
This year we went to
Tunica Mississippi for a few days. Then back home in time for Christmas.
Greg and Amanda spent Christmas in Atlanta with the Tree's(Amanda's
family). They spent Thanksgiving with us.
David has been working at
this part time job, fishing, golfing and this year he added coaching
middle school basketball again. He did this when our children where in
school. It is something he enjoys doing.
I have been working on
photo projects, not doing much scrapbooking, working more with the digital
media. I did quite a few photo projects for Christmas gifts. My new
years resolution is to get all my photos organized, or at least get a good
start. HA!HA!
David and I traveled to
Ohio in July for a quick trip to attend the Gurto Family reunion. It was
nice to see so many family members. In Aug. Diane and Barry(my cousins
from Fl.) went to see their son and daughter-in-law in Minn. They came to
spend a couple of days with us. David and Barry when fishing, of course
the fish where in no danger. We had a nice visit and a few good laughs.
November the 5th I took
my annual trip to Holy Hill and light candles for all the relatives and
friends that are no longer with us in body, but live on in my heart.
December David and I went
to the Compassionate Friends candle lighting service. We light a candle
in memory of Pam. There seem to be more people there this year. On the
29th we released balloons in memory of Pam. It has been 7 years since Pam
died and it still hurts sometimes. We try to do things in her memory. We
had a brick placed in a children's garden and David still does the
memorial walk in Oct. It is getting late, so I will end with another
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Love Sharen and David
also
Just a quick note to say
hi and hope everyone had a Safe and Happy holiday. Everyone here is fine.
Alex is 19 and in her 2nd year at Penn State Main campus. We are very
proud of her, she made Dean's list this semester. Nick is 16 and a junior
this year. He plays the trumpet in band and plays guitar. Rachel is 13 and
in 8th grade and she plays the flute in band and is involved in
cheerleading. Bill is busy with work. I am still a realtor but our area
like many others has been hard hit so it has been very slow. Have a great
year take-care Love,Pam
