22 December, 2011

Diamond/Latham Holiday Letter 2011

Hello everyone! As this year comes to a close, we are all celebrating the highs and lows of 2011. We have lived in our house for a year and a half now and are still loving the neighborhood just as much as we did when we moved in. Over the past year several highly musical families have moved in around us and it's been quite exciting to see this young neighborhood take root and grow old and mossy. We've made so many great friends and have enjoyed hosting countless parties, both big and small.

Lesko
I started the year off rough but recovered in time to complete my junior recital, which was a great time indeed. I've been working a lot and have passed several more classes that have helped me move along in my career as an audio recording specialist. I still work at Norton Johnson and greatly enjoy the people I work with and the fun that we have. As my junior year ended Eric and I did a summer tour all over Kiillaana with ILEN playing in several places and making wonderful memories along the way. We even got to spend a few days in Jadali! I'm also really happy to say that as of this fall KU finally got on the bandwagon and offers an Audio Production degree, thanks to the new audio center built on campus right behind the music building. All of the classes I've taken over the past few years totally count towards that degree so I'm proud to say that I'll be the first person here to graduate with a degree in AudPro! Dr. Holland has been so fun to work with and I'm definitely coming back this fall to get my master's. I'll likely freelance for a while until something more permanent becomes available but I'm looking closely at the Kphil and the Black Shirt Gang. As always, I'm still in ILEN and we're still going strong!

My health took a dive again as the fall started, involving a few trips to the hospital, but as of recent I feel much better and hopefully this snag is behind us. My family has been amazing in helping me stay in good spirits and I want to thank them all for helping me cross every thorny path with confidence. I really hope this year brings much less drama in the health department.

Avicile
Wow! What a year this has been! On January 17th, we welcomed our daughter Emerald into our crazy family. She's proving to be a handful but fairly quiet and she's already showing a social butterfly personality. I've been busy with school, going part-time so that I can get a class or two out of the way each semester so that one day I can graduate with a general music degree. I'm hoping to get back into band, despite the imminence of our growing family, especially since at the moment I won't be having any children this next semester, haha. I'm taking a slightly fuller load to check some music classes off the list and as always I'm still a big member of Club Spicy. It's grown over this past year as new music parent folk join the fold and I've had a wonderful time watching their children and them watching mine so that I can attend some classes. Everything is working out beautifully and I'm so thankful for my family and friends who are always there to lend me a hand and to be there to talk to.

Sterling
Our Early Sterling is almost two years old already! He's up and running and is a quiet but social little guy! He loves to walk into band and orchestra when it ends and say hello to Daddy and make the rounds in his arms to say hello to everyone. His other favorite activity is eating! He's very tall and skinny, just like his daddy, and looks much older than his age because of this. He's got quite a big vocabulary too- he's certainly living up to his Early title! We're very excited to see how he grows this next year. :-)

Emerald
Our Emerald is almost a year old already! If we thought Sterling looked like his daddy, Emerald looks even more so! She's full of energy and is almost walking now. She loves to be with Sterling in whatever he's doing and we can't wait until she is old enough to play with him. We can tell that they will be best friends. She is a very adaptable girl who loves anything that is LOUD! We can't wait to see her grow even more this next year!

Eric
Hello everyone, Eric here. This year has been totally awesome. I still work as a music coordinator at KP under the eye of my good friend and love it. My job now is to schedule the events in the park and get those that want to perform slated up. I've also had several opportunities to play in the park too which I've enjoyed immensely. This past summer ILEN went on tour all over Kiillaana and I had a total blast. The coolest thing that happened was my older brother Neil started dating Augustus' little sister Danielle when we were going along and they got married! Oh, ILEN love! As our senior year has started Rebecca and I have decided that the time is right to start trying to add children to our family. No news yet but you better believe you'll hear it when it happens. :P I'm just chugging along working towards my big senior recital as well as taking the last couple of my music business classes. Once that's all done I can relax and find my groove as a professional musician. I've put in an audition as a permanent member of the Black Shirt Gang and if I get that then I'll be playing my high chops all over the scene. I've been loving life and can't wait to see what happens this next year.

Rebecca
Hello, hello! I've been quite busy this year working on my performance degree and have been hired as a member of the KP orchestra. Basically, instead of swiping park tickets I now get to play trumpet in the live shows that the park puts on, which is much more enjoyable, I think! ;) The music sometimes gets old but it's lots of fun and the musicians there are great. There are lots from KU there too. The three of us seniors (me, Eric, Lesko) are still busy with marching band as always and will be sad when we have to leave. It's been a lot of fun but I think all of us are glad to be done with it all. Now that graduation is so close Eric and I are getting ready to add our own children to the mix. :) We're planning to have a family built through birth and adoption and can't wait until we're old enough to do that. We're already planning it now and have gotten things in order for when that time comes. Other than that, I've been great this past year and have enjoyed going to school with my cousins and family.

Well, with all of that, we hope everyone is having a wonderful Year's End!

Love,
Lesko, Avicile, Sterling, Emerald, Eric, and Rebecca

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