FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Christmas 2013 Newsletter
Edmonds,
Washington, December 5th, 2013
Who
– Dave & Lynn Cheeney
What
– 2013 updates
When
– see date above
Where
– see location above
Why
– It’s Christmas time!
It’s
the most wonderful time of the year.
Except for those of us who are not huge fans of most Christmas
music. But the rest of the season is
great. And the first official activity
is writing our annual letter and sending out cards. So, here we go…
The year started on a very
happy note. Lynn and her two brothers
(Frank and John) and their wives (Esther and Linda) headed to Florida to
celebrate their sister’s (Louise) 80th birthday (sorry Louise for disclosing your
age, I hope you’re not as sensitive as your mother). They also were celebrating 60 years of
marriage for Louise and Fred the prior November. An amazing accomplishment! They had a great time together with siblings,
nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews. The only sad part of the trip was the
diagnosis just a couple of days before their arrival of Fred having pancreatic
cancer. Lynn was able to return in March
to be with Louise and Fred during Fred’s last days.
In February we headed off to
Belize City to work with Lynn’s Rotary team building a house with Hand in Hand
Ministries. They have a great program
that identifies, qualifies and educates people who need assistance. Rotary provided the money for the materials
and the team provided the labor to build a 16’ by 16’ house for Ana, her three
children and Ana’s mother. And on our
last full day - which was also Dave’s 50th birthday - we (Lynn, Dave
and our friend Butch) headed off to Caye Caulker to
swim with sharks and rays. That’s a
birthday I’ll never forget! We returned
home and Lynn surprised me with a 50th birthday party at the home of
our friends Joe and Chris. I was totally
unaware what was happening and congratulations to Lynn and the kids for making
it such a great time with so many friends and family.
In May we attended to Rotary
district conference in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The
conference had a James Bond theme and we had picture perfect weather and a
great chance to talk with other Rotary leaders to compare notes and make new
plans. Then at the end of June Lynn’s
term as president of her Rotary chapter was over and she began a new year as
the immediate past president. Look for
more Rotary news in next year’s letter…
June
was a beautiful month giving us an early start to summer (most unusual for
Seattle). Lynn and Kim took the
opportunity to run in the Seattle Rock and Roll half marathon on June 22nd. They ran well, finished strong and Lynn
announced the end of her (half)-marathon career. But we are all looking to run in the Hot
Chocolate 5K in March of 2014. Also in
June was a great weekend trip with Dave’s uncle and aunt (Dave and Terri Bawden) to Chuckanut Bay. We both took our sailboats and anchored
overnight in the bay but we got a little lesson in anchoring and equipment as
our boat was dragging its anchor and we ended up rafted to Dave and Terri’s
boat. First thing when we returned home
was to order a new larger anchor.
Despite the excitement from the anchoring we had a great time together
and look forward to more adventures together.
With
a new anchor and a few other minor updates we headed out for a two week
vacation on our boat in July/August. The
first week we were joined by our friends Kevin and Heather and we worked our
way through the San Juan Islands to Victoria, B.C. and then Sidney, B.C. Then we returned to Roche Harbor and traded
Kevin and Heather for Kimberly and our dog Abigail (insert joke about quality
of the trade here). Then we spent the
second week working our way back through the San Juans
before returning to Anacortes and having all the rest of our kids join us over
the weekend for sailing and crabbing. In
the full two weeks we had one day of overcast and rain while the rest were
spectacular weather, great sailing and a wonderful time. And on Stuart Island we celebrated our 8th
anniversary with steak, lobster and champagne.
Back
on land we went to Vancouver, Washington in September for Lynn to receive her
distinguished service award from the Washington Recreation and Park
Association. This completes her
collection of awards and accolades and makes her retirement official. Dave, on the other hand, was recognized for
ten years of service at Microsoft with a celebration at Safeco Field (not just
for me but everyone that had been at MS for ten years) and will continue to
work for the foreseeable future.
October
began with another change to reunite the Rowland siblings. Louise flew out from Tampa and spent time
with Frank and Esther and then at our house, plus John and Linda flew up from
Sacramento. We had a great time together
at Frank and Esther’s, then at the OysterFest in
Shelton (where we performed with Buck and Elizabeth) and then we headed to
Abbottsford, B.C. to visit the Canadian relatives. What a great time catching up, eating great
food (we managed to be there for Canadian Thanksgiving) and laughing and
telling stories. Those Canadians really
know how to serve up wonderful hospitality.
On another October weekend we had the chance to attend the Eastern
Washington University homecoming football game against Southern Utah (a 34 - 10
EWU victory) and we are now watching the FCS playoffs to see if we will join
the Screaming Eagles in Texas again as they play for the national championship
(which they won in 2010).
As
part of Lynn’s birthday we made plans to attend LOVE in Las Vegas. It is a joint production of the Beatles and
Cirque de Soleil. It is an awesome show,
an awesome venue and we recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. With the birthday season past and the dreary
winter beginning we went back to Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico for a week of vitamin D
(and vitamin T for those familiar with Mexican beverages). Kevin and Heather joined us for this trip and
other than the eel bite that Dave got on his foot – along with four stitches –
it was a great trip. No agenda but eat,
drink and relax.
As
to other news for the year and the family:
ü Erin started a new job in
March with H10 Capital as a Recruiter Associate
ü Jess started a new job in
August with M9 Defense as the personal assistant to the CEO
ü Jess and Erin sold their
house in August
ü Jess and Kyle (her
boyfriend) moved in to a new house in October
ü Ben, Jennifer, Kim and Timothy all are at their same jobs
ü Dad is seeing how many miles he can put on his car driving
back and forth to Bellingham where his friend Geri lives
We
continue to be involved in music, performing as a duo, with our friends Buck
and Elizabeth as the Second Edition and also in our new church, North Sound. After eight years at Lake Forest Park
Presbyterian, the winds of change were blowing and while we miss seeing many of
our friends every Sunday, we are enjoying new opportunities being involved with
North Sound and the Edmonds community.
And we continue to enjoy as many concerts as we can afford, with this
year’s list including: Barry Manilow (thanks, Jess), Arrival
(the music of ABBA, thanks Ste Michelle), Mark Lowry,
Sir Paul McCartney, the Oak Ridge Boys (thanks, Tom and Clara), Signature Sound
and Michael Buble.
That’s
the year that was. Now it is time to
enjoy the holiday season with friends and family making memories and
remembering why we celebrate. There’s no
telling what the new year will bring but we look
forward to whatever comes our way.
One
last thing, GO SEAHAWKS!!!