_{Happy New Year! We hope 2018 has treated you well and wish you all the best in 2019!   Well, we survived another year at our house, but just barely. Here is a little update.}

     _{Keith is 54 and I am 52 and we feel old. I even joined AARP, for the free travel bag. Keith refuses. Only a few more years and we can order off the senior’s menu at IHOP!  We also celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary in May this year. We feel so grateful to have made it this far without stabbing one another.}

    _{We are also a house full of working adults now. Keith is still at Wayfair and commuting to Ogden every day, which he so enjoys. He also is at Vivant Arena part time working events, mostly Jazz games right now. He absolutely hates it, really a nasty gig.}

     _{Zach is 25. and still works for Precision Technology testing circuit boards. He works to support his Amazon addiction, poor thing. And to help his parents pay the bills. Zach has taken up photography and that took us to Moab for our vacation this year. Per my usual, I fell off a curb into the street wearing flip flops as we walked through the town. Go Mom…but we have some gorgeous pictures!}

     _{Holland is 19 and started working full time for ABC New Beginnings Preschool & Day Care in January of this year as a part time aide. Today she is a full time Co-facilitator of the Infant B classroom. 6 to 12 months old. She is doing great! Holland also has an on-line shopping addiction she caught from her brother, but she also contributes to household bills. Now if we could just get her to learn to drive.}

   _{I spent this year working for Harmons in Draper at the Bangerter Crossing location as a Sous Chef and as a Foodie in Sales and Events. In November, after a year and a half at Harmons….and driving Holland to and from work, I started to get a little restless and began looking for a position where I could combine my Business Management Skills with my Culinary Skills. So, I went to Indeed and the first job that popped up was a Culinary Services Director at The Wentworth at Coventry Independent & Assisted Living & Memory Care in Cottonwood. It sounded like the perfect fit, so I applied. I got a call the next day and an interview two days later. A second interview the very next day and a third, corporate interview 4 days later and then a lucrative offer on the day before Thanksgiving.   Boom! I started on December 10th and I have had few days off since, but no looking back. I really love it!}

   _{True to form for me, as I age less gracefully each year, I had my share and your share of accidents this year. I think I have the record for the most incident reports in the shortest amount of time at Harmons. They know me by my first name at Workers Comp. Trips and falls, cuts and face plants, I had at least one of everything…again. The most recent was just December 23. I had made a whipped jello salad, a family favorite, and was carefully carrying the loose jello through my kitchen to put in my garage fridge. Just as I got to the top of my cement steps in my garage, my jello sloshed. Damn! I was in bare feet and took a step right in the jello and slipped, bam, bam, bam down my garage steps! Covered head to toe in green whipped jello, I banged my right ear on the railing and stopped by hitting my left leg into my chest freezer and sliding on the jello under my car. it was after midnight. So, there you go. I never disappoint. Except no jello for Christmas. LOL!}

     _{Thanks to the fact that we love one another, we make a good team, and the fact that we are heavily medicated, we feel blessed and grateful and certainly sometimes pitiful. But life goes on, so we try not to sweat the small stuff. So, Cheers to that and to a happy and prosperous new year! May your days be merry and bright}

 _{The Beltz Family, Keith, DeeAnn, Zach & Holland}