Merry Christmas 2010 and Happy New Year 2011

It’s been another eventful year for the Linders in 2010, but probably nothing more eventful than Cece and Roger becoming grandparents at the birth of the beautiful Diana Grace Linder, daughter of Matt and Katherine, on Easter Sunday, April 4, 2010. Our first look at her was a cell phone photo taken a few minutes after her birth, before going to see her in person at four hours old. We snapped a few more photos and took then back with us to Easter Services, where we proudly debuted our new granddaughter to friends at church. To date, we have more than 250 pictures of her, which we show to friends at every opportunity. She is certain to become a lovely young lady in the years to come.

But also, as is our tradition, nothing holds the Linders to home base for too long, and we made several trips during the year. In June, we traveled by car to Wyoming to visit with Cece’s brother Rick and his family, wife Rhonda and son Matthew. We enjoyed some trips into the national forest, and got to participate in the joy of Matthew getting his driver’s license. We stayed at a resort in the Grand Tetons then traveled to Yellowstone, visited Roger’s cousin David and Gerald in Cody, returned to Yellowstone and headed home after an enjoyable week away.

For the Labor Day Weekend, we made the trek to Akron, Ohio for the premiere of Todd Rundgren’s Todd/Healing album tour. In addition to the special concert, where Todd and band performed two of his early albums in their entirety, we joined the festivities at the Rundgren Radio Birthday Bash III party with a few hundred fans and went to a concert for Kasim Sulton, who plays bass for Todd.

With additional day trips to the State Fair (August) and Bodega Bay (September), and other concerts featuring Bon Jovi, Rick Springfield and Trans-Siberian Orchestra, our final trip of the year flew out of San Francisco to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. We stayed in Vegas one night before driving to Flagstaff, Arizona. After enjoying the magnificent views at the canyon, we returned to Vegas for two more days and took in “The Beatles Love” show.

It was not all fun and games during the year, however. In late April, Roger was the victim of an iPhone theft while riding on the Light Rail to work. In an attempt to recover the phone from the thief, Roger fell and dislocated his shoulder. The thief got away with the phone, and Roger headed to the emergency room. As of this writing, Roger is still undergoing physical therapy for the injury. On the bright side, a few hours later police recovered the phone when the thief was involved in another incident on the Light Rail, which involved him getting shot in the leg. Roger got his phone back, was featured on the local TV news and in the newspaper, the thief is spending nearly a year in jail. After all that, the iPhone remaining intact, Roger dropped it on the Wyoming vacation and cracked the screen. Not to worry. He bought the new iPhone 4 in the fall.

Cece had her share of health issues as well, suffering from plantar fasciitis and a torn Achilles’ tendon, which has put a damper on her walking activities. She is looking into several treatment options and hopes for relief soon. She continues to work out several times a week at Curves.

Around the home, we had the outside of our house painted; bought a new freezer, a new washer-dryer combo, new oven/range, new dishwasher, new dining table and chairs, and a new spa for the backyard; and got new tile in our kitchen and laundry room.

Due to Brad’s work schedule, he didn’t get to participate in our travels, but did at least get to go to the fair with us. He’s been at McCormick and Schmick’s for nearly two years now as a dishwasher, but occasionally does food prep as well. He likes to cook at home and experiment with various recipes, but has a habit of cooking in restaurant quantities instead of cooking for three.

All the best to you for the holiday season from Roger, Cece and Brad!