Christmas02.htm

Itís been another year that has flown by! Last year at this time, our Norwegian exchange daughter Christine was living with us. She kept life exciting all the way through May, when her mother came for graduation in Roberts and the two of them left from here for California and Norway. I had hopes of improving my Norwegian while she was here, but Ö somehow we had too much to say to slow down that much J . I will say that by the time Christine left, she had very little, if any, detectable Norwegian accent.

Perhaps the biggest change that the year has brought for me is that I am now semi-retired from teaching! After a little over 25 years of teaching math at the secondary level, I opted to take retirement from the state of Montana. I am allowed to draw retirement as long as I do not exceed 1/3 of my final average (highest 3 years) salary in teaching-related income. So I agreed to teach Physics, Advanced Math (rather diverse combination of things that includes trigonometry, discrete math, and precalculus), and Geometry the first 3 periods of the morning. I also try to keep the Roberts School home page on the Internet updated (http://www.wtp.net/Roberts). For this I get 1/3 of my salary plus individual insurance. I continue to love working with the kids, and find 3 periods to be just about the right amount of time.

It has also been especially exciting to be at school this fall with the new school addition, which includes a new library, new computer lab, and MUCH appreciated new gymnasium!

We had a reunion of the Rostad cousins again this summer. With only 3 of the original brothers and sisters of my fatherís family left, it is very nice to see the next generation continue the close relationship. Although I have lived nearest to the original Rostad homestead, I visited the place with the cousins for the first time this summer. We also went to the ranch where I grew up for a delightful barbeque and tour of the buildings remodelled to accommodate a guest ranch. For the curious, you can get a tour of this on our personal home page at:
http://theholmens.net/
The actual reunion is at:
http://theholmens.net/reunion.htm

Having gotten to enjoy working with web pages, I have now also begun a very skeletal home page for Messiah Lutheran Church in Red Lodge, where I continue to play the organ two to three Sundays a month. (Iím discovering itís fun to be a listener, as well!) I also fill in at the Red Lodge Community Church about once a month.

It would be nice to say that Iíve caught up on a lot of my projects at home with my ëextra timeíÖ but it wouldnít be true. I AM enjoying time to read and discover new interesting authors. And Iíve participated in the high school Spanish class in Roberts in an effort to learn some basics in Spanish. I even bought the first Harry Potter book in Spanish, but it will be a LONG time before I can read it well enough to know what is happening.
Andrea

Itís hard for me to believe that yet another year has flown by. As I look back on this past year, I am reminded of the many blessings that are present in my life.

My temp job at the public relations firm continued from Thanksgiving 2001 on to June 2002. While I didnít get to go to any more exciting holiday parties or meet people like Alan Alda, I got to know many wonderful people while working in a number of different areas in the firm. I was fascinated to learn all about the inner workings of public relations (and also awed when I realized that THIS is where the media gets most of their ideas for their peripheral pieces.) I was offered full-time jobs at the firm more than once, but for reasons that only seem to make sense to me, I turned them all down. While I eventually left to nanny again during the summer, I have kept in touch with those that I got to know best and hope that I will have a chance to go back there soon.

This past March, I performed in my first theater production in New York City. While "The Water Hen" by Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz is not one of the more well-known plays in the western world, it was an exciting and just plain fun production nonetheless. It was directed by a friend of mine and fellow graduate from Bard College, and in fact, 5 out of the 9 actors in this play were from Bard (nothing like a nice little reunion!) While I had absolutely no lines (one of my former acting teachers who saw the play told me afterwards, "Maren, Iíve never seen you with your mouth shut for so long!"), I was onstage for 95 minutes out of a 100-minute play. I moved furniture, gave many people strange looks, and knit a loooooong scarf, and more importantly, learned how to make a character out of no lines and very little information.

As I mentioned earlier, I left New York City again for the summer so that I could take care of the three boys that I have babysat since the summer of 2000. They spend their summers out on Fishers Island, New York, and I must say that you canít ask for a much better job than this one--I get to spend most of my days outside, usually on the beautiful beaches on the island. While running after these three boys (ages 6, 4, and 2) keeps me from wanting any of my own just yet, I have to admit that itís VERY hard to say goodbye to them at the end of each summer. So hard, in fact, that I ended up staying with their family until mid-October this year. Itís nice to know that, with my own family so far away, I have a second family just a few hours from New York City.

Shortly before I returned to New York from my summer in Connecticut, I received a call from the private high school where I had been teaching math classes to a few students in the evening. One of their math teachers had to leave the state due to a family emergency, and they wanted to know if I could take over for him. After much consideration, I agreed to take the job, with the stipulation that it only be until the end of the semester. After all, I told myself, I am in New York to act, and since Iíve been here for almost two years without much headway, I need to concentrate on my acting career. However, I soon discovered that Iím in love with my job and that I am making a difference with my students, so I recently decided to continue with my teaching job until the end of the school year. Fortunately, my schedule leaves me with a lot of free time in which to start auditioning, and so I hope to get seriously started after the new year. Of course, any time I have questions about teaching, I simply pick up the phone and call my parents. I never realized how handy it could be to go in to the family business!

Iím truly thankful for the blessings in my life, from work to my friends and family. I hope that this holiday finds you blessed as well, and I wish you and yours the best in this coming year!

All want for Christmas is the cushy life that I had back when I was a kid. Back to the good old days when my parents took care of everything, when IÖ

I guess the best way to try this is chronologically. Iíll try to keep the boring months short.

January: We acquired a new family member. No, not a human baby, but another cat who we decided to name Tesla (not after the band, the scientist). We got him to be a companion for Fermi (actually, I just wanted another cat). Believe it or not, however, I have decided that we have plenty of animals and I am not even tempted to bring another one home---for the time being. J Our dogs, Red (now 13) and Sasha (now 3) are doing well, as is Fermi.

February: We can now hold our heads a little higher here in Colorado. Yes, we went skiing this year. Actually, we also went in January, but since there isnít much new for February, I thought I would move it to this month.

April: I guess if I had to describe our summer months in one word, it would be LANDSCAPING. It started in April, when I snagged my dad into helping us plant seven different fruit trees. (Yes, more often than not he does work for us when he comes to visit!) That was followed by a sprinkler system. The fruit trees made it through the summer, but weíll have to see what shape they are in next spring.

May: Yep, you guessed it, more landscaping. This time it was installing sod and increasing our garden size. We planted a plethora of different vegetables, and had pretty good luck. Will need to have better planning for next year.

June: Yet again, landscaping. A new flower box in the back corner of the yard as well as a decorative retaining wall for around the front porch. We also now have a honeysuckle climbing a trellis along the porch.

July: Nope, believe it or not, no new landscaping projects. (Manuel rebelled.) Instead, I spent time beautifying and improving (and WEEDING) what we had. In addition, we traveled to Washington to see one of my college friends get married and catch up with other friends in the area. Upon our return, however, Manuel experienced a slight accident. During a jumping, spinning, flying kick in Tae Kwon Do, he managed to disconnect the tendons from his kneecap. He is doing well now, but had to have surgery followed by two months of physical therapy. (I think he just wanted me to stop with the landscaping projects. J )

August: Can you believe that we have been married for 4 years? YIKES! And to help us celebrate was Paola, Oscar, and Natalia (Manuelís sister, brother-in-law, and niece). Natalia has grown a lot since the last time we saw her and we enjoyed being able to spend time together.

September: We took a quick road trip to Montana over Labor Day weekend. In addition to seeing my parents, we were able to go to the ranch where my grandparents lived and I was able to share some of my childhood memories with Manuel. In addition, we went camping near Estes Park later on that month. We had a very nice and relaxing time, although we did drag Red on a 5 mile hike one day. He was definitely tired!

October: Ironically, there isnít much to report this month either except that Manuel turned 32.

November: This year was the first year that Manuel could vote. We therefore went to our local polling place early in the morning, and made sure that our ballots had no dangling chads. J It was also the second annual Cabanas-Holmen turkey feed. While smaller than last year, we still had a good time and still no incidents of food poisoning! J

That brings us to today, I guess. We have our house all decked out with our Christmas decorations and our tree is up. I am a firm believer in waiting until after Thanksgiving, but I am all for "Decking the halls with boughs of holly" the very next day! Like the Christmas carol, "I need a little Christmas now." So, needless to say, I am zipping around work humming all sorts of Christmas tunes and threatening to sing them to all my co-workers. Fortunately, that TaeKwonDo thing has kept the death threats to a minimum!

As we have wrapped up the year, this is a good place to stop our ramblings. We want to wish you the very Merriest of Christmases and hope to see you in the New Year!
Kirsten and Manuel

Greetings Everyone!
Christmas carols are playing in the background as we are preparing the annual Holmen report. Mother Nature had blessed us with snow earlier but lately she has been on vacation. And our travelers have headed for their Christmas destinations. Maren arrived Friday, the 20th, and Kirsten and Manuel departed Saturday, the 21st, for Mexico.

Memories about the first half of the year seemed to involve Christine, our Norwegian exchange daughter, and two things stand out in particular. Two of her friends from Norway came for a two-week visit in March and I had volunteered to chauffeur them to California during Robert's Easter break. Red Lodge --> Lewistown --> Salt Lake City --> Las Vegas --> Los Angeles --> Las Vegas --> Denver --> Red Lodge, a trip with 3 blondes. You can imagine all the glances those 3 received. And all the time they were hit upon! Santa Monica pier, Third Street Promenade, Universal Studios, Magic Mountain, Venice Beach, Rodeo Drive, TV filming session, Walk of the Stars, Beverly Hills, Hollywood sign, etc. It was a really tough job!

Then Christine's mother, Randi, came for graduation in May and I became a chauffeur again. First, to pick her up at the airport in Billings, to Red Lodge and Roberts for various things, a couple of trips into the country sightseeing, and back to the airport when both Christine and Randi left. Parting after someone has been a member of the family for 10 months is always with mixed feelings. But knowing that we would be seeing Christine within a year - that makes it easier. Both Christine and her mother left no doubt - we are EXPECTED to visit them in Norway. Randi must have had a suitcase full of gifts that she brought from Norway. Christmas in May!

So, the major plan, the exciting plan, for this coming year is a trip to Germany and Norway. A trip to visit our three exchange daughters and if the schedules can be worked out - a family reunion. It would be a chance for the three to meet each other. It would be great if it happens!

Putzing needs to be listed as an occupation. Gardening - trying to keep the raspberries in order, starting new strawberry plants, clearing rocks from another section, and battle of minds with deer, moose, and birds. Photography - another senior slide show for Red Lodge and picture taking trips to Yellowstone in September and October. Volkswagens - started rebuilding the camper Vanagon which I acquired 3 years ago. Never one to rush into something! The body man advocated getting another body - which was found on the Internet - so another trip to California and towed it back. The plan is to have it ready for next spring. Our Scandinavian dance group did performances in Powell, Cody, Williston, and our Festival. Then in October - elected chairman of the Festival of Nations.

So much for a condensed version of the year and looking forward to hearing from all of you.
Bob

Bob, Maren, Andi, Kirsten, Manuel
(picture taken in Colorado at cousin Bob and Colleenís home November 2002)