Christmas All Year

Well, hello again! We all send our heartfelt, best wishes for you and your families.

Have a wonderful Christmas! Enjoy Hanaukkah! Happy New Year! Don’t limit yourself to one (exactly my thoughts about desserts).

We have not moved! In fact, we have become more deeply ensconced in this California weather, flowers, sunshine, and community. It feels good to be here and we are grateful we can enjoy this right now. We are safe from the fires ravaging nearby places, and have renewed our efforts and thoughts about Preparedness. Thank you for all your kind inquiries and prayers. Now we really need some rain.

This year, we hope you enjoy this episode of  Child Family Christmas, entitled

The Child Family through Art

(with a grateful nod–or apologies– to Tom Rugh)

Daniel Claire & Henry

Henry is in Nursery School! He loves it!

The Daniel Claire Henry family will number 4 in February with a little girl coming along! Claire continues her work as a specialized Physical Therapist, got an award for her work and contributions to her field from the Pennsylvania Physical Therapy Association, teaches at Occidental University, and loves being a mom. Daniel is finishing up his dissertation research and writing (Genetics, Huntington’s Disease, Heart, mice slaughter….that’s all I know) and will start his rotations in the Spring. They moved into the Fitler Square neighborhood in Philadelphia in the Spring, and both can walk to work because of the great proximity their new apartment is to the hospital. 

Aaron continues to play guitar, cello, and other instruments, both in bands and in session work. He loves to rock climb, and he works at a rock-climbing Gym company in northern Utah.  He took some courses this fall from Berklee (his Alma Mater) in Atonal Harmony and Orchestration. So if you need someone to do that for you, you know where to go.

Amelia

Amelia! Seen here as the Empress she is, continues her love of horses.  She has a 6-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Gino (also known as GeniePants and GinoBambino) and is working to prepare him for sale in the new year. You need a horse? Talk to Amelia. In January, she starts a certification program to be a Child Life Specialist (a wonderful person who helps children in the hospital deal with illness, as well as transition back to home and school). She continues to bring light and laughter to our lives here in California.

Jacob is in his senior year as at Maryland Institute College of Art. He continues to thrive there, and develop his life as an artist. You need a painting? You know to whom to go.

David and Diane celebrated their 35th Anniversary this year in July, and that involved the Calgary Stampede and a concert by Alabama. Dave is a good sport!  They then spent a couple of weeks hiking in Waterton Canyon National Park (Southern Alberta) and the east side of Glacier National Park (Northern Montana). What an incredible trip! David serves as the Bishop, runs, takes Pilates and surfs.   Diane now teaches Sunday School, rides her horses, and plays the violin with the Westlake Village Symphony (a local community orchestra). She sold the big horse trailer this year, and the F350. Now we have a new family member: Rufio! He is a beautiful red F150 pickup, so we can both pull horses and haul surfboards.  Plus, David and Diane play in a piano trio and have actually performed for the recital group 3 times this year! Its a wonderful experience for them to play together, and enjoy chamber music together. Our pianist Fred Land is VERY PATIENT!  We also enjoy visiting Philadelphia, keeping up with Henry, and thinking about the storage units in Utah. Its the thought that counts, right?

Merry Christmas Again! 2016 was a wonderful year! 

Happy New Year! 2017 is going to be Great!

Best wishes from our family to yours, for a wonderful holiday season and a blessed new year.

First, thoughts about weather…..Despite the common conception that we do not have four seasons in Southern California, I beg to differ. Three of our seasons are simply compressed into about 3 weeks.

Summer: Lasts from about January 15 through November 15

Fall: November 15 through December 31. The famous California Natural Christmas Trees appear in California Fall, with their ornaments of yellow, red, gold, and flowing garlands of berries, lemons, and oranges.  We also have the precious Christmas relic known as “Lo, How a Rose E’re Blooming,” from the famous Christmas Plainsong.

Winter: December 31 (give or take a few nights)

This wonderful night sometimes has rain, sometimes ice. Rarely snow (except in higher altitudes). Sometimes our migratory friends must flee to Mammoth, Lake Tahoe, Utah or Colorado to experience snow. But we have our own winter weather.  Here are photos of the rare steaming waters of winter, and the endangered species known as “pool in the rain”:

Spring: January 1 through January 15.

This wonderful 2 weeks is a delight! Daffodils, tulips, spring apple blossoms! Green grass! We love our Springtime!

So enough about the 4 Seasons.

The Child Family  has had some

great adventures this year–

David continues his work as the Bishop in the Westlake Village Ward. He and Amelia got lovely new surfboards. They love their early beach mornings! They have really nice warm wetsuits, and love playing with the dolphins and fish. No shark sitings yet. David loves his surfing App, and he loves learning how to read the tides, currents, and wave patterns. The favorite surf spot this year has been Mondos beach a little north of Ventura.  David also loves his running routes and his study time. He also enjoys visiting Utah and hearing Aaron play gigs. He and Diane have started playing in a piano trio with a friend, and had their first trio performance at a small home concert in the fall. We sold the house in Provo Utah this summer and so are committed California residents. And that could mean a lot of different things.

Thanksgiving at Bacara in Santa Barbara

Christmas at the Los Angeles Temple Visitors Center

Diane is the proud grandmother of Henry, and also Luca, born in June. She continues her training work with Elliot, Don Carlos, and David.  She started to play with a community orchestra this year, The Westlake Village Symphony where she is breaking out of her genetic tendency to play 2nd Violin.  She loved directing the Ward Choir this year in the Westlake Village Ward. She had a wonderful College Roommate Reunion with BYU girlfriends. Younger friends Garrison (13) and Gracie (15) made the end of the summer really fun! Then, Diane bonded even more with Henry for a few weeks in September. She went to Philadelphia with David while Dan and Claire traveled to Europe for a scientific conference (Dan) and exploration (Claire and Dan). Plus, Diane visited Jacob in Italy in late October and explored at bit of Florence again. Then, she and Jacob climbed Mt. Vesuvius, delved into Herculaneum and Pompei, and had fun poking around Sorrento and Capri.  Diane has taken a liking to planting succulents in the garden beds (one of few plants that seem to thrive on benign neglect). To her delight, the tangerines ripened early this year. With mixed feelings, Diane also sold the Barn/Arena property in Charleston Utah this summer, convinced to stay in this area by the lovely weather and opportunities in California. Here, she is very grateful to be able to keep her horses at a wonderful barn in Somis, about 35 minutes from home, surrounded by lemon and avocado orchards. She appreciates the friendly people and great facilities.

Dan and Claire and Henry live, work and play in Philadelphia. Henry celebrated his first birthday with the whole family in Montana, hiking around Glacier National Park. Dan continues his Phd research in genetics at the University of Pennsylvania. Claire keeps VERY busy serving as the Young Women’s President in their ward and working as a physical therapist. They are both involved and excellent parents to Henry. Freya the wonderful dog is a patient and gentle companion to a busy toddler. Facetime has been a great way to keep in touch this year, and we love watching and talking to Henry as he learns to talk, sing, and dance.

Aaron lives works, climbs, and plays in Orem Utah. He spent a nice chunk of the fall in Spain climbing great terrain AND working remotely for his job doing IT  for Momentum Rock Climbing Gym. He plays guitar, mandolin, and sings backups with a few bands in Utah, and enjoys session work at local recording studios. He continues to send after-the-fact rock climbing photos to his grateful mother. We love his weekly morning phone calls.

Amelia lives, works, rides, surfs and plays in California. She continues her work at Abright as a lead behavioral therapist (promotion!), working with adorable autistic children. This fall, she bought Gino, a 5-year-old chestnut Dutch Warmblood gelding and is having lots of fun training him up for sale. She worked miracles on Don Carlos for Diane during travel weeks.  Amelia was involved in psychology research and which will be presented 2 papers. She also worked hard preparing for and taking the GRE and applying to graduate programs in psychology. Our home is never a dull place with Amelia living here. She keeps us entertained, smiling, and dancing. Out and about, we love the surf time and barn time we get to spend with her.

Jacob spent the fall in Florence Italy at SAATCHI, working hard at a study abroad program through MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore MD). He studied mural restoration, and museolgy, painting, and pizza. He loves art school!  He is technically a Senior in January, but will graduate in the Spring of 2018. He is thinking about working and then going to grad school. This summer he worked as an intern at Revolver Gallery in Beverly Hills, which specializes in Andy Warhol works. He also enjoyed teaching lots of great kids at Young Art in Thousand Oaks. We love that Jacob is doing so well in school and love our Skype time with him.

2015

We have been settling into our “new” house this year, and the process recalls a few episodes of “This Old House.”  We had to replace 2 furnaces, an A/C unit, 2 hot water heaters, do some re-ducting in conjunction with the HVAC work. Plus, we had a lovely episode of hot water spurting out of the wall (luckily mostly into the crawlspace) from a hole in a hot water pipe. The projects required the usual friendly flow of subs, for plumbing, drywall repair, flooring repair, tile, electrical, and painting.  Dan Ord, our contractor, handled everything as smoothly as possible. Thank you, Dan!

We still love the peaceful area and count it a blessing to be able to live here. The sunsets are beautiful. This fall we have an abundance of kumquats, not many tangerines, and some other citrus heading into the spring. We had such a bumper crop of tangerines last year, and we can’t figure out why our luck didn’t hold this year. Luckily, David goes to the farmers’ market in Calabasas each Saturday morning, so we will be able to enjoy all the local citrus we want. But I did think my thumb had turned into a green thumb. Maybe not? I think it was just beginners luck!

We are looking forward to rain this year, with “El Nino” expected to bring lots of it. We have had to cut back on watering and have found many ways to be “water-wise.” We have planted a few corners of the yard in lovely and interesting succulents, which don’t require much water, and have changed over from spray irrigation to drip irrigation on many of the zones in the watering system.

KIDS:

One big piece of news this year is the arrival of Henry Arthur Child on July 29th.  He is a wonderful addition to our family! Diane and David are thrilled to be Grandparents, and Daniel and Claire are exceptionally good parents. Henry is growing fast and thriving. Daniel continues work on the Phd portion of his MD/Phd with his work in genetics. This involves mice. And Huntington’s Disease.  And writing grants. He teaches Primary in his ward, and plays his viola when he has time. Claire serves as the YW president, works at her physical therapy job a few days a week at the Hospital of UPenn, and cares for Henry Arthur, for which we are grateful.

Four Generations–Daniel, Aaron, Henry in arms, William H. Child aka Grandpa Bill, David

Claire and Henry

Aaron on the Rocks

Amelia Boomeranged (to our delight and entertainment). She graduated from the University of Utah in August with degrees in Human Development and Psychology, and moved back home. She is now working as a behavioral interventionist with autistic children in the area, continues riding and training horses, and serves as the Visiting Teaching Coordinator in the YSA ward.  Becket the Boston Terrier is now happily hunting lizards daily in the back yard.

Jacob is in his sophomore year at Maryland Institute College of Art, taking classes in Drawing, Fibers, and The Black Death.  He spent part of the summer in Venice taking classes and visiting many Biennial exhibits. He continues to paint wonderful art works, and Diane wants to buy them all.

Jacob on the Sand

Aaron is living in Utah in his own apartment and working at Momentum Rock Climbing Gyms as an IT specialist. He gets out on the outdoor rocks as much as possible too. He plays Guitar, Mandolin and sings vocals for an up-and-coming band named Forest Eyes. He also does recording session work, and plays with another group. He has enjoyed touring to LA and Idaho this fall, and we had a great band-in-residence week.

Diane continues riding horses, directing the choir, and planning trips to Philadelphia to visit Henry. She bought a new horse in the fall, Don Carlos, a dark chestnut 6-year-old Hanoverian cutie pie. She still enjoys riding sweet Elliot (also 6), when he is not getting stitches in his lip, or growing into his gangly legs.  Zia is pregnant by the KWPN Stallion Connaisseur and her foal is due in June 2016. Then, a whole new adventure will begin!

David continues to serve as the Bishop of the Westlake Village Ward, which keeps him very busy. He dotes on Henry. He loves running, road biking, and has started to learn to surf. He picks up the Cello now and then. With Amelia’s return to the house, we all enjoy playing trios together in our spare time.

Our best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2016.

New addition to the Child Citrus Garden

Well, here we are again. It’s that time of year. No one will know if you read all of this, or just a few words, and skim through the pictures. Isn’t it great to be out of school? No tests on this one.

2014 has been a year of great events and transitions for the Child Family. Here are the highlights.

1. We finished remodeling our new house and moved in! (5079 Hunter Valley Lane, Westlake Village, CA 91362)  The house was very colorful when we bought it. It is not very colorful now (except the rugs). We all feel the remodel was a great success. Although it was a time-consuming project, with its requisite share of aggravation, Diane killed no one on the design/construction team. We are now enjoying fresh tangerines from the backyard, and trying to figure out the control systems on a very complicated house. How did we get so blessed? We feel the gratitude every day. These are the two best things about the new house:

Laundry Room Tile

View from the front of the new house.

2. Kids:

Daniel and Claire moved to Philadelphia, PA from Iowa City, IA. Daniel transferred to the University of Pennsylvania with his doctoral advisor, to work on his PhD in Genetics, and finish his MD in Pathology. Claire landed a great job as a physical therapist. They love living on the east coast again, and have a cute house with a great yard for the grand-dog, Freya.

Aaron is living in Utah at the Provo home (which has not sold yet). He has taken EPIC rock-climbing trips this year to Alaska (water plane included) and the Yukon (very long drive). He is getting his music composing business off the ground, so if any of you need a family theme song, a toddler jingle, a wake-up riff, or a movie trailer, please contact him for immediate assistance.

Here is a link to some of his work on YouTube. We really like it. We are not biased.

You can read an article he wrote for Alpinist about a climbing trip here:

http://alpinist.com/doc/web14x/newswire-idiot-peak-huntington-rabbit-hole

Amelia spent most of the year working full time as an assistant horse trainer, completing many online classes from the University of Utah, and having a great social life. In August, she returned to Salt Lake City to finish off her undergraduate degree. She misses the horses, but we can’t complain about her choice. She is taking 19 credit hours, still has a great social life, great roommates, and thinks she has too much time on her hands since her schedule doesn’t include full-time work & riding her horses. She does have Beckett with her, the other grand-dog. So she isn’t all alone.

Jacob worked hard all year and in June, he graduated from High School!

He spent the summer at the Rhode Island School of Design taking college painting classes. He then left for Baltimore, where he continues his art school experience at Maryland Institute College of Art. He has a great roommate and many friends, and loves art school. He lives to paint, and paints to live. It is just the right place for him.

Grandpa’s Boots

3. Big Kids:

David and Diane have entered their second “Child”-hood. They are now empty nesters until December 13th.

David continues serving as the Bishop of the Westlake Village Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In addition to his work, he juggles running, road biking, and Pilates. He has been a faithful customer of the farmer’s market in Calabasas and brings home the most wonderful fruit, veggies, fish, eggs, cookies, flowers…. We transformed the living room in the new house into his office and he loves working from home.

     Diane loves riding her horses (and Amelia’s horse Remi while she is in Utah). She wishes the horses were a little less prone to self-destructive behaviors, and has further learned the meaning of the phrase “Horses are a black hole for time and money.” She retired her 18-year-old Grand Prix horse Madore this year, and he is happily following a pony around the hills of a ranch in Somis near here. The others are in various stages of recovery from self-inflicted injuries. But next year will be healthier. Did you know that you can get MRIs for horses? The vets can stick horsey legs and necks/heads into a human MRI machine. Diane loves directing the choir and continues to play violin and piano (this was a good year for discovering and Beethoven piano works), neither of which she likes to play in public. But she does play the violin for church every once in a while. Her fingers on the left hand are finally healed up enough to fiddle around (badly cut finger in 2013; broken pinky finger in 2014). Talk about self-destructive….  She loves to hike the hills around Westlake Village, adopt random pseudo-grandchildren in the Ward, and walk around the house in wondering awe.

4. Commentary on 4 Seasons in Southern California: Vivaldi would agree with me

Despite the belief of many non-Southern Californians, there are 4 seasons here. Diane has been documenting signs of these 4 seasons in Westlake Village in 2014. Winter occurred between January 6-13, 2014 (frost on windshield and frozen irrigation water on the sidewalk). Spring occurred between January 14 (blossoms out on trees) and lasted until about June 5th. Summer stayed with us until last week. Fall has been overlapping with Summer since mid-October. We have brilliantly colored leaves in the new neighborhood. We have actually had rain this week, but no snow is forecast (obviously and happily). So she is enjoying the 4 seasons with the rest of you. She just doesn’t have to pretend to like 20 degree weather.

And, you might be Pinterested to know that Diane put up her pre-lit, pre-coned Christmas tree in a record 17 minutes from box to timer. Ornaments are highly overrated. The Christmas Tree skirt is red. From Target.

From our Family to you and yours, best wishes for a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years, and 2015.

As promised, the Christmas News for 2013 will be short and sweet. We continue to live in Westlake Village and love it!  We have had an eventful year! Here are some highlights.

Aaron Graduated from Berklee College of Contemporary Music

Aaron graduated from Berklee School of Contemporary Music in Boston in May (then finished up the summer semester). He had some good rock climbing this summer and moved to Utah where he lives in our home in Provo.  He has a degree in Professional Music, so if you need a jingle, film score, TV music or just a nice theme to back up your Christmas newsletter, let him know.

How does he do that?

Amelia continues to ride horses. And more horses. She is now employed as Assistant Trainer to Sue Martin and rides between 2-10 horses a day, including jumper horses for the jumper trainers at the barn. They are finding that the horses feel a lot better after time with Amelia. Amelia was invited to compete in the NAJYRC (North American Junior/Young Rider Championships) in Kentucky in July! After 5 years, she acheived her goal of riding for a team to compete at this International competition, for Region 5. We made the trip to Kentucky and cheered her on. Veto was fabulous, and Team Child took 9th place out of a field of 40; Region 5 team took Bronze. She also teaches Dressage lessons, including Diane on her horses. She is a GREAT teacher! Amelia continues her online studies at the U of U, where she is majoring in Psychology and Human Development. She likes to bike and run, and runs after Beckett day and night. Amelia was  in a wedding this October in Utah for her friend Kacie. David performed the ceremony, and Amelia was the Maid of Honor.

What a great team!

Jacob is a Senior! Can’t believe our baby is grown up. He is still the artist in our family, and his favorite acquisition this year was a plaster head, with the muscles revealed on one side. Charlie (the head) is well represented in Jacob’s sketchbook. Jacob submitted 2 paintings to a plein air competition this fall. He is preparing a portfolio to help him as he applies to art schools and art programs for next year. He has taken up running, and loves to hit the trails with his new mountain bike.

Daniel and Claire are continuing their adventure in Iowa. They have taken some great trips to Chicago and Mt. Vernon Iowa, where there is a great little restaurant called the Lincoln Cafe. We spent Thanksgiving with them and Daniel revealed his talents in legal Mormon smoking as he brined and smoked the best turkey ever.  Daniel is in the middle of his second year of Medical School at the University of Iowa. Claire continues her work as a physical therapist, specializing in the cardiac unit. She got a great job offer at the University of Iowa, so she and Daniel are closer in proximity each day. They adopted a dog, Freya, who loves to curl up at Daniel’s feet as he studies. Daniel and Claire are also happily moved in to their first home. Life is good!

Daniel & Claire after mountain biking with us in Crested Butte, CO

David was called to serve as the Bishop of the Westlake Village Ward in June. He now spends his Sundays and a few other days of the week doing Church Service and we have learned “You can run but you cannot hide.” He loves working with the youth and serving the wonderful members in this area. He continues to ride his road bike, run (road and trail), and study Pilates in his free time.

Diane continues to direct the choir, ride horses and play music. Elliot is her newest horse–a 4 year old Dutch Warmblood whose sire is Apache. He is very sweet and willing, as well as having a wonderful canter. She continues to learn from Madore (age 17) and Zia (age 9). Diane has spent a lot of time traveling this year to Utah as she completes the outside of the Barn/Arena in the Heber Valley. She also loves helping Amelia with her competitions and studying Pilates.

The New Boy!

Since we are going to be in Westlake Village for 5 more years while David serves as Bishop, we decided to buy a house. We are now painting, replacing carpet, and having fun sprucing up a beautiful California-style Mediterranean house on a beautiful, quiet cul-de-sac. We are happy to put down some roots in a community that has welcomed us so warmly.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

Lots of Love from Our Family to Yours

Jacob at Stewart Falls

So we are trying something new this year: A Christmas Blog.  No postage, no commitment.  You will not be held hostage to THIS Christmas letter! You can read as little or as much as you like.   And yes, a picture is worth a thousand words.

First, bien sur, Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

BECKETT

HRH Beckett Official Baby Photo

We got a DOG! Beckett is a First for our family, a Boston Terrier, hailing from Merced (we didn’t know where it was either, or how to pronounce it). Now we have another mouth to feed, with the 6 horses and 4 kids. This one eats cottage cheese and has tripled his net value with all the supplies and vet bills. Broken toes, mange, ringworm, clip-clip. Now healthy and happy, hopefully he will stay this way for a while.

AMELIA

As well as chasing Beckett around and taking him to the barn daily, Amelia takes classes online at the University of Utah, and rides multiple horses. She made it to the National Dressage Championships in Gladstone NJ this year with Veto, our 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding. He can’t buck her off like he could Diane. She also is riding Rembrand at the Intermediare II level.She got her wisdom teeth extracted and we all enjoyed her ramblings while under-the-influence of anesthesia.

JACOB

Jacob started out 2012 with a trip to the hospital for surgery on his arm.  Seems as if a pesky bug took up residence and invited friends.  After a night in the hospital, he came back to California and continued his recovery.  We are grateful for antibiotics and good physicians.  He had a great year at Oaks Christian School. As well as holding up an intense academic load, he had a wonderful time in the school musical last spring, “Anything Goes.”  This fall, he sings in the choir, and studies ALL THE TIME. He got his driver permit this summer, and we are working on getting those practice hours finished.  Jacob continues to eat Vegetarian (with fish). He and Beckett have lots of bonding hours while they study together.

AARON

Aaron continues his music studies at Berklee School of Contemporary Music in Boston.  He plans to finish up next August. How touching that we will have 2 college grads. He is still climbing rocks and cliffs and towers at every opportunity. This summer, he took another epic trip to British Columbia and the Wind River Range in Wyoming.  No broken bones! And he is inventive in his quest for new looks: beards, mustaches and other variations on facial hair.

DANIEL & CLAIRE

Daniel and Claire said goodbye to Boston and moved to Iowa City, where he started an MD/Phd program, and she got multiple jobs as a physical therapist. They have a nice apartment close to campus. They took a summer trip to Thailand and have enjoyed a few weekend trips to Chicago.  But mostly their life is that intense M1 year and more-than-full-time work.  They serve in the nursery in their married student ward.

DAVID & DIANE

We continue to enjoy living in Westlake Village.  The Westlake Village Ward is so warm and supportive. The climate is perfect. David is the Ward Mission Leader and we have been blessed to work with wonderful missionaries and welcome several new members into the Church here.  He continues to study Pilates, ride his road bike, and run several miles a week. He grows perpetually younger it seems. His latest quest–for the closest shave possible–leaves his face baby soft.

Diane directs the choir in the Ward, and loves it! She is trying to cope with getting old. After a relatively easy hand surgery for a couple of trigger fingers, she cut her finger badly, and has a new respect for chef’s knives. She lost her mother in August, and her Dad last November, so it has been a difficult year that way. She studies Pilates regularly, rides her mountain bike sometimes, rides Madore (her old man horse) and enjoys the progress of Zia, her 8 year old mare.