OMG! I can hardly believe that 2011 is nearly here! It has been quite an exciting year here at the Hoffert houses.
Let’s see, where were we last year at this time? Oh yeah, my very pregnant new daughter-in-law was here for a visit while Chris was in Iraq. She headed back to Hawaii on New Year’s Eve. As her due date approached, we wondered if Chris would be able to get back to Hawaii to be there for the birth. Somehow it all came together and he did arrive in time to help with the delivery of his little girl who was born on March 19th. He was given extended leave since Allie had no one else to help her take care of baby Caroline Adair. Sadly, Chris had to go back to Iraq for a few months. Around the beginning of June, Chris called to see if he could send Allie and little Caroline to Bozeman for a visit. Seems she was somewhat depressed and was having a hard time taking care of baby on her own. Now, what kind of grandparents would we be if we said no to this? Allie and baby Caroline (named after her great grandma who also has red hair) came for a visit and arrived around the 19th of June. They were able to stay until the 25th of July and arrived back in Hawaii just a few days before Chris came home from Iraq. We had such a good time bonding with them both! But now, we miss them terribly!
Adair turned 18 on March 6th and graduated on June 6th. She has decided to attend The Academy of Cosmetology here in Bozeman. There she will be learning about hair, makeup and nails. However, since we have been talking about another trip to Hawaii, and they don’t like new students being gone for long periods of time, we have put off getting her enrolled. Our 10 day trip originally was planned for between Oct and Dec of this year, but now has been postponed until Feb. In the meantime, she has found a part time job at one of our grocery stores working in the floral dept. She has a guy friend (we don’t call him boyfriend) she has been seeing for about 6 months now. Austin seems very nice and respectful and, for Adair’s convenience, lives only a mile away. She spends her spare time drawing, crocheting, sewing and playing games on her laptop.Martin still works at the GranTree, although we don’t know how much longer. He is very tired of the BS that goes on there and would like to find another job. We know in this economy though, that that may not happen quickly, so he tolerates it all. He has taken up the hobby of selling items on ebay. He’s not making terrific money but we are starting to clear out the storage unit some. He joined the technology age and upgraded to a Blackberry phone – mostly so he can receive and see the videos of “his little girl.” Then bought himself a laptop to view videos on youtube and to view bluray movies during our flights to and from Hawaii. We are now a three laptop family and after two months, I finally got our home wireless router to work with everything.
I went from working part time the first of the year to unemployed and working under contract from home for same companies the first of March. While doing this, I was looking for full time employment expecting to quit the ‘at home’ work. In June I managed to snag another part time job. But soon it became nearly full time and I was continuing to do my ‘home’ work. I had been at my new job for nearly two months when a previous employer called me to see if I was interested in coming back to work for her. It took two more months before we agreed that I would come back. I was able to get the salary I wanted while only working 35 hrs/week (still too many with doing my ‘home’ work too) and I have immediate benefits! I am doing the same work as before – AR and AP - but there was only a small amount of learning I had to do. I keep hoping I can quit the working at home, but find the new grandbaby is expensive (we like to spoil her already) so will continue to do until I go crazy or drop from exhaustion. My gardening was a near disaster this year with getting hit with two hail storms within 2 weeks of each other in May and June, but I kept plugging away just so I could enjoy my time outdoors.
Chris is back in Hawaii now loving the time he can spend with his two girls. Allie, who was in the Coast Guard when Chris met her, was given an honorable discharge after the birth of Caroline. She now spends her days entertaining her. Chris’ enlistment will be up by this time next year, so he has some serious considering of whether to stay in or leave the Army after 10 years of service. Caroline has just turned 9 months and is such a happy baby as you can see by the pictures:After having one heck of a long winter last year (Oct – May) we are not at all excited for this winter. Our Feb. vacation can’t come soon enough! In fact we had to cancel once when we tried to book in January and almost got cancelled again!
Our wish for you is that 2011 brings you good health and all the happiness you can stand.
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