Title: 2010 Christmas Letter Happy holidays to our friends and family! Here's a look back at our year in pictures! IMAGE(img_0082) Ginnie continues to take ballet. Here, she gets ready for her recital with her classmates and teacher Susan at the New Mexico Dance Theater studio. She loves to dance, and in August took up Irish step dancing. IMAGE(Image034) Fitri, our exchange student from Indonesia, was with us for half of the year, and we think she got to see some neat things in New Mexico while she was here. Here, we took the girls to the zoo in Albuquerque for a day trip. IMAGE(img_0115) The girls checking out some pirhanas. Turns out a lot of the animals at the zoo are from Indonesia...who knew. IMAGE(img_0123) Ginnie and her dad at our favorite restaurant in town, the Coffeehouse Cafe. IMAGE(img_0134) Ginnie got to try out a climbing wall at a birthday party this year. She did pretty well, and reached about 2/3 of the way up the wall until it sloped out over her head, and got a little intimidated. Good job, Ginnie! IMAGE(img_0140) Fitri took advantage of the awesome snowfall we had last winter and built a snowman, with Ginnie and the dogs looking on. I think Jada just wanted the carrot. IMAGE(img_0143) The finished product! IMAGE(img_0190) Ginnie's Baga and Bada (Christy & Steve Pickett, her grandparents) took her to the circus for her birthday! IMAGE(img_0189) These clowns actually look nice! IMAGE(img_0201) Bada, Ginnie's grandpa, has her convinced that their dog Loki (a little terrier mutt) was shot out of a cannon, like this guy, when he used to work at the circus. We're a little afraid of what's going to happen when she figures out that Loki was never actually in the circus... IMAGE(img_0240) For Ginnie's 5th birthday in February, she had a castle cake and a scavenger hunt. Here's a gratuitous shot of the cake Amy made...thank God Auntie April was there to save the day with the frosting! IMAGE(img_0300) Some of Ginnie's guests look for a clue in the scavenger hunt outside! February birthdays make it so hard to get outside... IMAGE(img_0366) Ginnie and her cousin, Ariana, who came down from Denver to help celebrate with Auntie April. If you think Ginnie's nose looks a little swollen... IMAGE(img_0365) ...that's because she landed on it after jumping off an ottoman in the living room and tripping on the dog in midair. Not a good thing to happen on the day of your birthday party! Don't worry, her nose recovered. IMAGE(img_0372) The girls with their Baga. IMAGE(img002) In February Neale put on the first Tracer Fire competition at the Buffalo Thunder resort down the road, which is a capture the flag-style hacking contest. It got great reviews, and he's doing it again this year, with hopes to put it on for high school students in the state, also. Here, Amy and Ginnie help the guys run cables in the ballroom. IMAGE(Image027) See Jada in this picture? Every day at 7pm sharp, she walks around the house squeaking her squeaky toy repeatedly. That's what we get for having a cattle dog - everything has a routine, even her squeaking. IMAGE(img_0408) Fitri had to make empanadas for her New Mexico State History class. She did a great job - these are fruit empanadas she's holding. IMAGE(img_0414) Ginnie trying on Neale's blazer from his suit when he was about 5 years old. We blame Fitri for teaching Ginnie how to pose! IMAGE(img_0437) Fitri and Ginnie on the way up to Denver. We stopped here to check out the canyon views outside of Taos. IMAGE(img_0443) Cousins at Buca di Bepo. That was a lot of food. IMAGE(img_0499) The Picketts and Oteros on Fitri's last trip to Denver. She loved Ariana, who is admittedly pretty cute. IMAGE(Image050) We took Ginnie on a bike ride to the Ponderosa Campground near Los Alamos' back gate in the spring. She stopped to eat. A lot. IMAGE(img_0514) Ginnie was SO excited when Fitri got dressed up for prom. IMAGE(img_0519) We tried to explain why getting a picture of just Fitri and her date would be nice. IMAGE(img_0538) Ginnie and friends getting ready for their end-of-year recital. IMAGE(img_0630) In May Ginnie "graduated" from preschool. Here she gives Ms. Mo, her teacher, a final hug. We had a great couple of years at Little Forest. IMAGE(img_0644) Fitri got to walk in Los Alamos High School's graduation ceremony. Here the girls show off their commencement finery! IMAGE(2010-06-05T18.29.54) Ginnie and her Bada. At the end of June we said goodbye to Fitri, who traveled to Washinton, D.C. and then on home to Indonesia. She graduates from high school this spring and she thinks she'll be going to college in Australia! IMAGE(IMG_1003) We went on vacation for 2 weeks in August with Kellie and Bill to visit some national parks and family. We stopped in Arches National Park, drove up through Utah and saw Yellowstone. Then we drove over to Butte, Montana, where we got to see Amy's Uncle Frank and Aunt Nancy. Here, Ginnie checks out the Superfund Cleanup site, the Pit, in Butte, with Aunt Nancy. IMAGE(dscn3427) Ginnie checking out the differences between sandstone and...some other stone...at Arches. She did the junior ranger program at 3 different parks! IMAGE(dscn3384) Amy and Ginnie under an arch. IMAGE(dscn3419) Ginnie and Auntie Kellie in Moab, Utah. IMAGE(dscn3444) Bill wanted to check out an Airforce museum in Layton, Utah on the way up to Wyoming and Montana. Also a fun stop. IMAGE(dscn3596) Amy and Neale at the Grand Canyon in Yellowstone. IMAGE(dscn3478) IMAGE(IMG_1032) We went up to Glacier National Park next, which was amazing. We stayed at Apgar one night, and camped at Fish Creek the next. No bears! We plan to come back here for a longer stay. Winterkeepers, anyone? Apparently that job was open over at Many Glacier! IMAGE(IMG_1090) Ginnie checking out a marmot at the St. Mary visitor center. It was really cold, wet. and rainy at the top of that ridge! IMAGE(IMG_1092) The morning we left Glacier we visited the Montana Vortex, which is just south of Apgar. Amy and Bill were pretty dubious about the whole thing, but who can resist a crooked house? And we did have fun in the end. Kellie volunteered to participate in some kind of Incredible Shrinking slab exhibit, where you somehow shrink in comparison to another person as you move from one side to the other. Poor guy...because of us, the other group members were probably less than convinced about the vortex's magical abilities. And then Ginnie started Kindergarten in August. Amy wasn't sure how much food she'd need for one day, so she sent enough for 10 Kindergarteners. That was the last time Ginnie used that lunchbox. IMAGE(IMG_1093) She gets to walk to school every day, lucky girl. IMAGE(IMG_1125) Over Labor Day weekend, we relandscaped part of our front yard. It was hard work and took the entire weekend, plus some, but it was worth it. IMAGE(IMG_20100922_153537) And then Ginnie learned how to ride her bike sans training wheels or Mom & Dad! Very exciting! IMAGE(IMG_20100922_153632) Ginnie on her new wheels. IMAGE(IMG_1161) In October, Amy and Ginnie went to Missoula for Amy's grandfather Jim Gaul's memorial service. We got to see just about everyone in the family. Here Ginnie poses with the rest of her 2nd cousins. IMAGE(IMG_1173) The Gaul family. A few missing but almost everybody's there. It was great to see everyone again. IMAGE(IMG_4618) Ginnie as a kitty for Halloween. IMAGE(IMG_1214) Ginnie started Girl Scouts this fall. Here they are, Troop 10348 at their "induction ceremony!" Oh, and by the way, Neale volunteered us to be the cookie chairs, so if you want Girl Scout cookies, you know who to contact! IMAGE(IMG_1223) Ginnie was cast as a snowflake in her dance studio's Young Dancers production of T'was the Night Before Christmas. IMAGE(IMG_4623) Before going downtown for her performance, she accepted a few "good-luck" phone calls from adoring fans (her grandparents). IMAGE(IMG_4653) IMAGE(IMG_1228) IMAGE(IMG_4674) Post-performance at Fuller Lodge. We hope you all have a great holiday season. We're having a really dry, sunny and warm late fall so far, so if you want some Vitamin D come and visit! Amy makes fantastic enchiladas, if you need another reason! Love, The Picketts (Neale, Amy, Ginnie, and the dogs, Dingo & Jada)