Metzgar Year in Review -- 2007

Every year, we receive one-page newsletters from friends and family with an update on happenings in their family. We love them. Keep them coming. For the Metzgars, we're taking it to the next level "web 2.0" or "new media" style. Hey, Doug preaches this stuff, so there's no excuse to do it any other way;- )

2007 has been a year of serious change. As one friend said earlier this year, with change there's loss and with loss there's change. This certainly rings true for 2007.

Suzanne and Doug lost their remaining grandparents. Suzanne's grandfather, Dr. BillFrank, passed away in July. Doug's grandparents, the Angels, passed away in February and September. While they'll be missed, they lead healthy lives into their late '90's.

In September, we sold our house at 2419 N. 24th. We moved into a home closer to downtown and the girls' school. It was built in the '20's and wins the award for quietest home we've lived in as a family. Our good friends, the Wieners, live a block up the street and we have sidewalks, on which the girls love to ride their bikes or take walks. You're probably wondering, doesn't everyone have sidewalks? Our last neighborhood didn't. We obviously took them for granted and didn't realize how much we missed them.

In September, we also launched the Treasure Valley's only (heck, Idaho's only) baby-proofing business, Safety for Toddlers. Response from local hospitals, doctors and parents has been great. Doug is also working on his strategic marketing consulting business. The emphasis of his work has been around web 2.0 or new media (web sites, blogs, podcasts, e-mail, etc.).

Doug's also active on the board of directors with a local marketing communications network group. And after a few years off, Doug's playing drums for several groups in town, including Andy Byron (country), River City Crossing (world) and the Moody Jews.

Suzanne's busy managing the girls' school schedules, in addition to participating on the board of directors for our local synagogue, and the girls' PTA. And now that Suzanne's parents and sister live in Boise, we spend a lot of time with them.

Rachael turned 5 in August, and Rebecca will be 4 in March. Both attend the same school in town. They love it there -- making lots of friends, getting in lots of play dates and doing dinners with families.

As a family, we managed to get out to see a production at our local Shakespeare festival, as well as Spamalot, G Love and Special Sauce, Niel Young and other acts. Doug's parents made it out to Boise during his 40th birthday in May. This fall, we did our first corn maze. And we got in some good camping, including a week-long trip up through Idaho's panhandle to Sandpoint - a mere 60 miles from the Canadian border. We also camped at Redfish Lake near Stanley. The valley below the Sawtooth Mountains is was one of the most beautiful places we've ever seen and we are looking forward to another trip there in the spring.

As a reminder, our new snail-mail and e-mail addresses are included with your holiday card. We're dumping our att.net e-mail service in the coming weeks.

We hope you have a healthy and safe holiday season. And a happy new year, too! And while you're here, say hi by posting a comment (see the links below).

The Metzgars