Too lazy to send out a christmas card

Merry Christmas from the Newman Family, 2008 (Episode V)

Previously on our last episode (2007), Melissa has found that Ethan may have supernatural powers, only to discover that “The Newman’s Christmas Special” has been cancelled due to the writer’s strike.

Oh what a difference a year makes, but not really. Actually, there is exciting news, but I’m going to save it for the end of the letter! Ha!

Last year I told you about how my loving devotion to my wife and son drove me to working full-time as a traveling umbrella salesman. I had the opportunity to travel all over the U.S. and Canada. This year, I’ve continued to travel like crazy, visiting such beautiful places as New York, Boston, and Laramie, Wyoming. But this year I also had a chance to go to Norway! It was great fun, except I was there probably during one of the coldest and darkest months of the year, November. Still, it was a fun experience.

Melissa has continued to teach karate lessons part time. Those kids “sweep the leg” better than anybody I’ve seen! Oh wait, I think I’m confusing my story lines. Melissa is continuing to tutor kids from home, and she still travels to Salt Lake a few days a week for more tutoring. Melissa will tell you that teaching children in any format is a difficult task, but I think we all know that she’s meant to work with children. Melissa has a unique talent that not all of us share.

Ethan…what can we say about this little guy. We continue to see him find any object in the house and turn it into some sort of toy, whether it be picture frames, blocks, kitchen utensils, snow shovels…everything is fare game. Most of our time (okay Melissa’s) is spent cleaning up after the little monster. Yet, neither of us can stay mad for long. Every day Ethan surprises us with some new saying or a new face. He truly is the joy of our life!

Last but not least, we are proud to expecting parents once again! We don’t know if it’s a boy or girl, but Melissa is having a lot of the fun sickness issues that she did not have with Ethan, so she wonders if it might be a girl. Either way, we look forward to this newest addition to our family which we expect to arrive some time during the first week of July. A July 4th baby? Maybe!

This concludes this episode the Newman Family Christmas letter. We hope that this letter finds you happy and joyous and not drinking too much adult Eggnog! We love you and think of you often. Some of you are closer and some of you are not as close, but we love and appreciate everything each of you do! Merry Christmas

Love,

Ethan, Scott, and Melissa

Trip to Norway

First of all, I didn't get any pictures of Norway...lame! I had a good excuse...sort of. It was dark when I was there? ok, maybe not. It really was dark though, the sun came up around 8:30 a.m. and it started getting dark around 3:30 p.m. So, when I was not teaching the class, I was hanging out in the dark. I did get a chance to wander a little, but the town I stayed in, Porsgrunn, was actually pretty small. Oh well, at least I got to see snow, and that's exciting because we don't get snow in Utah...oh wait.

This is the hotel I stayed in, called "Hotel Vic".

I did get to relive some exciting "mission moments". I had a layover in Paris, so I was able to get some good french food, (airport style), and I even spoke some french. They were so amazed because I was an American speaking french. Apparently this does not happen at the Paris airport. Of course, some things never change, like the security officer's complete bafflement that my ticket stub tore off of my ticket. She basically felt that I would probably not be able to get on the plane because the stub part tore from the ticket...mmmmkay.

I also enjoyed the pleasures of taking the train from Oslo to Porsgrunn. 3 hours! At least this time I had an ipod to listen to. Again, I would have really appreciated it being light outside during this experience, but oh well.

All in all, the trip was a lot of fun, but quite exhausting. I think next time I'll have to take Melissa with me so she can see Europe.