Thank you!

Hello from Austin! First, thank you to everyone for all of the birthday gifts and wishes! As I celebrate another year, I also ask for your prayers for my cousin Jonathan's family as they grieve the car accident that took his life. 

James and I are in our new apartment. It is in the same apartment complex, so we still enjoy walking in the surrounding neighborhood and eating at the local restaurants. We recently found a new place called Kolache Creations. Our favorites are the jalapeno sausage and cheese kolache and the strawberry cream cheese kolache. James is now driving to work in Sarah and Dan's Nissan Versa, which saves a lot of time and gives him a lot more flexibility. (Thank you, Rivers!)

My work has been busy as we just finished instrument test drives for all of the 5th graders. We had around 100 5th graders come to try the instruments, so we seem to be on track for keeping our numbers for next year. The Texas Music Educator Association (TMEA) Convention is this Thursday and Friday. I hope I can make it Friday and convince James to take the day off and come with me. We're hoping to stay in San Antonio that night and visit his family on Saturday.

Friday night we were able to see the touring show of Lion King for my birthday. It was amazing! The costumes are unbelievable. I know many of you have seen it, but for those who haven't the costumes are all made out of different kinds of puppets. I had no idea so many different kinds of puppets existed. We were able to go back stage after the show because my colleague Paul was playing violin in the pit orchestra. He asked the flutist to give us the tour. Her name is Kay and she has been touring with the company for 10 years (since they started) and coincidentally was playing for Les Misreables in NYC when my dad took me the year they closed the show. How crazy is that?

It was really nice to see everyone over the Christmas break! We are so blessed to be a part of this family! I wish we could see everyone more often. God's Blessings for happy and healthy weeks ahead.

Hannah and James

Waiting for Spring

Hello everyone:

The title of this blog pretty much says it all.  We are waiting
for spring.  There are a few signs starting to appear:

It is nice to have the warm days in between the cold ones.

Since we wrote last, we have enjoyed celebrating Samuel's
18th birthday, and spending time with Sarah and the little
girls.  Here are a couple pictures from those days.

Happy Birthday to everyone with a February birthday and
Happy Spring.

Some Musings from Denver

Greetings Family!

I'm taking a break from my job search to write a post.   I hope this post finds you well and in good spirits and health.

For those of you who are catching up on Charles, not a whole lot has changed here.  I finished a ski adventure early in January with Mary, Kurtis and Dad.  I've had both Mom and Dad as house guests since the middle of the month.  Dad was here for work and stayed with me.  Mom decided to come visiting over MLK Jr. weekend.  Both were good times and I got to spend a lot of time with Mom and Dad.

After I dropped Mom at the airport last Monday (seems like its been longer than a week), I headed to do some temp work with a friend of mine.  He's an accountant and was being buried by files even though he had an assistant.  I basically did a lot of filing and helped to organize files and their work room.  It wasn't very glamorous work but hey, it kept me busy.

For those of you who aren't aware, my internship with Curious Theatre Company ended early in December.  It was disappointing for it to end so early but it did let me spend a lot of time home at the holidays.  I treasure that time with everyone.

So after I got back from my X-MAS break adventure, I applied to several different positions both in the Denver area and in Florida and California. Haven't heard back from any of the places yet, but I'll just keep swimming and applying in the mean time.

A poem seems appropriate to end this post.  It really describes where I'm at right now.  Thinking of all of you!

The Road Not Taken

BY ROBERT FROST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Take the path less traveled.  It makes all the difference.

Almost Missed It

Whew!!! Glad I was taking the time to look around at the different blogs that I read today and wondered why this one was looking so empty. That would be, because it is the Rutherford's turn to post!

It has been a whirlwind of a fall for us. From mid-October on we spent very little time together as we worked fairly opposite schedules and had no days off together from the Hurricane Sandy up until Christmas Day. Yikes! Of course, we are super thankful for having consistent work so, not complaining, just saying.

We had a delightful trip back to KS at the beginning of the year where I believe that we caught up with pretty much everyone for several hours at a time. At least, I feel updated on everyone's lives and hopefully you feel the same about ours. From KS, we took off toward Colorado and enjoyed some ski time with Dad and Charles. This was a great little get away and we got up to speed pretty quickly while taking the laid back approach too!

Now, back to the grindstone, with Kurtis back in at Cedar Lake and myself out searching for some additional work. I will still be swinging at Jersey Boys, but there isn't quite enough there to create a full time job. As soon as I say that, though, we have people leaving the show, new ones coming in that will need costumes adjusted and I've got a bit of work coming from Cedar Lake too. My jobs are constantly changing and moving around. Keeps things interesting!

On a personal level, we are still brewing beer, doing yoga, beginning to think about what's going in the garden and started making cheese this past weekend. Next step, root beer and guitar. If we get that far...

Included are a few pictures from our time at the beginning of the year. Enjoy!
Love,
Mary and Kurtis