Christmas Letter 2009

Merry Christmas 2009!

Trey and I have greatly enjoyed sitting by the crackling fireplace to read the numerous holiday wishes and newsletters from many of our friends and family members each evening for the past few weeks. Oh, for all the laughs we’ve enjoyed, the quiet moments of reflection, and the glaring realization that we should once again take a moment to write everyone. (Keeping our promise of writing once a year—whether we need to, or not!) Being the hip, nature-conscious types, we decided to send our letters via the electronic superhighway this year. (Sorry Mom--hopefully this won’t close the post office!) Yeah, we’re probably more “frugal” than “hip,” but one of us did find the need to do our part to create a job opening for some deserving recession-ee.

Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning—or as close as I can remember. . . .

In January, we started stocking up for the biggest remodel of our marriage, the kitchen. As things started to fall into place, we took a February trip to Georgia and celebrated Trey’s 30th birthday. We were able to visit with friends and family and watch the locals rush to buy bread during a “blizzard” (the ground in some places was almost white!) before returning home and starting on the kitchen remodel.

After tiring of the nightly games of “guess what the real oven temperature is” and “no, you can’t leave the kitchen until I close the fridge door,” we decided that gutting the kitchen and starting over would be a good project and investment. Aside from help my Dad, Grandpa, and our friends bravely provided, I tackled most of the re-wiring, tile removal, drywall, and dealing with the *$&@! building permits while Trey fretted over colors and cooked our meals on a hotplate amongst all the boxes of cabinets and layers of concrete and drywall dust. Months later, the kitchen IS much more functional, the cabinets aren’t falling apart like the old ones, and it looks like we might even finish it someday! Being the eternal optimist, Trey says the project taught us many good things, such as the proven knowledge that our marriage is as secure as my chiropractor’s retirement, Applebees has a great 2 for $20 deal, and sometimes its best if you can just find a reason to visit Rhode Island while your husband remembers why he went to college to study Wildlife Management instead of going into construction.

Anyway, Trey had a great time speaking at the National Council for Public History’s annual conference in Providence mid-April with a dear friend from graduate school. A few weeks later, she graduated from the Leadership Wyoming. Through that program, she has been able to grow personally and create friendships with a diverse group of professionals throughout WY. Luckily, it was not an election year, so we may be able to hold off her gubernatorial bid a bit longer!

In June we took a well deserved vacation to Yellowstone with some local friends. Trey even decided it was time she learned to “rough it” with me. Despite my qualms at calling it “camping” (the campground had hot showers and a laundromat) she earned her camping badge of honor by keeping the complaining to a minimum—despite sleeping in a tent for the first time—ever, in grizzly country, with a summer snow storm greeting us for the first couple days of the trip! Luckily, the beautiful scenery outweighed her cold toes. We even bought a tent of our own so Erin and Alex could have theirs back and took Tillie and Shelby camping again later in the summer (in a much less developed area!). Watch for Trey’s upcoming book on “wilder-peeing”!

As I alluded to earlier, Trey made the very difficult decision to leave her job as curator at the local state historic site. After many months of seeking resolution for growing problems and feeling her personal ethics had been compromised (not to mention having a headache from February until antelope season), she turned in her notice and started seeking new opportunities. The time “off” made it easy to take a quick road trip to Minnesota for a cousin’s wedding. I got to meet more of her family, be pop-quizzed on the identities of many of the Treptow clan I had apparently met before, watch the cousins have a chugging contest (don’t compete against Jennifer!), and enjoy some romantic chicken-dancing with my wife.

This fall, Trey started co-teaching a Public History class at the university. She also keeps BUSY by serving on the board of the local community museum, teaching confirmation class at church, planning a museum conference for 2010, crafting, and walking the dogs. The dogs say it is mostly the other stuff that keeps her hopping! She may have to find a “normal” job so she can get some rest again. . .

When my busier seasons started picking up, Trey took another trip to Georgia to do some more catching up. She even got some extra human-socialization at home this fall (hunting season) when her Mom came out for a quick visit in October.

The local co-rec broomball season was moved up a few weeks this year, so our season is already over. Either the other teams are forgetting what they know, or we’re starting to learn a bit: despite three of our players on “injured-reserve” for the last game, the “Fire Monkeys” took third place this year. Trey says broomball is “way funner when we win”. She even body-checked a guy who was getting a bit pushy with me earlier in the game! Sure makes a guy feel warm inside when he knows someone cares enough to look out for him!

We feel very blessed to have the caring support of our wonderful family and friends, through all our ups and downs, trips and travels. We are looking forward to 2010 … Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

With love,


The Treysons: Trey, Jason, Tillie, Shelby, Rocky, and Cooter. And introducing: Blue, Red, and the Cories (unfortunately not a soon-to-be famous rock band).

New Craft

Some of you know I’ve been super secretive about my new hobby. It is because not everyone has opened their Christmas gifts! This year I decided to try my hand at making jewelry. I decided a good way to practice was to make gifts for my girlfriends. I’m pleased with the way things turned out and I found the process very therapeutic. Next year I hope to donate some items to my friend Alana through her online website: Molasses.

Here is a small sneak peak at some of the things I made. I’ll add more pictures after the holidays!

Broomball 2009

This year's broomball season started three months early and ended this month. We finished in 3rd place which is a huge improvement over our first year (when we lost every game)! Because this season overlapped with hunting season, Jason didn't take any video. He was lucky enough to be home before game time! Instead, here are a few pictures from the final tournament. We won this game 3 - 0. Going for a goal!

Defending. We had an amazing goalie this year. Eve was able to deflect many shots and keep us in the lead!
Defending
Almost scored!

Go Fire Monkeys!!! Next year we'll aim for 2nd place and no injuries. The last game, three of our guys were out with torn muscles or bad knees! Keep in mind this is only rec league but some people take it very seriously!

To my teammates: thanks for the great year! To our fans (yes, we had a few people in the stadium this go around): thanks for cheering!

Speed Up, Slow Down!

It’s been a quiet week in Laramie… yes, we are reading Garrison Keillor! It has been cold all week. The high is predicted at 14, with snow. In the five years I’ve lived in Wyoming, I’ve never seen a cold snap like this one (or I block them out). Thus, I’ve been staying in and keeping warm. Crafting, reading, cooking… avoiding cleaning. My downstairs table is covered with feathers and beads. Our bedroom is covered with frames and photographs and I don’t even want to look in the guest room/gift wrapping room!

The class I was co-teaching, Intro to Public History, ended last week. I was sad to say goodbye to the students. It was a wonderful opportunity and made me realize that life as a professor wouldn’t be all bad. It was uplifting to see the students get into “history”, boring ol’ history, and actually think critically about its role in museums and non-profits. Needless to say, it was a very rewarding experience. Now I need something new to do!
This morning I volunteered at the Laramie Plains Museum and helped decorate. This Sat. they are having a free open house for the community. I’ll be a greeter in one of the decorated rooms this Sat. from 3 to 6 if anyone wants to stop by and say “hi”.
Last night was our last broomball game of the regular season. We started early this year. Going into the game, we were in a three way tie for first place. After much huffing and puffing, falling on the ice and possibly a bruised rib, we lost the game 0 – 1. Bummer! Because our games overlapped with hunting season, we didn’t get any video this year. I’m hearing rumors of a tournament game next Sunday so I’ll be sure to snap some pictures.

The rest of the week will be filled with holiday activities: the Game & Fish Christmas party, a baby shower, confirmation class, cookie baking party, entering sweepstakes, and hopefully some new volunteer opportunities.

Jason is on his way home so I’m going to work on getting dinner on the table. Happy Holidays!