🎄 Christmas Letter 2017 🎄

We hope this update finds you in good health and joyful Spirit. 2017 has been filled with house projects sprinkled with family time and work.

Bringing our house into this century remains at the top of our list of things to do. Juaquin has utilized DIY manuals and YouTube to get most of the work done. Walls have been removed, headers put in or replaced, baseboards replaced and loads of painting (by Sandra) has commenced. Our funky~skunky house is now just a little bit funky since we secured two crawl spaces that apparently served as welcome mats for local black-n-white visitors. The fading scent was finally put to rest when Seth was under the house helping Wok with an electrical task and came upon “minimal remains”. He ventured back down with a bag, mask and disposable gloves for removal. Thank you, Seth!! He even snapped a picture for us (and, now, you).

Ewww!! Spelunking Seth on pest control duty.

From what we’ve been told, this house was most likely moved here from Fort Worth. The original 1,000 square feet seems to be from the late 1930s. A large living area was added (we believe) in the 80s with 2 large cement/cinder block rooms below. Is it a basement? Not exactly. Was it a garage at some point? One neighbor seems to think so. Who knows!? What we do know is that the ‘funky’ remains and we are good with it! We love our location and with each project completed we see great improvement. This house is slowly becoming a home!

The highlight of our year was a family trip to Buffalo, Wyoming for the Basque Festival and catching up with Juaquin’s extended family. Our kids and grand babies were able to meet us for a wonderful meetup! Lots of photos here, so thanks in advance for your patience with this modern day slide-show. 😏

Cousins Sadie and Harrison waiting for the parade to begin.

Lots of Michelena family gather for the parade.

Oh so many sheep wagons!

Our youngest grand daughter, Hannah.

A visit to the Michelena Ranch.

Mitch takes us over Powder River to see the old family homestead.

Papa Wok (aka: Bucky Buck) shows Sadie and Harrison a new door on an old outhouse.

Aunt Delores has kittens to show Sadie and Harry.

One last photo on the bridge. Granny Sandy, Papa Wok and the wiggly grands.

A few more family pics before we head home.

Jana, Wok and Sadie

September found Juaquin and Sandra in Washington state to celebrate an early 1st birthday for Hannah. Her ‘dada’ was heading to Alabama for SOS (Squardon Officer School) a few days later. We completely understand the need to adjust life/schedules when living an Air Force way of life and are grateful we could make our way there.

Juaquin frosting birthday cupcakes for Hannah.

Getting the house up to par is priority with Juaquin acting as contractor and one-man construction crew. Added income was also a priority leaving Sandra seeking employment. With online applications to a few neighboring school districts complete, it was an application to teach English online that was accepted. Teaching online has proven to be fun and rewarding! It’s not the salary that she would prefer, but it is an appreciated avenue of income and incredibly flexible. Next year should find Juaquin seeking employment. We will keep you posted!

Our children are well! Our grand children are pure joy!
If you are ever in the area let us know: sandi9@hotmail.com We promise we won’t put you to work!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas 🎄 and a Happy New Year filled with good health and love! 🍾🥂 ~ Juaquin & Sandra