Christmas card

In case we missed you or ran out of cards, here is this year's Christmas card newsletter (and photo!) from the Nutter family.



Dear Family and Friends,

It’s been an eventful two years for the Nutter family (we didn’t get around to sending cards out last year – oops!). Julie is now two years and eight months old, so that’s a huge span for her. She’s walking, running, talking, laughing, and making our lives wonderful. She brings joy and light into every day. Some of her favorite things to do are play with playdough, eat cheese, play with water, eat olives, play with blocks, and make big messes. She’s especially getting good at the last one. She makes us laugh with her funny antics as she learns new behaviors – singing, dancing, playing ring-around-the-rosie, and caring for her stuffed animals. She likes to change their diapers and put them down for naps. It took most of the year before she started saying more than a couple of scattered words here or there, but now she repeats much of what we say, and finds excitement in learning new words. She seems to be a bit of a late-bloomer, though she’s catching up. She’s also made lots of friends at church and in the neighborhood this year.

Benjamin continues to work with the Boy Scouts. This summer he attended Scout Camp and, separately, a 20-mile backpacking trek, on a trail that didn’t have switchbacks. Last summer (2009), he spent a week canoeing 80 miles on the French River in Canada. It was one of the highlights of his life, and he looks forward to going again in a few more years. The scout troop has also had a turkey roast on the reservation the last two years. They built an outdoor oven out of aluminum flashing and 2x3s, and roasted a turkey in it with charcoal. It’s the tastiest turkey Benjamin has ever eaten. They had a full Thanksgiving spread, with potatoes, vegetables, rolls, and desserts, all prepared outdoors in Dutch ovens. The first year, it was a last-minute fill-in for another campout that had to be cancelled. It was an instant hit, and is now an annual event.

Janelle (that’s me!) has had two areas of advancement over the last two years: motherhood and photography. Stay-at-home motherhood is a challenge to adjust to, especially in the youngest years when children aren’t super active or interactive yet. It’s been a learning and growing process that continues. Motherhood is great, but I have a hard time seeing progress and growth in myself, from day-to-day. I have, however, made huge leaps and bounds with my photography. For most of 2009, I carried my camera with me everywhere I went. It was a small point-and-shoot, and fit easily into a purse or diaper bag. I took lots of pictures wherever I went, and really got to know the settings and abilities of my camera. In August, it broke. I was so sad. It was unexpected, and we weren’t able to replace it for several months. A family member loaned us an old one until we could buy a new one. I was expecting almost a year gap between the old and the new one, but in February, Benjamin surprised me with a brand new camera! I was so excited. It’s a digital SLR, with interchangeable lenses, etc. I’ve spent much of this year practicing with it, taking pictures for family and friends free of charge, as I build my skills in shooting and editing, build a client base, and work toward being able to purchase more camera equipment, including lenses. I’ve also been taking a correspondence course in photography in order to learn more about the technical side of things. I plan to incorporate sometime in the next year and begin to actually charge for my work, supplementing family income. I’m very happy to have found something I love doing, am good at, and can earn money from.

We hope that you are all well and happy this Christmas season.

Benjamin, Janelle, and Julie Nutter

To see our family updates, please visit http://nutterstuff.blogspot.com/
To see my photography, please visit http://squarerootphotography.blogspot.com/