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Other Newsletters: The Prices' 1997 Newsletter Lindy & Krey What’s this? Well, here goes our first attempt at a Valentine’s Day letter. It’s actually a Christmas letter, but calling it that would make it late; so we’ll call it a Valentine’s letter and call it early. Remember, this is a form letter, and we all hate those, so don’t feel like you have to read the whole thing. Typically, a Christmas letter would sum up our past year’s worth of thoughts and experiences, but being our first one, we’ll need to backtrack a bit to our beginnings to catch everyone up on our story. It’s hard to remember those single days—even though we only have a month or two of marriage under our belts, it feels like it’s been this way forever. Lindy and I met for the first time at a Halloween party in Berkeley in the fall of ‘95. We didn’t quite hit it off at first, but after a lot of late-night Uno games, road trips, concerts, and long talks, we became an official "item" the following summer. Meanwhile, though, I was looking for a job, and my first and only job offer came from Southern California. So on to 1997: We began the year commuting between Northern and Southern California on the weekends. Lindy moved to Phoenix in the Spring, and I followed her out there after a few months. Lindy is a nanny for a very cute set of three year old twins in Scottsdale, and I’ve been working on flood control projects for Simons and Li in Tempe. So now we’re finally settled into our apartment near downtown Scottsdale, and we’ve been really happy with our lives here so far. This is my 22nd mailing address since high school (yes, I’m a geek for counting them up.) Lindy has moved around quite a lot as well, so we’re ready to get settled in for a while. Unfortunately, another job transfer is pending (that’s what I get for being in the flood control business in the desert), so we won’t get to enjoy it here for very long. The good news is that the new job will be in Seattle, which will get us both closer to family. Highlights of the year: These included driving Lindy’s car through the drive-through tree in the Redwood forest of Northern California (we were just amazed that her car made it that far). I tried to impress Lindy with a lame first attempt at surfing while we were visiting some friends in Santa Cruz. My cover was blown when she pointed out to me that I was wearing my rented wetsuit backwards. (I thought I had a special one that zipped up in the front.) Anyway, another highlight was our road trip to the four corners area with our dog Berkeley (sniff) over the 4th of July. As part of the trip we paddled our little inflatable raft around Lake Powell (we didn’t get very far) and climbed around the Kivas in the fascinating Anasazi ruins at Mesa Verde. Lindy’s brother Steve came to visit for a week, and both of our parents also managed a trip out here as well. Our big summer vacation included a drive to see Lindy’s parents in Oregon (by way of Yosemite) and to attend family reunions for both sides of my family in Utah. Oops: Though it can’t exactly be called a highlight, a life-changing experience for both of us came when I drove our rental car into the median on our way home from that trip and flipped it. The accident put us both in the hospital, and there is no doubt in our minds that some sort of miracle pulled us through it. We were also very lucky to have virtually fully recovered before our wedding, thanks to some excellent doctors and a lot of help from Lindy’s employers, the Giancolas. Lindy suffered a very serious break to her leg, and she can get her way with me every time now by just pointing at her leg. We were able to get very close during the recovery, and I feel very fortunate that we got the chance to continue our lives together. The moral of the story is that tired drivers are as dangerous as drunk drivers, and we are now very strong opponents of night driving. So now when I drive, I get a punch in the shoulder every thirty seconds. Roots: Lindy and I both made separate pilgrimages back to the Bay Area since moving here to Arizona, and we have enjoyed keeping up with our friends there who knew us from our beginnings. Lindy went back for a bridal shower in Berkeley, and I went back to do a triathlon in Napa Valley—the one embarrassing moment of the year that topped my surfing disaster came then. My knee was killing me in the middle of the race, and as I ran by an aid station, a worker shouted that he was handing out packets of gel. So I grabbed one and thought I was rubbing some sort of soothing sports creme on my knee to realize it was Power Gel, which is basically a liquid candy bar. Needless to say, it made for a very uncomfortable finish to the race. The big day: We had a beautiful wedding ceremony and reception in Utah. The weather was perfect, but the day was a blur. The sealing ceremony was in the Mount Timpanogos Temple, and it was followed by a reception at Sundance in Provo Canyon. We spent a few days after that in Jackson, Wyoming, enjoying the snow that we won’t see here in the Phoenix area. That was followed by another trip to Utah over Christmas for my sister Kerrie’s wedding. That makes two weddings each in both of our families within a few months. All of the traveling took its toll on our car, which wouldn’t start anywhere in the state of Utah. (Lindy’s distaste for Utah must have inadvertently rubbed off on it.) Brrrrrr: We were also able to go to Michigan for a double reception there over New Years with Kerrie and her new husband Neal. While Lindy and I were briefly separated at an inopportune moment during the reception, a friend of Kerrie’s approached her and whispered, "hey, why’s that other girl over there wearing a wedding dress to your reception?" Lindy wouldn’t allow me out of arm’s length the rest of the evening. I still don’t think Neal and Kerrie have forgiven us for getting them with the cake before they could get each other (we really are sorry.) We combined our Michigan trip with a visit to Lindy’s grandma and her cousin’s family near Chicago. It was great to look at the old pictures of Hungary with them and to feel the bonds that tie families together. We don’t get to Chicago all that often, so it had been a long time since Lindy had seen them. And though we only had a day or so with them, we felt as if we had made some wonderful new friends. One last open house at Lindy’s parent’s place in Eugene and we breathed a big sigh of relief having all the wedding plans completed. Home again. . .for now: We love the Southwest, but we’re also looking forward to moving closer to Lindy’s family soon, especially since she is now expecting her first nephew. Our list of things to do while in Arizona keeps growing as our time here gets shorter. We won’t miss the summer in Phoenix, but the incredible desert scenery and the proximity to some really cool places is something we will miss. Our new church group has been great, and although our time here was very short, there are a lot of people we will miss when we leave. We were recently put in charge of the youth group’s upcoming roadshow performance—we figure that was designed to teach us patience, but at the same time it has shown us how much we’ve aged. Our baby: The newest addition to our family is a five-week-old Golden Retriever named Santos. To preserve his Mexican heritage, we’re trying to get him to say "Yo quiero Taco Bell" when he’s hungry, but all he can do so far is whine. He’ll have a lot to live up to with his older brother Berkeley’s example—Berkeley was the perfect dog: He let kids pull on his tail, he learned tricks very quickly, and he even made drunk football players melt as they walked by, saying "oh, what a cute little puppy" in baby-talk (that really happened.) He fled the scene after our accident—can’t blame him for that. But we’re still expecting a phone call any day from someone saying they’ve found our dog. We’re negotiating with the milk carton people, but for now we’ll just post a picture of him on our website, which should be up and running in about a week. This letter has gotten way too long: So anyway, married life does take some getting used to, but it sure beats the alternative. We wonder now why we didn’t think of this sooner. It has really been wonderful—the permanence of marriage is a little intimidating (eternity’s a long time), but at the same time it is the most comforting thing in the world. We are grateful for all that we have—I don’t know why we were so lucky as to get a second chance at life, but it has sure strengthened our faith in the gospel of Christ and our belief in a divine purpose for this life. We wish you all the best and a wonderful Valentine’s Day, whether you like it or not. Love, Lindy & Krey January ‘98 |
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