Sharon, Sandy, Lexie and Nicholas’ FriendsnFamily Newsletter 2009

Christmas Greetings FriendsnFamily! What a Year! This picture with Santa says it all. Call it the “Oh No – Oh Yeah” year. The MacDougall’s learned, made big decisions, survived, weathered the storm, enjoyed new beginnings, Version 2.0, reinvent, deleveraged, leveraged…whatever you want to call it. We did it, appreciated the experience and will hopefully live and learn.

We have carved out enough time to once again give you a glimpse of our families happenings in our 2009 FriendsnFamily Newsletter. We try to continue to use the Cloud and the wonders of software, animations, pictures and video to bring you a fun, and enjoyable Newsletter. To see our previous Newsletters, click here: FriendsnFamily Newsletters. Please remember that you can click on any of the blue or grey underlined words in this Newsletter to link to the associated webpage, slide show or video clip. To return to the newsletter from the destination website, click the back button on your browser.

Forget about the economy, Global Warming, Obamacare and the mortgage crisis; the toughest part about this years communication is trying to keep Nicholas away from his favorite new spot which is under my desk next to my PC’s power switch and anywhere where there is a button to push that will either erase, re-configure, turn off or reboot whatever I am working on.

We continue to enjoy and appreciate our own family website at www.thefamilypost.com/macdougallfamily. Through thefamilypost.com we share and archive our photo albums, videos, family tree and childhood memories, at our own family website. Please check out our family website and if you are somehow related to our expanding and evolving family, click on your picture and fill out any missing information about you or your branch of the family tree! Fortunately, we are reporting no new additions to the MacDougall family this year. Lexie and Nicholas are wonderful and we love them, and…2 is a blessing. Children like many sports are a young mans game.

Lexie is now 31/2 and attending pre-school. She is making friends, enjoying crafts and learning social skills. Lexie loves singing, dancing, playing Barbie dress up, learning ABC’s, and riding her new Princess Bicycle. Nicholas turned 1 in August laughs all the time and continues to bring us great joy. The two of them together…well, let’s just say that they are learning to appreciate each other. Check out this sisterly love.

On the family vacation front, we ventured to the East Coast for a wonderful trip to Boston, Vermont and Ligonier, Pa . In Boston, we visited Aunt Barbara and Uncle Holy Spirit DoveRoger who had recently moved in with Cousin Brad and Caroline’s in Plainville, MA following Cousin Roger Shelton’s sudden passing in the Spring.

We then visited Grandpa and Grandma and their beautiful new home in Arlington, Vt. During our stay, we sailed on Lake Champlain, built a special swing for Lexie, spent the 4th of July Canoeing on the Battenkill River, and playing a Wirkki/MacDougall Family What a great time visiting the whole Wirkki family!

Roadtrips used to be on a packed Co-Ed Motorhome with a Keg and little direction. Now, we travel with our Tom Tom navigation device in a MiniVan with diaper changers, milk, juice coolers and plenty of toys for the girl and boy. Times have changed!

After Vermont, our MacDougall foursome travelled to Ligonier, Pa to attend Chris and Jennifer Oliver’s wedding at The Rolling Rock Club. The City Slicker MacDougall Clan experienced Country Living at Dunollie, swam at the Pond Party, played golf at Laurel Valley, and experienced country living on Lanny and Annie’s 80 acre Farm. Lexie took her first horseback ride with her cousin Lizzie on DippinDots!

We enjoyed a few other family trips to Santa Barbara to visit Jerry and Cousin Caroline and to Palm Desert for some fun in the sun. We are just starting to get used to the “family vacation” program with the associated luggage, tantrums, cadence, laughs and required patience. We also took a special trip to Calico Lake to visit our dear friends, Smitty and Brandice and their daughter, Cashe. At Calico Lake, Pandora plays and Life is Good. Water sports galore on a private lake with ice cold beer make for a wonderful weekend. We even took the family on a Tube ride!

Sandy’s grandfathered in Boys trips are slowly dwindling as the responsibilities of fatherhood mount. However, Sandy did manage to get in a Mammoth ski trip with The Breakfast Club, Scottsdale golf trip and the Annual Vineyard Classic Tennis gathering in Tampa, FL.

In October, Sandy and Sharon did get a chance to get away to Cabo San Lucas together with 5 other couples. A few of us were celebrating our 50th Birthdays and we went to a new oceanfront villa called “Casa La Laguna”. While we missed our little munchkins, we had a great time with friends playing golf, swimming, lounging, playing dominos, reading and discussing ways to navigate in the new world we find ourselves in.

Sandy’s sister and brother in law, Polly and Brad visited over Thanksgiving and we all gathered in San Diego at Chris and Jennifer’s for a delicious Turkey Dinner and day at the San Diego Zoo. Sandy and Sharon also hosted their annual Corona Del Mar Christmas Walk Party in early December. This special gathering brings our friends together to kick off the holidays with some chili, coleslaw, roasted chicken and assorted goodies.

In March, Sandy leveraged his software, financial services, mortgage and real estate brokerage background to form Mortgage Vintage, Inc. with 3 sharp and experienced partners. Carl, Felix, Sandy and Emmet now comprise Mortgage Vintage, Inc. and they provide residential real estate loans funded by private investors. Mortgage Vintage originates Trust Deeds (mortgages) that are secured by Real Property and provide 10% to 14% returns for investors. Mortgage Vintage has a number of high quality Trust Deeds for sale right now ranging from $50k to $210k. If you are interested in earning over 10% on your money in a secure non-correlated (not related to stock market volatility)investment, please call Sandy or visit our website’s Available Notes Section.

Sharon continues her employment with Kimball Office where she develops Global Accounts. While many companies are searching for ways to reduce cost in this economic climate, Sharon has successfully found a niche that addresses how companies can reduce their corporate footprint through alternative workplace strategies.

The joy of Christmas are in our hearts and souls. We celebrate Christmas and we relish FriendsnFamily. Sharon likes to say that we are living the American Dream. While hectic and sometimes tiring, life is challenging and fun. We are so grateful for our many blessings including our wonderful two children. We get to laugh with them every day which keeps us young. We get to teach and be taught. We get to see raw emotion which is very rare in this politically correct world. We get to see growth, improvement and the passage of time through life’s stages. What a wonderful journey.

We hope you are cherishing your FriendsnFamily, tidings of great joy and God’s gifts this Christmas. Please keep us up to date on your family. We would love to hear from you! Until Next Year…

Love,

Sharon, Sandy, Lexie and Nicholas MacDougall