Merry Christmas

Over the River and through the woods to Grandfathers house we go. We made the pilgrimage to Milwaukee to attend Christmas Eve service with Grandpa and Bonnie at their church. They both sang in the Choir. Following church, we spent the evening at their condo where we had a Delicious Ham dinner. Christmas Day was at my sister Julie's house. She had the day planned out like a true German, right down to the minute. One of the highlights for me was the Christmas Crawl, a one mile walk in the windy single digit temperatures. It was great to see all my brothers, sisters, nephew's and nieces. We had an opportunity to get a few group pictures. One of all my siblings and my Dad, as well as one with him and all the Grandchildren. I've posted some photos of the holiday on the family web site. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Grandpa and his Grandchildren

Dad and his Kids

Seasons Greetings 2008

Christmas greetings to all our family and friends. Our country has had a tough time in 2008. But it's important to remember that our country has seen tough economic times before. We as a people will always pull together and rise above these challenges. So, this year more than ever we need to pause during the craziness that the shopping season brings, and reflect on all that we have been blessed with. We live with freedom of speech, of choice and of action. I pray that we never take these for granted. We live with the knowledge that together we can accomplish more that as individuals apart. We live in a country free of religious persecution. In a country where all people are created equal. Where anything is possible. Yes, we have much to be thankful for.

For our family, 2008 has been a good year. The kids have all planted roots of strong friendship within their schools. We have had many opportunities to have family from Wisconsin visit us over long holiday weekends. We have also been able to travel back to Wisconsin ourselves to take part in family events that we would have missed were we still living in California. We even have new relatives close by as Rich and Sheryl Schwarzinger moved their family from Detroit to Excelsior and now live one mile away from us!

Our oldest son, Nik, is now in his second year at Transitions Plus. This specialty school trains young adults with minor and major disabilities, they prepare them for the real world and they help each student excel with what gifts they hold within. Nik will begin a Mac Genius training program in his second semester. He is passionate about computers and with the proper training, he is hopeful to work in a computer related field. In the meantime, he is working two days a week at a local high school coffee shop, where he makes smoothies and does prep work for the school kitchen. At home, he is my go to guy for mowing the lawn in summer and shoveling the driveway in the winter. If you asked him, he'd tell you he much prefers the lawn...it's not cold out when you do that! Nik still loves to travel and is always up for a road trip. It doesn't even matter where, he just likes to be on the move, exploring new places.

Alex, now a Senior at Minnetonka High School, has had a great year in 2008. He attended is first Prom and Homecoming dances. Has been working part time at a local pizza joint several days a week, a job he seems to enjoy much more that Subway. This past summer saw Alex doing college campus visits, studying for and taking the ACT test and finally the college application process. He has applied at around 15 colleges both in the Midwest and West coast. So far, he has received acceptance letters from Winona State and the University of Nebraska. We are so proud of all his accomplishments. It's an exciting time for AJ and he looks forward on deciding which school to attend. I'm trying not to think about my feelings the day we drop him off at campus. It will be heart breaking.


Our youngest, Catie, is in 8th grade at Minnetonka West Middle School. Like her brother, Alex, she is very social and has made lots of good friends. She is doing well in school, even though it's not her favorite place to be. She does however love to dance! She has been studying Ballroom since this past Spring. She is really doing well. In October she got a partner and they are now training for their first competition this coming February. It's so fun to watch her, she is so graceful and beautiful. I just know she will do well. Catie is also my kayaking buddy. She enjoys getting out on the local lakes. She is interested in joining me on my next adventure down Minnehaha Creek in the spring. It's good to always have things to look forward to!



Chris is still the rock of our family and the love of my life. She has made tremendous progress on her recovery from back surgery. She continues to focus her energy on keeping her back healthy and enjoys running our household like a well oiled machine. Earlier this year, she had gotten back into the culinary world working part time. Unfortunately the economy hits the caterers first and she is no longer with a company that had to close it doors of business this year. Chris is also excited to have my cousin, Sheryl, living in our neighborhood. They volunteer at Minnetonka High School together, besides volunteering, they also make time to go shopping and I believe many projects they want to complete are in the works. Lastly, she was introduced to Facebook by our sister-in-law Tracy, and she is now a junky just like the rest of the free world! If you are really nice to her, she may agree to be your friend.

As for me, I'm very grateful for the job security that I have with Quad. Even though the economy is tough all over, we have the long term vision and focus to come out of this recession in really great shape. Anyone that reads my blog is pretty up to speed on my daily life. If you're not signed up for my blog and would like access, please drop me an e-mail.

Thanks to all those who took time out of there busy lives to visit us. We are also thankful to those family and friends around the country that opened their homes to us during our travels this past year. We really enjoyed the opportunity to re-connect that these visits brought us. In closing, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year. God Bless You!

The Wunrow's, Jeff, Chris, Nik, Alex and Catie

PS: If you've made it all the way to the end, Thanks for handing in there. Your reward is the link to our Year in Pictures on our family web site. Happy Holidays!

1st Snowshoe of the Season

Today we had a small winter storm come through that brought us about 5 inches of very light, fluffy, almost powdered sugar looking snow. This finally gave us a good enough base to get out and play. So, I look advantage of a couple free hours late in the afternoon to head out the Lake Minnewashta. I was originally going to cross-country ski but the trails were not groomed yet, so I decided to snowshoe instead. The snow was perfect, even though there was a strong wind and the temp dropped from 17 to 6 while I was out. I had the whole park to my self. It was really peaceful to be floating along through a winter wonderland.

Warm clothes are the Best!

Mother Natures Handywork

George W. Bush Presidential Library

I got this list from a friend of mine in LA yesterday and thought it was funny enough to share.

The George W. Bush Presidential Library is now in the planning stages. The Library will include:

• The Hurricane Katrina Room, which is still under construction.
• The Alberto Gonzales Room, where you won't be able to remember a thing.
• The Texas Air National Guard Room, where you don't even have to show up.
• The Walter Reed Hospital Room, where they don't let you in.
• The Guantanamo Bay Room, where they don't let you out.
• The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room, which no one has yet been able to find.
• The National Debt room which is huge and has no ceiling.
• The 'Tax Cut' Room with entry only to the wealthy.
• The 'Economy Room' which is in the toilet.
• The Iraq War Room where after you complete your first tour, they make you go back for a second, third, fourth, and sometimes fifth tour.
• The Dick Cheney Room, i n the famous undisclosed location, complete with shotgun gallery.
• The Environmental Conservation Room, still empty.
• The Supreme Court's Gift Shop, where you can buy an election.
• The Airport Men's Room, where you can meet some of your Favorite Republican Senators.
• The 'Decider Room' complete with dart board, magic 8-ball, Ouija board, dice, coins, and straws.

The museum will also have an electron microscope to help you locate the President's accomplishments.

Sorry to any Bush supporters, but you have to admit he is leaving quite a legacy.

Purple Pride (It's not mine)

I have a friend at work that is a HUGE Vikings fan. Her cubicle is covered with team memorabilia, photos, banners, pretty much anything you can think of. A local radio station ran a contest looking for the Viking fan with the most outrageous office decorations. I figured Leann would be a slam dunk to win this, I mean come on! Well she coordinated a photo with the Viking fans in our office to submit to the station. I think it's really well done and pretty funny. The amazing thing is...she DIDN'T win! I can't believe it. I can't imagine what the winners office must have looked it! Anyway, it was all in good fun and I really like the photo. Even though it is the Vikes and not the Pack. I'm happy the home town fans have something positive to cheer about. Especially when our Basketball team is horrible and our hockey team is struggling. As a gesture of friendship for Leann, I'll close out by saying "GO Vikings!" Now get back to your Christmas cookies!

Chili Cook-Off 2008

Last week was the annual Quad Graphics Chili Cook-Off in the Minneapolis office. I've been so busy, I have not had a chance to write about it. This was my third year entering. You may recall I won my first year and finished fourth last year. This year we had 10 chili's in the competition and more customer guests than we've had for years. The chili's were all good. Any one of them would have been enjoyable on a cold winter day. The entire office plus all the guests each cast a ballot for their 1st, 2nd and 3rd place choices. The scoring was pretty even. Every entry scored some points, a testament to the overall quality of the field. When all was calculated, I had 25 points, putting me in third place. 2nd place went to Ron Hoeschen from Photo who had 26 points and 1st went to Randy Rudolph from Northern Tool who had 28 points. Even though I didn't win, I was still happy with a podium finish and the $20 third place prize! I'll get 'em next year!

My Birthday, Take 2

Today I got an added secret bonus birthday gift. It turns out that Chris along with Rich Schwarzinger planned a night out for me and my cousin Sheryl since our birthdays are only only three days apart. We met at Rich and Sheryl's house at 2 pm. All I knew was that we needed to be "dressy casual". Once we were in the car Chris let us know we were on our way to a theatre show, followed by dinner at Maynard's. The show is called Church Basement Ladies and it is put on at the Plymouth playhouse. It's well know locally for it's humorous look at life in a small town Minnesota in the late 60's and early 70's as seen through the perspective of ladies who volunteer to run the kitchen in a Lutheran Church. The show was a sell out, and it was hilarious! I recommend this play to anyone, young or old. After the show we were off to Maynard's for a great meal. Thanks Chris and Rich for making this such a fun day!

Chris and I at Maynard's in Excelsior

Rich and Sheryl at Maynard's in Excelsior

Birthday Thanks

I celebrated my 48th birthday today. It was a hectic and busy day at work which at times made it hard to remember that it was my birthday. However, I received many birthday wishes throughout the day from Co-workers, Friends and Family. As is an indication of the times that we live in, these greetings came in many forms, Cards, phone calls, SMS texts, e-mails, Facebook posts and of course, good old fashioned face to face human contact...still my favorite! As I went through my day I knew I had the evening with my family to look forward to. We had a nice quiet evening at home. Chris prepared a delicious surf and turf dinner of Coconut Shrimp, grilled Steak Fillet, steamed broccoli and baked potato. Add as glass of red wine and it was better than any restaurant! It was really nice to have dinner together as a family. With all of us having such busy schedules these moments are rare, which makes them all the more precious when we can make them happen. That was probably the best birthday gift of them all. Thank you to everyone that reached out to make my day special and especially Chris and the kids for making it so perfect. I am truly blessed.

Catie gave me a new aluminum water bottle

Alex, the reader in our family gave me Barak's New Book

Chris and Nik combined to give me a new Packer Jersey