Reid & Katie Madsen

After moving to Texas in 1995, Katie and I started writing an annual Christmas letter to keep in contact with our family and friends. They were fun to write, and hopefully fun to read. However, in recent years the Madsen Family Christmas letter has fallen victim to scheduling cuts as a result of the too-many-things-to-do-during-the-holidays syndrome. We were doing fine until 2004, when we spent our Christmas vacation visiting our first grandchild. After skipping 2004, it was easy to skip 2005, and another, and then another, and now zoom!, it has now been four years since you’ve heard a peep from us at Christmas.

I recently asked my son-in-law Jeff Snider, a web designer, to create a web site for Katie and me, and this web site is the result. You can come back to this site at any time to see what the heck happened to those Madsen’s you used to know. And, thanks to Jeff, we now have a very simple medium in which to publish our, Hopefully Annual Madsen Family Christmas Letter in future years.

In addition, you can view pictures of all the Madsens online using Google’s Picasa at http://picasaweb.google.com/reidmadsen. Enjoy!

In our last installment, I regaled you with stories from all the Madsen family weddings of 2003. Danny & Elaine Schacht (August 15, 2003), Jeff and Beth Snider (August 22, 2003), and Spencer & Leanne Madsen (December 20, 2003). It appeared that Peter, our oldest son, did not get the memo about everyone getting married in 2003. But not to worry, Peter finally found the right girl and on October 1, 2005 Peter married Noel Eggleston in Moreno Valley (Riverside), California. At this point our children and their families are distributed across the western states as follows:

Danny, Elaine, and Benjamin Schacht

Danny and Elaine are living in Seguin, Texas, which is about 40 miles east of San Antonio. They both graduated from Texas A&M in August of 2005. Danny works as an Electrical Engineer at CMC Steel Texas in Seguin (www.cmcsteeltexas.com). Danny is serving as the Ward Mission Leader and Elaine is serving as the 2nd Counselor in the Young Women’ Presidency and a full-time mom. Their first son, Benjamin Daniel Schacht was born on October 16, 2007. Needless to say, Benjamin’s arrival has been a big change for Danny and Elaine.

Jeff, Beth, Lindsay and Logan Snider

Jeff and Beth are living in Eagle Mountain, Utah, which is 10-15 miles west of Lehi. Jeff works as a web designer for Digicert (www.digicert.com). Jeff is presently serving as the Ward Clerk and Beth is working with the Cub Scouts and full-time mom. Their first daughter, Lindsay Danielle Snider, was born on November 3, 2004, during John Kerry’s concession speech (perfect!), and their first son, Logan Ripken Snider, was born on March 2, 2007. Other highlights of the year in the Snider family included company-paid vacations to both Hawaii and Disneyland. The not so highlights included Lindsay falling down the stairs and breaking her collar bone.

To get the latest news about the Snider family, visit their family website at http://www.snider-family.com/.

Spencer and Leanne Madsen

Spencer and Leanne are living in Plano, Texas (with Mom & Dad) while they finish up school at The University of Texas at Dallas (www.utd.edu). Spencer graduated in May of 2007 with a Bachelors in Political Theory and with Magna Cum Laude honors. Leanne graduated in December 2007 with a bachelors degree in Mathematics also with Magna Cum Laude honors. Spencer would like to pursue a Masters degree in Public Administration, but before doing so has decided to gain some real-world management experience. To that end Spencer accepted a position as an Assistant Manager at the Flying J Restaurant in south Dallas on Interstate 20 (www.flyingj.com). This particular location is the highest grossing location in the USA, and also the location with the worst margin. Spencer is working with the site’s general manager to help solve that problem. Leanne is presently working as a recruiter, and office manager, for Saratoga Software Solutions. In 2008, Leanne will be applying for her U.S. Citizenship, and we look forward to attending that naturalization ceremony! We’re not sure how much longer Spencer and Leanne will be living with us, but one thing is certain: we will sure miss them when they leave.

Peter, Noel, and Kayli Madsen

Peter and Noel recently moved from Moreno Valley, California and are now living in Queen Creek, Arizona which is about 10 miles south east of Phoenix. Peter is working as a cable television installer and thinking about persuing an advanced degree in business. Noel is a full-time mom. Peter and Noel’s first child, Kayli Marie Madsen arrived on January 31, 2006. Peter spent the last summer working in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and we were able to see him frequently. While he was here Noel and Kayli flew out from California to spend a week with Grandma and Grandpa, and Dad of course. Katie and I will be driving out to see Peter and Noel in January 2008.

Reid and Katie Madsen

Reid and Katie are still living in Plano, Texas, which is about 15 miles north of Dallas. This year marks the 12th year we’ve been in Texas, and we are still loving it. Case in point — today is December 2nd, and we had beautiful sunny skies with an outside temperature of 75 degrees.

Katie is presently working full-time as a music and art teacher at the Frisco Montessori Academy in Frisco, Texas — about 10 miles north of Plano. She enjoys working with the kids but hates the office politics and political correctness of today’s schools.

Katie was recently released as the Primary Chorister in our ward (4 years) and was recently called to serve in the Stake Primary as the Stake Baptism Coordinator.

In May of 2006, Katie was elected as Chapter Regent of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Her term expires in May of 2008. Previously Katie had served in the DAR as the Vice Regent, and in other positions. In 2005 Katie started attending the annual DAR convention held in Washington DC in late June or early July. I’ve been travelling with her to these conventions and have enjoyed hiking around the DC area while Katie is in DAR meetings. In the evenings we go out for dinner, hike around the monuments, or attend one of the DAR evening events.

In addition to all this Katie is still actively engaged in genealogy work and is a member of both the Dallas and Collin County genealogical societies. In her spare time she also continues to play her violin with a local string ensemble.

I left i2 Technologies (www.i2.com) in June of 2005. I had a number of good years at i2 Technologies and still have many friends there but it was a time for a change. That same June I accepted a position as Principal Engineer at Tektronix Inc. (www.tek.com) in Richardson, Texas. Tektronix is best known for it’s oscilloscopes and other hardware test equipment. The division in Richardson is focused on network monitoring solutions for telephone network providers like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc. In November of 2005, Tektronix was purchased by, and became a wholly owned subsidiary of, Danaher Corporation (www.danaher.com). At the end of the day, I’m still a software engineer who excels in solving difficult problems.

In September of this year, the Bishopric of the Plano 4th Ward was changed, and I was released as the 1st Counselor. I really enjoyed serving with Bishop Richmond and his other counselors Rick Stilovich and Jeff Gunn. The six years we served together seemed to just fly by. I was recently called as the High Priests Group Leader in our ward and I look forward to serving the Lord in that position.

For a number of years Katie and I have wanted to build a custom built-in entertainment center in our family room. Earlier this year I obtained quotes and was surprised at how much it was going to cost — $6500 unfinished and another $1200 to finish it. At this point I will mention that for a number of years I’ve wanted to do some woodworking. After some discussion, we decided that I could purchase a new table saw and other necessary tools and build this myself. I figured that if I could draw the plans, and have someone review them, that I could build it — after all I am an engineer of sorts. So, in July of this year I purchased a new professional cabinet-makers table saw, drew up the plans, and got started. I would work a few evenings a week, and on Saturdays as time permitted. As work progressed I purchased a few other tools that were needed. I also discovered that a few friends at work were also dabbling in woodworking and we shared experiences. I installed the entertainment center (unfinished) in the family room in early November and finished all the interior painting before Thanksgiving. In the end, it turned out exactly as I had designed and the finish is perfect. My next large project is to build cabinets for the laundry room to organize the chaos.

This year Katie and I celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary. It’s hard to believe we’ve been married that long, but we have the children and grandchildren to prove it. We are absolutely thrilled to be doing anything together.

We all send to you our best wishes and greetings and hope that you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Reid & Katie Madsen