Diane & Chris Edmonds (and this young buck by our frozen pond) wish you and yours the happiest of holiday seasons and a delightful and prosperous 2012!
This was a busy year with both blessings and difficulties. Chris’ Delightful Dad passed away in April at the fine old age of 91. The family came together from across the nation – including long-lost cousins – to celebrate his life. He was laid to rest with full military honors at the National Veterans Cemetery in Riverside, CA.
Diane has been doing well, loving her retirement. She spends her time:
- Managing Chris’ folk’s finances and health care for the last four years. With Dad’s passing, we’ve ramped up visits to 90-year-old Mom, with family visiting monthly. She’s doing really well in her tiered care facility in Corona del Mar, CA.
- Managing home improvements and landscaping at our Conifer, CO abode.
- Spending time with family here in Colorado. Daughter Karin and her hubby Greg live 10 minutes away while son Andy and his bride Dana live 40 minutes away. Diane loves weekly trips “down the hill” into Denver with Karin. Hosting dinners with the kids, spouses, and dogs are a joy to us both.
- Enjoying Shady, the Wonder Dog, our 70 lbs. flat-coat retriever who turns six years old in December. Diane and Shady walk 45 minutes a day in the crisp, cool air of our mountain community (at 8400 feet above sea level). Shady had surgery this summer to repair a torn ACL and is doing great (as you can see from the pic above).
Chris has enjoyed a very busy year of travel. Highlights include:
- Delivering over 90 days of training, consulting, and keynotes across the USA to clients including Apple Computer, Chevron Phillips Chemical, PESCO, EPA, Microsoft, Hasbro, Skanska, WestJet, Wolters Kluwer, Caris Life Sciences, and Cambridge Investments.
- Enjoying the impact that the Gung Ho!® program (the award-winning culture change process Chris co-authored) continues to have with key clients.
- Co-authoring Blanchard’s new Servant Leadership program with Ken Blanchard, Margie Blanchard, and Bob Freytag, and co-facilitating the program for C-suite leaders in March and September.
- Publishing insights from 17 plus years of work with Blanchard clients on Twitter (@scedmonds) and on his culture blog (DrivingResultsThroughCulture.com). Chris truly enjoys the conversations his tweets and articles have generated.
- Publishing his first book, #CORPORATE CULTURE tweet, and having it featured at Blanchard’s ASTD Expo Booth in May. Chris’ second tweet book, #POSITIVITY AT WORK tweet, co-authored by the remarkable Lisa Zigarmi, is set for release in January ’12.
- In his Regional Consulting Partner role for the Central Region at Blanchard, working closely with sales staff and clients with discovery, needs assessment, proposal creation, and custom design and delivery.
Chris is totally inspired by his involvement with Graystone Records recording artist, the Jones & Raine band. Musical milestones this year include:
- Updating the instrument collection. This year Chris sold his ’81 Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar to fund the acquisition of two Taylor guitars: a T5 acoustic-electric and a T3-B electric. The photo above is of Chris playing the T3-B with the band at the inaugural Rocky Mountain Freedom Festival. You can check out pics of the instrument collection on his music website.
- Performing with the band throughout the Rocky Mountain region. This was our busiest year ever, with shows at the Sheridan, WY Rodeo, Cheyenne, WY’s Frontier Days Carriage Ball, and Gearing, NE’s Oregon Trail Days, two festivals in the Denver Metro area (we opened for the Desert Rose Band’s only 2011 show at one of these), plus numerous corporate events and weddings. 2012 looks to be even busier! We have our first public concert booked at Parker, CO’s new PACE Center on May, 19, 2012 – tix are available here.
