Dylan in the Seven Lakes President Joe Biden

High School Marching Band Cameron, Dylan, Blitz, Matt and Kristy excited to meet Cameron

The Epic Saga of Matt, Kristy, Cameron, Dylan, Tori, Jasmine & Blitz 2023

Dylan playing baseball in Florida Blitz, Tori and Jasmine Cameron testifying before U.S. Congress
The Samuels Family made the most of
2023 from Houston to Boston to Florida
and several places in between.1 Our
year was packed with travel baseball,
marching band, a presidential visit,
congressional testimony and a 20-year
anniversary celebration in Las Vegas.2
Cameron, 20, had quite the year as a
sophomore at Brandeis University in Boston.
Cameron made the Dean’s List and has
enjoyed classes that include Politics,
Journalism, Computer Science and Latin.3
When not on campus, Cameron has Dylan & Ari with Mums Matt & Kristy in Vegas Cameron at Brandeis
advocated and spoken to large audiences
all over the country.4 Cameron got a Cameron was honored with the Human He and his girlfriend, Ari, celebrated one
personal invitation to the White House5 Rights Campaign Trailblazer Award, year together in November, which included
to meet the president during National walked the red carpet at the GLAAD their first homecoming and Mum experience.10
Pride Month and testified before U.S. Media Awards in NYC, took part in a
Congress to fight against book bans.6 Clinton Foundation conference in Nashville Dylan joined the award-winning Seven
Cameron traveled for more than 50 days in 2023, and was the keynote speaker for the American Lakes High School Marching Band as a
visiting more than 20 cities along the way.7 Library Association in Tampa. Cameron also bass clarinetist in the fall and performed at
spent the summer as the communications football games and band competitions around
During this process, Cameron founded coordinator at URJ Sci-Tech Summer Camp, the state.11 The band’s show, “A Thousand Paper
and currently directs the nonprofit, SEAT where Cameron was a camper eight summers ago. Cranes” advanced all the way to the Texas
(Students Engaged in Advancing Texas)8, state finals and was performed in front of
which has done amazing work, including Dylan, 15, started high school in August thousands at The Alamodome in San Antonio.
organizing a statewide advocacy day at the and has adjusted quite well.9 He has
Texas Capitol, holding events with an maintained all A’s and B’s in his first Following marching season, Dylan was honored
Oscar-nominee and former U.S. Secretary of semester, taking core classes of Geometry, to be the only freshman in the top concert band
Education and introducing state legislation. Biology, World Geography, English and Spanish. and received all-region freshman first chair.
1 - We even traveled on some old country roads in Louisiana and Mississippi to visit family. 2 - It got confusing when the four of us were on three different times zones on
the same day. 3 - You don’t have to be a math major to realize that it costs us more than 3.14159 mortgage payments per class. 4 - Cameron doesn’t charge nearly as much
for speaking engagements as your average politician, but actually speaks the truth. 5 - Cameron was scouting the place out for a potential future 8-year lease. 6 - Which is
quite ironic, considering most senators have never read a book in their life. 7 - Cameron spent 10% of the year on a plane, train, subway, Uber, Lyft or Hitch. 8 - Learn more
and donate at studentsengaged.org/about. 9 - To prepare for the challenges of high school, Dylan grew to almost 6-feet tall over the summer. 10 - Everything is bigger in
Texas, including these overhyped arrangements of ribbons, bells and bling. 11 - Much like life, marching band is countless hours of hard work and preparation for an 8-minute
performance and then you pack up and go home.
 Cameron honored as the Teen Trailblazer Dylan leads the Katy Crush to one of their
at the Human Rights Campaign gala multiple tournament championships

Matt & Kristy celebrate 20 years!

Matt, Cameron and Kristy at Dylan on bass clarinet (right)

Brandeis Family Weekend
Dylan also continued his baseball
pursuits, playing first base and
pitching for the Katy Crush. The
team won two state tournament
championships, one runner-up
finish and earned third place in
a national World Series in Fort
Walton Beach, Florida.12 Dylan
also had an amazing opportunity
to play with the JCC Maccabi
Baseball team, traveling to Fort
Lauderdale, Florida in August.
Dylan’s baseball future will be determined
in January, where more than 100 kids
will try out for the 6A Seven Lakes High
School baseball team. Dylan had a taste of
Freshman baseball over the summer, making the
Seven Lakes Summer League Freshmen team
in July, where he was one of the top hitters and
pitchers in the short 10-game season.
Kristy continues her job as a senior
software developer for Anthology. While
she still enjoys yoga, crochet, embroidery,
reading, cooking and going to ballets, Kristy
has recently gotten into quilting.13 She took
a week off work to attend the Houston
International Quilting Festival, which attracted
tens of thousands of people to Texas.
Kristy, Dylan, Cameron and Matt
Matt continues helping lead the JHV
as the Chief of Operations. His days
are filled with reporting on stories in the
community, designing the weekly newspaper
and magazines, maintaining subscribers,
as well as the JHV’s website and social media
channels. He was recognized with several
journalism awards from three different state and
national newspaper associations. He also
finished his final year of coaching Dylan’s travel
baseball team in November.14
Blitz, 2, continues to be a “Good Boy,”
providing entertainment and companionship
for all. He enjoys playing with his neighbor
dogs, walking around the lake, chasing
rabbits, going to dog parks and swimming.15
He was also unofficially adopted as the Katy
Crush’s team mascot during their
World Series trip, where he got to have
fun on the beach.
Tori, 17, and Jasmine, 7, continue to
love having their new puppy brother.
All three animals play together during
the day and often sleep next to each
other at night.16 Tori battled a scary
infection for several weeks in the
spring. Fortunately, some good
treatment by Kristy and some love from
“Dr. Blitz” brought her back to good health.
Kristy and Matt traveled to Las Vegas for
their 20th Wedding Anniversary in February,
where they enjoyed plenty of live entertainment,
including an amazing Cirque du Soleil show.17
They also traveled to Boston to visit Cameron
for Brandeis Family Weekend and to Florida
for Dylan’s World Series. In Houston, they
attended many live rock shows, Astros games
and Broadway Shows.
Adventure awaits in 2024, sure to be filled
with more college, high school, advocating,
baseball and marching band.18 We hope
all of our family and friends had a healthy
and fun year, and we look forward to
seeing you along the trails of 2024.

Love to all, (in order of appearance) Matt, Kristy, Cameron, Tori, Dylan, Jasmine & Blitz
12 - Dylan now has more baseball championship rings for the Crush than he has fingers. 13 - I guess we will be adding on a Quilt Room to our house in the Spring.
14 - He is still waiting on a call back to manage the Astros in 2024. 15 - Blitz now gets first choice for his spot on the sofa, the bed and seat in the car. 16 - They make a good
couple - Jasmine snores when she sleeps and Tori - at age 17 - is deaf and not bothered by the extra noise. 17 - Are we the first couple to visit Vegas, stay at a fancy casino
hotel and not lose any money gambling? 18 - Maybe Matt will find time for a new hobby outside of writing bad jokes for holiday newsletters.