Christmas Letter 2014

December 2014

Happy holidays!  The tree is up and decorated, the stockings are hung by the fireplace, gifts are being purchased, so I guess it is time to start the Christmas letter.  It always amazes me when I really stop and look back at our year and realize just how much we have done and how blessed we have been. 

Dalton turned 12 this year and was ordained a deacon.  He is now in the young men program and passing the sacrament.  Suddenly he seems so much older to me.  In January he was invited to play on a Super League baseball team.  They started practicing in January although their games didn’t start until April.  They played in tournaments in St. George, Salt Lake, Provo and Wendover.  Dalton had a good time, but when the season was over in July, he was grateful not to have to go to practice anymore.  Dalton also started Junior High this year.  His sixth grade teachers had spent so much time “getting him ready for Jr. High” that when he got there he decided it was easier than 6^th grade.  He has been doing a lot of scouting and has been on several scout camps.  Camping in the fall/winter doesn’t sound fun to me, but he seems to like it.  He still loves anything and everything electronic and would spend hours playing games if we would let him.

Holly turned 10 this year.  She tried softball for the first time.  She enjoyed practicing hitting and catching out in the backyard with Dalton and Dad.  Although she enjoyed softball she decided that soccer was more her sport.  She tried out for, and made the Utah Glory U11 team.  Holly has been playing goalie and forward.  Besides their normal soccer season they have played in a few soccer tournaments.  The last one was in San Diego the day after Thanksgiving.  We drove down as a family and made a little vacation out of it.  Holly started 5^th grade at a new school.  The boundaries were changed this year so instead of going to Monte Vista Elementary we were switched to Elk Meadows.  The kids were a little nervous but have since decided that they are happy at Elk Meadows.  Holly had several friends who changed schools also so she was ok with it.  Holly loves to play electronics as well, but she also loves to read.  She is my best little helper.  She will often clean the kitchen just because she wants to help. 

My sweet little Allison turned 8 years old this year.  She was baptized and looked absolutely beautiful in her white dress.  I can’t believe how big she is getting.  Turning 8 meant that Ally got to join Holly at Activity Days.  She has loved going to activities and hanging out with the other girls.  Allison started 3^rd grade at Elk Meadows.  She was a little more nervous about changing school than the others because she didn’t have a lot of friends changing schools with her, but she has since made lots of friends and loves her teacher.  Ally is our amazing artist.  She loves to color, paint and create.  She is incredibly creative and I’m often surprised at the things she comes up with.  She will spend hours or even days working on a project. 

Jackson turned 6 in September.  The biggest change for him this year was graduating from preschool and then starting Kindergarten.  He absolutely adores his teacher, Miss Comte.  He loves getting to ride the bus with his friends everyday.  He loves it when I come into his class to volunteer and asks me just about everyday if I am coming in today.  Jackson played soccer again this fall.  He is still in that age where most of the kids just follow the ball in a giant clump.  It is fun to watch because they are so cute, but nowhere near as exciting as Holly’s games where they are learning to pass, and play their positions.  He is still as cute as ever and loves to give hugs and is quick to always say “I love you!”  He melts my heart everyday.

In June, I went on my big European choir tour.  It was amazing!  Jeremy stayed home with the kids and I was able to go with my mom, Melissa and Sarah and several of my choir friends.   We traveled to Budapest, Vienna and Prague.  We sang concerts in each of those cities and spent several days touring each.  A few highlights include singing selections from a Haydn mass in Haydn Hall in Esterhazy Palace where he lived and worked, singing in the church where he is buried and where he performed his masses while he was living, visiting the graves of musical greats such as Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Strauss, touring Schoenbrunn Palace, the home of the Hapsburgs, the royal family of Austria, singing in Karlskirche or St. Charles church in which Haydn, Mozart, Brahms, Schubert and others had performed (Melissa, Sarah and I all had solos in our concert and it was so neat to get to perform together), taking a river cruise down the Moldau River in Prague and so much more.  Check out my blog (www.thesnow-flakes.blogspot.com) if you want to read about it in much more depth and see pictures.  It was such a wonderful, once in a lifetime trip.  I wasn’t originally planning on going, but Jeremy arranged it for me as a Christmas present.  What a sweetheart!

While I was gone Jeremy dealt the kids and the landscapers.  We had decided to have a little work done on the yard.  We wanted to expand the existing flower beds and put in an in-ground trampoline.  Jeremy would have done it himself, but with his pack issues and recent back surgery we decided to hire some landscapers to do it for us.  We are quite pleased with the results and the kids love the tramp.  We still have a lot of planting to do this Spring, though

In July, we traveled with Jeremy’s family to Virginia Beach to celebrate his parent’s 40^th anniversary.  It was such a great trip!  The kids were thrilled the whole time, from the first airplane ride to the last.  We spent a week in a beach house, right on the Atlantic Ocean.  The kids would wake up, go outside and play in the ocean for hours, come inside and swim in the indoor pool, eat lunch and then go back out to the ocean again.  There was boogie boarding, surfing, kayaking, sand castle building and just lounging on the beach.  It was the most relaxing, fun vacation!  The kids loved getting to be with their cousins 24/7.

As I mentioned before, we went to San Diego for Holly’s soccer tournament.  We drove down on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and got home on the following Sunday, so it was a quick trip but fun nonetheless.  We spent Thanksgiving Day at SeaWorld.  I was so amazed at the shows.  The animals were amazing!  Then Friday and Saturday we had soccer games.  Sadly, Holly’s team got creamed in all three games, but her coach had told us that was what we were expecting.  Apparently, California teams are much better than Utah teams because they can practice all year round.  Plus, we were informed that we were the youngest team in our division so that didn’t help either.  I think Holly had a good time regardless. We were able to make a quick trip to the beach on Friday afternoon but Saturday we packed up after the game and drove to Las Vegas.  We took the kids down the strip.  They loved the Hershey store and the M&M store.  We also got to see the Bellagio fountains, the volcano and the pirate ships at Treasure Island.  A lot has changed since Jeremy and I were last there years ago.  The kids thought it was fun and did great considering we walked for about 3 hours.  I did end up with Jackson on my back for about half that.

Jeremy would not count it as fun vacationing, but he did travel to Ireland a couple of times this year for work.  He also made several trips to Canada and back East.  We are glad he doesn’t have to travel too much.  He is still working for Merit Medical as a Program Manager in their R&D department and he continues to be the financial clerk in our ward.  He gets awfully busy in November/December during tithing settlement time.  We will be glad when that is done.  Besides the yard, we also tackled a project in the dining room.  We painted the walls and Jeremy made pilasters in all four corners of the room.  He added crown molding and lots of other molding so there was tons of angled cutting and weird measurements going on.  I am so glad that he is good at math and can figure those things out.  It turned out beautiful!  He does good work!

This past October I started a new job working at the kids’ elementary school as an aide.  I go in and teach the Meet the Masters art program once a week.  I was not really looking for a job this year since Jack is still in Kindergarten but when this fell into my lap I decided that it might be a good way to get my foot in the door for maybe working more next year when he is in school all day.  I am finding that I really enjoy being back in the classroom. Thankfully I have great neighbors who help out with Jackson on Thursday mornings.  I am still singing and teaching piano lessons and staying busy with all the other “mom” things I do all day everyday. 

Overall, life is incredibly good and we are blessed beyond measure.  We hope that Christmas finds you happy and healthy and recognizing the abundant blessings in your lives, poured out by the Lord.  We love you and wish you a very Merry Christmas!