Merry Christmas

Since I have done such a terrible job of keeping up with the blog this year, I thought I would post our family Christmas letter, kind of a quick recap....

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Merry Christmas! We hope this year has found you healthy and happy. It has been so long since we have seen many of you, we thought we would try and catch you up a little bit.

Sam: 10 yrs old, 5th grade

• Doing well in school – top student, participating on academic team and Odyssey of the Mind team.
• Piano and violin – doing well and enjoying it.
• Earned his Webelos badge and has almost earned his Arrow of Light.
• Enjoys riding his bike and building things with LEGO’s
• Ran his first 5k this summer.

Olivia: 9 yrs old, 3rd grade

• Doing well in school – top student, choir and STLP (student technology leadership program).
• Piano and violin – doing well, played a piano piece in her school talent show – also enjoys singing in the ward choir.
• Enjoying Achievement Day activities.
• Played soccer this year and scored her first goal.
• Enjoys riding her bike, playing with her dolls, Barbie’s and doing scrapbooking with mom

Nate: 5 yrs old, Pre-school

• Loves his speech teacher and going to “Sam and Olivia’s school”.
• Dad’s best buddy and everything is “Awesome”. No self-confidence issues, favorite thing to say is, “I’m awesome” (takes after his Dad).
• Taught himself how to ride a ‘two-wheeler’ this year.
• Played soccer this year and was so fun to watch – we called him “Mr. Hustle”.
• Has not started music lessons yet, but we’re sure he’ll do well since he’s “awesome” at everything.

Mom: age…classified

• Occupation: Independent Family Consultant
• Another year keeping us all healthy, happy and organized.
• Ran her first 5k this summer.
• Continues to keep the ward on beat as the ward organist.
• Wears many hats: private chauffeur, child psychologist, cheerleader, short order cook, probation officer, academic tutor, CFO, secret shopper and my personal favorite…life coach. All great qualities to have as we prep for another “Call” to join the family in 2012! Yep, it’s a boy!

Dad: age…awesome

• Occupation: Product Manager at Humana Inc.
• This past year brought some interesting challenges. On Martin Luther King Day I ruptured my Achilles tendon. While down, I was forced to watch all the Twilight movies. Physical therapy went very well, just not fast enough (which drove everyone and myself crazy) I’m now back to full speed.
• First foray into coaching as assistant coach of Nate’s soccer team.
• In July was released as the 1st counselor in the Bishopric after almost 4 years and then called to serve as a member of the High Council in our Stake. I’m certain it was because the stake needed speakers who could single handedly speak for 40 minutes straight without stopping for air.

Family recap:

• Completed the Book of Mormon after 3 long, faithful years of reading each night. We have since started over with a new goal to complete it sooner this time.
• Had fun catching up with family and friends as we took trips to AZ, CA, TN and UT.
• We’re enjoying watching the kids learn, grow and mature. We’re doing our best to teach and guide and then get out of the way as the kids begin to fly.

We love and miss you all and hope that you and your families are doing well. We are grateful for your love and friendship and we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year