Since it is the new millennium and we live in the day of technology, I feel it's safe to post our Christmas letter on my blog instead of addressing countless envelopes and spending money on stamps. For those of you who are faithful blog readers of mine, this is for you. For those who haven't embraced the modern world, they can consider themselves uninformed.
This year, 2009, has brought some really exciting things. The year started with a wonderful girls weekend away with two good friends to Vegas. We slept in, ate a lot of good food, pampered ourselves and watched some good shows. The past two years I've gotten a trip away by myself. The year before I went to the Grand Canyon with my dad. This is a great little tradition that I think should be carried out every year!
Carmen turned 4 this year and started her second year of Joy School. She's not so excited about it this year. All she can think about is going to Kindergarden!!! The other day I asked her why she was so excited about kindergarden. She said "because they have free play!". I explained to her that Joy School has free play as well. But apparently she went with our neighbor one day to pick up her son from kindergarden and she thought that that free play looked way more fun. I hope she's not too disappointed when she really does get to go. Carmen also participated in swimming and soccer this summer. She really found a new love for both of these activities and will most likely do them again. The most exciting thing for her was learning to ride her two wheel bike this summer. And she's fast!
Aliza turned three this year and started her first year of Joy School. She loves going to school! And she is so excited each day to tell me everything they did at school. She also got potty trained and moved to a big girl bed. Her most exciting adventure this year was going to Disneyland for her birthday. Aliza is our funny girl. She says and does the funniest things that always leave us laughing!
And this year we welcomed Charlotte into our family! Charlotte was born in March and is now 9 months old. She is crawling and pulling herself to standing. She is so much fun and her big sisters love her a little too much. Being mommy to three girls has it's challenges and drama, but it's really so great!
David has been very busy this year with his church responsibilities and with work and school. He graduated from University of Phoenix this year and we are all feeling a huge relief that he is done. I know he feels a big sense of accomplishment to be done with school and I am so proud of him for finishing something that was such a challenge for him. He's been serving a lot with the Boy Scouts/Young Men at church. He attended Woodbadge a few months ago. He has 18 months to complete 5 "tickets" to become Woodbadge certified. He also recieved the Spark Plug award from the area BSA council for his dedication to the program. He was also offered a promotion at work that he is excited and nervous about. This promotion will require us moving back to Virginia within the next year. This continues to be a very heartbreaking decision for us to make this move, but we feel it's right. We love it where we are now and really don't want to leave California. We continue to pray that we will find comfort in our decision and that we will be surrounded by new wonderful friends.
Me, well I've been busy helping my family do all of the above. A mother and wife's job is to support her family in their accomplishments. I also managed to have several fun photo sessions this year. And continued to take endless pictures of my children. We traveled a couple of times this year. We went to Disneyland when Charlotte was just 10 days old! And again last month for Aliza's birthday. We also went to Muir Woods to see the giant red wood trees. And we went on our family camping trip to Lake... something or other. I can't remember the name of the place. We also had individual visits from my sister, mom and dad. It was fun to have them each by themselves. Sarah came when I had the baby to help out. She was such a great help. Mom came with Peyton and the girls had so much fun with Oma and their cousin. And Dad came to do projects. The biggest one being painting our entire house!
I have felt so blessed all year long for my many blessings. Heavenly Father has truly been generous to us this year. I'm grateful for my knowledge of the plan He has for us. I know the purpose of my life and strive each day to fulfill it. And most of all, we are grateful for each of you who have touched our lives in some way. Our family sends Holiday Greetings your way and wish you all a Happy New Year!
This is Charlottes first Christmas. Here she is in front of the tree on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa to come. She did very well with never pulling anything off the tree. She actually never went near it. It was the 4 1/2 year old that couldn't leave the tree alone!
David was very excited about finding this hat that actually fit his head. He mentioned months ago that he wanted it, but it slipped my mind until a few days before Christmas. Luckily I was still able to get one. And he was most excited about the Bose ipod docking station Santa brought him.
Carmen was the most excited that morning. Her excitement was overwhelming at times and we had to keep telling her to calm down. It was fun to see how happy she was about each new thing.
We thought it was going to be a long morning when Aliza came down the stairs and immediately started crying when she saw her new bike. It wasn't the one she wanted. It was purple (her favorite color), but she had told Santa she wanted a pink one. (I really had no idea she had a color preference) And to be honest, when I bought the bike, I had no idea what color it was until we opened it to put it together. But she soon forgot about the bike and got excited about the other presents. She insisted I take a picture of every present she opened. However, it's almost a full week after Christmas and she has yet to touch the bike....
