~ Merry Christmas 2008

Dear Friends and Family,

We’ve decided that the overriding theme of this year is: “all’s well that ends well.” This has been a tough year, but it's flown by and we’re another year older and wiser. I love this season, and I love that it begins with Thanksgiving. This year more so than before, I’ve become really aware of and grateful for all of our blessings. As the year draws to an end and we celebrate the birth and life of the Savior, we’re especially grateful for His atoning sacrifice, and for the strength and peace that come only from Him. We’re grateful for your love and friendship as well, and we love hearing from you. We’re all happy and healthy, and hope this finds you likewise.

So, here’s a tiny synopsis of our year, and the rest of the details can be found in our blog entries (I am just starting to figure this blog thing out and it might take a while to get caught up, so check back often). We did get to take a couple of fun trips this year. In June, Jonathan and I went somewhere tropical for the first time ever-- Maui-- to celebrate our 15 year anniversary which was July 17th. I got to ride in a clinic with Buck Brannaman in July, and with Ricky Quinn (Buck’s protégé) in September. Jonathan only got to go on one backpacking trip this year, but had a great time with his buddies. In early October, all five of us flew to Albuquerque for 5 days for the International Balloon Fiesta. It was a fitting time to go: we’d met there 15 years ago, lived there for 5 years, and hadn’t been back for 10. The kids loved the hundreds of spectacular balloons, and we loved the great weather and the fantastic New Mexican cuisine-- oh how we love green chiles! In the latter part of October we drove to southern California for 9 days. We stayed with Jonathan’s folks while he and his dad went to a medical conference during the day. The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed lots of time at the beach and the pool. We kidnapped Jonathan for a day and went to Sea World as well, and had a great time of course.

Calvin and Caleb are in the 2nd grade now, and Kizi is in the 1st grade. Their teachers have confirmed what we always suspected: we have GREAT kids. Calvin overcame some initial “turkey-ness” and is now doing great. He has a very creative mind, always drawing or building elaborate things, and constantly asking questions which frequently boggle my mind. Caleb is our strong, kind peacemaker. He’s such a good boy, and does great at everything he tries. He still loves trains, tractors, 4-wheelers, and tromping around the barn in his boots. They both got baptized in November when they turned 8, and are now enjoying being in Cub Scouts. They are loving gymnastics this year. They’re trying to decide whether to do soccer again this spring or Little League, and of course swimming in the summer. Both the boys are very kind, friendly and helpful in their classes.

Kizi LOVES gymnastics twice a week, as well as her Irish dance class. She very much wants to learn to play the piano, so that will be our new endeavor. She is an amazing reader and loves to challenge herself. She is reading chapter books already and breezes through the scriptures when we read together every night. She’s still a horsey girl of course, and a great helper with everything. She loves to help me bake and wants her own sewing machine. She watched and learned from Nana, and is going to coach me as I learn how to sew. ;) She’s six going on 36! She’s so kind and sweet, and it does my heart good to walk through the halls at school with her as she’s repeatedly greeted by children from older classes.

I am in shock that all three kids are in school all day now. I’m volunteering at the school, riding my horse, and starting to study all the anatomy and physiology I’ve forgotten so that at some point I can get my Oregon massage therapy license. Plus of course all the usual busyness of being a mom. I’d like to take a photography class and get a really good camera this year, too. I’m on the Enrichment committee at church, and Jonathan is the ward financial clerk. He’s still loving working for Kaiser Permanente and we all love having him home so much more. It’s a wonderful thing for him to not be on call 24/7 anymore. He’s on call one day per week and one weekend per month, and has Fridays off. He even gets to ride good old Roanie sometimes while I ride Poco out at the barn. :) We moved the horses to a new barn November 1st and it’s such a nice setup: no mud, big pastures with tracks around them, indoor arena, outdoor sand dressage arena, dry stalls at night, and miles of trails around beautiful tree-lined grass seed fields. Poco and Roanie love it and are so relaxed there. Our dog Gracie loves to run and run out there. I could talk ad nauseum about the progress I’m making with my horse, but instead I’ll just say that things are going really well. I’m doing more dressage with him, and it’s great mental and physical exercise. For my horsey friends, I may start a separate horse blog so that I’m not speaking Greek for the rest of you. :)

I know I’ve said this before, but as terrible as we are about staying in touch, you’re reading this because we’re grateful for your love and friendship. We hope you’re blessed and happy and healthy. We send our warmest wishes for a wonderful Christmas, and a safe and happy New Year. We’d love to hear from you!

Love,
Jonathan, Tamara, Calvin, Caleb and Kiziah