Christmas Letter 2010

We hope this holiday season finds you happy and healthy. Our family feels very blessed and grateful for all that we have. We had a very busy and fun year: a trip to San Francisco Bay Area, Disneyland, Dinosaur Land in Vernal Utah, A getaway for Jason and Kristine to Steamboat Springs, CO. The real fun though is spending the time as a family. Here is a short summary of what we all have been doing and things that have changed this year.

JASON is still employed with FamilySearch at the LDS church and has been working on adding Discussions feature to the new.familysearch.org website. Jason was released as 11 year old scout leader and is now the Elders Quorum president. He still plays basketball in the mornings, tries to go fishing, went deer "hunting" (who knows what he does up there, cause he didn't bring anything home).

KRISTINE is pregnant with #6, a boy and is due April 15. She is busy with our other five kids doing carpool, homework, laundry, etc. She is a Valiant 10 teacher and activity days leader. She does a fabulous job of keeping the kids going - homework, carpool to cheer, all the little things that make a Mom a great Mom.

ELISABETH (9) is in 4th grade. She loves choir and just performed in a few concerts. She is also very much enjoying cheer and tumbling. She just got her round off back handspring. =) She just went skiing for the first time with her 4th grade class. She loved it so much that she is hoping to go again with her Dad. She is our creative one, always painting, drawing, cutting, knitting, cross stitching. She loves school and playing with her siblings and friends.

REBEKAH (8) is in 2nd grade. She is too smart, excelling in her math and reading - beyond what they test for in here grade. She loves learning, so much that over the summer vacation all she wanted to do was work on her workbooks and then a month ago, she made her own set of multiplication flash cards. She too is in cheer, and loves doing round off back handsprings any time she can. Last week both she and Elisabeth won 1st place at a competition. She also enjoys reading and cross-stiching. She was baptised this month and it was a fantastic experience.

JONATHAN (5) started kindergarten and is always excited to go. He is turning into a good reader and loves to sing all the songs they are teaching him. Second only to playing any video game, he absolutely loves going to gymnastics and just graduated to level 2. He is our dependable one, loves to help, and is really good at keeping his baby sister happy.

JACOB (3) turns everything into a gun and tells you he is going to shoot you (or dragons, dinosaurs or monsters). He is super "helpful" and independent (about as independent as any 3 year can be) . He LOVES to watch Curious George and started preschool this year.

KAYLA (2) is our happy girl, always smiling and looking super-duper cute! She is 100% girl and is always carrying a doll and blanket around. She loves to cuddle with her Daddy before going to bed.

We feel very blessed and grateful for this past year and of course for all of our family and friends and how you have each enriched our lives. We hope you have a very Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and pray that you will all enjoy an even better 2011!


Happy Holidays,
Jason, Kristine, Elisabeth, Rebekah, Jonathan, Jacob and Kayla

November 2010 - It's a BOY!!!

We found out that we are having a boy =). That brings our total to 3 boys and 3 girls. Everyone is excited.

Overall, life has been the same oh, same oh. Jacob is in preschool, Jonathan is in gymnastics, Rebekah is in all-star cheer and tumbling, and Elisabeth is in choir and all-star cheer and tumbling. Elisabeth and Rebekah both have their round off back handspring back handspring now. Elisabeth has gone from not liking it to loving it. Funny how kids are that way.

During Thanksgiving week we went to Family Reunion with Jason's Family at a house in Sandy. It was fun. Robin and Alan blessed their baby Zachery. We took Family Pictures. We had a catered Thanksgiving Dinner. Had a talent show. Rebekah and Elisabeth did part of their competition routine. Jonathand and Jacob did some ninja moves. We played games. Rebekah's favorite was Phase 10. We did an adult temple session at the South Jordan Temple with 8 of Jason's brothers and sisters. Jason and his brothers played football in the snow. Went swimming in the hot tub in the back yard. They would run and roll in the snow and then jump back into the hot tub.

We celebrated Jonathan's b-day. Jonathan is now 6 years old.

September / October 2010

In September we went to Southern California. We spent one day at Disneyland another day at the beach and on the way home we went to Calico Ghost Mine. It was a fun trip. We avoided the crowds by going while school was in.

Jason's brother Stephen got married in the West Jordon temple. It was a fun day to see all the family.

Elisabeth and Rebekah performed with the Utah Flash for the Utah Buddy Walk.

We went to the Fun Run. Jacob kept up with everyone. He is super cute.

Jason did the deer hunt. He had an unsuccessful hunt. Better luck next time.

We had a fun Halloween. Lots of trick or treating at Jason's work, our ward party and my mom's ward party. On the night of Halloween Jonathan, Jacob and Kayla decided they didn't want to go door to door. The had a blast handing out candy. Elisabeth was a princess, Rebekah was Mulon, Jonathan was a Ninja a few times and a pirate, Jacob was a cowboy and a ninja, and Kayla was a giraffe and a hula girl.

August 2010

Another fun and exciting month. At the beginning of the month Jason and I spent a day at Raging Waters with Elisabeth and Rebekah. They performed there with their Flash All Star Cheer Team and did fantastic.

Later in the month we went to Northern California for 10 days. For the first three days we watched Kari's kids while her and Jeff went to Pismo Beach. Then Kari and I played for four days while Jason worked from California. We went to the Jelly Belly Factory, the San Francisco Zoo, Ocean Beach, swimming, and the Golden Gate Bridge. They loved going to the beach and collecting sea shells. They were only going to get their feet wet, but ended up getting wet up to their arm pits. Jason and I went to see Wiked in San Francisco. It was lots of fun. Then on the last day we went to Yosemite. We were tired when we got home, but had fun. Thanks Kari for all the fun =).

Jelly Belly Factory

Yosemite

Ocean Beach

San Francisco Zoo

Our annual 2 buck Tuesday trip to the dinosaur museum and the Children's Gardens at Thanksgiving Point.

Dinosaur Museum

We also celebrated Kari, Brian, Kayla and my birthday and Jason and my anniversary. Kayla loved getting clothes and toys. It's fun to see her personality coming out. She now can say "no" and "mine" very well and nod her head up and down for yes. Here is Brian trying to blow out his trick candles.

School is back in session. Elisabeth is in 4th grade, Rebekah in in 2nd grade and Jonathan is in Kindergarten. Aren't they cute. They are all loving school. The times for kindergarten don't line up at all with Elisabeth and Rebekah.

Jonathan's First Day of School

Jacob, Rebekah, Hannah, and Elisabeth

It's a ... (Well, we don't know yet)

July

July has been fun filled. We started the month with Jason and I going on a trip with no kids. We were gone for 4 nights. My sister Kari was super nice to come take care of our kids. She was watching 7 kids under 9 with some help from my mom and sister. We went to Steamboat Springs, Colorado on our trip. It was lots of fun. We went to the Vernal Temple. We went white water rafting in a double ducky down the Colorado River. We went four wheeling on ATVs. We went bike riding. We hiked to a waterfall. We went to the rodeo. We watched movies and did nothing. It was lots of fun. Steamboat Springs was a fun, beautiful place. I'd go there again.

It was too quite one day. So I went looking for Jacob and Kayla. I found them in Jason's car. Jacob in the driver seat an Kayla in the passernger seat. They are soo cute.

We went to This is the Place State Park. I found out they had a free day in celebration of Days of '47. Jason and my mom were able to come with us. I am soooo greatful for all of our modern conveniences.

We went camping to Payson Lakes for two nights. We had a campfire, slept in a tent, went fishing, went around the lake in the boat. Jason and Brian caught 33 fish in 3 hours one morning. They had fun.

We went on a hike with Brian and Michaela to Cecret Lake. It was lots of fun. We also went to the Days of '47 Rodeo.

June 2010

Summer is in full swing. It is so fun to have the kids out of school. We've been busy and haven't had time to get bored. We traded our Toyota Sienna in for a Honda Pilot. The Pilot is roomier than it looks. We gained an extra seat. It is totally more fun to drive. The DVD player is great. If the kids start getting cranky we just turn it on.

This summer the girls are doing reading group on Monday and Flash All Star Cheer on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Jonathan is doing reading group on Monday and gymnastics on Tuesday. Jonathan is a fantastic reader. On Tuesday we also go to the Cinemark for their summer movies. The kids love it. You see 10 kid movies for $5 over 10 weeks. We also go swimming a few times every week.

Elisabeth turned 9 years old. She is turning in to such a young lady. For her birthday we ate dinner in the basement of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and went to an oldies concert at the Assembly Hall. We were rained out of the park. Thanks to everyone that came.


For Father's Day we cleaned the garage for Jason. Then we surprised him with a fishing trip to the Green River. We picked him up from work on Friday with the car pack and ready to go. He had no idea where we were going. He was super surprised. For dinner we went to a Chinese Buffet and then went swimming at the hotel. On Saturday Jason went fishing and I went on some hikes with the kids. Then we went and saw a fish hatchery. We all got lots of Mosquito bites from being next to the river. I forgot the bug repellent. Next we went and saw Dinosaur National Monument. Jonathan and Jacob loved it. We saw the last thing at the park as the sun went down. We got home at 1 am on Saturday night. It was tons of fun.







Jason set up a slip and slide in the backyard on Friday night.


We went to the Lehi Roundup Parade. Lots of candy and free stuff.

May 2010

This month we went the Brian and Callie's Baby Blessing, Brenda and Ric's Baby Blessing, and Greg's Homecoming. Kinda Busy.

The girls had a recital for Flash All Stars. They did a fantastic job.

Jonathan lost his first tooth. Completly unexpected. At dinner, while eating his burrito he said Mom my mouth hurts. His tooth was dangling out of his mouth. He lost his first tooth a full year before the girls lost any teeth.




The girls danced the the school dance festival. They had a great time.

For Memorial Day we went fishing up Provo Canyon. Rebekah caught the biggest fish, even bigger than her dad =).



Jonathan and Jacob did itty-bitty baseball. They were soo cute.


Rebekah was Tacky for a school play. She had the same part that Elisabeth had when she was in 1st grade.

April 2010

Easter was fun, but way tooo cold. Spring break was good. Didn't go anywhere. It was nice to have a week of getting up early and doing homework.

Elisabeth and Rebekah performed at the Utah Blaze Indoor Arena Football game. They did a fantastic job and had lots of fun. Brian came out to watch and we all went to dinner =).

Went to the Highland lake and feed the ducks and then had a picnic. It was good to get out and do something on a sunny day.

Jason and I spoke in sacrament on accepting callings and assignments. The following Tuesday he got a call from the Stake Executive Secretary to meet with the Stake President for half and hour and to have his wife come too....... Jason is now the new Elders Quorum President.

March 2010

Jonathan did itty bitty ball this month. He learned how to play football, soccer, volleyball and baseball. He hit the baseball soo hard that it got stuck in the rafters.

We had a dinner with Jason's cousins from the Owen side. Kristin was a great hostess. It was a good time to hear what everyone has been up to. The next day we went to Shaela's Baby Blessing. Jason's cousin from the Daniel's side. Good stuff.

Jason went to a Java conference for work in Las Vegas. Rebekah had Dads and Donuts while he was gone. Brian was soo nice to come and take Rebekah at 8am.

Jacob turned 3 this month =). He decided he was too big for a diaper and is now potty trained =). For Jacob's BDay we went to Gma and Gpa Daniels for an early Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. Then on Sunday we had another family party at our house.