Our Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,
We have had a busy year! We made 2 trips to Spokane to support family, 1 down the Oregon Coast to see friends and the Redwoods, 2 camping trips with friends (Cape Disappointment and Coon Lake), a Ferry trip over to Victoria B.C., a trip to Eastern WA for a Family Reunion, a trip to Oregon for Thanksgiving, and our biggest trip was when just Grant and I spent 5 days in Orlando!! (Visiting with family, all 4 parks at Disney World, Sea World, and swimming with dolphins at Discovery Cove—my dream!)
We also took our girls Ice Skating, fishing, and to the Nutcracker, for the 1st time. We sang in church, as a family, for the 1st time. In addition, Grant and I sang a duet and trio, at a Fireside and in a double quartet for Sat. night, Stake Conference. Grant sang a solo, at a ward party and in church. But best of all, our girls sang “I’m so glad when Daddy comes home” on KVI talk radio and won a weekend getaway for Grant and I--Golfing, Hotel, and Dinner, for the Father’s Day Contest!! It was so neat!!
Karina, 2, has really grown up this year. She now takes a bath without screaming, says a ton of words including names for everyone “Gaggy, Mommy, Nana, Yiya, Tayta, and ME!”, and tries to be just like the big girls. Once she grabbed Riana’s purse, waved bye-bye, and said “later!” We are hoping that she will learn to share (especially share her Mommy) when our new baby girl arrives in May.
Tierra, 3 1/2, who took her time to talk, is now speaking great! Some of my favorites sentences are “Us ride ours bikes?” or “Her have yours bear Mommy” or “I love you too Mommy,” when I haven’t said it first. Also, she always remembers to thank me “for this yummy meal.” Something cute she said was, “My hotdog is too hot. I want you to blow it up.” She enjoyed having Mommy teach her Pre-school, at Co-op this fall.
Sariah, 6, kept busy this year with Clogging, Swimming Lessons, Soccer, Ballet, and Pre-Piano Classes, not all at once. Her favorite classes in Home-school Co-op were Sewing, Curious Minds want to Know, and Sing with Me. She also learned to ride a two wheeler, bore her testimony all by herself, broke her other arm jumping on a giant ball and falling off, and lost her two front teeth, right in time for Christmas.
Riana, almost 8, is excited to be baptized. She sang a solo in our Primary Program. She bore her testimony for the first time. She scored her first two goals in Soccer. She is taking Piano Lessons, Clogging, Swimming Lessons, Ballet, and she loves reading chapter books. Her favorite classes in Home-school Co-op were Martial Arts, Scrapbooking, and Musical Theatre—she enjoyed playing the part of Annie.
This year, Grant went on 10 hikes/campouts (including one with our 3 older girls), a few fishing trips, and he helped at Camp Helaman- a camp for YM. Some of this he did, because of his new calling as YM President and some, just because he absolutely loves the outdoors! His work took him overnight to Seattle, Portland, Orlando, Victoria, and Santa Monica. He also played Co-ed Soccer and is still singing, of course.
I, Angela, was busy as usual, home-schooling, teaching Co-op (Drama-“The Little Red Hen” and “The Gingerbread Man” and Preschool), going to Girls Camp, playing Women’s and Co-ed Soccer, teaching a friend violin, and coaching Soccer. My calling as 1st Counselor in Primary, also kept me busy: writing the Primary Program, planning Primary activities, etc. I also attended my 10 year HS reunion—Am I that old??
We had a wonderful year and hope you did too!
All our Love, Grant, Angela, Riana, Sariah, Tierra, Karina, and baby girl