Here are the 2012 Christmas Cards & a copy of our family letter that went out. The film strip on the letter goes down the whole side of the text so it looks better printed out.
Dear Family and Friends,
We have survived another
year. 2012 was an eventful year for our family but we survived.
Sam is still running the LDS Employment Center in
Provo and Springville. He is serving as President of the Pacesetters Group for
the local Chamber of Commerce. He is still serving on our Stake’s High Council.
Sam is working hard and being successful in all of his endeavors. Sam had 2
tumors removed in July. One tumor was in his back which was a little larger
than a baseball. The other was in his chest and was quite a bit smaller. He
recovered quickly and doesn’t seem to have any lasting effects.
Andrea has been slowly recovering from the
pregnancy and after effects. The seizures and blood sugars seem to be in
control for now and hopefully will continue that way. She went back to school,
yes again; to get a degree she can hopefully do something with.
Seth turned 5 in September. He is still very curious
and active as ever. He is the only one this year that didn’t have something
major medically happen. He missed the state cutoff for Kindergarten by nine
days, so we enrolled him in a private Kindergarten Program to help focus some
of his curiosity. He loves going to school every day and is thriving. Seth
still loves animals and loves to find out every fact he can about various
species. He is very creative and builds the most imaginative things and says
that he wants to be an Engineer or a Large Cat Trainer when he grows up.
Christian turned 3 in August. He started preschool
this fall and is loving going to school. He had his tonsils and adenoids out in
May because they were so swollen they were impeding his breathing. He refused
to eat or drink after and had a visit back to the hospital but has recovered
and is back to all his mischievous ways with his brother. Christian likes to paint, draw and color right
now. He loves trains and to point out train tracks where ever we go.
Alexandria Avalynn joined our family on
February 25th at 4:49am, 6 lbs 14 oz, 20 1/2 inches long. She made her debut a
little early and had a few complications after birth. She spent the first 2
months on oxygen and struggled to gain weight at first but is growing well now
and breathing fine. She is a very happy and
content little girl who loves to share her smile. She is mobile and loves to
crawl around and chase the dogs or try to keep up with her brothers. She babbles and coos. She is just as sweet as
sweet can be.
Marie moved out In
December 2011. She is doing well in her new placement with other teenagers.
Emilie, Marie’s sister, moved in with us last December for an emergency
placement. She lived with us most of the month of January until she moved in
with Marie. Since both girls moved we decided that for now we needed a break
from doing foster care.
We took a family vacation this year with the
theme “Road less Traveled.” We tried to
stay off some of the major highways and see the random stuff most people miss.
We headed out across the desert of Utah and Nevada and then into California. We
visited Redwood National Forest and saw the big trees. From California we
headed up the coast through Oregon, where he got to visit with family. After
the Oregon Coast we got to spend some time in Portland where Sam had some
business to do. From Portland we went into Washington to visit some more
family. After our visit there we headed home through Oregon, then Idaho then
back to Utah. It was around-about two weeks but we loved the time together as a
family and had such a great time.
It was an eventful year
for our little family. It had some ups and downs but there was so much joy in
our journey. We hope as you catch up on our family that yours is doing well.
