2011 Christmas Card Letter

Dearest Family and Friends,                                                                                    

December 2011

Sending happy holiday wishes from our home to yours.  We hope that you will be filled with the joy and peace of the season!  There have been many changes through the year for our family.  You will find our update below.

Evelyn Grace—our first granddaughter born June 7^th, weighing 8 pounds 0 ounces, measuring 21 inches long.  She is a delightful baby!  Evelyn is almost 6 months old and enjoying life in Hawaii with her parents!  They have lived there since mid-October.  Evelyn loves sitting in her high chair, chewing on a piece of honeydew, on a fork.  She likes to look out the window at all the world around her.   She has a beautiful smile and dimples!

Elizabeth and Dave—Dave graduated from BYU in Construction Management last December, and managed his own company, Bluerock Builders in Salt Lake City.  He received a job offer to move to Hawaii and work on the island of Kawaii.  Elizabeth is a wonderful mother and loves being able to be home with Evelyn.  She is involved with many activities; learning the culture of Hawaii.  They live in paradise!

Martha—has been working as a nanny and going to school part-time.  It is amazing to watch her sketch a garment, draw her own pattern, and put it together making something that looks great!  She hopes to finish her Apparel Manufacturing program this spring, provided the classes are offered.  Martha has also become an avid volleyball player with the young adults at church.

Jonathan—is a sophomore in high school and just finished up another season of marching band.  Next year, band will be really exciting!  Saratoga marching band has been invited to go to New York next Thanksgiving to march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!  Jonathan loves long boarding and has even designed and built his own boards.  He is very good with any and all tools and is a great fix-it guy.

Matthew—returned from his year in Singapore and is now attending University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis.  He is in the MD/PhD program at the university.  It is a beautiful campus!  He is adjusting to the very cold weather, as he has mostly lived in tropical places lately!  Matthew recently acquired a kitten to give him company in his apartment.

Sarah—bakes and creates wedding cakes and sculpted cakes.  Sarah has done some catering at weddings this year.  She makes delicious food items, be it savory or sweet!  Sarah is learning what it takes to do business with acquaintances (friends), so they don’t take advantage of her.  She has taken up quilting with a passion.  She is currently working on a Christmas quilted-tree skirt.  She already has another 3-4 projects planned and waiting.  

Jenette—continues to feed the marching band and staff—all 275 of them!  Still playing the piano in Primary, the organ for Sacrament meeting, and Visiting Teaching Coordinator.  Adding new colors to the walls of the house, freshening things up, has become a fun outlet.  Finding joy and having gratitude has become her daily focus.

Katie—is in her sophomore year at University of Utah in Salt Lake City.  Katie moved off-campus into an apartment with three other girls that are like sisters.  She is enjoying life!  She studies hard and works as many hours as she can.  She works as a banquet manager/server at the Joseph Smith Memorial building in SLC.  Katie has served at many, many wedding receptions, and other events with important people.

Scott—started up a new company in Suzhou, China, called Innovent Biologics, Inc., being one of three founders.  He is the COO and is developing a new manufacturing plant on a large campus.  Scott will no longer be living with the family and has chosen to become a permanent resident of China.

I am grateful for so many blessings.  Even when times are hard, I know the Lord is there to help.  I am humbled by His care and concern for His children.  May we celebrate the birth of our Savior in deep gratitude for His life, and His gift of the Atonement.  We wish all of you a very Happy New Year in 2012!

With Much Love,

Jenette and family

   

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Morning

Dave flew in on Friday night and then their little family headed for Salt Lake City to have Christmas with Dave's family.  So we decided that Dave, Elizabeth and Evelyn would open our gifts to them before they left for the airport.  Dave put a Santa hat on Evelyn and she kept it on the entire time.  She still had the hat on when I dropped them off at the airport!  I thought that was amazing that a 6 month old would leave a hat on for so long!  I don't really have any other text, just photos to share.

A Visit from Elizabeth and Evelyn

Elizabeth and Evelyn came for a visit the week before Christmas!  It was great to have them here!  Sarah had made a gift for Evelyn that she wanted to be opened first thing.  It was fun to watch Evelyn's face as she tried to tear apart the paper.

 Of course, the paper was the best part!

 Such a happy, pleasant baby.

 Evelyn has the cutest smile with dimples.

 Great-grandpa Harrieth was taken to the hospital at the beginning of their visit.  We took Evelyn to visit grandpa.

 We took the family out to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen one night.  The food was great!  And the entertainment was even better!

 Evelyn shared grandma's dinner.  Most everyone else ordered pizza, but grandma had pasta, with chicken and broccoli.  When grandma was done, Evelyn helped clean up the plate.

 At dinner we have Matthew, Jonathan, Sarah, Martha, Elizabeth, Katie and Evelyn.

November--Monterey Bay Aquarium Trip

It's been four months since I posted anything.  Time really does fly by.  Besides the time, there have been some very challenging experiences to deal with, which distracted me from posting.  

At Thanksgiving, the younger kids and I went to the aquarium.  We wanted to get another visit in before our years membership ran out.  I think I could look at these displays and never get tired of them.  My family knows how much I love "critters" and can watch for a lengthy period of time.  I find a peace in watching the fish glide through the water.  I marvel at the extensive variety of water creatures.  I am grateful for God's creations.

 The best "critters" at the aquarium that day were the three in the above photo!

 There is a marvelous display of sea horses.  More than I thought were possible.

 This is actually a leafy sea dragon.  It is related to the sea horse.  Look at the fine details of this animal.  There were some really talented designers helping with the creation.

 My kids were probably the "biggest kids" there that day.  They would pop into cubbies like this one and be silly.  It was great to watch them!  And, I wasn't the only one watching them. . .

 Jonathan really doesn't like his picture taken.  So often he will quickly turn around, make a face, etc.  This time, he said I could take his picture like this.  I like the arrow pointing out his height!

 One of the displays is full of moray eels.  They are difficult to count as they are usually hiding in the rocks.   I came up with the number 13 that day.  They usually are poking only their heads out, but this day, there was this guy that was draped over the coral.  I have never seen one all the way out like this.  Besides that guy, you can see three other eels.  On top, is a spotted one that I didn't catch his head.  Just below is this fancy yellow and black design.  On the right, you can see the tail of a black and white striped eel.  

 Here are two more.

 And another two different eels.

 This was a favorite display!  They crawled into the kids tunnel to hide from me.  But I found them!

 It's fun to be together with family.

 We couldn't have picked a more beautiful day!

My everlasting pearls.