Christmas Report

Christmas morning we were pleasantly surprised that no one woke us up until 7AM! We had a great day and everyone received the gifts that they desired...

Christmas Eve was fun filled as busy! We had a family party that evening complete with a visit from Santa. After dinner/singing/Santa visit, we headed off to Temple Square (our family tradition), accompanied by Janaye and Austin (Michelle's sister and son). It was a great time, with weather in the mid-30's and very comfortable.

The kids have been playing non-stop with they gifts...singing Wii game, dad got a new guitar, mom a new sewing machine, Justine a Zune (mp3 player), Maddie with a couple princess items, Emilie with a digital camera.

Austin reflecting as he looked at the temple. He sat there for around 5 minutes
staring...he is baptized, but not active.

Cute Emilie

Temple

Temple

Rusty

I proposed to Michelle 13 years ago on Temple Square.
While we were dating, she instructed me in no
uncertain terms that I was not to propose on
Temple Square (too cliche, apparently).
I figured Temple Square would
be the place she would least expect it,
so that's what I did. Afterwards, we
announced our nuptials to the wait staff
of the JB's across the street
from the temple.

Family

Cute Maddie

Kids

Family

Night time

Sometimes, scriptures at our house look like this...



Other times, it looks like this...



Pretty normal, except for the following discussion:

Justine: "Emilie! Your feet STINK!"
Dad: "Justine, be quiet! Why do we have to discuss every night that it is rude to speak and interrupt a family member when it is their turn to read?"
Justine: Rolls her eyes.
Dad: "Did you just roll your eyes at me? Did you just roll your eyes at me?"
Justine: "Her feet STINK!"
Dad: "Em, keep your feet out of Justine's face!"
Em: "HAHAHAHAHA!"
Michelle: See photo
Maddie: Raises hand...
Dad: "Yes, Maddie?"
Maddie: "Jesus is nice, huh?"
Dad: "Yes Maddie, he is."

Kids Pictures

Justine received her dance pictures back...Emilie got her school photo, too.

Catching up...

Wow do we have some catching up to do! Here we go...

James' mother passed away last month (11 November). She had been sick for a very long time, so it wasn't unexpected. It was one of those where it was more of a relief, as she was suffering so much, but we miss her. We were able to head back to Indiana last April for a visit. There was no funeral or service. James headed down to Las Vegas for a couple days that week to spend with his sister Laurie.

We had a great Thanksgiving this year; we spent it at Michelle's mom's house with a few of her siblings. A great 4 day weekend away from the busy schedule of work!

We are getting ready for Christmas. Michelle sponsored a Toys for Tots drive for our neighborhood this past week. It turned out really great and she had a great turnout with lots of toys donated. Yesterday we took the toys up the the Marine Corps office where they will be handed out to needy kids. It was a great experience and Michelle did a great job! She is one of the most service oriented people I have ever known; she is always thinking of others.

Justine is finishing up a small fundraiser for her great Aunt & Uncle who are on a mission to Cambodia. She is collecting money to send them so that they can buy white shirts for the young men in the branch where they are serving. She is a great kid, and we are doing our best to help her continue to learn the spirit of service; she is doing a great job!

Work for James is going well; if James and Carl hit a certain sales number by the end of the year, then they get to go on the company club trip to the Dominican Republic next spring (wives included). Cross your fingers!

Emilie had a good soccer season. We moved her up 2 levels this year as she was scoring 8-10 goals a game in her age group. She was a little intimidated in the new league as she was playing against kids 2-3 years older than her. One game Michelle told her she would pay her a nickle for every time she kicked the ball (she was being timid) and she proceeded to earn a dollar and score a goal in about 5 minutes. She now wants to play Junior Jazz basketball; it looks like we got a boy after all!

Rusty the dog has been a great addition to the family...he plays with everyone, and chews on everything. I went to put on my shoes the other day and both my laces broke; he had chewed on them. Overall a great dog! We can't wait for the summer...we are going to buy a camper and a couple of four wheelers (really for the elk hunt next year...but we will use if for the family too!) this spring. We used to go ATV'ing/camping all the time when we lived in South Jordan and we really miss it.

Toys for Tots Fundraiser










First Day of Kindergarten



Em's Birthday






Em Soccer






Justine Piano



Dad B-Day



Younger Days...

Haloween

Great Halloween this year! 60 degrees for trick or treating. Justine had a party where 15 of her friends came over for pizza, trick or treating, games, and a movie. The Morrison's across the street were having the same party for boys in Justine's class...Tracy (the mom at the boy's party) called Michelle and told her that the girls should sneek over and come through the backyard and scare the boys. It turned out to be a setup, because as soon as the girls went into the back yard, all the boys jumped out and scared all the girls to death.

Pumpkins

Pizza


Getting ready to trick or treat


Dad telling ghost stories...this one is about "The Claw" (all rights reserved)

New Dog

After months of searching, we finally found a dog for Emilie. She has been begging for close to a year for a dog! Meet Rusty, our new Australian Sheperd.



Rusty should make a fine addition to our family! We looked high and low for a good dog; this one will be a great camping dog, and is GREAT with kids; very protective, and well mannered. He is already very attached to Emilie.

In Other News...

The house search is on hold for now. We put in an offer this fall but didn't get it. I think things will continue to drop over the winter, so we will hit it again next spring. We will know when its the right time, I believe.

Michelle is the new Community Council president...she really loves serving over at the school, and has many great ideas and has a great attitude.

Work is busier than ever for dad. Spent the week in Idaho going on appointments for new business. We have more than ever in our pipe. If we exceed our number for the year, we get to take our wives to the company trip in the Dominican Republic. We are working hard to get there. We really do have the best SAN on the market, and have received 10-12 major awards this year, which is giving us major exposure. We win roughly 80% of the deals we get into. My partner, Carl, is a phenomenal salesman...one of the best I have been around. I learn alot working alongside him. I have a great job!

Short Update

So much is going on that we will need to take a couple hours next Sunday to update the blog. Quick recap...

This Saturday we will be in the temple with Paul and Natalie as they prepare to get married on November 1st. Paul is one of my ward missionaries that I was able to get to know several months ago (read here). What a great experience that will be! Then next week they will be sealed in the SLC Temple.


Today is my birthday....way too old. Michelle is taking me to a movie today. The girls want to get me a cat or a dog for my birthday. I did get a new bow!

UPDATE

We went and saw Forever Strong today. Great movie! Several awesome messages in it. It's about the Highland Rugby team here in SLC. We used to live right across the street from Highland High School when we were first married.