Letter for Christmas 2009

December 2009
Another year has come and is almost gone and I find myself wondering what happened to it! It seems as if time goes faster and faster the older I get. As I’ve had time to reflect on 2009, I’ve decided one word sums up the whole year-BUSY! It seems as if we’ve been in the car more than we were in our house this year. This year brought many great changes, but also some sad ones. Amidst all the craziness, we lost my Grandma Marshall this year. Her passing re-taught us many great lessons. It reminded us how important family is, our testimonies are and how we needed to refocus on the important stuff. We were able to go on a little vacation with my parents down to the St. George area which was wonderful. I love Southern Utah and the break from the everyday grind was wonderful for our whole family.

Cory is still working at EG&G as a Project Manager and is really enjoying his job. He is also going to school full time and is serving in the Young Men’s in our ward. He has also found time to complete a few projects around the house for me this year. Our most recent was repainting and adding a wainscoting molding throughout the entire main level. He has made me promise no more projects for a while though, he seems to think he’s busy or something……

I spent the majority of this year running a taxi service for the kids…and loving every minute of it. I recently went back to work part time for the School District and think I’ve found a good balance. I loved being home during the summer with the kids, but found myself feeling lost when they all were in school. But before I started back to work, Cory sent me back to New Hampshire for a week with my mom to see my sister. It was amazing and I’m already planning another trip to go back again with the whole family. I fell in love with New England. I, for some crazy reason, agreed to serve on the board for the Grantsville Ute Conference Football League this year. This turned into a full time job in itself, but was a great opportunity for me to help an organization we love and are thankful for. I spent most of this year teaching Gospel Doctrine and just recently got called to be the Young Women’s President. This put both Cory and I serving with the youth which has been fun. I’ve really enjoyed being back with the youth, except for that impending doom called Girl’s Camp. I’m trying to convince the Bishop to let us camp at the Little America this year, but I somehow don’t think it’s going to be approved.

Noah is 13 and in 8th Grade. He’s getting so grown up and it scares me to think he’ll be in High School next year. He’s still playing every sport he can and loves being busy. He plays tennis all spring and summer, our beloved football in the fall and our winter’s are filled with basketball. The only one of these sports that doesn’t require travel is basketball, so we’re enjoying getting to just drive down to the school for these games. Both tennis and football have us driving all over the Salt Lake valley and even up to Park City. Noah has developed a huge interest in anything to do with WWII and spends hours reading about or watching movies and documentaries about this time period with his Dad. This interest has cemented even further his decision to join the military when he’s old enough. He is in his Deacon’s Quorum Presidency and has loved having his Dad in Young Men’s with him. He is now as tall as me and seems to be getting taller each day. (I know, I know…being as tall as me isn’t much of an accomplishment, but it counts for him!)

Taylor is 10 and in 5th Grade. She actually gets to attend the Jr. High instead of the elementary school because her school caught on fire this summer. She LOVES getting to be there and has thoroughly enjoyed getting to spy on Noah and his friends while at school. (She also claims that lunches are much improved on the Jr. High level…who knew?) Tay has really come into her own this past year. She loves spending time in the kitchen and has become a really good cook. She started babysitting this summer and loved rubbing it in to Noah that she made more money than him. Taylor played tennis again this spring and summer and did awesome. She played on a team that got to play teams from all over Salt Lake. They even won the District Tournament at the end of the season! We were so proud of her for working hard to earn that opportunity. We’ve convinced Tay to try her hand at basketball this winter and we’re excited to watch her play Jr. Jazz along with her brothers. This is a big stretch for her, especially because basketball uniforms aren’t necessarily ‘cute’, which is normally her requirement.

Ian is 6…almost 7. His birthday is the end of December. He is in 1st Grade and loving school. He’s adjusted very well to being in school all day. He’s so much more social than I ever thought he’d be. His ‘best friend’ changes often and he seems fully involved in all the dramatics of 1st Grade. Ian started tennis this year and did great! By the end of the summer, he was able to start playing some matches, which made him feel super grown up. He is also going to play Jr. Jazz basketball this winter, which he is excited about. Ian is such a sweetheart and I love that he will still hold my hand, give me hugs and kisses and sit on my lap. I think I’ve taken more time to enjoy all of the small things with Ian; knowing that he is my baby. He is spoiled rotten by every single one of us. We’re creating a monster!!
I find myself feeling so thankful for everything this past year brought to us. We are so blessed. There’s been good times, rough times, happy times and sad times; but we came through it all better than we started. We’re just thankful we were able to take the ride.

We’re sending our love and best wishes to you all for this holiday season. May you be blessed more than you can handle and find more joy than you thought possible!