HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I thought I would share our holiday letter for those that I don't have "snail" mail addresses for.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
We have begun receiving the holiday letters so I decided that I had better slow down for a minute and get with the program and share what we have been doing this year.

ALLEN:
I guess if I were to say “ditto” to our previous holiday letters, that would describe what Allen has been doing. He is still working for Teleperformance and managing his team here in the U.S. and in India. He did make his annual trip to India in January and had a great time. The guys that came and stayed here, that we took care of, reciprocated it when Allen got there. They took him to Jaipur and to several places around Delhi. He got pretty tired of going and going, but he enjoyed it. We are not sure if he will be going again in 2009 because of the terrorist attacks and the U.S. government issuing a travel warning for people going to India. Allen had a great hunting season. He got a deer and an elk so we are loaded with meat. We spent a lot of time on the mountain and were able to spend the hunts with both of our dads. Allen has been doing remodeling jobs around the house and will be starting on replacing our flooring in the kitchen and living room over the holidays. He has again put our vacation plans for the next year on hold in case he draws out for the any bull hunt. I wish that he would draw out soon so that we can start making yearly plans before the end of April

JENNIE:
I am still working for the Utah State Office of Education and loving it. I work with some of the most amazing people and I learn from them every day. I am certainly blessed to have the opportunity that I do. My year has been full of work, travel, and playing with my kids. I have held many workshops and met many teachers around the state and I have had the opportunity to travel to Atlanta, Louisville, and San Diego. I have learned that even though I love to travel and see new things, it isn’t much fun unless you have someone to go with. We had season tickets to BYU again this year with my dad and I loved going to the games. I am getting my boys to participate with me now. Justyn can sing the cougar fight song by himself and Jayson knows how to clap along and when to do the Ra-Ra-Ras. Yes I am a proud mother! I am trying to catch up on my scrapbooking, but I am over a year behind. I am taking some time during the holidays so hopefully I can get caught up. My mom, sister, and I participated in a craft fair and had a lot of fun, didn’t sell much, but had fun! I also spent the hunts on the mountain this year and really had a great time. I would
be perfectly content living in a cabin on the mountain. Obviously I would want some modern amenities, but I love the beauty and the peace.

JUSTYN:
Justyn reached a great milestone this year. He turned 8 and was baptized on July 5th. It was a great weekend and he was so excited. Justyn played baseball this year and his team played in the Championship game where they only lost by 1 point. He had a great experience and this year had a great coach. He is signed up to play Jr. Jazz starting in January. He has become my sports buddy sitting and cheering for BYU and the Jazz. Since Brett Favre moved to the Jets we have also become Jets fans---we still like the Packers too. He is in third grade and has a terrific teacher named Mr. Cassler. He has improved in every subject and is soaring in math. I love listening to him read. He has many great friends and he loves to play the Wii and now World of Warcraft with his dad. He is a great big brother to Jayson. They play and read together all the time. Jayson follows him around and tries to do big boy stuff. They are really cute together and I could sit all day and watch them play together. I was worried about the age difference, but so far it has been good. Justyn is learning how to do adult things. As I sit here, Allen is teaching him how to use the snow blower, I cringe at this, but recognize that he is getting older and learning new things. He loves to do projects with Allen. I hope that they can continue to stay close as Justyn gets older.

JAYSON:
Jayson turned a year old and is growing by leaps and bounds every day. He is running all over, talking jibberish with a few new words mixed in, and loves chasing his brother and daddy all over. He loves to pull the pans and bowls out of their drawers as well as dragging the vacuum throughout the house. He also likes to cuddle with his blanket and is a climber. We have had to move our furniture away from the cabinets otherwise he will be found on top of the counters. Where Justyn was a daddy’s boy, Jayson is a mommy’s boy. If we would let him, he would live on our back porch. He loves being outside playing. He is a great baby and certainly came into our lives at a perfect time and we are enjoying every minute with him. His favorite word is Uh-Oh. I am teaching him how to say “I Love Mommy” he gets the tonal inflections and mom—it is fun. He loves toothbrushes and turning on and off the lights. He knows what it means when we say we are going bye-bye. He gets his shoes and coat and runs for the garage door.

Allen and I celebrated our ten year anniversary this year and went on a trip to Puerto Vallarta. We had so much fun. It rained most of the time we were there, but we still did a lot of activities. I think the highlight was deep sea fishing with Allen’s dad and grandpa. The trip went way to fast, but we have many memories and lots of pictures to share.
We have had a great year and are truly blessed to be where we are today. We are grateful to have a wonderful family and the greatest friends anyone could have. Thanks to all of you for your thoughtfulness, kindness, and love! We hope you are able to take time this season to remember back this last year and focus on the blessings you have received and remember the reason for this time of year.

Love,
Allen, Jennie, Justyn, and Jayson DeFriez Want to keep tabs on us? http://ajdefriezfamily.blogspot.com

HALLOWEEN 2008

Gardner Village

Every year, I take Justyn out of school and we spend a half day at Gardner Village seeing The Witches, visiting the Quilt Shoppe, The Christmas Shoppe, The Candy Store, and then have lunch at the Bakery Shoppe. I love this day and spending it with my boys. We usually try and take their yearly pictures, but Jayson wasn't being very nice. Justyn is the best big brother and can get Jayson to laugh like no on else. We finally got a few cute pictures. All Jayson wanted to do is run and play. We had such a great day. I hope that my boys love this day as much as I do and that they will continue to want to go with me and make this a great tradition.

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MUZZLELOADER 2008

It is that time of year again, when we head for the hills to spend countless hours and sleep on uncomfortable beds all in the pursuit of BIG game. We are spending a couple of weeks in September and October camping and hunting with our family. I LOVE IT! I could live in the mountains and be perfectly content! Our boys have been having a great time and we have loved watching them together. We spend a lo of time covering the trails and eating dust. Tin foil dinners, dutch oven potatoes, and smores become our diet.

3RD GRADER

Justyn started 3rd grade this year. I can't believe he is this old. His teacher is Mr. Cassler and so far he has been great! He leads and works on the Heli-fire fighter team in the summers and uses his experiences with the students. He uses a lot of positive reinforcements in the class.

SUMMER FUN

We had several family reunions this summer. We spent time in SLC with the Sitterud's going to the zoo, Lagoon, Days of 47 Rodeo, a Bees Game, and Temple Square. We then went to Strawberry Reservoir and spent a week in a cabin and went boating. Both vacations were great!

JAYSON IS 1!!

I can't believe it! Jayson turned one on Saturday. He is growing way to fast! He started walking a couple of weeks ago. I am trying to figure out how to upload the video we took on our camera. On Saturday, we had a family party with lunch and cake. It was fun to see him with the toys and wrapping paper. He was such a good boy and loved the attention.

JUSTYN'S BAPTISM

On July 5th, my little boy was Baptized. His Baptism was at the stake center at 5:00 p.m. All of my family, including my Grandma Christensen came. All of Allen's'family came too. We had a dinner for him at the church afterwards. The next day in Sacrament Meeting the Bishop honored him. Justyn sat up on the stand and after Bishop was done, Justyn sat back down on the stand. He wanted to stay up there and sit. I told Allen it was a good thing we got him a suit. All of the people sitting on the stand including Justyn were in dark blue suits. It looked pretty sweet. I was glad he behaved himself and didn't pick his nose. It was a great weekend. I can't believe that I am old enough to have an 8 year old. I still feel like I am 21. I know that I am going to say the same thing when he is 12, 16, 18, and 19. They grow so fast. take the time to smell the roses with them!

PUERTO VALLARTA

Allen and I finally took a trip out of the country that wasn't work related. We went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, with some of Allen's family members. We had a great time. It rained everyday, but the last day we were there. That was good because once the sun came out in got very HOT. We went to the local flea markets and shopped. We went deep sea fishing and caught a sail fish, some jacks, and a blue finned tuna. The young kids that took us out were hilarious. One looked like a Hispanic Orlando Bloom. We spent some of the time playing beach volleyball with some of Allen's cousins and went on the "booze" cruise with them too. It was interesting watching drunk people try and dance on a moving boat. The week went fast as all vacations do, but it was fun to get away. We are now planning to go to Hawaii next.

10 Years Ago.....

I am taking on the challenging.....

10 years ago in May I got married and had taken our honeymoon to Lake Tahoe. I was starting my last year of college at USU and we had just bought a cute little trailer in the USU Trailer Park. I was working for USU Photo services printing picture enlargements. Allen was working at The Computer Station. Looking back now, life sure seemed easier then. :)

5 THINGS ON MY TO DO LIST TODAY:
*Call the dentist'
*Clean the kitchen
*Contact several school districts at work about their 4-6 math grants
*Call Amy back
*Pay some bills

5 SNACKS I ENJOY
*Cold Stone Ice Cream (cake batter and brownies)
*Peanut M&M's
*Dr. Pepper Fountain Drink
*Kettle Corn Popcorn
*Fresh Melons (especially at this time of year)

WHAT WOULD I DO IF I WAS SUDDENLY A BILLIONAIRE
First of all, I wouldn't believe that it was true and would be questioning whoever gave me the money. Then I would pay off all our bills, take my family on a great trip, remodel our house--or just buy a new one with TONS of land. I would also divide some of the money up between all of my immediate family members. I would secretly payoff mine and Allen's parents debt (oops, that should be a secret) and then I would anonymously send money to certain people I know. I would also put some in a high yielding account and live off the interest. OH---I would upgrade my season tickets to BYU football and get seats in the chair section!

5 PLACES I HAVE LIVED
*Orangeville, UT
*Price, UT
*Logan, UT
*Herriman, UT
*Bountiful, UT
(Kind of a boring list)

5 JOBS I HAVE HAD
*Nanny
*Photo Lab Technician
*Teacher
*Elementary Math Assessment Specialist
* MOM

5 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME
*I am fascinated with the paranormal and what some would call the "afterlife" and love to watch a show called Ghost Hunters on Scifi
*One day I want to run the marathon that is held in Cache Valley
*I love the smell of rain and fresh cut grass
*One of my favorite things to do at Christmas time is to turn out all the lights in the house, except the Christmas tree lights and sit quietly by myself and think.
*My favorite time of year is Fall. My favorite holiday is Halloween


Wow some new things about me. I would love to hear or read any of yours!

Visitors

During our Spring cleaning, we left some apples on our back porch. We had some friendly visitors. It was so fun to watch them. One actually came up to the back sliding doors and pressed his nose against it. This is one of the positives of living here.

New Year

Things are moving along so quickly. Allen and I are working hard and have been taking a few trips. Allen spent January in India and did some new things. Once he returned, I was off to Atlanta for a week. It was a nice break, but I don't much like traveling alone. The boys are growing so fast. My parents went to Tampa Bay and brought them home some cute Pirate shirts. Jayson's is a size 18 months--imagine that at 6 months. He has outgrown all of his clothes and Justyn at that age was wearing Summer clothes. We have moved on to the 12 monthers.

Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. We spent Christmas Eve with the Sitterud family. This year it was hard because my grandmother is no longer with us. Every Christmas Eve we gather at my Grandpa and Grandma Sitterud's house with all the cousins and we have dinner. After dinner, the younger kids reenact the Christmas Story and the tradition has been that my grandmother would read it when she was able to. Several years ago, a member of the community found a recording that they had done of this in the 1970's. We made copies for all the family and that is what we have listened to for the last few years since my grandmother had been so bad. It was hard to here her voice, especially hard for my grandpa. It was a good night to remember the Savior and her being with him again. Christmas morning was so much fun with Justyn and Jayson. We then headed for Bountiful to spend the rest of the day with the Defriez family.