HAPPY HOLIDAYS

What an amazing time of year. I know that it also brings a certain amount of stress… trying to find the right present, braving the hoards of people in stores, fixing the Christmas lights
for the 8th time because they keep breaking.
But there is nothing more beautiful than soft falling snow, the shroud of peace that it brings, a simply decorated Christmas Tree and knowing that the Savior lives and loves me. That is the peace that I am striving for this season.

ALLEN: Change is not a word necessarily in Allen vocabulary or part of his life. He likes things ste4ady and straight and doesn’t like too much variance. Allen is working for Teleperformance and managing his team here in the U.S., India. They have been making transitions with the Canadian team. In fact as I sit here and type on this December evening, Allen is on an airplane headed to India to help facilitate this transition. I am trying to keep in the for front of my mind that we will be home for Christmas and not worry or be upset that he is gone during the holidays. I have to be thankful that he is employed and that this is part of him having a job. We did go hunting this year and I truly believe that it was a blessing from above for us to be able to go. We needed the break and to take the time to enjoy being together as a family and to go camping. Allen did succeed in getting game this year, but had a blast being there. Allen’s one goal for the fall was to be able to have us park in our garage this year and not out in the snow. I was so impressed with his drive on this project. He built many shelves in our garage to add some storage for our stuff that has no home yet. AND he is the proud father of a clean garage that both our cars can park in. It has been SO nice! He is now making lists of what needs to be accomplished in the house again since the weather has turned cold. Hopefully we will be able to capitalize on those projects.

JENNIE: I am working for the Utah State Office of Education as the Elementary Math Assessment Specialist and have taken on many other roles there as well. I work with some of the most amazing people! I am certainly blessed to have the opportunity that I do. My year has been full of work, travel, and playing with my kids. My travels have continued this year with trips to Orlando, Savannah GA, and again to Atlanta. I will be going BACK to school again this January to finish my Administration Certificate. No time is an easy time to do it and the longer I wait the harder it will become, so I am just trying to keep my eye on the prize and get it done. I am not looking forward to homework AGAIN! I have also taken time to focus on some things I enjoy, like perfecting my cinnamon roll and Apple Pie recipe. Hmmmmm I need to make another pie! Allen told me no cooking while he is gone, funny thing is, that is what I crave doing while he is gone.

JUSTYN: Well Justyn has surpassed my shoulders and is now working on taking it to the top of my head and he has now passed me in shoe sizes. He is so tall. Justyn had a great year. He has played Jr. Jazz and excelled in his skills. He played baseball again and made the All-Star team. It was so much fun to watch him play and succeed and have the opportunity to play at a higher more competitive level of baseball. His team even made it to the state tournament this year! He has been a great student and is excelling in math and science. He just won his class Geography Bee and will be participating in the school bee next week. Justyn all had the pleasure of finally having a broken bone. I can’t believe that we have gone this long without having on. He broke his wrist this summer riding his motorcycle. He had to have a cast 2 times for it to heal. To top it off, we just found out last night that he broke his left arm now. He was playing at school and one of his friends fell on it. We are waiting to get yet another cast. He is becoming a wonderful young man. He still enjoys taking care of his brother and they are great buddies. Justyn is becoming quite the accomplished cook. Allen has been teaching him how to make several different dishes. His new favorite is Yorkshire Pudding.

JAYSON: Oh my 3 year old!! I think that we have hit the terrible twos over the last few months. WOW! Jayson is growing fast, too fast. He talks up a storm and comprehends so many things. He is learning and growing. He loves his new daycare and is having the opportunity to go and do some fun activities. He loves playing with cars and reading. He is also becoming quite the little athlete too. He loves noodles and crackers. He also loves fresh fruit and vegetables. Our next adventure is potty training. He is digging in his heals and rearing his ugly stubbornness, but I am determined to get this done. Jayson is also a loyal Cougar fan. He went to several games with us this year and know exactly what to do when the fight song starts playing. It has been fun to watch him get excited for a game. He is still my cuddle buddy and our climbing monkey. If he can’t reach it, he will find a way to get there.

Once again, we are so grateful to have you in our lives, for your love and kindness. We are grateful to our Father in Heaven for all of his blessings and the guidance he had given to us this last year. We hope you each feel of His love this year and express you gratitude and love to Him and those around you. May you have a beautiful holiday season with those you love!

LIFE IN GENERAL

Well as we seem to get busier and busier, I seem to feel like I am falling farther and farther behind. I just wish that things would slow down, just a little bit. I need to catch my breath.... Well we have had a wonderful Fall and now starting into Winter. We spent several weeks camping and hunting on the mountain. It was so much fun and so nice to get away and be surrounded by the Fall beauty. our only complaint is that the BLM and USFS is at it again, shutting down everything!!! We don't even know if our traditional camping spot will be open next year. It is very sad that government organizations are taking this to extremes. It is also sad that they are being driven to do it by those who abuse the land and environmentalist whose voices are to big and being heard too often. Now off my soap box......

Halloween was wonderful as always. We spent the Saturday of Halloween weekend at Lagoon. It was fun and surprisingly not crowded. Justyn was the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland (pictures to come later) and Jayson was Buzz Lightyear. This was the first year that Justyn went trick-or-treating with friends. He decided that going with his little brother and mom and dad just wasn't cool anymore. I cried all the way home from dropping him off at his friends. It was such a rainy night that we only took Jayson to 3 houses. It is a good thing that we went trick-or-treating to my work the day before.

Thanksgiving was spent here at home with Allen parents, his sister Janae and her family, and his brother Craig. We had a yummy meal and the kids had a lot of fun playing. My family came up and spent a few days too. It was nice to see them.

I am now sitting here typing, watching the snow fall. I LOVE this! I don't like to be cold, but there is nothing more beautiful than fully falling snowflakes and the peaceful, still, quietness that comes with it.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, filled with peace, safety, love, and the feel the true spirit of the season!

BONES, SWIMMING, AND A NEW SEASON

August and the first part of September have been pretty eventful. The end of July, while we were in Schofield with Allen's family, Justyn broke his arm. He was riding his motorcycle, following his cousin who was on a 4-wheeler. His cousin stopped a bit ahead of Justyn to talk to grandpa, grandpa continued past his cousin and came to Justyn, justyn turned to wave at grandpa and didn't see the 4-wheeler. He ran into the back of it. He didn't fall off, which was good news, but the impact of the collision caused a buckle fracture in his right arm. He was pretty devastated as he sis this the first day of our trip and wasn't able to go boating or really play in the water, not to mention no more riding his bike. He got his cast off the first of September, but the bone wasn't healed all the way. So he is now in another cast and will get that one off the end of this month just in time for the hunts.

We had the wonderful opportunity of having one of our friends from India with us for a few days. Vimlesh has been in the US for the past month looking for a job and finally got one in L.A. He was able to come and stay over Labor Day. We took him camping to Joe's Valley. We also took him to his first US football game. It was the home opener for the Cougars. I was so fun to have him with us. He even made us dinner Monday night, true Indian food. It was spicy, but SO yummy.

Yes football season is in full swing. We went to the home opener for the Cougs. It was HOT, but fun!! So glad for the win. I LOVE FALL!!!

The pictures may not be that great, as they were taken with my phone.

OUR SUMMER

Okay..... So 3 months is a little long. So here is a little run down of some of the things we have done this summer.......
Memorial Day Camping at Lola's Place
Justyn's 4th grade program
Week in Provo for June Workshops
The Homestead Retreat
Justyn made the All-Star Baseball team and they went to the State Tournament!!!!
Justyn turned 10 years old
Jayson learned to ride a bike
LOTS of baseball games
Cedar City for a week
Sitterud Family Reunion
Days of 47 Rodeo
Hogle Zoo
Handcart Days
Homemade waterslide
Bees Game
FIREWORKS, FIREWORKS, and MORE FIREWORKS
Swimming Lessons
DeFriez Family Reunion
Justyn broke his arm
Week in Provo for August workshops

And we are still going!!!!!

FLOORING

So it feels like we are finally moving. A few weekends ago, my family came and helped lay all the laminate flooring in the basement. This weekend, they returned and we tore out the subfloor in the living room, replaced it and layed the Hickory Hardwood. We also had the carpet layers here putting the carpet in downstairs----that is a story unto itself. We were able to put beds in bedrooms and clean some stuff up. I will be very excited when I can do nice before and afters and post, that will be my stamp of completion! Here are the the latest pictures, there are quite a few, but it tells a story. We are down to 1 week my friends to have this done!!