Christmas Newsletter

Merry Christmas Everyone!

This has been another full, busy year! Here are a few of our highlights.

Brian and I went to Cancun in January with the company Brian worked for the last two summers. We went zip lining, parasailing, toured Coba and Chichen Itza, swam with dolphins, went snorkeling with sting rays, built sandcastles, and ate lots of food at the buffets. It was so relaxing and fun to have time for just the two of us.

For the first summer since we were married, we didn’t move or sell alarms, and it was wonderful to have a summer “off” playing together. We went on several camping trips, hiked in Zion’s National Park, went to family reunions, went swimming in Cedar’s reservoir, and visited family in Phoenix, Richfield, Idaho Falls, and Island Park. Brian also managed the SUU Garden, where we planted our first garden. We were happily surprised with how well it turned out. By the end of the summer we had vegetables coming out our ears, especially tomatoes.

Brian—This last semester was insane for Brian! He took 18 credits as usual, but they were much harder classes than he’s had before. On top of that he volunteers weekly at our local hospital’s Emergency Room, was called to be in a singles ward bishopric, and started two new jobs on the Dixie and Iron County Ambulances. He’s been dreaming about working as an EMT for a while now, and has loved his new jobs. An added benefit is that he needs the patient exposure before medical school. With everything he had going on he never felt like he had enough time for all his studies or his family, but he pulled through the semester with very good grades. We are so proud of him and excited to have him to ourselves for a month before school starts back up.

Kira—Some of our most exciting news is that we’re expecting another baby, due in May! This last semester I pretty much took care of Bracken and tried to keep food down, but I’m 20 weeks along now, and have started feeling good again the last month or so. I’ve been working on increasing and using our food storage, cooking and eating healthily, and experimenting with my sewing machine. Sewing is one of my new favorite hobbies, and I’ve completed a bunch of fun projects this year.

Bracken—Keeps us laughing and on our toes. He is all boy, and loves wrestling, football games, sword fighting with balloons, puzzles, reading, coloring, and Signing Time movies. He adores his Dad and when Brian is around Bracken is his little shadow. He is very friendly and says “Hello!” and carries on a conversation with any friend or stranger he sees. He almost never stops talking and is pretty easy to understand. He tells me almost every morning, “Oh Mama, you look soo, so pretty!” which makes my day. He loves to look through coins with Brian and whenever he sees a penny he holds it up and says, “It’s a good one!” The other day he was jumping off of our couches onto the floor, and then he said “Well, I’m pretty crazy.” He loves to sing and often goes around the house singing his ABC’s, Away in a Manger, or some other little song.

We are so grateful for our family and friends, for the blessings we’ve had this year, and for our Savior. We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love,
Brian, Kira and Bracken