Merry Christmas 2009!

Seattle Times!

You're Invited! We have lived in Seattle for a little over 4 years now. Seattle has been good to us. We are accustomed to doing everything in the rain. We have great friends, have had many good times and have entertained a few visitors. This year was no exception. My parents came for a visit, Matt's mom, my sister, her kids and then my nephew. We are experts at taking people around to all the sights and you are all welcome to participate. The accommodations aren't very large and matter of fact it takes quite a bit of planning to coordinate the single bathroom. However, we promise good times will be had by all and most likely a little rain.

This year Matt and I got to spend 10 days in Spain visiting my old Madrid mission areas and hitting a few new places such as Granada and Barcelona. It was a magical and exhausting trip that we thoroughly enjoyed. I was able to see mission companions, friends and people I met while serving there. The boys stayed home with Grandma and had a great time showing her the ropes. I still hear Cole say "Well, Grandma let us!"

As a family we did our annual visit to Utah in August. We had our first ER visit while there and had to fly Dad back to get us all home safely.

Matt's year has been consumed by first studying for the GMAT, taking the GMAT, applying for MBA school and getting accepted to the University of Washington full-time MBA evening program and then starting school. We hope that once it is over we will be reacquainted with him. Fortunately, before he started we were able to spend some time together in Spain. I think Matt finally gained an appreciation for my accent when he was regularly asked to repeat himself in Spanish. Matt hit a milestone and turned 30 this year. He enjoys his work at Microsoft in Xbox and still tries to get out and play basketball, football, golf or any other sport as much as he can. He is relieved to now have an excuse to no longer remodel as he has run out of time. The boys love having someone to wrestle with and enjoy Daddy time.

This year for me has been very physical. I started it out with a complete yard remodel (thanks to my cousin Shayne's help) which included cutting out about 2500 square feet of grass by hand. Then I planted and spread many yards of bark. It looks great and the hard work has paid off. It assisted in my training for a sprint and olympic triathlon and a half and full marathon that I participated in this year. I had been heard to say I would never run a marathon but am glad I did and can't wait to do it again. My days are spent playing with the boys who don't understand what it means to be gentle, soft or quiet! I am trying to accustom myself to this level of rowdiness and being constantly surrounded by boys. I still write resumes on occasion and enjoy working when I get the chance. Going back to Spain was a real treat for me and I was happy I can still speak Spanish!

Cole started Five Bright Stars Preschool. He loves it and asks everyday if it is a school day. It is a coop that I participate in with a few friends. He also started taking a few classes. His favorite is gymnastics. He jumps, plays and gets out a lot of energy so I thoroughly enjoy it as well. Cole started out the year only wearing pajamas all day, but now will wear clothes particularly if they are batman shirts. He will also wear jeans to preschool (I told him it was a rule!) He is very kind to others and enjoys having Ethan to play with. In his spare time he loves to swim.

Ethan had a good year working on his physical and verbal skills. He can say "darn it" and "oh man" on any appropriate occasion, he can defy any adult in dressing him if he decides it isn't what he wants to do, and he is adamant about wearing Spiderman or Batman attire at all possible moments. He adores brother and copies everything he does. He was the reason for our first ER visit when he got his finger smashed in a door (Cole is claiming credit.) When I saw him I thought his finger was going to fall off, but no worries, it didn't and everything healed up nicely after spending a few weeks in a cast. He likes to stay close and is thrilled to have me be with him every Sunday as his teacher.