Christmas Letter

Guess what I spent my day doing? That's right, my annual Christmas letter! I know you will likely get bored if you read this whole thing, but I'm including it anyway. The names have been changed to blog names just so you don't get confused.

Sorry if you are my relatives. You will get another one of these in the mail.

December 2012

Dear Friends and Family,

I can’t believe we are coming around to another Christmas season already! It seems like we just finished the last one. For those of you who regularly read our blog www.twelvemakesadozen.blogspot.com you already know all about what we are doing and where we are. But for those of you who don’t, I’ll give you a quick rundown.

Bossy and Gamer bought their first home this summer and are finally getting settled in. They have one renter in their basement (a friend of Gym Rats’s) and a dog. They still get Bean Dip on a pretty regular basis and have recently reconnected with Gamer’s two daughters, one in Texas in and one in Louisiana. They are hoping to have them out for a visit soon. Taco just turned 8 and is looking forward to being baptized in January. Burrito is almost 6 and doing very well in Kindergarten. Both boys love playing at Grandma’s house since I watch them around their school hours while Bossy works for DCFS. Gamer is going to school full-time at SLCC and working at a paint store.

Gym Rat moved back home yesterday. The roommate he was living with decided to get married so he kicked out all of the guys so he could share his home with his new bride. Gym Rat has qualified for a house of his own but wanted time to make a good decision so he is with us for a few months. He is still working for a bank as a lender and he only has a couple of semesters to go before he finishes his degree in Business Management. We also have a dog again since he brought his little Chiweenie, Franco, to live with us. Baby Doll is very excited about that.

Drama Queen is living in small-town Utah and loving her job as a teacher at the high school. She has mostly English classes and one film class. She has gotten very involved in some of the clubs like NHS. Last week she came up with them to see the Festival of Trees. She also just finished planning the Sr. Prom. She is busy and happy and she loves having a real paycheck! She also bought a truck that has been very handy for the family on several occasions. She loves designing costumes and writing. But we miss her and wish she could come home more often.

Teach is hoping to send out her mission papers this week! She has one more Hepatitis shot to go. She is still working at the grocery store in their Customer Service booth and playing volleyball and basketball with me. She also decided to become a Tupperware consultant so she could buy it at a discount and go to training meetings with me. We have lots of fun together. She has dropped over 30 lbs since June! (I wish I could say that…) She helps me tutor the Dog Walker and she is very active in her Singles’ Ward. I don’t know what I will do without her when she leaves.

The Dog Walker is attending the local community college full time and still walking dogs part time. Finals are next week and he has done very well for his first semester. We are expecting mostly A grades in every class. He is busy setting up his amazing light display again this year. He works out with Gym Rat at the gym and is preparing to turn in his mission papers after Christmas. He has already registered for Spring Semester, so his mission will be after that. He also was chosen as the Scout of the Year for the State of Utah by the VFW. The award came along with a bit of money and a plaque. We are very proud of him.

Princess is a sophomore this year. She works hard at school and has earned all A grades since 7th grade. She was awarded the prestigious 4.0/all H citizenship grades when she graduated from Middle School last spring. She continues to dance and loves every minute of it! She also completed her Gold Award for Girl Scouts this summer and earned her Honor Bee to go along with her YW Recognition Award. She recently went on her first dates, two to formal dances and one mini golfing. She is not really interested in driving, even though she received her Learner’s Permit in August.

Prima Donna is a 9th grader and she works like a dog to keep up with all of her Honors classes! She wants to graduate with her AS degree just like her sisters and so far she is right on task to do that. She completed an entire year of science with flying colors this summer through the Electronic High School just to get that jump ahead. She also spends much of her free time dancing and she loves her Theater class. In the moments when she is not doing homework, she reads and she loves to index. She did over a thousand names for the census project as part of her YW Recognition award.

Crafty is a 6th grader. She recently got her pointe shoes and she loves to dance. She had her first acting experience in October when she had an ensemble part in My Son, Pinocchio, a community production. She loves finally being part of the YW group and she has many friends in lots of different places. We just found out that her Theater Entry for Reflections is being advanced to the Region level. She works hard at school and she also has a job at the preschool during her off-track times. She enjoys babysitting as long as it’s someone else's kids.

Sport is a 4th grader. He excels in school and plans to be an engineer like his dad. He loves scouts, cars, and Legos. He loves sports of all kinds and just finished playing football. His team made the playoffs but didn’t get to the finals. Even though they didn’t win, this was one of my favorite seasons of football. Sport was the line Captain and he was definitely the leader of his team. He played noseguard and tackle and he was on the field almost the entire game of every game. He learned so much about leadership it was just amazing to watch him play. Now it’s on to basketball.

Scout is a 1st grader. She is my youngest Girl Scout and she loves being part of the troop. She dances too. This is her first year of jazz and she is also in Pre-ballet. Her teacher says she is the best dancer in her jazz group. She also has her Theater Entry for Reflections moving on to Region. She is taking off in her reading and she loves school (except the getting up early part). She recently showed off her wild side when she had the part of a rock star last week in her First Grade Christmas Program. She and Taco are playing basketball and Bossy and I are coaching them. First game was last week. So fun!

Curly is 4 now and attending a local preschool. He loves it there! It’s amazing how quickly he has learned his letters and numbers. He also had his first round of swimming lessons this year. He can hardly wait to turn five so he can participate in all the things the older kids are doing like Reflections, Jr. Jazz and school. I didn’t say scouts because he already thinks he is a Girl Scout since he is always part of our troop activities. He loves going to Primary and he is not afraid of speaking at the microphone. His car won second place in the Open Class of last week’s Pinewood Derby. He was so happy to win a customized hat!

Baby Doll just turned 2 in October and she is growing up so fast! She loves her nursery class and being with the big girls. She loves nail polish and jewelry, dolls and dogs. She and Teach do yoga together and she is learning to dance and do the same steps as the big girls. Her arabesque is just so cute! When we go to the store she always has to have a “purse” which is usually somebody’s lunch box. She chases Franco around the house and loves playing with Curly.

My sweetie is still the Cubmaster, a church job that he truly loves…until about three days before Pack Meeting. He is working hard during the day and trying to keep up on home repairs at night. Our house is nearly 20 years old so it seems that something is always breaking. We had to re-shingle the roof this summer since every time we had a storm we lost half a dozen shingles. We got an awesome tax refund this year that opened the way for us to take the trip I had been dreaming of ever since the older kids were little. We took everyone except Gym Rat and Bossy and we made a 2½-week trip back east. To truly appreciate the trip and see pictures, check it out on the blog. We left July 14 and came back on August 1. It was everything we ever hoped for and more! We did Nauvoo and Palmyra, Independence and Kansas City. We loved Washington DC and the Jersey shore. We took a side trip to Detroit and saw the Ford Factory. We also let the kids swim in Lake Michigan. We saw an Oriole’s game in Baltimore and spent the day with my brother’s family in Philadelphia. We visited Hershey Park and the St. Louis arch. So many fun things and so much history. It was a trip we will never forget!

I am still the Stake Sports Specialist for the women, a calling I love. Basketball starts tomorrow and I am looking forward to the extra exercise. Teach and I joined Curves so we do circuit training 5 days/week. It’s pretty obvious on her…me, not so much. I sell a bit of Tupperware when I can, coach basketball and run my Girl Scout troop. Life is crazy and busy and fun around here. We hope you have a fun family-filled Christmas season and a joyous New Year.

Thanks for reading my blog.