Dear
Family and Friends,
The
year 2017 has been a hard one for us filled with incredible highs and
devastating lows, and we are looking forward to a less rocky ride in 2018.
Some
of our most difficult trials hit Bossy and Gamer’s family the hardest. They have
struggled with carrying a child for the past decade, with miscarriages in the
double digits, most of them less than 10 weeks. A loss last year at 18 weeks
was crushing, but the still-birth of our sweet Calder at 25 weeks was
indescribable. His birth and death dates were in September; about 2 months
after Chips and Salsa were placed with a different adoptive family. Bossy and Gamer’s family of 8 was reduced to 6, then 5, and finally to 4 when Fajita (Cat Woman) was
married in October. Only time will heal some of these wounds for them. On a
happier note, Taco started middle school and played all three of his favorite
sports, basketball, baseball, and football. Burrito is a 5th grader
and enjoyed all the same activities. Both boys play the clarinet like their mom
and they glory in the fact that they are an eternal family. Bossy is currently
working for Medicare and Gamer works as a custodian at Bingham High School.
Beauty and The Beast had their first child, a sweet boy they named Little Warrior. As they have adapted to being parents, they also were hit with
difficulties when labor caused nerve damage in Beauty’s right leg. She was
numb for months and has only recently been able to remove the brace she wore to
help her control her foot. They also moved into a large, beautiful home in
Herriman which is much closer to us and a fantastic place to raise their
children. Both of them continue their work at a bank.
Drama Queen is my soul sister and has supported me through all of my medical issues and
struggles. She bought her own house in Taylorsville
in the spring, but has yet to move in. She and her dad (with some help from the
siblings) have completely remodeled the inside. Teach and Twiz have been her
renters since July and they will move into the basement next week when the
small kitchen is finally finished. After that, I will have to learn to stand on
my own two feet again when my sweet daughter moves on to take care of her own
life and future. She is currently taking a break from teaching and is working
for NetFlix.
Teach and Twiz had their own little darling in February named Twizlet. She spends a fair amount of time at our house and the
kids have become very attached to her sweet and sassy personality. Teach is
still teaching 6th grade and Twiz has moved into Security at a retail store. He loves the new position and is looking forward to making a career of
Security. He is also going to school part-time at SLCC and that keeps them both
super busy.
The Dog Walker has had quite the year! In July, Beauty and The Beast set him up on a blind date
with a girl who went to school with Beauty. One date led to another and
another until they got engaged in October. They are currently planning a March
wedding in the Salt
Lake Temple. Dog Walker is planning to drop out of school for a while and work full time so they
can save up for their own apartment. In the meantime, they are planning to live
with us. As soon as my sweetie finishes up Drama Queens’s house project, he will be gutting
the oversized girls’ room and making it into a tiny apartment for them.
Princess and The Frog are expecting a little boy in February. They lost the first one to
miscarriage, but after those initial moments of devastation, they were able to
see that the Lord’s plan was better for them. Princess was able to complete her
student teaching and will graduate with her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary
Education from UVU this month. The Frog has a great job in webpage design and
continues to take a couple of classes at a time at BYU to finish his Computer
Science degree.
Prima Donna has been at Weber
State this past year and
is learning how difficult it can be to grow up. She has struggled, but
continues to plunge forward. She is an amazing actress and the folks at Weber
appreciated her efforts. She did a fantastic job in 2 shows during the past year
and was awarded a full tuition scholarship from the Theater Department as well
as a private donor scholarship. She then spent her summer at Trefoil Ranch as a
camp counselor. The end of this year was pretty rocky and she spent a week in
the hospital. We are expecting that she will likely take some time away from
school so she can hold down a full-time job for a while.
Crafty is our busy, frantic girl! She is involved in so many things; president of the
Cupcake Club at Bingham, Youth Mayor for South Jordan
City, FCCLA officer,
preschool teacher, NHS… she recently got a job as a Jr. Jazz official. But the
thing she loves the most is dancing. She was the Lead Arabian in our Nutcracker
performance and a captain on her Elite performing team. She is also the
president of our Girl Scout troop and a Delegate for our Community. And she
just received her YW medallion and was set apart as the 1st
Counselor in the Laurel
presidency.
Sport got tall! He is now taller than me even without the wave in his hair. He played
baseball and football this year and continues to shoot hoops every day after
school even though he has aged out of Jr. Jazz basketball. He is an NJHS
officer and 1st Counselor in his Teacher’s Quorum. He is only a few badges away from his Eagle
Scout and he has maintained his 4.0 all through middle school. He is also a
member of the Youth City Council.
Scout played tackle football this year instead of dancing. She says football is much
harder! This destroys a myth that has long been a source of conflict at my
house. Can you believe she is actually 12? Grandpa took her to the temple for
the first time last week and I think she would go every day if she could. She
also played softball in the spring and I am the coach of her Jr. Jazz
basketball team. She is a good little guard and handles the ball well. She just finished her Bronze award and is
part of the Girl Advisory Board for our Girl Scout Community. At the Girl Scout
Pinewood Derby, her car took 2nd place in the older girl division.
Curly loves sports of all kinds, most recently football where he played on the A team
and they took 2nd place in post-season play. He is still dancing and
had fun as a party boy/Russian in the Nutcracker. He is a great kid and
everyone loves his sweet and helpful personality. He is currently playing
basketball, dancing, and enjoying Cub Scouts. He won 1st place for
the 2nd year in a row at the Pinewood Derby.
Baby Doll turned 7 and I no longer have a little girl. She loves 1st grade and
her teacher and following rules. She is learning to read and she loves Primary
and Girl Scouts. Her car took 3rd place in the younger girl division
of the Girl Scout Pinewood Derby. She was disappointed at first that I wasn’t
coaching her basketball team this year, but she has adapted well and has fun
playing. She is a dancer and loves her ballet, jazz, and most especially tap
classes.
My sweetie continues to work hard to take care of all of us. He was recently put in the
Elder’s Quorum presidency as the 1st Counselor and his hobbies are
remodeling houses, gardening, and building pinewood derby cars.
I
have struggled with leg pain for a couple of years now and we finally decided
to have the decompression surgery on my back to see if we could ease some of
that. My back does feel better, but I’m still suffering from the side effects
of the blood-thinners they put me on after I developed a pulmonary embolism and
ended up back in the hospital for 3 more days. I’m grateful every day to still
be alive, but tired of not having energy or strength to do the things I used to
do. January will be 6 months and the end of the blood-thinners. Hopefully
everything will be back to almost normal by then. I’m still running women’s sports in the stake
and I was recently put in the Primary as Kori’s teacher. This is my 25th
year as a Girl Scout leader and I am active in the Community and Council. I am
also coaching Kate’s basketball team and I still write a daily blog at
www.twelvemakesadozen.blogspot.com
Life
is good.
2 comments:
Wow. What a year!! I’ve read your blog all year so I remember most of this stuff happening, but reading it all together makes the year sound even harder. Hope that 2018 is a better year for y’all!!
I totally loved reading your Christmas letter. I remember all the things that have occured through the year but I loved reading each children's struggles and accomplsihments through the year. You do have an amazing family and I love following your blog. Wishing for you a wonderful Christmas Season and marvelous New Year of 2018.
Blessings and hugs for you all!
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