Christmas Letter 2017

I was starting to think I would never get this done!!

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 5^th 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 6^th 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 1^st 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 1^st 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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 1^st place for the 2^nd year in a row at the Pinewood Derby.

Baby Doll turned 7 and I no longer have a little girl. She loves 1^st grade and her teacher and following rules. She is learning to read and she loves Primary and Girl Scouts. Her car took 3^rd 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 1^st 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 25^th 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.