Merry Christmas

December 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

We have enjoyed a good year.  The kids are all excelling in their activities and at school. They are all growing and changing so much. We have enjoyed many family outings of camping, hiking and biking. We enjoy spending time as a family. Lately the kids have been cooking more and Ruth and Andrew are getting to be pretty good cooks. This year we thought it would be fun to let the kids contribute to this letter. We asked each of them to write a paragraph about the year. We hope you enjoy what they have to say.

Ruth (age 14, 9^th grade): I started high school this year in August and am enjoying it so far. I’m busy learning French (J’adore etudier francais!) and how to interview people and write journalistically.  I’ve been looking forward to reading the Odyssey and other books in English later in the school year. I love books as a principle, except for textbooks of all sorts. I’m writing multiple books of my own at the moment. I also have a lot of fun reading about ancient cultures on my own. I recently made a basic study of string theory and dimensions for the development of a book I am in the process of writing. I’m also laboriously working my way through Les Miserables so that I can see the musical next spring. I’ve been enjoying being in young women’s and I have had a lot of fun activities, like girl’s camp and a YW retreat up in the mountains. I enjoy early morning seminary. I had tons of fun visiting family in the summer. I’m enjoying living in Albuquerque and have made a lot of friends in the past year.

Andrew (age 12, 7^th grade): I am Andrew and this year of 2017 I have liked 4 categories of things. First is model railroading, which I enjoy very much. I have built cars, repaired locomotives, built track designs, and organized my things. Lately I have gone to Mr. Hovey’s house (our model train club leader) to run his trains on a completed layout. My second favorite thing to do is biking on roads and mountains. I have done a 14-mile mountain biking trip and a 33-mile road bike trip. My third thing is Lego. I like Lego cars and Lego scenes on Lego boards. My last thing I enjoy are the Scout campouts that I go on with my dad. We have gone on many: one was 16° F in the morning. We went in a lava tunnel on that trip. I have also done merit badges and ranks. These are the things I have enjoyed this year in every-day free time.  This summer we went on a family vacation to Utah to see grandparents and cousins. We also went camping with the Hubbard family.

Spencer (age 10, 5^th grade): I like art and riding bikes. I have a fun teacher this year who also likes art and is creative, just like me. I am in a model train club that meets every month on the second Saturday. I had a fun time during the summer. I like Legos and think they are great and creative because you can build anything. Then there are Lego trains, which I like even though I don’t have any, except a small mine train. I like making things with Lego that can connect to battery powered remote control motors. And that is all from Spencer.

Caleb (age 7, 2^nd grade): I love puppies and hamsters. I like to go hiking on the old volcanoes (just West of Albuquerque). My favorite subject at school is POP time (gifted pull out period). I cannot wait until I get baptized! Our trip to Utah was awesome. We camped for four days and played with grandparents and cousins. I love bikes very much because they are fun exercise and a great way to spend time. I like my siblings because they are someone to play with during non-school days. I like it when we go to Hinkle family fun center because I like miniature golf and games. I loved this year very much.

Becky: I have worked a lot on family history this year. I have helped my sister work on names that my dad was researching when he died. He had a huge list of things that he was just starting or in the middle of. We have worked through those names and now I am trying to find ones on my own. I love that there is a temple to go to only a few miles away. I try to go often. I volunteer at the elementary school library once a week. I enjoy working with the kids and books. In the church I teach the 4-year-olds in Primary and do Activity Days, for girls 8–11 year old, we do activities twice a month. I enjoy participating in a book club and singing in the ward choir. I have made many friends through those activities. I like to do sewing projects; I made a quilt and other smaller projects this year. I enjoy working on large puzzles and making a pretty picture out of chaos. I enjoyed our big vacation to Utah this year. We enjoyed camping with the Hubbard family and visiting with the Hancock’s, too. Over all, this has been a good year. I am thankful for my wonderful family, my home and most especially my Savior. I am thankful we have this time of year to remember him and to celebrate his birth with our families.

Neal: I am grateful for Caleb's enthusiasm. He generously gives big hugs. He sings in a strong voice and dances to jazz music. This fall, he reached out to the boys in our neighborhood and got them out of their houses to ride bikes with him. He likes to remember the birthdays of children in his school class. He imagines other worlds, draws maps of the continents and cities, and invents languages for the people there. He recently wrote a story set in one of his worlds. Spencer is gentle and loving. He likes to take care of animals. He made terrariums for snails and stink bugs this summer and fed them from the compost pile. I love to see his excitement for family activities. He runs and jumps like an antelope when we go somewhere fun. I am grateful that Andrew can do many hard things. He is learning to play the trombone in concert and jazz bands. He slithered through a lava tube cave and found the lonely bat living there. He is refinishing our picnic table for a Scout project and has learned to use a belt sander. He caught several rainbow trout big enough for a meal. Ruth is friendly and helpful. She is a great support to me and Becky by making dinner, tending the boys when we are away, cleaning, and willingly following our family rules. She is developing her talents for creative writing, singing, and making friends. She is blossoming spiritually by praying, studying scriptures on her own and with the family, attending seminary, singing with the ward choir. I am happy to spend time with my family and have good employment this Christmas. I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ, being part of a great church congregation, and being close to the Albuquerque temple. I am blessed by your friendship.

It's Christmas Time

The month is passing by so quickly.  We got the tree set up and the decorations out.  I forgot to take pictures of the kids with the tree.  I will do that this week end. On Saturday the 2nd we went to a Festival of Trees down town  and enjoyed seeing all the prettily decorated trees on display.  I also enjoyed listening to a live brass band playing Christmas carols. 

The boys liked the Lego tree

Caleb liked that his shirt matched the tree

We enjoyed a free hot cocoa drink

They had a fun village set up

The first week end of December we had Stake conference.  We had Elder Brent Nielson from the 70 come to our meetings.  He was a great speaker and I enjoyed listening to him.  He works with the missionary department and told us things going on there.  He also talked about the “Light the World” campaign.  We as a family have tried to watch the videos and think of ways to focus outward and think of others more.  This week we made some cookies and took them to a few single women we know. I think they really enjoyed our visits.

The first week of December I was involved with helping with the elementary school book fair.  It was a bit busy and I put in about 10 hours of work. I enjoyed helping though.  We also helped with a multi-stake Nativity event. They had hundreds of Nativity sets displayed in a church building. I brought my set in for display. Neal volunteered to help with the checking in of Nativities. Then on Saturday Neal and I went to pick mine up. We had a busy day and didn’t get there while they were doing musical numbers and people were looking, but we looked around while people were cleaning up.  It was fun to see so many Nativities.  After looking around we stopped by a little cafe and got a dessert and talked. It was a good date night.

This is the little Nativity that Jeanie painted for me about 25 years ago.

That Saturday was a busy day. Neal, Andrew and Spencer went to the train club. They had time to drive trains around layouts and enjoyed a pizza party too.  They did some shopping for boots afterwards. We were surprised that Spencer has outgrown Andrew in shoe size.  He is in a growth spurt right now.  I took Ruth and Caleb to the mall that morning to get a few things for Ruth. 

The evening before we had the missionaries over for dinner.  It was nice to visit with them again.  Then I went to a special meeting at the church.  Elder Renlund from the 12 and Elder Pearson from the 70 came with their wives to visit the women in the stakes here.  We had a nice meeting and I enjoyed all of their talks.  We were able to shake hands with them as we left the building too.  I am glad that I could go to such a special meeting.

This week Andrew had a concert band concert and jazz band concert.  I enjoyed listening to the groups play.  I can tell that Andrew enjoys being a part of it too.  Andrew invited his Sunday school teacher to come and she came to the jazz band concert.  Sister Thomas sat by us and I enjoyed a visit with her between bands playing. She has enjoyed Andrew in her class this year.

Caleb has enjoyed play times with his friend Charlie.  The boys enjoy being together. Caleb lost a tooth this week and likes that he looks like a beaver. 

Charlie and Caleb have fun with the blocks

Caleb loves his Santa hat that I got for the kids this week

Ruth is busy with finals week this week. The high school has semester final exams for all the classes. She is doing well and will finish off the year with good grades.  Last Friday was her last day of early morning seminary for the semester.  Her teachers made a nice breakfast for the class to eat while they reviewed their final exams.  She has enjoyed going to seminary. Spencer has finished his scarf and is working on a hat to match with his knitting. Yesterday was the last day of knitting club but his teacher said he could use the loom over break to finish his hat.  He has fun bike riding with a friend from church and school, Jonathan. 

I enjoyed being in the temple this morning. It was a peaceful time for me.  I have been thinking about my dad a lot this week since today marks two years since he passed away.  I miss talking to him. I have felt a stronger testimony of my Savior this season. I know that he lives and that my dad is still there too and that I will see him again.  I am thankful for my faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for this time of year to reflect on his birth and teachings.  Merry Christmas everyone!