We haven't even sent out our Christmas letters, but here it is February 3, 2007.

Our new family hobby is attending BYU sports events. Usually it is men's basketball, but last night we watched men's volleyball and today was a women's gymnastics meet. Everything we have attended the Cougars have won. Nathan says we are good luck. Last weekend we convinced a bunch of friends to buy tickets with us to the basketball game. That was a lot of fun. Our kids love seeing Cosmo, the Cougar mascot, at all the events.

One reason we have been slow getting out our Christmas letter is that we are currently job hunting. We keep hoping we will have some really good news to share including where we will be next summer!!

Good news we do have. Amy's torn tendon has healed enough that the orthopedic surgeon has decided to leave her alone. She is very grateful. For those who don't know why a surgeon would be threatening her, Amy broke her leg, tore a tendon, and sprained her ankle falling down our house stairs in April 2006. (on the 13th for those of you who enjoy superstitions) After having 3 casts and 2 braces lasting until July, she was finally back on 2 feet and off crutches. In October she decided to get some exercise by jogging around the high school track. Somehow she managed to break her leg again doing that. And they discovered the tendon had never healed. She got to go to 6 weeks of physical therapy which she LOVED. Seriously. Her ankle had not felt so normal in months!

To catch up on others in our house:

David was accepted into Technology Club this year. They are in charge of the school website and learn to create their own websites as well. He's having a blast and is enjoying the challenge. He is planning on taking violin lessons again. He took a break for a year and is now ready to get back into it.

Zandi is in 4th grade and loving every minute of it. She has a male teacher for the second year in a row and she adores it. She says men teachers are more fun. I think I also heard her tell one of her friends that they are cuter, too, but that is only a rumor, not confirmed!

Megan is in 2nd grade. She has a very quiet peaceful teacher. She is perfect for Megan. Megan likes quiet, peaceful people. Once she gets to know them, she shows off her giggly side. She now gets notes home saying she was too giggly. What a change from the past years of "Please, make her talk to me!" letters from teachers.

Nathan is in 1st grade and is the darling of all the girls. He keeps telling them he is too young to have a girlfriend, but they don't listen well. He has quite the following. He continues to love math and astounding adults with his logic. His new love is basketball. That is all he wanted for Christmas. He is getting pretty good with his 5 foot hoop. We will have to upgrade before long.

Thomas is teaching Calculus and Matrix Analysis this semester. He has a football player and a volleyball player in his Calculus class this semester. (That's why we were watching the volleyball game!) He is also applying for jobs all over the country as we continue the job search and the waiting to hear final word from the job he was offered in Maryland but there is no budget approval for, yet. Strangely enough we want a salary when we accept a job. Hopefully we will be letting you all know about a job soon!!

posted 05-V-05

We are just going around in circles maybe!

Today Thomas accepted a position at BYU in Provo for the fall. After receiving his bachelors and masters at BYU, we never thought we would end up right back there again, but, here we go!

So we've gone from Provo to Williamsburg to Rexburg to Provo. Of course it would be wonderful if our circle continued and brought us back to our favorite place, Williamsburg. But it would have to stop there!

We will be renting our friends' house in Springville, UT for the next 2 years, and see what comes up after that. Surprisingly, we are very excited to head off to BYU for this 2 year stint.

The grade school the kids will go to goes through 5th grade, so all the kids will be in that school for the next 2 years.

Only one move and then hopefully only one move after that!

David will be taking a break from Violin lessons this summer. We'll see if he wants to continue in the fall. He is also enjoying Scouts and loves having his dad as his den leader. (nice change for Mom, too!)

Zandi and Megan are the Kool-Aid Stand Queens of the neighborhood. They have had 3 stands for the season already, and since we live on a well traveled corner, they average $20/stand. At 25 cents a cup, that is pretty good. They buy their own sugar, kool-aid and cups and are saving up for Pokemon cards. They only keep "cute" Pokemon and trade the rest for more "cute" ones.

Nathan is getting excited about Kindergarten and is working on his Kindergarten workbooks that the school here gave to him at Kindergarten registration. He has entered a very dramatic stage and will sing, dance and tell jokes for anyone's entertainment.

posted Jan. 11, 2005

We spent Thanksgiving with Thomas’ sister (Mary) and his brother Jon and Jon’s wife and children. We met them up by Coeur d'Alene Idaho. We had a nice 4 day visit there. Jon lives in Puyallup and Mary in Connecticut. December was busy. David came home one day and he had volunteered to play Santa, of course his teacher knew after seeing the Halloween costume Amy had made that she could make a Santa suit easily. There were parties and in Zandi’s class they all were assigned a different foreign country to do a report on how they celebrate Christmas. Zandi got that real foreign place, Virginia, so we did a Colonial Christmas since we had seen Colonial Williamsburg Christmases for the last 5 years. We planned to leave early Monday after Christmas to go to visit Amy’s family in Washington. But instead had sick kids and left Tuesday morning. We went to the Science Center and Space needle with my dad and his wife and then went to Tukwila to visit and have dinner with Debbie at the rainforest café. We left Heather’s Saturday morning a bit later then planned, then flew back in to grab our water bottles. We got back Saturday evening and Thomas had to leave Tuesday for a conference. Because of snow, his flight was cancelled, the airport took his flight to Salt Lake on a bus, and then he got to stay in a nice hotel in Salt Lake and fly out the next morning. He barely made it to the conference in time for check in. We worried the whole week that he would not make it back home because we are finally getting all the snow that Rexburg usually gets. Luckily with 10 guys from the math department praying for a break in the snow it did not snow at all on Saturday and they all made it home on time. Now we are all getting back into the school schedule after a nice break. Amy and Tom are planning a trip in May to celebrate their 10th Anniversary!

posted Dec. 9, 2004

Thomas is beginning the job hunt once more, this time for a permanent job. He is hoping for one here, so we can have a minimal move, but we will go wherever the Lord sends us. He is attending a conference in Atlanta in January. This conference also contains an Employment Center where universities can conduct job interviews. This should be very helpful. He is enjoying BYU-ID and his work there. He is a Den Leader for the Bear Cub Scouts.

Amy is still volunteering at the grade school and keeping busy with the kids at home. Her latest project is making a Santa suit for one of her kids who came home and informed her that he was being Santa because no one else in his class wanted to do it. And by the way, did she have time to make him a costume. Luckily, she has a sewing machine and the skills, even if time is not always on her side! She sings in the church choir and teaches the lessons for Enrichment night.

David is taking violin lessons and being a Cub Scout. He is in 3rd Grade, has Mr. Stimpson for most of the day with class swaps into Mr. Bone's class for history and Ms. Green's class for science. He got his first pet, a hamster, which he named Smores because he is tan on both ends and white in the middle. David likes reading "A Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket, and the Harry Potter books up to #3 (because Mom won't let him read on yet), Geronimo Stilton books, and Bionicle books. He likes soccer and magic and being with friends. He also sings in our church choir. Oh yeah, he also kinda likes Nintendo. (a lot)

Zandi is in 2nd Grade, has Mrs. Hawkins for most of the day and swaps into Mrs. Hansen's class for science and Mrs. Andrus' class for social studies. Zandi likes to dance, play dress up, make crafts (anything requiring glue and tape), and play outside in our first backyard ever! She also just discovered that Geronimo Stilton books are fun. She got glasses in October and lost her first top tooth in early December.

Megan is in Kindergarten with Mrs. Western and Mrs. Ivers, and swaps into Mrs. Erickson's class for various Kindergarten type things. Their school is definitely into moving about. Megan likes to read Arthur books and any books about Lily and her Purple Plastic Purse, Chrysanthemum or any of Kevin Henke's many mouse books. She was Rita in her Kindergarten play of Chrysanthemum. Except for having the giggles with her two co-stars, she was fabulous.

Nathan is staying at home with Mom. In January he will start preschool run by Mom and some of her friends. All the 4 year olds are getting bored around here with so few preschool options. Nathan is into Rescue Heroes, action figures of police/firemen/rescue guys, Baby Riley (his boy doll), and anything David is interested in doing with him, like Legos, Hot Wheels and something else. What could it be? Oh...yeah...Nintendo.
We are now in Rexburg, Idaho. We have been dreaming of a white Christmas, but so far, no luck. Someone once told us that Rexburg gets a lot of snow. Oh, maybe that was Amy. Anyway, no snow. A couple flurries. One day of 2 inches of snow on the ground. Currently, gray pavement and brown grass. The kids have asked Santa for sleds. Maybe they should have focused on the snow first. The kids are waiting, waiting, waiting for Christmas. They are hoping Santa has our new address and that he shares it with the Pajama Elf (our Christmas Eve Pajama bringer), the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny.
Such stress at such a young age.
Our Christmas traditions are going caroling on Christmas Eve and then having cocoa/apple cider and German sausage while waiting for that Pajama Elf. Sometimes he is a little late. Amy saw him at Wal-Mart on Christmas Eve last year when she went to get the sausage we forgot. After we get our new jammies on, we turn on the Christmas tree lights and sing Christmas songs. We start with the fun/silly ones and end with the carols that truly bring in the Christmas Spirit. In the morning anyone who gets up before 7am can get into their stocking, but they can't touch the presents under the tree. Then the kids make Mom and Dad breakfast in bed. Now that David is almost 9, we might get more than cold toast and milk. Once Mom and Dad have eaten, we watch Luke 2. This is a video about the Christmas story, told directly from Luke, Chapter 2. After that we open a few presents, stop for a yummy breakfast/brunch of waffles, eggs, sausage and juice, and then finish the presents. Later we have! a delicious dinner with ham as the main dish. Let us know what you do for Christmas! Some fun things we do before Christmas are getting together with a couple families to make our favorite Christmas goodies. Then we all swap some goodies and end up with about 9 different kinds of Christmas treats, usually some we've never tried before. We also like to drive around and look at everyone else's Christmas light displays. There are not too many here in Rexburg yet. We will have to wait and see what happens as it gets closer to Christmas.
Merry Christmas!
Thomas, Amy, David, Zandi, Megan, Nathan

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