Christmas Letter 2007

We hope you had a great Christmas and you're all ready for the coming year. 2007 was a busy year for our family, and we're hoping 2008 is a little less crazy!

We started the year with a string of hospital visits-- J***** caught croup which progressed to pneumonia and ended up spending a week in the hospital in January. She had barely recovered from that when in February, she ruptured her appendix, a very rare occurrence for someone not quite 2. It happened very fast, in less than 24 hours she went from no pain to emergency surgery. We came very close to losing her, were very blessed that she was able to get the medical help she needed. She spent another 10 days in the hospital, coming home 2 days before her baby brother, A*****, was born on February 28th.

Then, after we were just settling back into the regular routine of life, A***** caught RSV and had a collapsed lung, causing him to spend a week in the hospital until he could breathe and eat on his own. While we are very grateful for hospitals and medical technology, we hope not to visit again for a long time. The only time you should go to the hospital is when you are bringing home a baby!!!!

Summer was much more fun, as we went to family reunions, spent a week in Utah visiting family and going to Lagoon, and visited Yellowstone. We were able to see almost all of the different animals in the Park, including grizzly and black bears, bald eagles, elk, deer, and lots of buffalo. It was a lot of fun, but 7 nights in a tent with 4 kids was an adventure!!!!

After all the vacationing, it was nice to settle back into the school routine. We are still homeschooling and loving it. R***** (7 in September) loves math and reading, and can often be found with his nose in a book. He loves music and started learning to play the piano and sang in a children's choir. T**** (5 in April) is learning to read. He loves food and relates EVERYTHING to food or candy in some way. He is full of energy and enthusiasm, and does a great impression of Hammie the Squirrel from "Over the Hedge." J***** (2 in March) thinks she should be able to do anything the boys can do and insists on doing her "math and science" everyday too. She'll walk around with a book, pointing to the words, saying, "aaaaaaaa" then turn the page and move on with a different letter sound. She is our little princess, and loves bows, jewelry, baby dolls, and mothering everyone!

Fall brought hunting season and a new ward. R**** and S**** went moose hunting in Eastern Idaho and shot a moose. They were both VERY excited and proud of their hunt. About the same time, ward boundaries were shifted again and we were changed to a new ward. We've lived in the same house for 4 ½ years and this is our third ward. S**** was called back into Young Men's as 1^st Counselor (working with 14-16 year old boys) and I was called to Primary teaching the CTR 8 class (kids who turned 8 this year).

Then in November, my sister moved to Boise, living in a hotel for a month. The kids loved going in and going swimming and playing with cousins. This is the first time we've lived near enough to family that they can see cousins frequently and they are loving it. The kids loved Christmas and spending time at both grandparent's houses. They are enjoying their new toys and playing outside in the little bit of snow!

We hope you all have a great year and keep in touch!

Love,Simply Mom and family