Merry "after" Christmas

As I ran out of time to get this Christmas letter out with Christmas cards, I thought I'd reprint VERY BRIEF (I say very brief as the original was 3 pages long!) parts of it on the sad, and extremely neglected blog so those that follow this blog can see what we've been up to....

After almost 10 years at West Valley Elementary I left for a new job at a new school. The new job is going wonderful-even though it was and sometimes still is an adjustment. I leave at 8am to get to work by 8:20am and don't get home until 6pm four nights a week. My regular work day ends at 3pm, but I am involved in the after school program at Hillsdale Elementary which is why the late nights. On Friday's I work until 12:30 then tutor a student out of my home in the afternoons. My mornings are spent doing guided reading groups for 2nd graders and my afternoons Early Steps tutoring for 1st graders. Every spare minute I have is spent writing up lesson plans for eight different groups so I am extremely busy. The plus side to this is the day goes by very quickly!

Kaylie is doing well in 10th grade and is planning on going into nursing. Right now her desire is to be neo-natal nurse. She has to do 50 hours of community service so several days a week she volunteers over at West Valley helping a first grade teacher. The teacher tells me she really enjoys her and the students love her! Her biggest complaint this year is she isn't getting enough sleep. I think that must be a teenager thing...
Kaylie has also embraced being a vegetarian which she began in June. She's not super proactive in trying new things so I found a vegetarian cook book for Teens online and gave it to her for Christmas. Hopefully this will encourage her to add some new dishes to her diet.

Mark is still our love bug, still always happy, independent and always willing to help. His latest thing is baking cookies. He will get on the internet and download a cookie recipe and bake all by himself. I am amazed that I have child who will do that and isn't afraid to do it! He continues to excel in school and take care of his lizard, Zorro.

James turned 18 on Dec. 19th and Mike and I still can't believe we have a child who's 18! Time goes by so fast! We celebrated with family and a few friends who came over for tacos. He has been accepted to Dixie College so far, but still waiting to hear from U of U and others. For graduation we are hoping to give him a gift of a plane ticket to Guatemala. His best friend Nick has family that live there and Nick's dad and Mom and I have been talking. They are planning on doing the same for Nick and Nick's dad will plan on flying with them to Guatemala. I couldn't keep the passport a secret as I need him to be there for that but as Nick's family has invited him in the past to go to Guatemala next time they go, I am using that as the excuse to get his passport - so he has it ahead of time, just in case....

Mike stays busy building Jr. High and High schools in Utah. He is currently working on finishing Kaysville Jr. High and starting Olympus High School. Keeps him extremely busy and a little stressed.

I didn't make any Christmas cards this year or get any Christmas gifts made. I just didn't have the time. Though instead of buying Christmas ornaments for the kids this year, I did make them. They were easy enough, that I may make similar ones as gifts for family next year.

Christmas evening I came down with a cold which I think is now turning into a sinus infection. I've been sick all week and having a bowl of my special homemade cold-bustin' chicken soup - has lots of chicken, vegetables, garlic, ginger, jalapenos, and peppercorns to help with cold symptoms.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with family, friends and loved ones!