2010 Christmas Letter

This is our annual Christmas card/letter for anyone who's interested:

This year was pretty ordinary. We reached our second year in our house in West Valley. It’s been great. Glenn continues to work for Salt Lake County. They took a pay cut this year, which we hope will be restored over the next few years. At church we were released as Bear Scout leaders in July. Glenn was then made ward clerk, and Audrey is now the Cub committee.

In the summer we did a day trip to Lagoon, which the kids loved. In July, as soon as school ended, we began a big trip to California. It began with the Hammer reunion in Reno and Colfax. Then we went on to San Mateo, where the kids played at the “beach” for the first time (at Coyote Point), and finally on to Cedarville to see Grandma Gilbert.
    

Our big home improvement project for the year was to replace all the windows in the house except the big garden window in the kitchen. In the fall we had a speeding ticket, a little car accident, and then a bunch of car repairs. So after all that, we were out of money for the year.
    

Deven miraculously passed the fifth grade in spite of his habit of not turning in work. He then started the sixth grade, where he is doing pretty well. This is his final year of elementary school. Deven turned 11 over the summer and also finished Cub Scouts by earning his Arrow of Light award. Deven enjoys Legos, video games, and scary stories. He is something of a pack rat. Deven is far-sighted and just got glasses for the first time. If you want to understand the phrase “an offender for a word,” just talk to Deven.
    

Jaelyn finished second grade and started third grade. Both of these teachers have been great. Jaelyn is affectionate and friendly and has an innate gift to be a peacemaker. Jaelyn can still be incredibly stubborn. She is very clumsy and comes home from school with a new injury almost every day. She loves tying things in knots. She loves animals but still enjoys watching the classroom snake eat mice. Jaelyn turned 8 on the first day of school and got baptized in September. She also started Activity Days, which she enjoys.
    

Sara turned 5 early in the year and expected to start Kindergarten the next day. But she had to wait until August. Sara is pretty smart and always wants to be out doing things. She hates being left out of anything Jaelyn does. Sara has no fear at all. Sara is always inventing songs and dance routines. She really should be in dance classes. Sara is very much a girly girl. Her arch nemesis is Caelan.
    

Caelan talks pretty well now and has a cute voice. He turned 3 in spring. He is now mostly potty trained—hooray! Caelan is the biggest goof. Caelan lives on cookies and popcorn and will not sleep in a bed. He is the king of sound effects and loves cars, trains, trucks, and Deven’s toys.
    

Corin just turned 1 year old, so this whole year was adjusting to a new baby. His baby blessing was the first weekend of January, and many relatives came to see us for that. He can get pretty fussy, so he’s lucky to be so cute. He thinks Caelan is the coolest. Corin believes he is the king of the universe. He is hoping to acquire some better subjects, who will not force a diaper change on him or call him names like “pee pot” and “poo head.”