The Year in Adventures - An Open Holiday Letter

Note: We’ll keep this as the most recent post for a couple weeks, so check below for new posts.

As the debris settles on another year of adventures for our family, it is fun to emerge from the damage we have survived (or caused, depending on one’s perspective) and take a moment to let our family, friends, and acquaintances know what is going on in our lives. This may be somewhat silly, since most of the information in this post is just a rehashing of what we’ve said as we’ve keep those who care to know about us updated with weekly blog posts. So, to all of our faithful reading and posting loved ones, thanks for your support, kind words, funny comments, and friendship. And to those of you who don’t read often, thanks for taking the time to drop by. Feel free to come back soon.

Merry Christmas to you,
David, Melissa and our three operatives

Missions: DECLASSIFIED

Operation Yellow

The most successful mission this year involved commandeering a Marathon RV and setting up a field operation just outside 44*27’37.77” N 110* 49’40.95”, commonly known as Yellowstone. We locked down the area for a week, making it safe for our operatives to collect the necessary intelligence of the surroundings before we began a covert assault on the wildlife. Hundreds of mosquitoes met their deaths in hand-to-hand combat. We recovered the territory lost to the squirrels as they grabbed their nuts and fled to the trees. Four-star generals Grandpa and Nannie provided tactical support while we collected evidence, memories, and enjoyment.

Operation Black and White

Supplied by our quartermaster, we recovered smartees, dumdums, and other sugar POW’s from our neighbors, all dressed undercover as our animal counterparts – the Madagascar Penguins. Even better, we did not contract the bird flu in the operation.

Operation Green, Black & Blue I & II

David led two teams of 5 year-olds into combat by coaching two soccer teams this year, the first went 7-1, and the second went into the classified folder under the file name: pain.

Operatives: DECLASSIFIED

003 - Our little recon expert is now 17 months old. She spends her days giggling as she plays jokes on the rest of us. Hiding keys, hair clips, and other trinkets. She believes reading time should occur a minimum of 3 hours a day. She does not cry often, choosing instead to demonstrate her masterful pout. Unlike the others, she is completely a daddy’s girl. Shrieking with glee anytime he’s around, she can usually be found in his arms. She’s picked up his “It’s going to be okay” face and pats people’s backs when they are discouraged. She also climbs everything.

002 - Our Jr. green beret is the athletic one of the bunch. He plays soccer as well as his mom and sisters, can ride a bike without training wheels (as long as someone starts him, because at age three he is not big enough to get up onto the bike alone). He loves tractors, Thomas the Train, and Cars. He can hold his own in Mariokart on the Wii. He also is a great help in the kitchen and can usually take partial responsibility for the meals Melissa prepares in the home. Tim’s favorite dates are “ice cream”.

001 - Is there a military position for a princess? Oh. Our little diplomat started kindergarten this year and recently got her first progress report (report card). She had perfect marks without any marked room for improvement. She currently has the reading proficiency of a 5th grader, but needs to work on her reading comprehension, because there she’s only at the second grade level. In her personal study she just finished Alma and is starting Helaman. She likes reading the Chronicles of Narnia with Dad before bed. She’s been taking piano/organ lessons for about 8 months and has decent form. She loves singing, musicals, and Disney movies. She picked flowers as a midfielder on her soccer teams and likes practices more than games (except for the treats). She loves going to Olive Garden and musicals/plays for her dates.

Melissa continued her responsibilities as quartermaster this year. She makes dresses, clothes, and lots of little gifts. She has been very busy the last few months serving in the church. She manages the family finances and is still able to work as a mother raising of the children. Her favorite dates are “yes”. She ‘bonus schools’ the children at home in addition to the formal public education.

David continued his work as an intelligence operative by completing his Master’s Degree in Education this year and graduated top of his school at Brigham Young University. We’re excited about this because he’s now home and gets to help out and play with the children again. He is still employed as a Religious Educator and enjoys writing in his spare time, having produced a few articles and other curriculum materials in the last few months.