Merry Christmas

Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas! We hope this holiday season finds you and your family well. We are excited to be celebrating our favorite time of year again and hoping to instill in our kids the true meaning of Christmas!

We have been blessed with another great year in our family. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our newest member, especially Addie, she can't wait to have a little sister! Although Candice was quite surprised that the prompting to have another baby came so soon after Isaac was born she has now adjusted to the thought and can't wait to welcome her into our home. She isn't supposed to arrive until mid-January, but looks like she'll be making her entrance earlier! We will keep you posted.

Isaac (16 months) is our little firecracker! He is loving and happy but insists on getting his way, which definitely tests our patience some days! He is one busy little boy and loves to climb, be outside and play with Addie, Cole and his toys. He loves his dad, books, cars, (he even makes the vroom sound as he pushes them around!), balls (one of his first words) and electronics (we have to hide phones, remotes, etc from him). He has the funnest personality and is so smart. We are constantly amazed at the things he gets already and his great memory, no such thing as out of sight out of mind for him.

Colton (3 ½ yrs) is all boy. He loves tools and “fixing” things! He can spend hours with Dave at the shop hammering cardboard and helping Dave! And he loves his trips to Home Depot with grandpa Cutler. He also loves motorcycles, cars, sports, digging in the dirt, his bike, nursery, playing with his friends and his dog, Cash. He also likes things to be clean and tells Candice almost every week that she needs to go to the car wash because “the car is so dirty!” During one of their last visits to the car wash he informed Candice that he wants to be a car washer when he grows up! He has also become obsessed with firemen lately so it looks like it will be a toss up between car washer and firefighter for his career choice! He also started soccer this fall and asks almost everyday if it is a soccer day.

Addison (5 ½ yrs) is all girl and quite the second mother to her brothers and a great helper to Candice. She started kindergarten this year and LOVES it. She would go on Saturday and Sunday if it was possible! She loves being with her friends and is excited about learning new things. She also loves her dance class and primary class. She is so excited to be getting a sister and has been picking out clothes and planning things to do with her for months! She is our little fashionista, she loves picking out her outfits each day and accessorizing! She also likes to pick out the rest of the families clothes too!

Candice keeps busy chasing three kids, with her calling in Relief Society and the many other random projects that she gets herself involved in! The last two months have been a bit of a challenge as her doctor has requested that “she rests more than she wants to!” But with the threat of being hospitalized, she has slowed way down and cleared her schedule (mostly!!).

Dave continues to stay very busy with work and his schedule became a little more hectic this spring when he was called as the Elder's Quorum president in our ward. On the rare occasion that he gets some free time he enjoys rounding up whoever is available and going out to shoot his guns. We are thankful that his store continues to do well and are constantly amazed by the way Heavenly Father has blessed us in this venture.

As a family, we have had the opportunity to make many trips to Utah this year and also a trip to Disneyland! We also went on our first camping trip since moving to Arizona! We've enjoyed time on the boat, our seasons pass to the zoo and many other outings here in AZ.

We are thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ, for His atonement for us and for the many ways that Heavenly Father has blessed our family this past year. We look forward to hearing from you and are thankful for your friendship and example to our family.

Love,

Dave, Candice, Addison, Colton & Isaac