2012 Christmas Letter

It's another one of those crazy years for our family...we've been running here and we've been running there!  And as always it amazes us when Christmas comes around because we really can't believe another year has passed...BUT IT HAS!!! We've got or tree all set up for Christmas, started our Christmas baking (which never stops this time of year), shopping is done, and gifts are almost wrapped and of course our families two most favorite things are in full gear...listing to Christmas music and watching Christmas movies all month long!!!  (OK maybe that's moms and Seth's favorite things about Christmas)

We hope that as you are reading this you and your family re well and in good spirits.  DJ, Suzi, Josh (14), Seth (11) and of course Cayla, Craig and our soon to be new grandson, Eric (should be born around December 23 or sooner we hope) have kept ourselves sort of busy this past year.  We are still up in the Estrella Foothills, in Goodyear, AZ, loving the area, watching it and our boys grow everyday!  As always mom and dad seem to live the quiet lives lately while the kids live the exciting lives...perhaps its age, who knows, but it's been kind of nice to sit back and have a pretty quiet year...well other than the kids!!!

The biggest news for our family this year of course was Cayla and Craig's news and that of course was the announcement of a new baby!!  Of course we were so excited to become new grandparents and we can't wait.  Then came the news that the baby was going to be a boy and possibly born on Christmas!  What a great Christmas gift to our family!  Cayla has been doing great during her pregnancy, she looks wonderful, she feels wonderful (OK at times she might disagree with that) but she is doing GREAT!!  Cayla and Craig also moved this summer to the cutes two bedroom town home, with a pool.  It's right across from their church building and in a good neighborhood.  Now lets get Eric into this world by Christmas and things will be perfect for the Holidays!!  As for us, we can't wait to be grandparents, well it took sometime for DJ to get use to the the idea...well maybe he's still getting use to the idea and the boys just think its weird that they are going to be uncles.  Seth just wants to teach Eric all the cool things you can do.  I think Cay better watch out.

Now Joshua started out this year shorter than his mom and now he is as tall if not just taller than her.  He has decided to start growing...which is fine with everyone in the family cuz we were kind of worried he was going to stop growing like Cayla did at age 12, but boy did he fool us!! As always he is busy in scouts and school.  In May he graduated from 8thgrade and is now in High School.  At the start of the year he played for his 8th grade schools baseball team where they took 2nd place in the district.  This year in High School he has already received an Academic Achievement Award in English and an award for showing respect in their Character counts program.  He's keeping very busy with scouts and is getting ready to start working on his Eagle project which he hopes to have finished this next year.  Right now in church he is serving as the Teachers quorum President, which really keeps him busy but we think he enjoys it.

As always, Seth is our crazy child, but we love him and will keep him, even though mom keeps trying to sell him on Facebook to all her friends.  Seth is really having a great year this year at school.  He's got a wonderful teacher who really works with him and sees that he is a pretty smart kid.  He's been getting all "A's" this year, which is AMAZING!!  He's also found a new love this year!!  We've always known that he was a clown/ham, but he has discovered the Drama Club and he LOVES IT!!  They say he's pretty good.  Seth has also worked really hard this year in Cub Scouts and earned his Webelos badge in October and his Arrow of Light!  Hes tried really hard this year!

As for mom and dad, we, we just sit back and try and keep our family going.  DJ is still working with DPS.  This January marks his 20 years with them!  He made a BIG decision this summer and in July retired from the military after 25 years of service...it was a very hard decision for him to do but he felt it was time for a change.  He is still serving in the High Council at church and enjoys that a great deal.  Suzi just tries to keep everyone's life in order.  Helping the boys and her friends when they need it.  Plus try to keep our dogs, Mia and Dakota from tearing the house apart or running away is a full time job.  We don't have 2 kids left at home...we now have 4!!  (Josh, Seth, Mia, and Dakota, oh and lets not forget DJ)

As you can see our family is doing well.  We keep ourselves out of trouble, sorta and busy.  We try and stay healthy!  We try and stay happy and we stay strong in the gospel!

From our house to your, we hope you have a Merry Christmas, and
May your New Year be Fun and Happy!

All our Love,
DJ, Suzi, Joshua and Seth