Merry Christmas

This year to save time and money we have chosen to post our annual family Christmas letter. For those members of our family who like to have them to keep for scrapbooks we will send you one and of course we will send one to those of you who don't have a computer.

Greetings,

Another fun and exciting year has come and will be departing shortly. There is never a dull moment at our house.

Tyler has really grown up this year and now thinks he's a big kid like Daniel. He went through a battery-loving phase and now really loves screwdrivers. Actually, I don't know if he loves screwdrivers as much as he just loves taking things apart. He's definitely Daddy's big-little helper. We also attempted the potty-training thing for a while, but he doesn't want to do it all the time… so we're waiting a little while longer until he is ready.

Daniel had a big year as well. He has learned the alphabet really well and enjoys reading books with Mom and Dad. He also played in a soccer league and really enjoyed chasing and kicking the ball. However, he was one of the smallest players on the field and found that he had to push and shove just get near the ball, but he sure gave it his best effort. He also loves to ride his little bike for hours at a time and play games on the computer (I bet he's more computer savvy than my grandparents).

Our boys are best friends and we love that they keep themselves occupied playing with each other. They have great imaginations and love to go “camping” and “fishing”. They also love making cookies with their dad and eating most of the cookie dough before the cookies are even put into the oven. We hope that they will always be the best of friends.

We had several big events happen in our family. In April we got a big Toyota Sequoia so that we could haul more people around. In May we found out that we were pregnant! We are expecting our third boy at the end of January 2009. This is great start to our own basketball team. :)

We didn't take a big family vacation this year, partly because Jen's morning sickness has been worse with this baby. Instead, we went to Lagoon a couple of times, which was like heaven for the boys. They loved it! We also went camping at Mirror Lake, up in the Uintah's, with Nathan's family. Canoeing, fishing, and burning marshmallows in the campfire were a ton of fun.

Our only real setback this year was when Nathan was laid off in October. ZARS let go over 70% of its employees when several things went wrong simultaneously and cash flow went down the toilet. We were very blessed because Nathan was hired at Watson Pharmaceuticals just 3 weeks later. We actually came out ahead because we still had severance money, Nathan got a raise, and the benefits are much better than at ZARS. Watson is a larger, more stable company with better opportunity for career development. We feel very blessed that things have worked out so well.

The biggest excitement for this coming year is the birth of our little boy. Daniel thinks that we should name him "Silly Beluga" or "Pinko-de-Chinko". Little Pinko is very active and doesn't let Jen have a moment's rest. Jen has some real names in mind, but Nathan is still undecided. We are going to try Hypnobirthing this time and Jen has been practicing multiple relaxation techniques which will be helpful on many levels.

We hope you and your family have the most wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Best wishes,
Nathan, Jen, Daniel, Tyler and Baby Strong