A lot has happened in our family in the last year!

Jeremy decided to go back to school and finish his degree he should graduate next December from UVU with a bachelors degree in business management and a minor in Spanish. He also continues to run his insurance agency, and to keep from going completely crazy by being in the office all day, he started driving a school bus part time for Alpine School District, and he loves it! He gets up early drives from American Fork to Eagle Mountain, picks up middle school kids, and takes them back into Saratoga Springs, and after school drives them home again, while trying to spend as much time in the office as possible during the middle of the day, and then off to school with him in the evening and weekends.

Becky taught school up until June when school ended, and decided to stay at home with the kids full time. She enjoys teaching and preparing lessons for her own kids by making file folders and felt sets. Becky enjoys being a homemaker, and keeps herself busy cleaning, cooking, getting kids ready for the day, sending Abby off to school, and occasionally finds time to get lost in a good book. She has been keeping a secret from family and friends for the past few months, as it was also a surprise to us that she is expecting child number 4. She hasn’t been sick at all this time around, and hopes that it continues to go so well.

Emma

keeps busy running and jumping all around the house, from one couch to the other, from the couch to the floor, on all the beds, and from any place she can jump from. Dad has had to change light bulbs in the basement fr

equently from her jumping off from things. She suffered her first broken bone when she was running, and tripped over a toy. Going to the hospital was both terrifying and intriguing for her as she liked all the attention that was given to her, but made it clear to everyone that attended her that she didn’t need a SHOT!!! Emma turned 5 this year, and instead of going to kindergarten this year, she will be the oldest in her class next year, which we hope will give her a little bit of an advantage in her schooling.

Abby

is our little hummer, she likes to hum, dance and play.. She has become a bit of a bully to her brother though, as he is still smaller and she knows it. She has made some huge improvements this year. We have been sending her to a special ed. Preschool where she is starting to communicate using sign language, while working on other areas of development. She gets very excited to go to school 4 times per week. She gets very mad when the bus doesn’t show up on time. We are pretty sure that she has Autism, as a result of having seizures caused from Tuberous Sclerosis (TS), since she is now 3 1/2 and still isn’t talking. She has made huge improvements, and does say “Mama & Dada” now. She is a joy to be around, and doesn’t have a mean bone in her body!

James is now 15 months old! How time flies. It seems like yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital!

He loves to push his vaccume whenever mom vaccumes.

He is calm quiet, and loves to put things away, he is very good at picking up toys. We had to laugh at him a few weeks ago, because he likes to organize his food on his tray, and we noticed that the food that he wasn’t eating, he was stuffing inside his sleeve.

You would think he was adopted if he didn’t look like us, because of how quiet he is.

James is learning to communicate using sign language to make it less frustrating while he learns to verbalize. The other day Becky taught him how to ask for a spoon in sign language, and when he asked for it in sign language he got frustrated, because mom and dad are not learning the signs as fast as he is. He had to make the sign several times before we realized which sign he was making.

James is also very attached to the broom, and likes to carry it around the house.

He is a joy to have around, and loves to play and interact with his family.

May you and your family have a happy new year, and by all means give us a call if you haven’t heard from us in a while!