Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Victor and Rowan on Mother's Day

    So I didn't write a letter to go with our Christmas cards. I thought about it but figured there just wasn't  much to say. Then we had a horrible thing happen in our state and I decided that maybe I should rethink that. At the end of the day it isn't what we did or didn't do, it is who we spent our time with, and that we made the most of our moments together. What a wonderful blessing our two kids are in our lives and we hope that we tell them that enough.
           Well that leads into all that we did. We enjoyed our first year in our new home. We had visitors and we unpacked and we had some big life events and we unpacked some more.
           We appreciated the mild weather we had last winter. Kelton's parents came and stayed a week with us at Mother's Day and we had a cookout with both sets of our parents and siblings. The kids were busy with school and activities that kept mom hopping. We had a hard choice to make but we decided that we would keep Rowan in 2nd Grade for another year. We were very unpopular but it is for the best and we are seeing the benefits. The kids swam and bowled the summer away. Back to school was meet with big yellow buses. Each kid had a milestone birthday, friends visited and celebrations were had. Fall has raced by and we find ourselves wishing for a white Christmas. As the New Year knocks at the door we look back at the changes this year has brought, the blessings we have been given, and the milestones that have passed to quickly and we say thank you to our Heavenly Father.

 

Mom and Dad 2012 in review

 Dad is a hard working and takes wonderful care of all of us.

We were able to have Kel's parents stay with us twice this year.

We took a super fun day trip to Carlo's Bakery in Jersey and got lots of goodies to eat. 

Dad did lots of camping with Victor and the scouts, including a full week this summer.

Dad also had the opportunity to ordain Victor, and baptize & confirm Rowan.

Mom takes good care of us and spends lots of time doing service for others.

Mom spent a lot of time unpacking and organizing our home.

We are blessed that mom is able to spend so much time running us to all of our activities.

Mom had to say goodbye to her childhood home as we helped her mom get her grandma's house ready and prepared to sell it. It sold quick and the goodbyes were hard.

 

Goodbye Christensen home!

Victor's Year in Review
       Well we can hardly believe that our son is 12 already. This year has had so many firsts for him. He went to his first Klondike and shot a gun for the first time. He attended his first school dance. He got braces and hates to smile. He went to Scout camp for a whole week and had a blast. He loves Scouts and has spent lots of times doing activities with them. They did tons of service and lots of neat things for merit badges. He earned a Marksmanship award in shooting at camp and is super proud of it. He is an amazing straight A student in 7th grade. He loves being taller than mom and keeps measuring up to dad to see how close he is to being taller than him. He is excited to be a Deacon and counting the weeks till he is done with primary. I think it is crazy how fast he is growing up but he is such a great kid and makes us so proud all the time. He took archery for the first time and loves it. He did Lego League with school and wants to have a career with Lego if he can. He still loves the color green and Legos. We are sure he can accomplish anything he puts his mind to and is such a force for good in our lives.

Rowan's Year in Review
      What an amazing spirit this little girl is!! Rowan turned 8 this year and got baptized. She is so excited to be an activity day girl. She loves her school and it is a blessing for us to have this chance for her. It wasn't a happy moment for her when we decided to have her stay back this year. Rowan has a late birthday and this was a move that mom wanted for a while. Rowan is amazingly smart and is advanced in math but struggles with a lack of desire to sit down and read and talk about it. She is tops in her art classes and LOVES her school. Her current desire is to be an Art or Music teacher at her school. Rowan is an amazing athlete, this year she learned to roller skate, took swimming lessons everyday this summer and advanced quickly, and she is now learning to shoot archery. She loves pink and purple. She also discovered her favorite thing this year, The Phantom of The Opera. She went as the Phantom for Halloween. She has watched the 25th Anniversary like a million times on Netflix and to save future tears we got her a copy on Blu-Ray with the matching sound track. She has spent tons of time listening and acting out Masquerade which is her favorite part. Rowan keeps us on our toes when she isn't doubling us over in laughter. Rowan is the bright light and source of energy in our lives.

 

We are SUPER proud of our two blessings and all that they bring to our lives. They are amazing kids and we are in awe of them and all that we see them doing in the future. We are thankful for our friends and family and all the opportunities we have to have fun and make memories with them.

We wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year!!