News from Mom

Dear Family,

It's December, the most wonderful time of the year! The weather chills our bones, and family love warms our hearts. Two more weeks and school will be out. As usual, I look forward to vacation more than the kids. Maybe it's because I'm always working, but they just hang out and have fun. But that's not true, I really have fun too. Some of those students are such comedians that I have to hold my breath to keep a straight face and teach!

Dad and I still commute together. As he gets further into building his Green Valley Grocer, he seems to be staying later and later. I have trouble waiting for him some nights, but then it's always worth it when we drive home together. Last week when I picked him up, out of the blue he said, "Let's go have dinner at Memphis." On the way we picked up some easy chairs for the cabin, and as we drove home, we had enough left-overs for two more meals. It's kind of like being newlyweds again.

Last weekend we played with Jackson and Sydney while their parents went 4-wheeling to Redrock with all the Giffords. We spent the afternoon playing on the swings, stacking blocks and eating treats. Grandchildren are so much fun!

I haven't talked to Martha lately, but the word is, don't ask her if she's had the baby yet. That's all I've heard through the grapevine. I'll certainly update everyone when I hear anything different.

Take care, and I hope you all have wonderful holidays with your beautiful families.

Love & prayers, Mom

HOLIDAY QUIZ

1. Why does Santa have 3 gardens?

2. What do snowmen eat for breakfast?

3. What do you get when you cross a snowman and a vampire?

4. What do you call Santa's depressed helper?

5. What do you get when you cross an archer with a gift wrapper?

6. What do you call someone who's afraid of Santa?

7. What is the best feature of the neurotic doll?

Atwoods in November

Wow what a month! November was a crazy weather month for this area. I guess there was more rainfall in the first 3 weeks of November than ever in recorded November history. It was really wet!! We are so thankful to live on high ground! I like to go running down along the Cedar River and it shocked me to see all flood damage to that area. Everything dried out and we enjoyed an awesome Thanksgiving with some fun families we met from our ward. Then the we had ice and snow storms!! I thought I was back in Iowa for a day or two. School was cancelled, so I went out to the hardware store and bought some sleds. The kids had a ball sledding with the whole neighborhood. Now that December has started, we have had two days of solid sunshine and temps in the 40s which is wonderful. We are all very busy lately, much busier than I like to be. The office receptionist turned in her resignation, so I have been working more to learn her job, not that I want it, but so I can train the next gal we hire and be able to oversee. Owning this office has been stressful but rewarding, all at the same time. Friday after Thanksgiving we picked up Andy's parents, and they stayed with us for several days. We enjoyed a trip to the Seattle Aquarium, and then we ate lunch at Salty's right on the waterfront. That is where we took all the pictures I sent. It was so wonderful to see his parents again! There are also a few pictures we took in front of the building our office is in, and one in the foyer in front of a model of our building. We have to get our Christmas tree today so I'd better wrap this up!

Love Mel and everyone else too

Martha & Jeremy

Hello. No baby. I guess she is not coming in November. It was really a nice month despite the no baby factor. The weather was in the 60s - 70s all month! Fall was perfect. Even last week it was in the mid 70s. One evening we were outside hanging Christmas lights. The sun was setting and there was a slight warm breeze. I took in a big breath and thought to myself, "Wow, this feels like Mexico." Only moments later Jeremy said, "Martha, this sounds really wierd, but this weather reminds me of Mexico." I guess it really did feel like Mexico! Well, that weather is gone and so is November. No baby yet though.

November consisted of as much outdoor time as we could manage. We spent a lot of time at different parks. The boys' favorite park time was a relatively small park with huge trees (you just have to watch for falling branches!). The ground was covered with leaves. The boys played all afternoon in the leaves. What a novelty. I don't think they've ever had a chance to play in leaves before. It was fun to watch their excitement.

We had a nice Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day Jeremy went and played football and had a good time. Meanwhile, I took the boys and a few other daring Moms and kids to the Thanksgiving Day Parade downtown. We also had a good time. We came home, took a nice nap and then had leftovers and pies for dessert. Who says you need to have a turkey for Thanksgiving?

Now it's December and cold and still no baby yet. I'll keep you posted . . .

Love, the Tanners

Becca & Nick

Okay, so this is it for the December 1st newsletter. Well had I written an article for the November 1st edition it would have sounded something like this: Last month Elissa’s sweet spirit brought peace into our family. This month everything went back to normal and then beyond. Jonathan teases our little drama expert, Estelle, again. I am constantly sleep deprived, and Elissa cries whenever she is awake. Today I can tell you for this month’s newsletter that things are starting to settle down a little. Elissa has been sleeping through the night and the difference it makes is amazing. And when I start to get grumpy in the evening, I put everyone to bed, even if it's only 6:30pm. So things have been going smoother. Oh, and Nick got a dog for his birthday, we named her Dobby.

Last week Nick took a little time off work and we went to the North Pole. We took the Polar Express out of Williams. They served us hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies on the train. Once we got to the NP, Santa jumped aboard and came on our car. Jonathan and Estelle were mesmerized with Santa as he walked down the isle and speechless when he stopped and told them Merry Christmas and gave them each a bell from his sleigh. We were able to have a good time despite the temperatures. I don’t think I’ve ever been so cold in my life come to think of it. We got to Williams at 4:00 in the afternoon and when we got out of the truck to put on our jackets, there were instant tears. Estelle looked so confused and couldn’t do anything but cry. Jonathan cried right along with her. The high for the day was 17 degrees, and it was windy. So we ran, carried, and snuggled the way to the hotel room where we proceeded to put on three layers of clothing and jackets. We felt much more prepared, and less cold, the next time we went outside. And we felt that way for about 10 minutes before our tooshes started to freeze again. This week I am much more appreciative of our 65 degree highs in St. David and can’t help but wonder why and how anyone would choose to live in cold places!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a Merry Christmas this month!!!

Love, the Bryces

McKay & Keresa

So do Mom and Dad get a turn at planning the reunion or does it go right to Chris and Summer? It is confusing, I know, but we are back at the beginning again. Chris: Leahman Caves, Melanie: Circleville, Martha: California beach camping, Then was Matt: Casablanca, McKay: Flagstaff, then Becca because she got skipped by matt: Whitehorse lake near Williams. So now we should be back at either Mom and Dad or Chris and Summer right?

Over the weekend we went to play with Grandma and Grandpa Whitney. Grandpa played a game where he put individual toys up on the ceiling fan, then turned it on and let them go flying off. Sydney really enjoyed playing. After he was done (but she was not) Sydney said, "Play with Sydney!"

Matt and girlfriend came for Thanksgiving. It was fun to remember those days with Keresa, our courtship, as it were.

Last week we set up the Christmas Tree. Afterward, Keresa felt sick and lightheaded. I asked her if she thought she was pregnant, kind of for a joke (because Jackson is only 7 weeks old). Immediately she started crying and yelled at me to go buy a pregnancy test pronto. I got a double pack. The first one didn't work. So she stewed about it all night, had horrible dreams, then the next morning tried the second test, and found everything was normal - not pregnant.

A lady in our ward's grandpa died, and she said he had an organ. So we drove over and picked it up. It is a fun toy. It is very old, and has lots of rhythms and things on it. Sydney loves to climb up there and play it. It is nice for me because it gives me a chance to practice up on my hymns for church.

Jackson has begun to smile. This weekend we attended a baptism. During the service I was holding the baby Jackson, and the whole time I was just looking at him, and kissing him, and kind of playing with him. And he kept looking up and smiling. It is rewarding to have him smile.

Jackson is learning to make noises. Sure he has grunted since his birth, but now he can make noises to say he's excited or happy. He coos. He also smiles now.

Love, Mk, Keresa, Sydney, Jackson

Matthias

Querida Familia,

Yay! Happy December! Happy two weeks left of the semester! I've got three more days of classes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, (with two final projects and about 5 more homeworks to do), and then a week of final exams. And then this incredibly fun semester will be over. ((sigh)) Actually I think I ended up alright with my classes after all. In my vector calc class (the one where I failed the midterm), all I need to get is a B on the exam for a B as the final grade. My grade right now is a solid 79.8%. It looks like a C for the optics weeder class, but I feel fortunate just not having been weeded! As for Statics, Physics, and Theatre Appreciation, I should get A's unless something unfortunate happens on the exams. I'll let you know how it goes in a few weeks.

Last night, I took Megan to the Institute sponsored Winter Formal. I wasn't sure if such an occasion required buying a corsage and wearing a hugely formal outfit. But then I got a stroke of genius to use my white suit with my barbershop tuxedo vest and bowtie. Oh man did it look smooth (especially around the very tight fitted bum. I'm pretty sure the pants shrunk around the bum while I was on my mission). As for the flowers, I asked another girl if it would be expected or what she thought. I guess I asked the right girl because her eyes lit up and she said, "Come over to my house tomorrow and we'll make one out of duct tape!" So that was tons of fun sporting Megan in her black formal dress with a silver duct tape corsage and me in my white tuxedo and a matching duct tape boutonniere.

My old roommate Britt and I had another stroke of genius for the dinner date before hand. What is the best place to eat in Tucson? Hands down Eegees! So how could we fit Eegees into a formal dining setting? Why take the formal dining experience to Eegees! So we set it up ahead of time with a nice table cloth, fine china, candles, a stereo playing Les Miserables in French, and a couple other nice touches. I also talked one of the employee girls to come out and greet us, seat us, take our order, bring us our food, and bring us our eegee's in fine crystal goblets! It was an amazing date. Everything was perfect. Oh! And at the dance, they had chocolate fondu fountains where you just put your snack item under the fountain, and then eat it! It was awesome.

I guess that's it for news. Everything looks like it's working out okay and I am definitely ready for a break and some new classes next semester. Becca was telling me about a conversation she had with Nick the other week where they expressed gratitude for not having their life partitioned into semesters anymore. I look forward to the day! :)

Con Amor, Matthias

ANSWERS TO HOLIDAY QUIZ

1. so he can hoe, hoe, hoe

2. frosted snow flakes

3. frostbite

4. low "elf" esteem

5. "Ribbon" Hood

6. "Claus" trophobia

7. It came wound up all the way.