Christmas Cards?!

To send out Christmas cards or to not send out Christmas cards?! That is my question to myself every year! And for nine years now I have been sending out Christmas cards so how could I stop now? Well for one thing the price to send one single card is .44!! Yikes! And we now have blogging, facebook, email....so many quick and easy ways to keep in touch with friends and family. So I've been debating whether it's worth it or not and decided that I would continue this tradition to send several friends and family members a Christmas card BUT I did not send it to everyone! So my sincere and deepest apologies if you did not receive a Christmas Card! I tried to simplify just a bit and decided to put our letter and a slide show of our year's events on our blog!

Lewis Family Christmas Letter 2010

As our little family ponders the past year’s events there have been many wonderful memories. There have also been many we wish we could forget! We would like to share with you our top 10 Memories of 2010! (In no particular order!)

10. We stayed alive through the drive!
We made the BIG move from Oregon to Utah! We left during the worst storm of the year. A 16 hour drive took us 3 days! The roads were horrible, and on top of it all Erica was extremely sick! When we finally arrived at the Lowry’s Erica was taken straight to the ER and was diagnosed with strep throat. She celebrated New Year’s with antibiotics and pain medicine!

9. Manti La-Sal has another new pal!
We moved to Price so Nate could start a new job with the Manti La-Sal National Forest. He is now the Lands and Special Uses Coordinator. He picked up on the new job quickly and is enjoying the new scenery and different experiences. His favorite days are spent out in the forest seeing bald eagles, badgers, fox, deer, elk and any other kind of animal he can spot!

8. Perplexed in the Duplex!
Before we could buy a new house we had to wait for our home in Tillamook to sell. We lived for nine months in a two-bedroom duplex. Almost everything we owned was sent to a storage facility in Nevada. We lived off the essentials and borrowed furniture. Our couches were camping chairs and our dining table was a folding table and chairs! On the bright side we moved into the most wonderful ward! We were blessed with some great friends in the 8^th ward! Eric served for a short time as a Sunbeam teacher and Nate served for an even shorter time as an assistant Scout Master!

7. Cough, sneeze fevers too, colds, sickness even the flu!
You wouldn’t believe our medical bills for this past year! For some reason we were all sick starting in January and ending in August! We had 3 trips to the ER. Ty was hospitalized with pneumonia. We had everything imaginable from strep 3 times, to pink eye, ear infections, and the flu, every bacterial and viral infection out there! You name it, we had it! Glad that’s over!

6. Here to there and everywhere
We went on several vacations throughout the year, which was a nice get away from the Duplex! One of our favorite vacations was to sunny California for a Lowry family vacation. It was a lot of fun being with Erica’s brothers and parents. We all loved Disneyland, playing on the beach, seeing the aquarium, but just being all together was such a delight! Another vacation we enjoyed was a trip to Arizona. We made several stops along our way including Grand Canyon, Sedona, Monument Valley, and finally our destination Phoenix. Our family loves camping trips and one of the best this year was being with all the Lewis family in the Uintah Mountains. Our family absolutely loved Lake Powell and hiking through Arches National Park.

5. We wanted to cry, at least we could buy!
Our house finally sold in July and we were able to move into our new home in September. Although we took a huge loss on our Tillamook house we were still able to buy. We are very grateful for be in a new house. We moved two streets over which put us in a new ward. We love the 7^th ward and the wonderful friends and neighbors. The kids love having their own rooms and after living in “the dupe” we are very grateful for the extra space and all our stuff back!

4. From soccer teams to balance beams!
This year the kids have been very busy with extracurricular activities. Ty loved playing basketball and even participated in the basketball clinic during the summer. Ty tried a new sport: T-ball, but didn’t like it as much as soccer! Ty loves playing soccer and is very competitive! He likes scoring goals and playing goalie! Mara’s new activity was tumbling this year. She sure is doing well with front rolls, skips, jumps and other tricks. Ty and Mara both loved swimming lessons. Although Caleb was not signed up for these activities he sure loved participating on the sidelines. Caleb loves all sports and can’t wait to be able to play like his big brother!

3. Hip-hip Hurray, another birthday!
Caleb turned one in January and had a fun birthday celebrating with his daddy’s birthday (two days earlier) and cousin Garrett’s birthday (four days earlier). We bounced at the Kangaroo Zoo all day! Ty turned six this year and we had a Super Hero birthday party! All the boys had a cape and masks and our neighborhood felt safer with all the supers running around! Mara turned four and enjoyed two birthday parties at the park with all her friends. The BIG birthday of the year was Erica’s birthday—she turned the BIG 3-0! Boy how the time flies by!

2. School is way cool!
When we moved to Price Ty not only started in a new school and class, but it was all day Kindergarten! He did an amazing job adjusting to a new teacher and he loved his new classmates and friends. Ty is now in 1^st grated and doing super! He is a great little reader but his favorite thing is art and recess! Mara started preschool once a week and wishes it was every day! We do a neighborhood Joy School with seven other moms in the neighborhood. Erica loves the opportunity to teach and the one on one time with Caleb when it’s not her turn teaching!

1. The Reason for the Season!
Our family is grateful for the opportunity to wish all our friends and family a very Merry Christmas! We are thankful for this time of year we have to remember our Savior Jesus Christ's birth. We hope that your hearts are filled with the Christmas spirit and that you may truly enjoy this special time of year

"Tis the Season"

You can feel it in the air. You can see it everywhere. Christmas is on it's way! We have been extremely busy with baking, shopping, wrapping, delivering gifts to neighbors and friends, writing Christmas cards, and among all this 'business' trying to stay focused on the true meaning of Christmas: The birth of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

At the beginning of the Christmas Season Ty and Mara were so excited to get out all the Christmas decorations and start making our house look festive. For Family Home Evening we got out one and only one decoration: The Nativity Set! (Later that week we got out the rest!)

Nate and I were given this cute nativity set for first Christmas together.

I love that it is plastic and that my children can play with it and I don't have to worry about it breaking! Many times throughout the day I find Ty, Mara, and Caleb acting out the Nativity scene with these figurines.

They love to hold baby Jesus in their hands and Caleb will even rock side to side while holding him!

The only problem we've encountered is Caleb loves to carry baby Jesus around and several times he has been lost in the house somewhere. We've really had to 'search for Jesus' and put him back in the stable!

Ever wonder what 12 dozen cookies and 20 loaves of bread looks like? Well I actually did all of the above on a single day! It was pretty crazy but very yummy! I went to a cookie exchange with friends and we each brought 12 dozen cookies. I did different kinds and assortments, but you could bring all the same or whatever you felt like. Then we each took home twelve different plates of goodies. When I got home I made 20+ plates of cookies for neighbors and friends and we went out delivering some Christmas cheer as well as tasty treats!

I made two different kinds of bread--both delicious I might add: Pumpkin and Spiced Applesauce!

Last weekend we went with our friends to the dinosaur museum to see Santa. This picture was actually in the Sun Advocate last week (The Local Newspaper!!) Here we are standing in line with our friends The Brackens waiting for Santa, Genevieve is the one sitting on Santa's lap!

Ty was a brave little boy and sat on Santa's lap and told him what he wanted: A omnidroid, an astro suit, and a raptor costume!

I can't quite tell what Ty is thinking in this picture! I don't think he's quite fond of the old jolly fellow!

Ty was a little nervous if you can't tell, but at least he set a good example for his two younger siblings!

Mara refused to sit on Santa's lap and we though Caleb would at least try so he could get a candy cane! But as you can see he screamed and would not let St. Nick even get close!

He was sure a happy boy after he got his candy cane though! After our encounter with Santa we played at the museum and had a fun afternoon with our friends.

Ty and Mara woke up Sunday morning to find a surprise on their beds! They each had a red present waiting to be opened. When they opened their gift they found something Christmasy to wear on Christmas Sunday!

Caleb already had this festive cute Christmas sweater so he didn't get to open a gift--no worries he didn't even know and he didn't feel bad!

Mara got a beautiful new Christmas dress! So pretty, but she takes after her Aunt Chelsie and does NOT like new clothes! She threw her dress on the ground and refused to wear it!! I forced her in the dress and told her if she didn't wear it she would have to go to church in her underwear! But she put the dress on and I didn't hear another word about the new dress!

And Ty boy! Wow--doesn't he look sharp! What a handsome 6 year old boy!

Now that right there is all I need for Christmas!

For Family Home Evening tonight we had a really special story about serving others and preparing ourselves for celebrating Christmas and Jesus' birth. Then we watched a short clip called The Nativity to remind us of the special reason for the season! May we not find ourselves too busy to remember the true meaning of Christmas and do something special to feel the Christmas Spirit!

Two Front Teeth!

You have probably heard the Christmas song that goes something like this... "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth, yes my two front teeth!" Well nothing could be more true for Ty except that he already has two front teeth growing right where the baby teeth fell out!

I know this is kind of a scary picture of Ty but it shows his two baby teeth and his two new teeth right in back. For a month or so he looked like a little shark with two rows of teeth! We called his tooth "Mr. Wiggles" and wiggled that tooth every day!

One day he was complaining that his wiggly tooth hurt. So like a good mom I grabbed a tissue and yanked on that tooth until it ripped right out! "OUCH!!" Ty said as he jumped off my lap! Well no more hurt tooth! That took care of the problem!

Ty couldn't believe I just pulled his tooth out! He ran to the bathroom to examine his empty space!

That is one tiny baby tooth! But it's worth $3!! The tooth fairy came that night and although one tooth fairy said he should only get 4 quarters the daddy tooth fairy said he should get some green backs! So he got three dollar bills!

That is one handsome little toothless wonder! Even though he really isn't toothless, his other teeth are ready to take the empty spot!

A week later the other tooth came out the exact same way! Only this time Ty wiggled it until it started to bleed then he couldn't get it out! I grabbed another tissue and with one pull that little tooth was free! Two visits from the tooth fairy in one week! Wow. This time he only got $2, not a bad week for Ty earning $5 and not even having to work for it!