Anniversary

Today was also our six year anniversary. We didn't do much to celebrate because of our trip but we were together. I can say I love my husband. I know most everyone can say that but I really, really mean it. I am so grateful to have him in my life. He is truly my best friend. The past six years have been some of the best of my life. I can't imagine life without him or my beautiful children. I count him as one of my greatest blessings. Happy Anniversary!

Reminder

I had an experience today that reminded me of God's love for me and my family. I was running around doing last minute errands to prepare for our trip. I was thinking about some concerns that I have and wondering how things would resolve and if God was aware. I ran out of gas on the way to Jerry's office to get the card to go get gas. As I sat there wondering how things would work out, people came to my aid. Tears flowed down my cheeks as I thought about God sending others to serve and help. I also felt like Gary had something to do with me being watched over and protected. How grateful I was for this experience and reminder.

Tiny Dancer

Lauren and Miss Joleen

Christmas Card Letter

~Highlights of 2008~

JERRY---does NOT have a kidney stone, shoots a buck, gets a street bike, plays softball, teaches the 14-15 year olds at church, builds a huge building with an awesome swimming pool he got to help design, attends multiple college football and Jazz basketball games (thanks to his GREAT job), loves work so much he states, “I wouldn’t come home if I didn’t love you so much!”

KATHRYN---survives the year being a Mom to three kids, starts working out (again), loves teaching the Laurels, works on food storage, maintains the blog and hopes it will count as a journal AND scrapbooking, spends “free” time shopping for deals and considers adding bargain shopping to her hobby list, attends her yearly girls weekend in Park City, loves being a wife and mom

LANDON--- turns 4, starts Primary, attends Little Star preschool, learns to play soccer, takes swim lessons, loves studying space, volcanoes, anatomy and national parks, loves being a big brother and makes peace in our home

LAUREN---turns 3, starts dance lessons, goes to a weekly playgroup, takes swim lessons, loves princesses, coloring, painting and mothering her baby sister, says goodbye to diapers and keeps us laughing with her emerging personality

AVERY---turns 1, smiles so much all of our cheeks hurt from smiling back, starts saying hi, mama, dada and other unrecognizable phrases, starts eating solids, gains weight, claps her hands, becomes mobile and loves life

We have MUCH to be grateful for this year. We hope this letter finds all of you happy and well. We are grateful to know you and have you in our life. At this wonderful time of year we want to express our gratitude for our Savior, Jesus Christ, his life, his mission and his example. We are truly a blessed people.

May God bless you and your family during this holiday season.

Love, the North Family

Santa Claus

We visited with Santa at our ward Christmas party. We had a breakfast this year which was new for us but it was really fun. Landon sang with the Primary kids. It is so fun to watch him perform. Lauren acted a little scared of Santa but did sit on his lap. The funny thing is both the kids told him they wanted something different than what they requested a few months ago! We told them the elves start making the presents far in advance so don't be surprised if they don't receive their newly requested items. We have tried really hard to teach them not to expect too much so Landon made sure he only told Santa one thing. Kids make Christmas so much fun!

Avery's First Birthday

We had a fun celebration for Avery's birthday. The Robb's called and said they would be in Vegas so we made plans to go and see them. I made cupcakes and we took Avery's presents with us. We have not seen them since we lived in Frisco and it was great to see them again. They are such good people. Their daughter, Holly just moved into a new home and it is beautiful. We had a great time and got to celebrate little Avery's birthday while we were there. Avery LOVED her cupcake. She got scared because Lauren blew the party horn in her face. It took quite a while for her to recover. We got her a walker which I think she will really enjoy. Mimi and Poppy gave her a cute stuffed puppy and Grandma Schiess gave her a cabbage patch baby. We love having Avery in our home. She is a wonderful baby and it is so fun to watch her grow up! The Robb's had plans to go to dinner that night so we headed over to Dave and Rebecca's for dinner. Landon and Lawrence had quite the performance with their Star Wars swords. Our intermission performance was done by Lauren and Marie showing us their ballet moves. We had a fun filled day and evening. We are grateful to have such good friends.

Christmas Traditions

We started the first of our Christmas traditions last night. Nickolaus is a german tradition where you put your shoes out on the night of the 6th. If you have been good, you will find candy in your shoes and if not you will get a potato. This year the kids got letters from Santa Claus as well. It is a fun way to start out Christmas. The kids were so excited to see their shoes overflowing with candy. We are also trying to do Advent by doing a little Sunday night singing and telling Christmas stories. We are lacking the Advent wreath but hope to get one for next year. We are hoping this will help us to think more about the Savior and reflect on Christ.

Christmas Party

Things have been kind of a whirlwind with Grandma and Grandpa here. We LOVE it. They are so helpful with the kids. Grandpa takes Landon to preschool and picks him up. Grandma constantly cleans when she is here. The kids love having them here. We have eaten dinner together almost every night which has been great. Jerry was able to help with his Christmas party for work this year. He and I had a "date night" and bought close to 40 gifts for the white elephant gifts. We had a dinner at the hospital and then exchanged gifts. Everyone seemed really pleased with the outcome.