New Year's Update

When I saw that Jake and Cody did this on their blog I thought it was a great idea. So I'm borrowing it. Here follows my Happy New Year's Letter-


So the only really honest thing I can say to you is that I am sorry that I am not better about Christmas Cards, but, still being honest, sometimes it is just more than I can do at Christmas time. So you will have to be happy with a New Years update.

I want you to know how much I appreciate your cards, notes and photos. I save all the photos and make scrapbook pages each year. It is fun to see how everyone has grown during the year. I can hardly believe it sometime!

2008 was a quiet, peaceful year for us… always a happy thing. We added two more grandchildren in May for a grand total of 15. Kevin & Suzi had their first, Ethan; Kristi & Jim had their third, Madison. Eleven of the 15 are far away (read a sad face here) but we enjoy visiting when we can.

We have been in Utah for 4 years now. Can you believe that? We love it! We love Springville. It is a very nice little community and having our ward be our neighborhood is delightful. I was released from being Visiting Teacher Coordinator in February and called as Assistant Stake Family Record Director; a really long name to say that I am over the Family Search Indexing for our ward. I love this work! I am not a researcher (and so many in my family excel at research). I finally feel that I am able to make a worthwhile contribution to Family History.

Gordon is still enjoying retirement! I am so pleased for him that he is able to decompress after all those years of stress controlling air traffic. He is the car aficionado and has helped several people (including his ex-wife) find new-to-them cars at a smokin’ price. He has also single-handedly infected a dozen people with the idea that compressed natural gas (CNG) cars are the way to go. Right now CNG is $.86/gallon in Utah. Not so impressive now that regular is $1.47 but back when regular was over $4 it was a real coup!

Stuart is still living at home… hmmm, let me put that differently, he sleep here! (LOL) He is enrolled at BYU as a business major but is also studying pre-med (BYU doesn’t offer a pre-med major) He should graduate in April 2010 and will then be off to med school somewhere. He figures if he can stay debt free until then he is that much ahead of the game. We really enjoy having him around when we see him.

Camille is all the way in Provo, so far away. She is in her second year teaching 1st grade out in Saratoga Springs. She loves her kids, school, and staff, everything except the commute. She purchased a brand new 2009 Mazda 3 in October and can boast having an excellent credit score. What a girl! I can hardly believe that our babies are 23 now… where did the time go?

A quick recap on the rest of our crew: Erik and family moved to Houston and seem very happy there; Brandon was ordained a deacon in Jan. Bek and her “men” are still in Coarsegold, CA; Tadhg was ordained a deacon in Nov and all the boys are in school. Doug & family are here in Orem and we get to see them often; Jessica is homeschooling and doing a fantastic job. Kevin, Suzi & new little Ethan are in Spanish Fork and doing well. Kristi and her brood are in WV, would love to move out west, but are doing well. Ryan & Nikki moved to Saratoga Springs from Eagle Mt, selling their townhouse just in time to beat the housing market crash; Ryan is taking night classes. Spencer and Riley are happy little guys. They sure look alike! Spencer hopes to go back to school soon.

We are so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. We hope that this finds all of you well and happy and pray you have a prosperous new year.

With love,
Joanie, Gordon and family

PS...If you would like to see photos of my wonderful family you can go to my December blog pages. I did a photo of the day for the month of December and have all of the family photos there.