December 2013
Dear Family and Friends, Merry
Christmas & Happy New Year everyone! We are glad to have
you as friends and family and hope you are enjoying the season. We didn’t move, we didn’t have any more kids,
we hung around Michigan until August when we traveled to Colorado for a Wells
Family Reunion. LOVED IT! It was beautiful and the blue skies and
mountains were breathtaking. We spent
time on a Cog Railroad traveling to the top of a mountain, toured the Air Force Academy, climbed the incline,
toured the Olympic Training Center, tried to camp and make dutch oven dinners but it rained on us and we got out just after they were eaten and before the mud slides. We enjoyed the taste of bluebell ice cream, played outdoor laser tag and visited the Family Ranch that is no
longer owned by family, but went anyway to show our posterity and take family
pictures. The weather was so nice and full of more blue skies.
Karen
is busy as well. Still working at
Jackson too, but she started working at home in May and has enjoyed being at
home and not having to commute to work.
It’s been a true blessing. She is
still in the Primary Presidency, co-choir pianist and most recently called to play
as a co-ward organist. Her students for
piano increased from 7 to 12!! It is
something of a challenge with balancing everything else, but she's making it work.
Jonathan keeps up with school quite
well. His load is very heavy for his
junior year. Honors Algebra II and
College Prep Chemistry keep him very busy, still managing A’s and B’s in all
subjects. He recently took his last
practice ACT before he takes the real thing this spring and has improved his
score by 5 points! We are so pleased
with his progress. He doesn’t have a job
yet and drivers training will be coming this summer, but continues to work hard
at everything he does. He is also in seminary
but is doing home study and has early morning face time every Friday over the
internet with the rest of his class. His goal is to work on getting his Eagle Project done this Spring. So proud of that boy!
Mikael just had his karate class
anniversary, he has been going a year and is a green belt now. He still struggles a bit in school, but is
anxious for a chance to go to Germany the summer of 2015 with his German class
and good grades mean dad pays so he has started getting his mind in gear. He is still a comical clown and wants to make people laugh. He is working toward his Life badge in scouts. This summer he may try to start drivers training as well but still seems unsure. He is also doing seminary at home with
Jonathan.
Chris, Jon and Mikael all did High
Adventure for a week canoeing for 5 days this past summer. Quite a work out. Chris came home about 15 pounds lighter and they all had arms of steel. :-) They also went to the Boundary Waters for a
week in Northern Minnesota where they portaged
and canoed for another 7 days. They want to
go back but leave the mosquitoes at home.
Elizabeth is as smart as they come
and started 7th grade this year. She is
getting straight A’s even with her crazy cheerleading schedule! I don’t know how she manages. Cheer lasted a bit longer this year as she
went straight into Basketball cheer where she has learned stunting – throwing
girls up in the air, tumbling and how to do a cartwheel. It’s been a crazy busy schedule, practice and
games four days a week. Her competition was supposed to be the last day of school before break, but school was cancelled and so was the competition. Elizabeth wasn't completely heart broken as she was VERY VERY nervous, but I think she might try for next year. She really wants to do high school cheer and has a goal of being able to do a back walk over. You should hear the noises coming from her room sometimes. She uses Mikael's karate head gear when she does it, just in case...hahaha! She turned 12 this October and started Young Women’s and is learning to enjoy being with the older girls.
The
snow has finally come to Michigan. And the ice and rain too!
Happy
Holidays to each and every one of you.
May God bless you in all you do!
Love,
Chris
Karen
Jonathan
Mikael
and Elizabeth