Christmas Letter 2009

Another year has come and gone almost too quickly! It’s been one year since we packed our bags and moved out to Utah and we have loved every minute of it! Travis has been studying hard at Utah Valley University and is doing his best to maintain his 4.0! That’s right he’s been on the Dean’s List all year and he hopes to continue that through 2010. He has settled on a major in Behavioral Science with an emphasis in Social Work. Travis wants to be a counselor in high school or college, where he can also assist in coaching some football. Travis really loves school and is making some great connections here. One of his professors even invited him to assist on a research project for the school, so he’s working on that as well. We are excited at how well he’s doing, and at how much time we are able to spend together as a family, especially during the holidays!
Amanda has been working for Publicis Selling Solutions as a Customer Service Associate for Astra Zeneca. She spends her time driving all over our beautiful state making sure her doctors have their Nexium samples. Her territory takes her all the way down to St. George, UT which is about 4 hours away. Luckily she only has to make that trip twice a month. She has become a big fan of the library where she’s checking out all of their books on CD to keep her entertained on her long drives. In October, she was invited to participate at a convention in San Diego, CA. She spent 3 days working closely with doctors and top executives from her company. We are grateful to her for all that she does to take care of our family!
Jake is the busiest boy we know! Every day he tells us, “I need attention!”, so there’s not much down time when he’s around! Jake is becoming very independent and we’re learning that when it’s too quiet he’s usually up to something messy! He talks up a storm and most of it we can understand! Sometimes we even catch him singing his favorite songs or quoting a line from one of his movies. It’s amazing how much he has changed in a year. He loves going to nursery and day care and playing with all of his friends. One Sunday, Travis had to take Jake home from church because he had a cold and since everyone has been sick, all kids with various symptoms were asked not to come to nursery. When Jake realized his dad was taking him home, instead of to nursery, he was sad. Travis said Jake cried the whole way home and kept saying over and over between his sobs, “I want to go to nursery!” He even tried to run back towards the church when Travis wasn’t looking. Travis felt so bad that he said he will never do that again! Jacob is a sweet little boy and we love him very much!
Thanks to everyone who has helped us throughout the year. We’ve been blessed with good friends and family, which is the most important thing to have, especially this time of year.
We hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2010!
Love,
Travis, Amanda and Jacob