Merry Christmas!

What's up in 2011

Elise is a sophomore at BYU and absolutely loving her time there! She serves on the board for the Liahona Children's Foundation, a charity endorsed by the church that works with wards and stakes in South America to provide nutritional supplements as well as educational needs. She works on promotion, advertising and the web site.

She was able to go over the summer on a Humanitarian trip, and had an unforgettable experience. I was a nervous wreck with 9 flights and traveling all over Peru and Ecuador.
There was political unrest in Puno that was preventing them from reaching a village, but members from their previous area traveled on an overnight bus with them and stayed in the hotel they would be safe and reach the members that were waiting for them. Talk about service.
One of the most touching experiences for Elise was when members would gather and dance and sing when they came and present handmade gifts to them. All from people who have literally nothing. It was an unforgettable experience for her. The little girls were soooo excited to get their nails painted pretty colors in between sessions. Pic: Elise drying a little girl's nails... ;) happy heart picture. She was also able to visit Machu Picchu which was a big highlight!!
Elise came home just in time to watch Jacob for 3 weeks while Lynn and I were gone, then found a job at a call center taking polls and customer service feedback.
She hated it to say the least, but got the job easily typing a crazy 120 wpm with out mistakes. I knew texting and fb had some sort of purpose! ;) She had been waiting on an opening at Novell with Lynn, but the company was bought out over the summer and intern hiring on hold.
She stuck it out at work for a month and then was recommended by her boss to interview for an editing job in Orem. She was thrilled to get the job as an Editor in the corporate office and happily retired her phone skills for good. She has a cubicle, security badge and a boss named Jan. Kinda feels like "The Office" ;) She works with a good friend which makes it fun. Elise has become quite the crafter and enjoys projects, pinterest and cooking.

Jacob is in 5th grade and loves (to put it mildly) his teacher (who is a man) I have to say Mr. Wells is the best and I am already sad for school to end next year. Jacob really enjoys math, reading and computer science. This is the age of jump drives and lap tops I guess!
Minor League Baseball was lots of fun this past summer and his team took 1st place! Jacob hit a home run during one of the championship games and played pitcher and 3rd base. Tackle football was a thrill and he loved every minute (ok, maybe not the two a days) He was sooo proud to be a Caveman football player and they went to the league championships taking 2nd.

Jacob has become fashion conscience this year and enjoys shopping-- a lot. He is worse than Elise was! He told me he has to look good for "the ladies" ...oh wow, what am I in for with this little latin lover? He went though a fedora phase recently- as you can see...

Lynn & I celebrated our 25th anniversary traveling through Italy for 3 weeks. We started in Rome and rented a car traveling and eating all through Tuscany and Umbria, over to the Italian Riviera through all the food towns like Parma and Modena and ending in Venice. It was a magical trip and I think the most romantic one too! We look back on those memories with great fondness. We stopped off in NY for the weekend on our way and really enjoyed our visit with Jeff, Juliane and kids!
Novell was bought out this summer and ended up being a great thing. Lynn is very happy with his work, although he is spread thin and there is always more to do than hours in the day.
He took a week off work in Sept. to help get ready for the opening of Five Guys #5 store in Buffalo NY area. Store #6 is slated to open in the next few weeks. This month he took another week off to replace our tile and carpet with hardwood. He did a fantastic job.

I do pta, room mom stuff and help in Jacob's classroom. I love my book club and we've had some fun adventures this year! I started Italian lessons and took a night class at uvu with a good friend. So fun! I need to keep learning so I have an excuse to go visit again ;)
Lynn is still serving as stake executive secretary and is always engaged in that work, and really enjoys the great men he works with. I serve in stake primary and love the women I work with and the wards I serve. I loooove primary!

I had a health scare this month and more than anything I realized how fortunate we are to have the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the priesthood available to us. As I was reading about the angel who brought the news of the Savior's birth to the shepherds I loved the feeling of anticipation that came with that news and feel the Christmas season carries that same anticipation of accepting the glad news of the gospel with all it's blessings. Have a very Merry Christmas!

With love,
Debbie, Lynn and family