Merry Christmas

Hello All!

It is December once again. Fun how quickly the years fly by. Such a shame to see 2009 go because it was such a great year. The one reoccurring thought I had all year was how nice everything was going. Many, many times throughout the year I would meet a friend or acquaintance and they would commonly ask, “How are you doing or how are things?” Each and every time I would truly have to pause and think “Wow, things are going really really well.”

I am so very pleased with my family and how much joy they bring me. Each of my children are wonderful to have in my life. I am proud of each of them and have joy in my heart for the gifts they are.

Work is going really well. Our company is lead by good men who planned ahead for economic hard times and the company as a whole was prepared for the trouble times that caught so many off guard. I enjoy my job, I like the work I do and who I work for.

I am enjoying Church and the service that I do there. Super excited that we will be getting our new building very soon and that the Temple will follow just a few short months later. It is crazy to think that we will be living just 5 minutes from a temple. How on earth can I ever hope to look for another house when there will always be, 'Our last house was only 5 minutes from a temple.'
As much as 2009 was great I am also looking forward to 2010. I was telling Amanda that I'll need to ask my boss for a LOT more vacation days cause of all the fun things we have planned.

Paul is right, we have had a great year this year. Everyone has stayed healthy except for the occasional cough or cold. The children are all doing very well in school.

Summer is in tenth grade and taking a lot of honors courses, she doesn't have much time for extra curriculars, but attends church activities once a week. She is in her second year of seminary and is picked up at 6:30 each morning. We have an excellent car pool going in our neighborhood for that.

Hayley is in seventh grade in French Immersion. I was at the same school as her last school year, but got laid off in June. French is teaching her to work really hard and she is getting really good grades and completing her homework independently. She and Ashley keep us busy driving them to dance classes all through the week, including Friday nights.

Spencer is in fifth grade is coming into his own at school. His reading ability which has always been a struggle now surpasses his grade level. He reads books just because he wants to and we have to go into his room at night to ask him to turn out the light. We are very proud of his progress. He enjoys keeping his cub leaders on their toes and playing video and computer games whenever possible.

Ashley is in second grade and participates in a gifted program which teaches enriched science and leadership skills. Her teacher reports that she is trying to talk less and work more (okay, I know where she gets it from). Ashley loves dance and talked us into letting her do three classes this year. I find it amazing that a child of mine could be coordinated enough to learn and perform a dance routine, I guess they got it from their dad.

I started a similar position at a different school in September working 2 1/2 days. I am working with children with Autism, Learning Disabilities and Muscular Dystrophy. Working part time has its challenges as things at school march ahead whether I am there or not and sometimes it takes a while to get up to speed on everything. I am also trying to develop my leadership skills as a lot of what I do involves designing programs for kids but then assigning the implementation to classroom teachers and special ed assistants.

We are busy in church as usual, Paul continues in his calling in the bishopric and is now the first counsellor. Sundays are a busy day for him and not always much of a day of rest, but he loves it and is learning a lot. He as appreciated our late meeting schedule this year because it has meant 9:00 a.m. meetings instead of 6:00 a.m. meetings for him. I have been Activities Committee chair for a year now, it's not consistently a busy calling throughout the year but we have put on four major events this year and can be a bit stressful when we are in the middle of an activity. I am learning about organization and delegation. It is very satisfying when an activity goes well.

This year I've also attempted to take up the cello again. My teacher was very patient with me but I think a little frustrated at my lack of practice, so he sent me to play in the White Rock Community Orchestra and gently suggested I was wasting my money on lessons. It is a nice little group of all ages. Most of the members are picking up their instruments after not playing for 20- 30+ years, so it's a great place to start.

Aside from our trip to Maryland and our trips to my mum and dad's place, Paul and I have also gone to South Carolina for the Labor Day Weekend to celebrate his Aunt and Uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. We stayed at a beautiful big cabin with all his siblings, compliments of his mom. It was a quick trip with lots of travel time, but well worth it and a wonderful break. We also got to go up to Harrison Hot Springs which is about an hour away for a weekend. It was very relaxing and we would highly recommend it to anyone visiting this area.
I have not been feeling extremely enthusiastic about cooking this year, but have found a new motivation for going to the grocery store. Safeway's bonus airmiles are sending Paul and I to Portugal!! My mum and dad have travelled with airmiles, but I had concluded that we don't / can't spend enough money to earn the points we need. I did figure out though that I could get enough bonus airmiles to make up for my spending. I've been buying lots of food and we have enough points for Paul and I to go back and visit the places where we served on our missions. We are so excited.

Our temple open house will be on April 9 - 24, 2010. We would like to invite anyone who is interested to come out and visit us and attend the open house. Please let us know when you would like to come, we think it is going to be a busy time. For more information go to: http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/vancouver/

Hayley
Hello everyone, this is Hayley. This year was really fun and really fast. For spring break we went to Maryland and saw Grandma, the Roeslers and Grandpa. We had lots of fun going to the zoo and aquarium and at the Smithsonian. This Summer I went in a church camp for a week and after that I went to my Nanny and Grandad’s Ranch with the Wales and the Glens. After that Spencer and Ashley stayed at the Ranch for longer as Summer, Mom, Dad and I went home. Summer went on a 3 day sleep over so I was enjoying being an only child for a few days. In August Summer and I went to a horse camp in Vernon. I rode a horse named Cayenne and Summer rode a horse named Chester. Cayenne was stubborn but good. I learned how to jump while I was there, we didn’t jump very high though. At the end of summer vacation mom and dad went to South Carolina and the kids went to the Ranch. This year I am in grade 7 and I am in my second year of French immersion. I am also doing dance, I do jazz, lyrical, ballet and conditioning, I am also an assisting teacher for Ashley’s jazz class. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. Lots of love Hayley

Summer

 is working very diligently on a major homework assignment right now so she is not able to write. She is doing well in grade ten and taking honors courses as well as playing flute in the band and participating in choir. She still loves horses and saved her money so that she could attend horse camp with Hayley in Vernon this summer. She was able to attend a teen camp as well as act as a counsellor at Hayley's camp. She also attended Especially for Youth in Seattle during the summer which is a church camp put on by Brigham Young University. As well (she had a very busy summer), she attended Trek with Hayley. This was a church history camp put on by local leaders. It was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. Some neighbors of church members in our town had donated the use of their property which included an old western movie set to be used as trek. A work party from the stake (including Paul) went up and cleaned up the site and made it look like a town from the Kirtland/ Nauvoo era. The church even erected a replica of the Kitland temple in the village which the youth worked to complete the exterior. During the week of trek, they re-enacted various events from church history such as the establishment of the Relief Society; Joseph Smith being tarred and feathered and taken to jail; completing the exterior of the temple, erecting the steeple and dedicating temple; receiving the word of wisdom and the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. On one night the boys went off to participate in Zion's Camp but were driven back to town in the middle of the night by a very realistic looking mob. The spirit was very strong at trek and the girls gained a stronger testimony of the restoration of the church. We are grateful to all of the leaders who put hours and hours of time to make this activity such a great one. The camp is going to be featured in the youth magazine "New Era" at some point and we will post a link so that you can read it if you are interested. For those of you on Facebook, we have posted a lot of pictures of this event.

Spencer
I have gone to Maryland in USA this year. I liked seeing my Grandma and crabs and shark teeth at my Grandma's house. I liked seeing my Auntie Carey and Uncle David Roesler and Penelope and Adam and John. I haven't seen my cousins before
they gave us the crab and we went to a beach to find the shark teeth my dad went to see his friends and we saw a musam I didnt find any shark teeth grampa dave and julie made us crabe cakes it tasted wonderfull!!!!!!!!!!

Ashley
Hello Brothers and Sisters, my name is Ashley. This year I went to Hundred Mile and Merryland (Maryland). At Hundred Mile we brought some friends. We went on my Grandad's quads they were so much fun. During the visit we went to the lake. My Grandad owns a boat. It's so much fun. After we went home. After a couple of months we went up to the aeroport and flew to Merryland (Maryland) to visit my Grandma. I stayed at my Grandma's house but during the day I went to my cousins house there. It was so much fun. I got sick on the last day and I did not like that. When we got home we stayed home and that's what I did.