Happy 2012

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and are so far having a great 2012!

Visiting Santa!

Alayna crying, Kaytlin ducking her head and backing away, and Brayden talked his ear off! 

 Christmas Morning!

We had to wake the kids up early to open presents, skype with my folks, and get ready for church.

 Our mystery package from my parents in Ohio! It came Friday afternoon and the kids really wanted to open it BUT my parents asked us to skype with them so they could see the kids. It was super fun to share christmas with them this year even if we weren't together!

Also, to brag just a bit we didn't have much snow for Christmas! These were taken two days after Christmas! It was gorgeous out and it felt half decent too! I am not a huge fan of snow so this year is shaping up quiet nicely! I am just waiting for a nasty storm to roll in though!

Also the kids wanted their pictures taken.

Alayna is getting good at saying cheese any time I have my camera out!

To start the New Year off  I put together a letter from our family to yours! We are hoping to get a copy sent out here soon but until then here is a copy!

Dear Family & Friends,                                                                                             January 1, 2012

                We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of Christ and spending time with family! It surprises me that another year has come to  a close already! This past year has been interesting and surprising for us as it probably was for you too! So as not to make this a long winded letter I will get right to what you want to hear about!

                When we started this past year Alayna was only 5 months old! It doesn’t seem possible but she has grown so much! When I look at pictures of her through the year it amazes me how much she has learned and grown! She loves being involved with the other kids, seeing and hearing dogs, playing with babies and trying new things. She is a very calm and friendly girl. Happiness just overflows from her. Her giggles just melt our hearts! Now that she 17 months old she is starting to speak, stick up for herself, throw temper tantrums, feed herself with silverware, dress herself, and keep her shoes on! Well, we are still working on that last one! She sees something someone else does and mimics it or tries saying it! In the last little while she has started to really like people. For many months she didn’t like to be spoken to, held, or even looked at even by those in the immediate family! She is much better with people now IF she knows them! All through this though she loved Brayden and Mommy!

                At the beginning of this past year Kaytlin turned 3! If you were to ask her how old she will be turning in a few weeks she would say 3 but she will be 4! She doesn’t like to share, play with other kids, eat meat, or getting her hair done. She is very independent and likes things done her way! She definitely keeps us on our toes. She is great at pretend play especially when she cooks and plays dress up. Currently she and Alayna share some clothes because Alayna is catching up to her! A few weeks ago Kaytlin had her first hair cut and wasn’t impressed at all even though the hair dresser was a friend of ours. She doesn’t like getting her hair put up but it was getting long and was hanging in her eyes so I insisted on the cut! Not to long ago we had a problem with her staying in her own bed. We would find her sleeping all over the house UNTIL we put all the kids in one bedroom. Now she has no problems with sleep except getting up between 5-6 a.m. each morning which we take in stride!

                Brayden is getting so big. Even though he is 7 years old he seems to think he can still climb on our laps. He is still working on loosing his baby teeth and having his adult teeth come in. We were teasing him about a month ago that for Christmas all he wanted was his two front teeth. He loves food and can usually out eat us any day! He loves games, playing and holding Alayna, anything electrical such as the wii and computer, and vacuuming which we take full advantage of!  He doesn’t like cleaning his room, putting his laundry away, and being in close proximity to Kaytlin. Most of the time, they don’t get along and argue about everything. This month is his last month in speech therapy! Woohoooo! He has come so far! He first started speech therapy when he was 3 yrs old. He was only using sign at that point and now we can’t keep him quiet. He still has a few pronunciation issues that when we remind him he can do it! He also got a chance to play soccer this year and seemed to enjoy it!

                This year has been monumental for us as a family! We took a trip to Denver for Josh to take a few lab classes for his degree and we spent some time seeing the sights back in April. He unofficially graduated with his degree in Mortuary Science in August. He won’t get his diploma until he takes the National Boards though! With any luck and some long winded prayers by this time next year he will be working at a Funeral Home and doing what he wants to be doing with his life! When he was doing his apprenticeship at the local funeral home he seemed to thrive doing what he loves! In May he became unemployed for five months which has been a huge blessing for us! Now it wasn’t all roses and smiles but looking back it was the right time for it! In the time he was unemployed we spent a lot of time as a family, he completed his 2 month apprenticeship for school, and we became aware of where all our money was going!  I (Brenda) have kept busy chasing the kids, taking pictures, keeping house, and all that being a mother entails. I love being a stay at home mom even though some days are tough! I also auditioned to sing with the Choralaires. It is a pretty large group of women who get together at least once a week to sing and perform. We will be performing several times for the public until May.

We are so blessed to have what we have and to know what we know and be who we are! May we take some time to serve others, to be good neighbors, to keep our Heavenly Father first in our lives, to pray for guidance in everything we do, be mindful of others and to remember how blessed we are for the things we each have and not dwell on the things that are going or have gone wrong! We pray that as you set goals for the New Year that you will include some of these things in your lives!

If you are interested, we keep a family blog online that you are welcome to follow or check out occasionally. Go to: http://alwayspursuinghappiness.blogspot.com to view it! We try to update it at least once a month!

We love you all and think about you often! We hope you have a fantastic 2012!

Love,

The Dawson Family