Auld Lang Syne.

For Old Time.We learned a lot this last year, and most definitely looking forward to a new one, full of adventure and hope.
Tessa is our Spice. No doubt about it, she keeps us on our toes! She made the change to "panties" January of last year, and hasn't looked back. She is a talker and I can already hear her cute, baby lisp leaving her vocabulary - Y for L, and W for R. She's also a homebody, and whenever we're out she's liable to say, "I wanna go home," every 5 minutes. She learned all her letters and most of the sounds and how to spell and write her name; if big sister has anything to say about it, she'll be reading before preschool. Her new found love is photography and she loves hauling around my old digital camera.Emory is our Sugar. She is too smart for her own good! She has a photographic memory and forgets nothing. Her dreams came true when she started Kindergarten this year. Hopefully it wasn't too much of a let down, as she is reading at a 4th grade level. She loves her teacher and new friends, though. She is also very interested in Medicine, and LOVES to tell us Body Facts from the book her Grandma Cookie gave her - "Mom, did you know that there are 27 bones in each of your hands?" She is also our little church expert, remembering everything she's heard in Primary or read in the Book of Mormon. I love that she knows many of the stories better than me! She and her sister are looking forward to taking a dance or gymnastics class this year.I am keeping busy with these girls. I love being at home with them . . . most days! I enjoyed new found activities in Corvallis, biking and running, but most of all berry picking. I have a freezer full of the "fruits" of my labor. I volunteer once a week at Emory's school and love seeing my "little person" out in the real world. I'm also serving in the Young Women as Laurel Advisor, and have loved getting to know the girls and leaders. In my free time I still like crafting, sewing, cooking, and reading on my new Kindle. (Cory is always hiding money from my eagle, budgeting eye and got me the Kindle for Christmas. I started crying when he gave it to me and said, "This is like when the Beast gave Belle the Library!")

Cory is our hard working Vampire King of the Hospital - a little nickname the girls came up with. Funny thing . . . being a Doctor is no where near as glamorous as it looks. Cory is busy as an Intern, doing his Traditional Rotating year. He works between 60 and 90 hours a week, and I truly love him all the more for it, because I know I couldn't do it! He has applied and interviewed at programs across the country (Ohio, Iowa, Arizona, Oregon, Texas) and we'll hopefully find out in the next few months where we'll be for Residency. He's currently serving on the Board of Medical Education(?) and is still politically active in the AOA. Cory enjoyed doing a lot of things before he started this Medical Journey, but now he likes to go to the gym and spend time with us, occasionally playing church ball and X-BOX. He is serving as a Sunday School teacher to the 15-17 year olds in our Ward.

Happy Holidays and a Best Wishes
for a bright and promising New Year to our friends and family!