Happy Holidays!

We hope that everyone had a great Christmas and is enjoying the New Year! To all of our blogging friends and family here is our letter we sent out about our past year...

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s that time of year again when we sit and ponder this past year. Looking back we can hardly believe it’s nearly gone. We just wanted to take a few minutes to share what we’ve been up to.

Katie (3) loves her baby dolls, Barbie dolls, her “big, soft blanket”, her stuffed bunny (named Coralie) dressing up, and anything else that is girly and sparkly. She is constantly singing around the house. Mostly it’s random songs she makes up that go along with whatever activity she is doing at the time. Other times it’s her favorite primary song, Follow the Prophet. We love her little voice and hope she never stops singing or talking. She loves doing anything with her sisters and loves that she can go across the street to a friend’s house, too. She is growing so much right before our eyes and brings such joy to our home everyday. Andy says she gets away with whatever she wants because she is too darn cute for mommy to say no (it’s true). And we can hardly believe she will be in primary in a few short weeks.

Ashley’s (5) favorite thing is still her Diamond Castle movie. You would’ve thought it was the end of the world when a sister broke the DVD. She loves her Barbie dolls, ponies, her monkey (named Monk), and dresses. She is always wearing a dress or skirt and it’s quite the battle to get her to wear pants sometimes… even if it’s snowing. She LOVES babies! Anytime she is near one she is constantly touching and kissing him/her. She is so smart and says things that catch us off guard. Mommy tried to encourage her to play with Katie one day and said, “Go play with your best friend.” Her response was, “She is not my best friend, she is my sister.” Mommy told her, “Brigetta is my best friend and she’s my sister.” Without missing a beat Ashley said, “Yeah, but you don’t live with her.” She can’t wait to go to school and Mommy (secretly) is, too.

Sammy (7) is a big 1st grader this year! She loves her teacher and is doing very well in school. She loves reading and doing math, but mostly she gets excited to eat in the lunch room. She loves when mom comes to help in the classroom every week. This year she learned to tie her own shoes, ride a 2 wheeled bike, and most recently she lost her first tooth! (Her cousin who is 11 days older than her lost the same tooth 4 days later and it made for a cute picture.) She loves playing with her cousins and friends and enjoys every minute with them. She is already quite the fashion girl and has to have things “her way”. In the morning she doesn’t want any help with getting ready for school. She likes to babysit and asks regularly if she can be in charge wile mommy is busy. Only a few more years and she can do it alone. (Mommy is definitely counting down!)

Alanya has continued to enjoy running and accomplished her first full marathon in St. George! It was one of the hardest things she’s ever done and had some major stumbling blocks along the way. She finished strong in just barely under her goal time and hopes that maybe someday she can conquer another one. (It’s still a little early to commit Andy to her training.) She is so grateful that she had such an amazing support group and that she was able to run with 2 sisters-in-law. She has loved every moment of her calling in the Young Women presidency… if she had it her way she would stay there till the day she dies. It keeps her busy, but she loves all the young women and the amazing ladies she works with on a daily basis. She tries hard to enjoy her moments at home with the girls and has recently taken on another cute face twice a week. Our neighbor has been such a joy to have over and we all love the play time together.

Andy has been with St. Luke’s now for nearly 4 years. It keeps him busy and he’s gone long hours, but he likes the challenges it brings. He enjoys the summer months when he can go play tennis or golf. Unfortunately, this year they were few and far in between. In the off season he likes to play indoor soccer and dodge ball over at the church. He is glad that Alanya’s marathon is over and that there isn’t another race in the near future. It seems he spent this year’s Saturdays or weeknights at home during training, or traveling for yet another race. He handles his calling of the Cub Scout Master very well, especially considering he doesn’t even have a BOY! He keeps his hope high for one someday, but adores his little girls and loves that they still welcome him home with lots of hugs and kisses. He enjoys spending time with them and even took Sammy to a BSU game. He’s trying hard to convince one of them that football is fun!

We love you all and hope you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

Love the Wyne family,
Andy, Alanya, Samantha, Ashley, and Katlyn