2013 Family Newsletter

 “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

Eleanor Roosevelt

Well it is the end of another year and we are all amazed at how quickly this one has passed by.  Our family has had many fun adventures during the past year and we are all happier and closer because of them.  We had a fun little family trip up to Idaho in April to celebrate Aunt Audra’s graduation.  We also loved our first successful camping trip in June and were happy to share it with some wonderful friends from Arizona.  The rest of our fun adventures were closer to home.   We spent a lot of hours at the dinosaur museum, and Thanksgiving Point Gardens.  During the summer we enjoyed lots and lots of swimming and running around in the sun like the crazy people that we are. 

Ruth is a very grown-up 4^th-grader and loves every minute of school.  She has the best teacher and a good group of friends.  In March, Ruth competed with her third-grade team in the Knowledge Bowl.  They won 2 out of the 4 matches.  The topic was The Arts and was very difficult—we were super proud of her. She is preparing to compete again next spring by studying as much geography as she can get her hands on.  Ruth continues to kindle her love of writing and has recently discovered a love of and talent for writing poetry.  Ruth is very helpful around the house and can always be found with her nose in a book, writing and directing plays with her brothers or running around outside with friends.     

Gareth is a proud 1^st-grader and loving his experiences in the Chinese Immersion Program at his school.  He spends half of every day learning in English and the other half learning in Chinese.  He has amazed us with how much Chinese he already knows and is happy to show off to anyone who asks.  Gareth is becoming a wonderful reader (this makes Mom and Dad very proud!) and has very good penmanship. Gareth is the sweetest kid you’ll ever meet but he is not without his redheaded temper!  Count yourself lucky if you’ve never seen his rage!    

Ronan is a happy little 4-year-old.  He loves to play with legos, trains and puzzles.  He started preschool this year and is doing very well.  He can already write his own name and can recognize and name most of the letters and numbers.  Ronan is constantly singing and humming at the top of his lungs and is always a happy kid.

Havilah just finished up her last semester of classes and is all set to begin student teaching in January.  She will be student teaching in a third-grade classroom up at an elementary school that is about a 2-minute drive from the house.  She will be completely done with school by the middle of April (finally!) and will be ready to begin the search for a full-time teaching position for the 2014-2015 school year.  The end is in sight! J  

Jones is being the best husband ever with supporting Havilah in the craziness that comes with the final semesters of college.  When he is not cooking, cleaning, and fulfilling any and all other parental duties, he continues to work for PSAV as an A/V Technician in Salt Lake City. 

Looking Forward to 2014...

January: Havilah will begin 12 weeks of being gone ALLL DAY (for student teaching)

February: Celebrate 2 years at our home here in Saratoga Springs (we still love it here!)

March: Gareth will turn 7 years old, Ruth will compete in her 2^nd Knowledge Bowl

April: Ruth will turn 10, another trip to Idaho for Uncle Marrott’s graduation

May: Our 11^th Wedding Anniversary

June: Ronan turns 5

July-ish: A family trip up to Sequim, WA to visit the Jones Grandparents

August: Ruth starts 5^th grade, Gareth starts 2^nd grade, Ronan starts Kindergarten, Havilah (hopefully) starts teaching

September-December: Hoping for a month or so of down time…(is that even possible?)

So yeah.. you might have noticed that I didn't publish this until AFTER the new year.  But since y'all know me so well you weren't too surprised now, were you?  :)