Christmas Letter 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

            I can’t believe it is time for another Christmas letter and that another year has gone by.  Christmas has definitely snuck up on me this year and I’m feeling a little bit behind.  But as always I’m grateful for this time of year when we can focus on the birth of our Savior, listen to Christmas music and catch up with friends and family.

            We have had an eventful year at our house with fun and a few changes as well.  We were able to go on a few fun trips during the year.  Josh and Jesse went river rafting with Josh’s scouts at the beginning of the summer which reminded us how much we loved river rafting so we took a trip down the San Juan River with our family and my friend Lisa and her little boy.  The water was so muddy from the recent rain but we had so much fun.  We also spent several days on the beach at Lake Powell.  We didn’t even bother to bring the boat.  We just loaded up the trailer and the kids and rented a paddle board in Page and sat on the beach and floated in the water.  It was so fun and relaxing.  We also took a few camping trips and had fun hunting as a family.  The boys all went back to school this year as well and are doing well there.

            Josh is still working for SUU Police.  He enjoys what he does and who he works with.  He got to go to a few sniper schools again this year and continues to be one of the snipers for the SWAT team.  He still enjoys shooting whenever he can fit it in.  Josh is a great dad and has spent a lot of time with the kids this past year.  He’s becoming quite the Mr. Mom when I’m out of town and is getting used to hauling kids to practices, appointments and to hang out with friends.  He’s good to take them out to go shooting, camping, hiking etc.  He really enjoyed his river rafting trips and is planning for more.  He even tried to talk me into doing the Grand Canyon in January (because that’s the only time there are open permits).  I told him thanks, but no thanks.

            I (SheriDawn) had a pretty exciting year this year.  After a long wait and hiring process I learned that I’d gotten a new job.  In May I started my new job as a flight nurse!  I fly for Classic Aeromedical.  They have several bases and I am based in Page AZ.  It sounds like a long way away and it is about a 3 hour drive, but I go down twice a month and stay for 36 hours.  It works out to about 7 days a month that I’m gone from home.  They have 2 helicopters and an airplane and I get to fly in them all.  I love the people I work with and learning all the new stuff I’ve needed to learn.  I am constantly telling Josh that I love my job and can’t believe that I get to do it.  I still cover at the hospital and I do struggle to find a balance and saying no is always hard for me.  I love that now when I’m home I’m just home and not always running off to meetings.  I love being a mom and the joys and struggles that come with it and I feel like I’m able to focus more on that now than I was before and hope to do even better next year at being a good mom.

            Tyler is 13 years old now and in 7^th grade.  I am not sure when that happened or how we got here so fast.  He is a talented guy.  He plays the cello and the piano.  He is in the school orchestra as well as a cello group that his teacher has started up.  He loves playing both.  He does really well in school and whenever I talk to his teachers they always have great things to say about him.  He was super excited to be able to go deer hunting 2 years in a row and that he was old enough to be able to get in on more than one hunt.  He took a few vacations all on his own this summer and went to visit his aunt and then also stayed at Grandma Whitney’s with his cousins.  Tyler helps me out so much at home.  He’s turning into a teenager, which is exciting and frustrating all at the same time.  He’s got friends to hang out with, places to go and things to do.  He just gets busier by the moment I think.  He’s a great kid.

            Jesse is 11 now which is also a little mind boggling to me.  When I realized he was going to be in 6^th grade I was kind of in shock.  Jesse is a sweet guy and helps me so much with his younger brothers.  He tried his hand at quite a few sports this past year including soccer, basketball and baseball.  I think that soccer has won out, well that and skiing…he loved skiing.  He has become quite the shot with a shotgun  and can even beat his dad at skeet.  Sometimes when I realize they’ve been “gone to Walmart” a little longer than I expected, I’ll find out he and his dad took a little side trip on the way home to shoot some skeet.  He really enjoyed river rafting with his dad and then the family this summer and even learned to row the boat.  Jesse also does really well in school and has become quite the reader.  He is also playing the piano and plays percussion in the school band.

            Tracen is 5 and started Kindergarten this year!  He was pretty sure that Kindergarten was for the birds at first.  Whenever anyone asked him if he was going to go to school this year, he’d just shrug and say “nah” like why would anyone bother with that?  But he loves it now!  He’s made lots of friends and loves to go to recess.  He also played t-ball in the spring and soccer this fall and loved playing.  He also took swimming lessons this summer and became a good little swimmer.  He has a fun personality and the sweetest smile and giggle and he loves to snuggle with his mom.  I love that.  He loves to run and jump, plays hard all day long, and helps me cook dinner.  He’s just a lot of fun to be around.

            Lincoln is 3 and our feisty little ball of energy!  He says the funniest stuff all of the time.  He keeps us rolling on the floor laughing.  He’s also got a little bit of a mean streak in him.  Make him mad and he’ll let you know what I’m talking about.  He takes after his dad and Jesse and loves to shoot guns.  Last time we went out he insisted on shooting everything we had out there, including the 12 gauge.  He might be a little boy but he can keep up with everyone else no problem.  He absolutely won’t go to nursery on Sunday and either sits with me at the piano in primary or goes to “dad’s nursery” (teacher’s quorum) and he’s pretty insistent he won’t be going to sunbeams either.  He sticks pretty close to people he knows but once he warms up he’ll talk your ear off.  He can also be super sweet and loving and I just love to hear his little sweet voice talking.  I keep telling him that he has to stay my little boy forever and isn’t allowed to grow up, but he assures me that he is going to get bigger.

            I haven’t included the dogs in the letter before but the little boys informed me that Sadie and Krieger are part of our family too.  Sadie is getting to be an old girl.  She’s as old as Jesse but doesn’t have nearly as much energy as he does anymore.  We got her a new buddy, Krieger, the first of the year.  He’s a German Shepherd.  I’m not sure she’s really ever forgiven us for that yet.  Even though he’s bigger than her now, she taught him young and can still put him in

his place when he gets too excited, tries to eat her food or licks her face too much.  Sadie likes to lay around a lot and Krieger loves to run, even if it is in circles when he’s tied up.  The boys have a love/hate relationship with the fun of having a dog and the responsibility of making sure they’re taken care of every day.

            We hope that you are all doing well and having a Merry Christmas.  We enjoy hearing from everyone and the new things that have happened during the year and hope that next year is great for everyone.  We love you all!

                                                            Merry Christmas,

                                    Josh, SheriDawn, Tyler, Jesse, Tracen and Lincoln Neilson

P.S.  I think I'm going to go ahead and make this blog private.  I am going to be better about posting to it this year and don't want to have to worry about what pictures I'm posting etc.  So send me your email, or leave it in the comments if you want to be able to continue to see it.