January 2012 Update

JED & ANG:

January flew by with not a lot of happenings. We spent the New Year in Columbus with the Jenkins.  They are always a party!  We have been battling an ugly virus (at least Ellie, Sam and Jed). Hopefully we are done with it.  Jed and I were able to attend an Eight is Great fireside with Elisabeth where she learned more about the details of getting baptized this summer.  Elisabeth sold Girl Scout Cookies and had an overnighter with her troop (and Moms)!  Sarah loves preschool and gymnastics she can't wait until those days come around.  Samuel is talking more and more.  He loves to be with his buddies in his Wednesday PlayGroup.  He has been talking a lot about fighting and bad guys.  He is the most serious dancer in the house.  Jed has been busy with church and work.  We had him home for three days while he was sick.  Even though he was suffering we had a great time playing Webkins and Mario with him.  We love you all!  Hope life is good!

KIM & TYLER:

January for the Keate family started off with an trip to Utah for some great Utah snow skiing.  Lets just say the trip didn't go as planned, no snow, an VERY expensive ER visit, and I am still having issues with my hip after I fell when Ashlyn cut in front of me.  So after we came home early from our not so ski adventures, and Caden throwing up as soon as we pulled in, we got into full swing of getting things organized and cleaned up from the holidays. Tyler still had some days off so we took advantage of those and got lots of little things done.  The boys have started up basketball again and both seem to love it.  Caden scored more then 1/2 of his teams points last game, so it will be interesting to see how he does in tomorrows game.  Britton is improving and loves that Tyler is his coach.  Britton had his class play/musical last night and he was one of the leads.  He wouldn't let us practice his lines with him and so we had no idea what we were going to get last night.  Lets just say that Britton didn't disappoint.  He was awesome and has his comedic timing down perfect.  We had lots of parents say how great he did. He was pretty proud of himself.  Ashlyn is just waiting for the soccer season to start up again.  She had no interest in playing basketball.  I think I have convinced her to try swim team this summer at our neighborhood pool, so I am going to get her into some lessons again here soon.  She is obsessed with glitter glue!  Gavin is excited to go to Disney World-jsut ask him-of course he doesn't get to go until he is potty trained-he will tell you that too!  He has started to get more sassy and hates taking naps, but I still make him:)  We celebrated my birthday with a bunch of our good friends ( adults only) at our friend's the Cranes. It was seriously one of the best birthdays ever.  We went zip lining in their back yard and the coyotes in the back field were going crazy.  It was kinda scary because you couldn't see where you were headed you just heard the coyotes.  Then we headed inside and played a mean game of 4 square ( We were playing this last weekend and Tyler broke his toe) then we played around the world ping pong.  Our friend's Kurt and Marie said it was the most fun they had had in years!  It was epic and people are still talking about it.  January typically for Tyler is a slower month, but this year it seems to be just as busy as December.  He is playing basketball with our ward team and tries not to get to fed up with the huge number of guys we have in the ward :)  Oh, I am helping coach YW basketball.  That is always entertaining.  Caden is itching to go skiing and so is Ashlyn, Britton gets mad at us because we make him go.  If you have seem Britton ski, it is one of the most painful experiences.  He is so SLOW!    Britton competed in his first pinewood derby and we figured out after the races that his weight plate on the bottom had been dragging the whole time.  He didn't seem too disappointed to come in close to last.  He had fun.  He also just completed his wolf and will officially become a bear on his 9th birthday.  Caden has been enjoying Deacons.  Our ward had 22 deacons, so he only gets to pass the sacrament every couple weeks.  When it is his time to pass he is always really helpful to get all the other kids ready for church so that we can get there early so that his spot won't be given to someone else.  We had Elder Christofferson come to our Stake conference.  It was awesome.  Caden and I had the opportunity to go to a youth fireside with him and then sang in stake conference.  After the conference he shook everyone's hand, well, Gavin wouldn't shake his hand.  Well that pretty much sums things up for us.

MOM & DAD:

Hello everyone!  
   Dad & I can't believe how fast January came and went!!  We enjoyed having the Keate's  come over for a short visit with us.  We were sorry that the snow was so crappy.  It is really nice now though, if anyone feels so inclined to come and visit we are happy to accommodate you. 
   
   We have been busy trying to figure out our new calling, and what we can do to reach out to those who are less active.  Meeting with these people has strengthened our testimonies on how important it is to keep our covenants and staying in truth.  We have realize it is the little things we do that keeps us on track, partaking of the sacrament each Sunday, reading our scriptures everyday, prayer, and regular attendance at the temple, and let's not forget repentance forgiveness.  We hope that each of you will evaluate what you are doing, see where you can improve and strive to do a little better where you can.  We have learned there is always room for improvement and we can't do it alone, we need our Savior to help us.
    
   We have been busy with everyday things, I am enjoying working at the temple, but I just wish it wasn't so early!!  Dad has been getting ready at work for the rush at springtime, and still managed to squeeze in a few ice fishing trips!  I don't mind too much because I really enjoy eating the  fresh BIG fish. (Dad asked that I add the adjectives)

    We love your phone calls, pictures you share, visits, funny moments you have in the family, reading your comments on this family news letter, pictures for the fridge, and etc.    We love each and everyone of you very much!!!  Stay in contact!
Love, 
Dad & Mom

JESSIE:

Well I have officially suffered my burnout from my long hours working! I didn't wake up today until about 3:30! Let's just say that I can't wait to have this week over! It has been crazy busy getting everything ready for the World Launch on HSN and it didn't help that I had another work trip in the middle of my preparation time. CHA (Craft & Hobby Association) went well. It was slower than our last conference. It was fun to see some of the clients that I work with in the UK, Australia, QVC UK, and HSN. They are always so cool and super nice! We ate amazing dinners and we even got to go to the beach! It was awesome and definitely needed. Would any of you like to support my living costs if I were to move out there? Don't all volunteer at once! :) The weather was 70-80 degrees daily! I had a little bit of an adventure when I was jumping a fence/wall. I fell and got all sorts of bumps, scratches, and bruises. I may or may not have started sobbing. I think it scared me. My co-workers were pretty nice about it and let me cry. It was kind of embarrassing more than anything though. Its official! I will be on air on February 9th on the HSN channel. We will be on multiple times during the day so if you see happen to gander over to that channel and see Scrapbooking....you will most likely see me in the background with Andrew presenting. We fly out to sunny Florida on Tuesday morning and fly home on Friday morning. I must say that the bright side to all of this traveling is that, at least it is warm weather! It is a good way to start off the Spring time for sure! Other than work stuff, that is sadly about it! Hope you are all doing well! 

-Jessie

KYLE & ANDREA:

This past month was really kind of plain for us. Our work continues to be the same. Andrea is getting ready for the busy season to kick into full swing and I'm wrapping up a rather large project at work that will take until August to finally close. We both really enjoy our jobs. It sure makes it nice to be able to wake up in the morning and not dread work.

 

Church is going great. We were able to get our Youth Conference Plan signed off on and we are ready to start planning all the fine details. We are planning on floating the Weber River and also going on a ropes course. We presented it to the youth first and they loved the idea, so hopefully we get good support. Also if any of you have any ideas that make youth camps like this a success, please pass them on.

 

As for fun things we really have been boring. I went down to Moab with a bunch of work people for a day. We did have a blast mountain biking and then driving home all in the same day. Any time you get 7 stinky mountain bikers, tired and all crammed into the same car, it is with certainty that good times will be had. Andrea has been doing what she does best at keeping our home in order and keeping me in check.

 

Hopefully for February we will have some better adventures to report on.