The Christmas Update

I decided to do an update online this year instead of killing even more trees...so here goes:

Jan. 2008: We began the 2nd half of our first year teaching. We were living in St. George in an adorable 3 bedroom apartment. Life was good!
Feb. 2008: Teaching got a bit stressful for Beth with a crazy parent and with the changes happening at her school. Beth also turned 24. We welcomed a nephew, Kevin, on the 20th.
Mar. 2008: We celebrated our 2 year Anniversary with a Trip to Park City for a few days during spring break. It was beautiful! Beth finds out she will NOT be asked back to PVMS, so we start searching for jobs throughout the state of Utah.
Apr. 2008: Um...Easter? We headed to Las Vegas for Haven's 1st Birthday party! We did lots of job interviewing all over the state, but are both offered jobs in Hurricane, UT. YEA! We still have jobs!
May 2008: Our first year of teaching FINALLY ends. Actually it seemed much faster than we thought it would! Chad finishes up with a piano recital and Beth with End of Level testing. Beth is relieved to begin at a new school next year and Chad is excited to start teaching Band!
June 2008: Chad begins playing percussion for Les Miserables at Tuacahn. He is excited to get into the music scene in St. George (its a small world that you must work your way into). Beth is enjoying the time off of school and is busy finding a place for us to move. We traveled to Las Vegas for our nephew Judd's wedding! It was beautiful! We welcomed a nephew, Brayden, on the 3rd.
July 2008: Hell on earth. Really that's all I want to say...just kidding. Beth has a scare with a job transfer, but gets to keep her SpEd job at Hurricane Middle School. We visit Zion National Park and both get scooters! We find a cute 4 bedroom house to rent (only .7 miles from Beth's school). We are scheduled to move on July 31st. 4 days before we move, Beth's trusty Escort passes away on the side of the freeway (just in time for her before contract-days meetings begin) and we are a few days behind schedule in the "packing to move" department. Chad is assigned the overwhelming job to finish packing, find a fridge, reserve a U-Haul, and research new cars while Beth is at meetings. He did a fantastic job and Beth chilled a little! The move was smooth and were lucky enough to have help from Beths family and some friends! We traded in our two dead cars for a living one the day we moved into the house!
Aug. 2008: We go back to work on the 4th and school begins the 12th. We both already love the environments of our new schools and really enjoy teaching in Hurricane. Beth's whole family came to town the 15th-ish; we had family pictures taken, a birthday party, and the first of many NERF wars to come. We welcom twin nephews, Ian and Darek, on the 22nd (born July 3rd). We are back to "normalcy" in our lives! Oh, and Chad is still working Les Miserables...
Sept. 2008: More normalcy...school is going great for both of us. We travel to Salt Lake to meet one of our two new nephews.
Oct. 2008: We celebrated Chad's 29th birthday! Unfortunately, tragedy hit the next day when our little nephew, Ian, passed away. We spent 5 days in Salt Lake with family and for the funeral of little Ian. We took a planned trip to Disneyland with Beth's sister Mandi, nephews, and parents over fall break. Chad's time with Les Miserables is FINALLY over just as we leave for the funeral. We enjoyed dressing as a pirate and Darth Maul for Halloween!
Nov. 2008: Lots of time working this month. Beth went to a New Kids on the Block concert with her cousin and sister Mandi. We also took a VERY impromptu trip to New York over the Thanksgiving Holiday. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable month. We welcomed a new nephew, Jax, to the family on the 24th!
Dec. 2008: We hotsed a Christmas party for Chad's family on the 12th and we really enjoyed having everyone at our home. We also enjoyed having family at Chad's first ever band concert as a conductor! Beth was VERY proud! We headed up to Salt Lake for Christmas Break on the 19th (and had an adventure getting there!) and have really enjoyed our time with family! We are still awaiting the arrival of the last nephew of the year...we'll see when he comes! Santa was very good to us this year and are grateful for all that we have!

We love our little home in Hurricane, our ward (we teach the 3 year olds), our schools, the people we work with, and the relationships we are building! Life is fantastic!

I have been working on getting NYC pics into a slideshow to post here, but have been a bit busy. I got a digital scrapbook program for Christmas and am currently working on getting ALL my pictures from the past three years on to my new computer. I'm really excited to get going on it!