Happy Holidays From The Mitchells!

As we pause to celebrate the birth of our Savior this year, we are reminded of His life and all that He has taught us and done for our lives.  We are eternally grateful for his sacrifice and the path that He laid ahead for us.  We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to teach His principles to our children, and set them up for success in life as well.  We hope that this holiday season finds all of our dear friends and family happy and well.  We are loving getting all of your holiday greetings and pictures in the mail!  I love the updates on everyone's kids.  It's crazy how fast time seems to be flying by.  

We've chosen to do our family letter here on the blog this year so all can see whenever they choose.  We've got some good pictures to sum up 2008 in our little household that we felt had to be included in our letter!  So, here goes.....

We celebrated Tess' third birthday in February at Fafa and Punkin's house.  She was thrilled to have everything pink!  She is growing fast into a very independent little girl.  She loves to color and can already write her name.   She tells me everyday that she wants to go to a "real" pre-school and not just do her studies with mom!  We love watching her personality develop more and more each day.

Owen turned one in March!  It's crazy to think how fast time is flying by.  He is such a BUSY boy.  He insists on doing everything on his own and is dying to talk.  He's constantly learning new words and putting them together.  He still loves his blankie and any car he can find.  His favorite thing in the whole world is his mommy - oh and balloons!  He goes nuts when he sees a balloon!  He loves animals and playing.  

We had a visit from Nana Barb in February and had a ton of fun with her!  We love it when she comes and spoils us with attention.  Brandon and I love it that she'll stay up way late playing Phase 10 with us!  We're anxious to see her again this coming February when we head up to Seattle. 

My grandparents, whom we call Fafa and Punkin, live just south of us in Tucson.  We see them as MUCH as we can!  We love playing with them and hearing all of Fafa's super cool stories.  We love Punkin's cooking, and she and Owen have a special little bond.  He loves her SO MUCH!  He has always been drawn to her, and we love that they are so close.

We had a super fun visit from my mom in March.  We loved having her here as well, and we feel bad that we gave her a cold!  We enjoyed hanging out with her.  She taught Brandon and I how to play Skip-bo and then we spent HOURS playing it!  We had a great time.  We're excited to see her and my dad when we head to Seattle to welcome Adam home from his mission.  They live in Georgia now, but are heading up there so we can all be together.

We had a great visit from Brandon's folks as well in August.  They actually took Porter and Tess with them for almost a week while they went to Texas to see Uncle Mike and his family.  The kids had a ton of fun with them, and I had some sweet bonding time with Owen while Brandon was out of town on Business.  We're looking forward to seeing Grandma again in March when she comes to see us.

Porter played T-ball this spring and LOVED it.  He's way excited to play again this coming spring.

Porter turned 6 in June and we took a bunch of his friends to the local fire station for a tour.  He was the only one who was able to wear the Captain's hat.  He is growing up to be such an intelligent little boy.  He loves to study and is already working on division and multiplication.  He loves to read and write as well.  He loves to read about the universe and keeps telling us he wants to be a NASA scientist.  We'll see if he holds true to that dream!  We love that he loves to learn and are trying to do everything we can for him to help him continue to progress.

We LOVE the weather here in Arizona!

We took the kids to San Diego in July and spent some time at the beach and then a couple of days at the San Diego Zoo.  We had a great time and made some long lasting memories as a family.

Brandon took an introductory course in Scuba this summer and is anxiously awaiting to start his official classes.  He had to work out of state for a few months this fall, so those will be coming this Spring.

Brandon's work party this year was at the Phoenix Zoo last week.  The weather was fantastic and we had a great time.

Our big news this year is that we FINALLY decided to settle down and buy a house!  We've been here 3 weeks now, and are getting settled in.  We are so grateful to be able to have our own home and are trying to put our personal touches on it.

We have much to be grateful for this year and are thrilled to say that all are happy and healthy.  We are loving this time in our lives as we watch our children grow.  As a couple, we've never been happier and that is good news as well.  We wish everyone a Happy Holidays and hope that you all know how much we love and think of you!