Wow! Where has the time gone? Christmas is just around the corner. We are going to be spending our Christmas here in Arizona and our New Year in New Mexico with some friends of ours. We are really looking forward to seeing them.

We have been having a great holiday season so far. We have some wonderful friends here and we have been enjoying spending some time with them. It's great having company with the house all decorated.

The boys are doing great. It is hard to believe that Thomas's birthday is just 2 short weeks away.

Thomas loves to jump, so we went and got him a Johnny Jumpup. He loves it. Thought you would enjoy video of him in it.

We hope you all have a Merry Christmas! We send our love!

For those of you who may not have gotten our Christmas letter here it is (some still are waiting to be mailed also)....

Merry Christmas from Arizona!

Wow, what a year it has been. We definitely started it off well. The newest member of our family, Thomas William was born on January 2nd. He was the 1st baby of the New Year for the town of Bitburg, Germany. Wade was in Iraq so my sister and brother in law came out to help. He is such a good natured little guy who is in love with Elmo. His brothers absolutely adore him.

Caleb turned 5 in September. He didn’t make the cutoff for kindergarten so he has been Mommy’s buddy at home. He is such a good helper. He learned to ride his bike without training wheels this summer. Caleb played T-ball and soccer and he enjoyed them both.

Seth turned 7 in October. He is in the 2nd grade. It was quite an adjustment for him going from a class size of 13 to 27. This year he has played soccer, T-ball, basketball, and golf. He really likes golf. It must be his Grampy’s influence.

Wade spent the first month of the year in Iraq and came home in February. It was wonderful to get him home and for him to meet Thomas. He graduated with his bachelor’s degree this year. He will be starting work on his master’s degree in January. We are all so proud of him. He sewed on the rank of Tech sergeant in July and now is an expeditor at work.

(Wade typing now)
As for Katie, the entire year has been busy, busy, busy. Starting off with taking care of three boys and two dogs by herself and then helping me reintegrate with our new expanded family, things have only gotten more hectic since then. Always being the gracious host, she simultaneously got the house ready to pack up, hosted Wade’s parents for four weeks while they were visiting us in Germany, and found us a house in Tucson. Once we got back to the states she had another first by flying with all three boys by herself from Rapid City to Phoenix. Ever since then she has been busy arranging our house and making it a home and caring for all four of her boys.

Before we left Germany we got to go to Paris. We had wanted to do this since we had gotten there. The boys were amazing as we walked them for miles around the city. We sure do miss the simple life of Germany.

On our way to Arizona we stopped though South Dakota and were able to spend time with our family there. It was especially great to see Wade’s grandpa.

In September we took a trip to Alabama to see my grandma. It was great to get to visit with her and for the boys to spend time with their Great Grandma. The boys are blessed to have great grandparents in their lives. We also got to see some other dear friends and relatives.

We have been blessed abundantly. Honestly there are too many to name. We hope that this upcoming year blesses you richly. We would love to have visitors. Take Care and God Bless.