The 2010 year Newsletter

We've been desperate to get newer, up-to-date pictures on the wall.  So as I was uploading pictures I got to review 2010 in photographs, looking back on the year.

2010 was a time for change and lots of growth.  The year began for us in Lehi, Utah.  It was cold and white; just how winter should be (not without the white part).  We knew our time in Utah was coming to an end and we didn't even need to pray about where our lives should go next.  Instead, Lisl fought, argued and cried for 2 weeks, the end of January into February, about how she didn't want to move back to Thatcher, Arizona.  Half way through Feb. we made a visit to Arizona to find a place to live in Thatcher.  Our search was only 3 days but felt very long, tiring and we were afraid we'd end up in the wrong home.

On our last day of searching we gave one of the homes on our list a second glance.  With the promise of a few improvements before moving in, we signed a lease.  We hurried back to Utah with just a few days to pack up everything including the two kids and two cats and began our journey to our new home.  Just as March began we settled into a new home, a familiar ward (it was Stephen's home ward growing up and Lisl knew a few from college) and Stephen began a great new job.

April was full of family and friends, between Easter (including a horrific sunburn from being out in the hills and forgetting that Lisl actually burns in Arizona: she still has a tan line from that burn - at least we were concerned enough for Lisette since she inherited her mother's fair skin and kept her shaded) and the Gila Valley Temple Open House.  We also began to do a LOT of work around here. 

There was zero landscaping on our propery.  We had a few early rains to get an idea of what was in store for us for monsoon season with all the mud. 2 different gardens were planted; flowers and vegetables, rocks were laid for a place to park our vehicles and to walk to the door, and we tried our best to make a back lawn with lots of grass.  We then discovered the gopher problem as well.  (We know exactly what to do about all the many obstacles for this coming Spring, that's for sure)

The Open House ran on through half of May so we managed to visit twice.  All the landscaping and growing various things continued into May.  At the start of the month we celebrated Stephen's birthday and at the end of the month, our little girl turned 1! 

In June we celebrated our 6th anniversary and got in a short get away before the busy season with Stephen's job took over for the rest of the summer.  July was hectic and crazy with work for Stephen.  August became even more so, but we still managed to celebrate Franklin's 3rd birthday!  We began the potty training process with him 2 weeks before his birthday.  There were many awful accidents over the next few months and lots of back and forth with progress.

In September, Stephen's employer sent everyone on a weekend getaway to the Arizona Grand Resort and fun at the Oasis park.  It was lots of fun and very much needed since we hadn't been able to do much as a family for a few months.  Lisl had been called as the ward choir director over the summer but didn't begin practices till Sept.  At first it seemed too overwhelming and seemed as if she was in over her head, but the first performance in October went very well. 

October was still incredibly hot during the day, but the nights were just right.  We decorated our home for the season and Lisl began listening to Christmas music, for her calling (She discovered at that point that she was in charge of the entire program for the Sunday before Christmas).  Stephen was gone for half of the month, on and off.  He had testing, classes, all for work, then at the end of the month he went on a hunting trip with all of the men from the Quinn family; Stephens dad and all 4 of his brothers (first and maybe even the last time that will happen, so we are all so glad he got to go).  Halloween was a bit last minute for Lisl and the kids.  We were so happy that "Mom's mom" (that is what Franklin calls Grandma Reed) got to come and spend it with us.

November was surprisingly (and truth be told a bit disappointingly) hot.  Lisl had been asked to sing for the Jazz clinics performing for some of the World of Music classes at the college.  It was so much fun and it brought back lots of memories; almost as if we never left.  The next week was Lisl's birthday followed by Thanksgiving in Sierra Vista with Heidi Lewis (Lisl's sister) and her family.  We seriously enjoy doing things with family since that didn't happen much while we lived in Utah.

As December began the pressure was on for Lisl to complete the Christmas program.  We decorated our house and tried very hard to make it feel like Christmas since the weather was still too warm for us.  It was also during this time that Franklin seemed to fully and completely grasp the concept of, and the necessity of potty training.  We haven't rewarded him for going #1 in a while but we began giving fun size candy bars for #2.

The weekend before Christmas was very busy and went very fast.  That Saturday Lisl sang with a Jazz Combo at her cousins wedding reception.  That was definitely a treat for all and an amazing opportunity for Lisl.  The very next day was Lisl's Christmas program which went very well.  She had already began ideas for next years program.

Christmas was exciting.  The Fellers (Lisl's sister Inga and her family) came over from San Diego and Stephen got a last-second day off for Christmas Eve.  We headed to Sierra Vista a day earlier than planned and really enjoyed all that time with family, especially for all the little cousins.  On Christmas day we traveled back to Thatcher to spend the afternoon with everyone on the Quinn side.  It was so much fun to spend the holiday with so much family!  That was what made it a wonderful Christmas for us.

Happy New Year everyone!  We know that this year will be even more exciting and hopefully we will see more family, more often.

Happy New Year

Ok, so happy New Year everyone. 2010 seems to be promising for more people other than just us. Not sure what was so odd about last year, but we were ready for it to end. Now on to another quick blog. I promise I'll get a slide show soon, I just wanted to get through the holidays.

A few days after Christmas Danny and his family stopped by. We both can't believe how much Brett, Braden, and Ashley have grown. We shouldn't be surprised since it has been a long time. After all they've never met Lisette, and Franklin wasn't walking or talking last they saw him. It was a very short visit, but it was great! Franklin ran around in circles, showing off. Rizzo was social and played fetch with the kids, and Lisette was loving Uncle Danny; I think it was the goatee that did it. Now that we've had a teaser of the Danny clan, we are definitely wanting more, and hope to do something about that this year. (We also hope to do the same with Randy's family, and Christian's family. Haven't seen the Randy clan since before Franklin was born, and have only seen part of the Christian clan in the last 4 years)

Stephen was on-call this week; nothing too eventful. We did get a LOT of snow between Monday, and Wednesday. Snow is beautiful, but hard to appreciate it when people who should know how to drive in it, because we get it every year, drive like morons. Some snow drifts fill the air with glitter, and its very beautiful. Moving on.

Stephen has been on and off busy. For New Years Eve he didn't get home till after 10 at night. Franklin stayed up till 10:30. He watched 3 movies (I know, I'm horrible) while I opened up shop and made a couple of ties; ties do take some time to make. Out of the 10 I started, only 4 are actually done all the way; 3 movies worth of time (of course Lisette had something to do with taking up some of that time). After that I couldn't just stay sitting in front of my machine anymore, so I set up the Wii to play tennis with Franklin. He's funny to watch. I'll have to video tape it.

He's been calling me mom for a week now, so I believe it has stuck with him what my "name" is. He's gone to bed twice in the past week without dinner, but that's just part of the struggle to get him to eat what we give him. After all, we are the parents. And Lisette is huge. I say it all the time, but she is. She's 7 months old, and just at 21 lbs. She laughs at the cats and Franklin all the time. We're incredibly blessing wish such easy kids, and extremely lovable. As we've been out and about strangers have been complimenting Franklin, and "ooh" and "aah"-ing over Lisette and her many rolls. We all know chubby babies are hard to resist.

In response to my last blog about what new tradition we'll start, here it is:
As a family we will give to someone in need. On Christmas morning as a family we will "open" that gift, and take it to the recipient. Not a huge change but we hope to teach the kids, and remind ourselves what Christmas really comes down to, and not get caught up in the commercialism of it. (Utahan's are kind of crazy during Christmas, and we don't like it)

Our Christmas

Please click on the title to be able to visit our photo album. There were just too many pictures for us to post them on our blog. Plus I know my sisters want the link to get some of these pictures for themselves. And don't forget to watch the 4 new videos below.

We had so much fun, and did so many things with family. We loved having Heidi, Sam and Reyn up here to share Christmas with. Christmas Eve we had dinner with the Lewis' (Heidi's in-laws, and Stephen's boss). The food was great, and it was so nice to be with a large group of people, and have a lot of laughter. Franklin went to bed very late that night; I hope this isn't the beginning of him waiting for Santa. We had to make the cats sleep in our room that night so they wouldn't terrorize the gifts. Obviously we woke up earlier than we wanted due to their pleadings. Rightly so we shut them in with us because immediately Rizzo went for his stocking.

Franklin slept in till 8:30 but went down again for a nap at 10:00. Heidi and I had planned on seeing a movie, so this meant at 12:20 waking up Franklin quickly, and opened his presents. We saw "The Tale of Despereux" and Franklin chatted through the whole movie. Luckily there weren't very many people there, and he made Heidi laugh the whole time. Reyn slept through the whole movie. We all went to our place after the movie and we gave each other the gifts we had for one another; we had each other this year.

Christmas dinner was at the Whites' with Greta and her family. Reyn wanted to push around the toy strollers Greta's girls got for Christmas, and Paisey joined in as they went 'round and 'round the house. Franklin got to hang out with his favorite uncle; Adam. Every time we go to Greta's Franklin has to hang out, and sit with Adam. Its been an instant bond that we don't know when, and how it began. When Heidi was at our place Franklin wanted to hang out and sit with Sam. I guess he just really likes to hang out with the guys! Dinner was wonderful, and we all forgot to leave room for pie.

We headed home late, and Franklin instantly went to bed. We had dinner that next night at Greta's again with Heidi and family. On Saturday Stephen and I headed out to do a little shopping, and met up with Heidi and Reyn at the mall, while Sam was out skiing, hoping that we could let the boys play. Bad idea. They both wanted to play with the slide, but from the opposite end, and there were probably a good 35 - 50 other kids. We finally had to leave the play area because there was no hope in getting them to play and be safe.

Sunday was quiet, and relaxing; sort of. Franklin took a very long nap in the middle of the day, but for some reason I don't remember that day except for going to church. Hopefully that means I got a nap too.

Monday Heidi and Reyn came over in the morning and we had breakfast together. We got to hang out that day before I took them to the airport. Greta and her girls had caught the flu over night so we had to skip out on visiting them that day. I was excited that we got to see so much of the Lewis' while they were here, and we had a lot of fun with them.

Enjoy the pictures, and videos. The first video is from Greta's when Paisey and Reyn raced around the house with the toy stroller. The second video is Franklin drawing on his magnidoodle. He loves that thing so much it goes every where with us. He's fallen asleep in his car seat holding on to it. The third video is of Franklin and Rizzo. Rizzo makes a very funny meow when he sees birds outside. The Franklin started being silly. The last new video is Rizzo trying to get his stocking. He wouldn't quit!