First, we would like to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all friends and loved ones. We hope this year has been as good to all of you as it has been to us. Also, we apologize for not sending a “real” card this year but we hope this will suffice for the moment.
I guess we’ll start with the biggest news first. Trina and I are expecting our first baby and it’s a girl!! Her “do date” is March 29 so in three months you should all be receiving an announcement. It is starting to get closer and closer and we are getting really excited to welcome her to the world and to our family. Both mom and the baby are doing great, and growing, and we feel blessed in that regard.
Our year has been good, a little less eventful than the last. No break-ins or blown up car engines this year which we are very thankful for. We tried to buy a house this summer; I think we must have looked at fifty or more over a month’s time. We even submitted several bids but were always out bid in the end. After all the looking, and being out bid, we decided to sign another lease at our current place. We enjoy our current ward and some of our best friends live in the apartment directly below ours so we feel maybe this was what was supposed to happen.
Trina still nannies during the day for two little boys. I think she still likes it and I don’t hear too many complaints from her. It’s getting more difficult now that she is pregnant because the younger of the two still doesn’t walk and I guess he’s a real solid little guy. Trina did get a few weeks off this fall while the father of the family was between jobs, which was nice.
Trina still does some photography when the opportunity arises. I think she did two weddings this summer and there is always the occasional family portrait, graduation, or missionary picture. And of course, there are always lots of nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters, etc who need photos. Her website has been down for a few months, something about the person who was hosting it moved or is not hosting anymore, I’m not sure of the details. So any work that comes her way now is purely by word of mouth.
I’m still working for the same company doing estimating for the framing division. This year has been a little scary as residential construction in Las Vegas has slowed to a snail’s pace. The company has had to let a lot of people go this year and closed our divisions in Reno and Kingman. My department has stayed busy bidding anything and everything that can be framed out of wood. We have been able to pick up some apartments and a few commercial buildings to supplement the few houses that are still being built. It still looks a little bleak but we pay our tithing and live the best we can and try not to worry too much about it.
I have also been taking classes in the evenings at the community college. This spring I will transfer to UNLV and will enter their construction management program. The degree still seems a long way off but it will be good to be into the program finally. School is school and I guess there is no easy way to get around it.
We feel very blessed and love and enjoy having you in our lives. We hope you are all able to enjoy the Holiday season and spend it with the people you love. Merry Christmas!
