Happy New Year!!

2012 was a great year for our family and a busy one too!  We wanted to fill you in on all the fun adventures we shared last year.  Our biggest adventure was that in June we moved!  Needing to be closer to Ruston’s office, we moved to a fantastic house in Nyssa.  It is within walking distance to school, work, the park, the library and anything else we need.  We love it!

Other fun times include – Our end of school vacation around Oregon. Going to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, the Beach, hiking around Silver Falls and going to the High Desert Museum in Bend.  The circus came to Ontario and Elli got to ride her first elephant!  Ruston took Elli fishing where she caught her first fish.  My parents moved from the Portland area to Nyssa to be closer to us – this has been my favorite part of the whole year!!  We went to the McKee Family (Ruston’s Mom) Reunion in Moroni, UT.  We saw lots of cousins and the watched the Manti Pageant.  Fun times!  On the way home, we stopped in Lava Hot Springs for another family vacation.  We played at the water park and went hiking in the Minnetonka Caves.  Later in the summer, we went cabin camping with Ruston’s parents in Unity, OR state park.  A tradition we hope to do again!  We held our first annual Halloween party with friends from the area.  It was a blast and another tradition we plan to continue! Christmas was spent in our very own home and was perfect in every way!  

Ruston and I got to take TWO vacations without kids this year.  One to McCall, ID with lots of hiking, mountain lake swimming and a trip to a luxury spa.  And the other to Fresno, CA where we visited the Fresno Zoo (always a favorite thing for me), the Fresno Temple and spent several days in Yosemite National Park.  Ruston was in photographer heaven.  He even had to buy another memory card, because he filled all his other cards within the first few days!  It was so beautiful there.  We can’t wait to go back someday.

Cami (2) Our friendly, babbling baby.  She talks constantly to everyone who will listen, we just don’t understand very much of it!  She is getting better at talking as each month passes and its fun to watch her becoming less of a baby and more of a little kid.  She wants to be potty trained, but I forgot how time consuming it can be!  In, out, on, off…seems like I never have time to really start.  Perhaps in the next few months?

Addison (5) is enjoying preschool this year in Nyssa.  This past year she danced in a ballet class and will make the most of every opportunity to play princess or dress-up.  She loves learning and pretending.  She has even started reading simple words.  We are very proud of her.  Addison has had the hardest time adjusting to our new home.  She frequently asks when we are moving back to Grandma and Papa’s house.  It’s very sweet.  She loves her grandparents so much!

Elli (7) has started 1^st grade and is making lots of new friends.  She participated in clogging in Vale and took guitar lessons too earlier in the year, but now is focusing on her school work.  She loves reading books about ocean animal life and lions.  She has a pet gold fish and is trying to convince us that she “needs” a guinea pig.  We’ll see about that!

Alesha – My life has gotten even busier than I ever planned.  With the ending of the Miss Malheur County pageant program this year I needed to find some other outlet to make a difference in the world!  I joined the Nyssa Parks and Recreation committee and also started a Neighborhood Watch program around our local park.  This has been very worthwhile and a fun way to get to know people in Nyssa.  What I wasn’t planning on was getting called to be Primary President in our ward.  85 kids – Yikes!  That has been a challenge and a lesson in patience in multiple ways.  But it’s all very rewarding and I am learning to be more organized.

Ruston has been quite the busy business man this year.  He was awarded the Benefactor of the Year from the Miss Malheur County Scholarship Program and gave to the community a Free Dental Day, helping many people in need.  He also has expanded his dental services to include braces.  He is in the middle of very extensive training to learn how and has already seen tremendous growth in his business from this venture.

We hope your year has been fun too and we hope to see you sometime this year!  If you are ever travelling between Utah and Northwest we are right along the way!  Stop in to say hi.  Merry (belated) Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,

Ruston, Alesha, Elli, Addison and Cami Munk