Merry Christmas

Dearest Family & Friends that I did not mail a Christmas card to because I ran out of time to get your address,
This year has brought many blessings our way! Nothing sticks out in my mind to write and so that must be a good thing. An uneventful year. FINALLY! There are the every day blessings, the ones that are not the big wahoo, but very appreciated. Our kids are as cute as ever...
Autumn is 7 and in first grade. She has a super teacher and sees all of her potential. She sums Autumn up the best, "She always seems to think outside of the box." Yes, that is Autumn in a nutshell. And we love her dearly!
Jaxon is 4 and a fireball, full of boy energy! It is different than girl energy. He runs through the house all day long making sounds like sword fights and airplanes taking off. He is still a mama's boy and of course I love that. He does not like to go to bed without a back rub from his mommy. He is in PreK and still adjusting.......
Drake would be 2 1/2 and I think of him daily. He is the greatest motive I have to be a better person. I love him for that!
Our sweet Brinnley AKA Brinn Brinn is as sweet as can be. She is starting to talk a lot more and is a little parrot. Everyone loves having her around because she always makes us smile. She has her daddy wrapped around her finger and he loves every second of it! She's the best!
On a trip to California and back, we inherited a sweet little doggie we (re)named Nikko which means Smile in Japanese. His name before was Mikko and we figured he wouldn't know the difference...Aunt Joan gave him to us and he is the best dog ever! He loves all the kids and is so patient with them--especially Brinnley. We love having him even though neither one of us were what we would call "dog people."
Texas is wonderful! We love our ward and our friends! We love having Tim and Camille living about a mile away. The cousins love getting together. We have such an awesome life. Not without our trials, but wonderful anyway! We miss all of those who live far away, but love all this modern stuff that keeps us connected.
Mostly, we are so grateful for our family and the gospel. We love that we get to be together for eternity because of the blessings of the temple. And we love that even though we make dumb choices every day, we are able to ask for forgiveness. I love teaching my kids the basic principles of the gospel. They soak it up so much and it teaches me so much to remember to be just like them. We are just so blessed!
Merry Christmas to all and may you have the best blessed 2010! We love you!!
Love

Brandon, Melissa, Autumn, Jaxon, Drake and Brinnley