Family Christmas Photo and Letter

The most dramatic event for our family this year was our sudden decision to move back to Utah after four fabulous years in San Diego. We loved so many things about living there: our ward (who were like family), our neighbors (who were also family), our school, the community, the beach, the warm balmy weather (bragging rights), and our home on Sienna Court.

Knowing we needed to make a change, but not knowing what, Mahonry and I were praying for guidance. Our prayers were answered when we were back in Utah for a family reunion in July and we felt very strongly that is was time to come "home." So we called our real estate agents and got the ball rolling. We got home on July 22nd and the whirlwind began. I started packing, fixing up the house to show, and looking for a place to rent in Utah, all simultaneously, while Maho continued to work hard in the office and travel the world on business.

With the help of dear friends, neighbors, ward members, family, and the divine guidance of our Heavenly Father, we were able to make it to our home in Cedar Hills by August 14th--just four days before school started.

Another huge blessing: our home in San Diego has sold and is scheduled to close this week! During a time when home values have dropped dramatically, and nothing is selling, we feel very blessed to have sold our home in only 4 months!

We are enjoying being close to family now. That is another blessing that we missed while being in San Diego. For Thanksgiving we got together with all of my siblings and their families, Mom and Dad, Grandpa, Granny, Aunts and Uncles up in Cache Valley. It was SO FUN.

Laurel is 11 now and is excelling in school. She is on the 6th grade student council and has made lots of new friends. She looks forward to getting back into guitar lessons and theater. She has recently become our babysitter!! Maho and I leave her to babysit the girls now on date-night or on volleyball mornings/nights. She is such a responsible young lady. She has sure grown up the past year.

Brianna is 9 and in fourth grade. Her favorite subjects are writing, science, art, and she sings Alto in Chorus twice a week after school (Laurel goes, too, and sings Soprano). She loves chorus so much that she even attends church Choir with me on Sundays. She has natural musical talent and looks forward to starting up violin lessons again.

Whitney is 7 and in second grade. She LOVES school and is very competitive. She works really hard to be a top student. She also loves to sing and really enjoyed her time on stage with here sisters. She has asked me a few times when she can do theater again. We have noticed how good she is with little kids and babies. They just love Whitney because she plays with them and makes them laugh. Whitney takes pride in the fact that she can run faster than all her sisters!

Ellie is 5 and just started kindergarten, after MUCH anticipation! She just loves going to school! She is learning to read and sound out her own spellings. Ellie is our beauty queen. She loves doing her own hair, putting on make-up and dress-ups, and loves all things pink, sparkly and fluffy! She has loved being in our new neighborhood because there are so many little girls to play with. She spends as much time as she is allowed playing outside with her little friends (except for when she is bringing them all in to eat snacks)!

Tessy is our baby unicorn. She is 3 and wears her white fuzzy unicorn costume almost everyday! We let her wear it everywhere, realizing that all too soon she will outgrow this stage and we will miss our baby unicorn. Her favorite things (beside her unicorn costume) are her blanky, her horsey, and all her small plastic animals. She went through a match-box car phase for a while, but seems to have outgrown that. She is also our little singer. She sings all day long, adding in all kinds of words and nonsense to any tune. For a while she sang "Bet On It" from HSM all the time!!

Mahonry still works for the same company in San Diego, and continues to travel the world. We set him up with a home-office upstairs, which has been really nice. I love having him here. We have really saved on gas, too! We thought it might be hard for him to focus being at home, but he is very good at going up, closing the door and ignoring us despite our noise. It's fun to be able to drop in on him at work whenever I feel like it, not to mention daily lunch-dates in our kitchen.

I continue to be the CEO, CFO, chef, maid, human resources department, referee, taxi driver, beautician, etc, of the household. I love my job. I am grateful to Mahonry for being such a smart, capable, aggressive businessman, so that I can be at home with our 5 little princesses. Maho and I are trying to savor these moments as we realize how quickly they grow up.

Life is wonderful. We are thankful for the light of the Gospel in our lives, for the hope of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and for His living prophets who guide and direct us in times that would otherwise be uncertain and scary. May you be blessed with the peace and happiness that God wants for all His children.

Merry Christmas!

Molly, Mahonry, Molly, Laurel, Brianna, Whitney, Ellie and Tessyanne