Merry Christmas from Alabama! We hope you’ve had an exciting year and that you are safe and well this holiday season! This summer we traveled as a family to Utah again but this time it was for a very special event! Jessica turned eight years old and we were able to baptize her in our old Ward in Woods Cross, Utah! What a wonderful opportunity for us to share this life event with the many people who we love and miss! Several friends and neighbors gathered to join us for Jessica’s baptism as well as family from all over! Arnold’s parents from Colorado, my parent’s from Nevada, my sister and her husband from Hawaii, friends from all over the Wasatch front, two of our former Bishops (Larry Widerburg and Rickey Garner) and members of our WX 8th ward family were there to enjoy the exciting day with us! What a great experience for Jessica to share her baptism with so many close friends and relatives!
Lisa Nicole turned sixteen years old this year and has started wearing makeup, dating, AND driving! She had the opportunity to attend Youth Conference with the Woods Cross Utah North Stake while we were visiting Utah this summer. The group spent several days at the Wasatch academy in Manti where Lisa was able to renew old friendships and make some very special new ones! EFY at BYU-Provo was also on the agenda for Lisa this summer. She had a great time and learned lots of amazing things while there! Thanks to Facebook she has been able to keep in touch with almost all of her favorite friends from her EFY experiences! Lisa continues to excel in school. She is the Vice President of her Sophomore class, member of the Key Service club, High School Honor Roll, and all around great student! We couldn’t be more proud of her! The dating thing has kind of thrown us for a loop! I have learned that I must refer to myself as Mama Lisa on the phone or the boys who call here are pretty embarrassed when they find out it wasn’t who they thought it was on the phone with them! I’m not sure when where or how but this text-ing thing has replaced a lot of the phone calls I remember getting as a teenager. Unlimited text-ing plans allow Lisa to hold three conversations at one time with boys she knows from school, church, and Utah. I know I should be worried, but I just look at it as a very in-depth learning experience on how to multi-task successfully!
Kenny is in the 5th grade this year at Hutchens Elementary. He ran for Student Council Treasurer and did a wonderful job on his speech. He lost to a girl, but it was a really cute girl so he said it was okay. Kenny continues to excel in his studies at school and participates in the accelerated PACE program. He reads everything in sight and has received several top reader awards from the Accelerated Reading program at school! He enjoys piano and is preparing for our end of the year recital this week. He can’t wait for next year because his teacher has purchased the Star Wars sheet music for him to play! He is so excited! We broke down and finally let my parents buy a Wii for the kids for Christmas this year! Shhhhhh! It’s a secret as we haven’t given it to them yet, but it took several trips around town and a random chance walk into a GameStop for us to find one available that had just been delivered by the Postman. The man behind me thought I was joking when I told him that I was totally prepared to fight him for it. The clerk managed a nervous laugh and handed me the one and only Wii available here in the entire Gulf Coast area! I was thrilled!!! Arnold cautioned that I shouldn’t joke like that as it could get me into trouble but who was joking? : D
Jessica and I got to spend 12 days in Hawaii this November visiting with my family! It was a wonderful trip and a very fun experience for Jessica! She has seen pictures of our family trips to Laie before but doesn’t recall ever being there herself. She was there as a baby when Lisa Nicole was baptized in 2000 so it was really nice for us to be able to create her own memories of the place I like to call ‘home’... Jessica got the special treatment on the plane ride over receiving a tour of the cockpit and a chance to sit in the pilot’s seat. At the USS Arizona Memorial the shuttle ferry captain took the time to take Jessica up to the front of the boat for special pictures and a tour of the area that most people aren’t allowed. She learned a lot about the history of the USS Arizona and had lots to take back to her class for her show and tell report. Jessica’s favorite thing of all though was the chance for her to go to church in Hawaii and make lots of new “Hawaiian” friends who gave her leis on her first visit to Primary and exchanged email addresses with her when she left. Jessica summed it all up pretty nicely for me when she just looked at me kind of aghast and said, “Why don’t we live here Mom?” I’m so glad Jessica had such a wonderful experience in Hawaii that her heart longs to go back one day. Kind of like mine has everyday for the past 20 years....
Arnold is doing well with his job at Chevron. He keeps busy at home on his off days securing our food storage, fixing things around the house, and cultivating his newly planted fruit trees. We were able to pick some of the fruit this year. We can’t wait for next year’s full harvest! The deer enjoy a lot of the fruit right off the trees but I guess we’ll have plenty to share since we planted a total of seven in all: satsumas, pomegranate, fig, persimmon, oranges, and lemon. Who knew after we left our home in Utah with that backyard orchard full of pears and peaches that we would be so quick to plant even more trees here in the South!
I have stayed busy this year with our POA Board, PTA Bookfairs, Room mom activities, YW church calling, and everyday chauffeuring of the kids. We are about to complete our second reading of the Book of Mormon as a family and have helped Lisa memorize her scripture mastery for seminary. Lisa Nicole received her Young Womanhood Recognition Award from church this week. Kenny has completed his Faith In God requirements in Primary this year and is ready to receive his Arrow of Light award in Cub Scouts. Jessica has started the Primary Activity Days program and is enjoying working on her Faith in God activities. Arnold and I had a chance to spend our Anniversary in Atlanta, Georgia this year. A whole weekend to ourselves at a Marriott hotel near the Atlanta temple was exactly what we both needed! And to think just a few years ago we thought this day would never come!
We miss all of you terribly and have really enjoyed keeping in touch and hearing all about you and your families’ adventures! We hope we can continue to keep in touch as we spend another year here in the South! We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope the New Year brings you health, happiness, and the continued joy of this season.
Lisa, Arnold, Lil’ Lisa, Kenny and Jessica Schloemer
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