Christmas Letter

I really need to do some catching up on my blogging, but today I wrote our Christmas letter and I thought I would go ahead and throw it on here too. If you haven't sent me your address yet, please do.

Merry Christmas Family and Friends,

As this Christmas season approaches, our thoughts are often with those who have touched our lives, especially those who are far away. We have been so blessed over the years with wonderful friends and family and we wish that we could spend time with you all this year too.

This year we have started settling into our wonderful home here in Idaho Falls. It has been fun to be back in the West and close to lots of family. We absolutely love our neighborhood because it is the perfect spot to raise a young family. The kids made a ton of friends very quickly, which was easy considering there are over 30 elementary aged and younger children on our street alone.

After Allan finished dental school last year we knew that this was where we wanted to be and we built a house on the faith that we would find a job. Allan started working for Indian Health Services on a reservation about 45 minutes south of here. When he got the job we were happy to have something, but not sure that this was what we wanted to be doing long term, but as the economy has become unsteady, we have been very grateful to have a steady job with great benefits and know that this was all for the best.

Hailey is now in first grade and she loves school. This year she has really become an excellent reader and will read about anything that she sets her eyes on. She is also very excited about math and her teacher has nothing but wonderful things to say about her. She is very creative and says that her favorite part of school is when they get to do art. Hailey has a great group of girl friends in her class that all live right here in our neighborhood, and I have often said that I would love for all of their families to never move so that they can stay friends. This year Hailey has enjoyed being involved in Ballet, Soccer, and T-Ball. She also cut her hair and donated 13½ inches to Locks of Love.

Ally started pre-school this year. She is as fun and outgoing as ever and makes friends with everyone she meets young and old. She will be 5 next month and knows almost all of her letters and loves writing them. She is actually going to two pre-schools, one that the district here runs 3 days a week and a neighborhood one that the moms are doing two days a week. Ally is so smart and she amazes people with her abilities. Her favorite thing to do at school is to paint and around home she loves to color and cut pictures. Ally also did ballet and T-ball this year and she has been so excited to finally be old enough to do some of the things Hailey has been involved in. Ally also cut her hair and gave 12 inches to Locks of Love.

Natalie has a spitfire little personality. She knows she is cute and she milks it for everything it is worth. Natalie knows what she wants and she doesn’t accept anything else. Natalie will be 3 next month and was our earliest yet to potty train, mostly because she has been motivated by the family Disney Cruise that we will be going on two days after her birthday. She actually did really well right after her second birthday but then reverted back to diapers when Lilly was born. After the summer we started again and she has been doing great. This year she is completely anti-Santa Claus, and has told us that she doesn’t want toys and she sits in front of the door and guards it from Santa!

Lilly was born on April 17th and she weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. She has been our hardest baby, which according to Allan is not saying much (easy for him to say). Until she was seven months old she insisted on eating every 2 hours day and night. Then one day I decided enough was enough I had to stay up with her most of the night for three or four nights, but she is now only getting up once in the night so I am glad for that. She is very determined to get places, and started rolling and sitting and crawling very early. At her six month appointment the doctor said that she moved like a nine month old. She is a very sweet little baby and we are grateful to have her in our family.

I (Kristy) have been very busy keeping our family going, doing the day to day stuff, as well as being Hailey’s room mom this year and last, volunteering in schools, sports, and other activities, and also going back to school. I have been taking one class a semester towards my degree, which I changed to Home, Family, and Consumer Science (a fancy way to say Home Ec.). I also started a blog for our family at drstakerfamily.blogspot.com. Life with four kids never seems to slow down, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

As this year comes to a close we are thankful for the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the chance to celebrate His birth. As we have put our trust in Him we have been blessed immeasurably. We want to send our best wishes for a happy holiday season and a great year to come.

With Love,

Allan, Kristy, Hailey, Ally, Natalie and Lilly Staker