Dear Friends and Family,
Merry Christmas! We hope everyone has had a great year. We certainly have. In honor of our boys learning to count, this year we will inform you of our progress through numbers. Shall we go from highest to lowest?
As many of you know, Benjamin came into this world a year ago August. He decided he didn’t really want to come fully prepared, and so we have been working on fixing his heart. So far, his bills have come out to be $191,269.86. Insurance is wonderful, isn’t it? He is growing well, though is still smaller than the other boys were. His mitral valve is actually looking pretty good and his aortic valve is still stable. He doesn’t talk yet, but does sing “Once there was a Snowman.” It’s really cute.
Adding everything up, our family has flown this past year for around 57,000 miles. We had a wonderful Boyd family reunion in Yosemite, which we all loved. Jeff had to travel a couple of times for his research, and also got to drive all the way to Utah to help Jenny’s brother, Robby get out to BYU. While Jeff was out west, he also visited with the head of the BYU-Idaho ME department, starting to look at jobs. It will still be awhile before we actually earn money, but the end is in sight!
While Jenny was minding her own business at a yield sign, the car behind her decided it would be a good place to keep going full speed. The back of our Elantra didn’t appreciate the impression. It was deemed a total loss, so we picked out a new car. We ended up getting a 2000 Town and Country Minivan, which only had 56,000 miles on it. It’s a great car, and we enjoy the extra room.
Jeff has been busy on the house, and we are excited about finally having some rooms in the basement to live in. So far, Jeff has laid 1184 tiles in the house. This includes floor tiles, shower tiles, countertop tiles, and backsplashes. He is now quite good at tiling. If only he could fix furnaces a little better…..
The biggest news we have this year is actually for next year. Jeff’s advisor at Penn State accepted an offer to be the department chair at the University of Michigan, a top 10 engineering university. It looks like we are going with him!
All of the kids are growing and we now have multiple dentist visits every year. Combined between all of us, we have 111 teeth, which we brush every night. The boys love their Shrek toothpaste!
Along with the dentist visits, Jenny gets to see the doctor quite often. With Benjamin’s checkups, all of the boys, and everything else, Jenny has gone to the doctors 48 times this year. Wow, that’s almost once a week!
Jeffrey turned 4 this year and is growing up big and strong. He is a great big brother and likes to help out. He is the only four year old that I know that can make bread by himself, sew his own bags and pillows, build his own chair, and drive the car… Okay, we don’t let him drive just yet, but he does do pretty well on grandpa’s riding lawnmower…
Jonny is a big 3 years old, and is our independent child. He likes to play by himself, and has a wonderful imagination. He is adorable, and has a great smile. And every once in a while, he even goes down for a nap without getting into trouble.
Well, it appears it is time to close. We are so grateful for the blessing the Lord has given us. We hope each of you will feel the spirit of the season and share your blessings with others. Have a great year and a very merry Christmas!
Jeff, Jenny, and the three bears
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