Munn Family Christmas Letter 2015...

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope this letter finds you happy, healthy, and full of joy this holiday season!  We are thrilled to be at another Christmas season, our most favorite time of the year. 2015 was a great year for the Munn Family filled with many memories and laughter. 

It all really began with a dog. Early in December 2014 we found an adorable two week old Boxer puppy. Although I was skeptical about getting a puppy at this particular time, there was no denying the feeling we all had the first time we saw her; she was to be the "new" Daisy. She looked just like our dearly beloved pet of years ago. We fell in love and a month and many visits to the puppy later we took little Daisy home to be a part of our family. She was a really big handful for many months but has gradually developed into a loving companion and family member. Daisy still has her moments, but she's come a long way over the year and celebrates her first birthday November 30th. 

With the birth of a new year also came the birth of a new niece born to Sarah and Jason Benson January 5th, and a nephew to Danny and Uurtsaikh Burrows on February 11th. I was blessed to have been present at both remarkable all natural births. Hard to believe these babies are nearing their first birthdays already. How time flies!

We took our first family vacation in five years last April. We got to visit my sister Sarah, sister in law Alison, brothers David and Evan, and one of my best friends and cousin, Kristl, in their home state of Texas. Ellie was thrilled to ride a horse by herself for the first time, and Kaitlyn and Liam loved pretending to be baby kittens for Aunt Sarah and Alison. After two fun filled weeks together it was hard to say goodbye and we already long for another trip to Texas... hopefully next year to meet another new niece or nephew as Sarah and Alison are expecting this January 2016.  

May marked a busy month of many surgeries - all spaced just one week apart. Kaitlyn needed some dental work for a chipped tooth and her yearly EGD and esophagus dilation. Liam had ear tubes put in after a long start to the year of back to back infections and dental work as well. Poor Ellie began her orthodontic work by receiving her very first “expander” to make her small mouth bigger. With many years ahead of her, I keep reminding her it will all be worth it in the end.  Happy to report all procedures were a success with no problems since.  These procedures took place during birthday season; Liam turning two, Kaitlyn five, and Danelle 10. It was a busy time and I still look back and wonder how we managed it all. 

Beginning in summer 2014 our family began camping... a lot. This year was no different. It seemed that we were camping almost every other weekend the entire summer long. We camped at Lagoon, Crystal Hot Springs, Blackhawk in Payson Canyon, and Crystal Springs again in August. We are now "professional campers" with an outdoor shower and personal port a potty to prove it.  Some of our best memories have been made camping the past two years.  

We also had a fun time at Lagoon, a local theme park this summer. Unlike years past, we decided to get season passes for the year.  We used these passes several times over the course of the year and really enjoyed our regular days at Lagoon.  We usually met up with Danny and Uurtsaikh and their family to visit since they live close by and even stayed the night a few times.  We are hoping to buy passes again in 2016.

We attended two mini family reunions as well. The first reunion was with the Munn Family in Payson Canyon.  We kept busy making crafts, telling jokes, and playing games - reconnecting without the distractions of the material world. Although it was rainy some of the time everyone had a great time and I know no one could ever forget it. We had our first ever family talent show and got to see all the wonderful talent within our families.  We've been very fortunate to have all our family members attend these reunions, with Tyler and Jessica making the furthest journey from Arizona. 

Our second was our yearly traditional trip to Hatch, Utah. We love these visits. Hatch has a special place in our hearts and memories.  Liam got to ride in the 24th of July Hatch Town Parade for the first time, and Kaitlyn her first real ATV ride. Grandma Burrows let Ellie drive the ATV (with Grandma on the ATV of course). Ellie was a great driver (slow and cautious) which made me feel a little better about her driving a car in just five short years.  

Soon summer had past and the kids were back in school and their extracurricular activities again. Kaitlyn is now a Kindergarten student and Ellie in 5th Grade. Both girls are doing well in school and have been given great teachers this year. Ellie was nominated and won a Singers Company Scholarship. We are so proud and happy for her.  In light of this we decided to enroll Kaitlyn in Singers Company as well.  Both girls love this show choir program and are busy getting ready for their first show of the season in early December.  Danelle is also taking voice lessons with another recital mid-December. Our hands are full but our hearts are happy. 

September brought a visitor. My long time and another best friend came to Utah for the first time in 16 years to visit and meet our children.  We had a lovely time at a Park City Resort, visiting Utah Olympic park, Heber, Lagoon, Crystal Springs and all the in-betweens. Everyone was sad to see "Aunt Crissy" go. 

Shayne dazzled the neighborhood in October with his new Halloween decorations.  Our house was alive with spirits all month long and was definitely one of the hits of the neighborhood. Many compliments were paid as Trick or Treaters passed by. It was a wonderful night spent with Sarah and Jason's family, Patrick, Ashley, Noah, Mom and Dad Munn, and Mom and Dad LaTurner. We are already planning next Halloween.   Thanks to my Mom for babysitting, Shayne and I also got to have our first short getaway since Kaitlyn was born and we made our lifelong dreams come true to go to a Garth Brooks concert. 

We want everyone to know receiving this letter that we thank you for being a part of our lives and memories.  Each of you mean so much to us  and we love you! Have the best Christmas and 2016.

Lots of Love,   The Munn Family

This Thing Called Life

It’s been a while since I sat down and really written a blog.  Many well-meaning blogs were written on my phone, never to be transferred onto Blogger.  It’s sad really.  I used to love blogging.  Two things happened after I had Liam three years ago.  First of all it seemed that someone was ALWAYS sick.   The second – I had zero time to myself.  It wasn’t as easy to pull up a chair to a computer and write anymore. I always had someone needing me or something had to be done.  Even in the time it took to write this paragraph, I’ve already been up three times to help Liam and my dog.  I can’t complain though.  Life has been good to me.

I think for the sake of time, I will post a copy of our Christmas letter of what happened last year.  I think this will help get you up to speed on what’s going on in our family, and can help me pick up on newer topics. 

In my personal life, this year has been a year of hope and positive changes.  Around Christmas I received a FitBit Charge HR with the goal to lose 40 pounds before summer.  I’m not sure if I will lose the full 40 by the end of May, but I have lost around 21 since Christmas and still going strong.  The closer I get to my goal weight, the more motivated I feel to finish what I began.  With the warm weather settling back in, I am hopeful to put my weight loss on the fast track by exercising more often; walks, bikes rides, and maybe take up running.  It feels good to make myself more of a priority and get healthy while I’m at it. 

Liam just turned three years old.  I will be honest that I feel myself approaching a curve in my life I hoped I would be more ready for; the end of having babies.  Honestly, I thought I would be more ok with it than I have been. Everyone seems to think this should be an exciting time of my life, when I’m missing the baby days already.  I absolutely LOVE being a Mom.  It pains me to think they are growing up and in a blink of an eye, I won’t have any toddlers or preschoolers running around anymore.  In just a month, I could be done with diapers in my house forever.   I am trying to focus on all the positive things though about being done and hopefully I’ll make peace with the ache eventually.

For one thing, having older children can be very enjoyable.  We are going to the movies more often, planning trips, and starting to eat out.  I almost always get a full eight hours of sleep at night. I have two kids in school, and in a few short months all three will be in school at some point during the day.  I long for hours of freedom and silence – time to get whatever I want to done.   I haven’t had this in longer than I can remember.  We are planning bigger trips, and even not having kids napping during the day offers more flexibility to our schedule. We’ve been taking overnights away from the kids, and I even spent five wonderful days in Texas without my kids with me.  I’m sure once I taste the wonderfulness that “being done” means, I will feel much better about this transition in life.

That being said, I’m not getting rid of any of my big baby things YET.  Nothing is permanent YET. We aren’t past point of no return.  Only time will tell. Shayne might be more secure in his decision, but I can’t promise anything.

The other thing on my mind lately is finding that one special place to call HOME.  We’ve been in our neighborhood so long that almost everyone on our street is new.  Usually, we’re the ones to move before we get this far.  Several new families have moved in my area.  It feels like a whole new Somerset Village.  I’ve never lived anywhere long enough to be considered one of the older families in the ward.  We’ve been here five years and counting.  It’s been cramped.  It’s cluttered. We never have enough closet space.  We’ve sure had some great memories here though.  I’ve been talking to relators and financial departments about getting a loan and finding a home of our own though. We’re jumping through hoops and getting into a home hasn’t been as easy as signing the paperwork. We’d love to finally be able to give our kids the gift of a home of their own.  Part of the reason we’ve stayed here so long is to offer them some stability.  We all look forward to the change though and are looking forward to the day we can take our picture in front of a SOLD sign in our yard. Fingers crossed.

So that’s about it right now.  I hope to find more time to fill in my blog in the future, and maybe pull out a few old blogs of last year or even older to help full in the gaps a bit. Overall, I am in a great place in my life.  I have learned what it means to do without and am thankful for everything I am blessed with, taking nothing for granted. As they say, “enjoy the little things in life for one day you will look back and realize they were the big things.” -  Kurt Vonnegut