Just in case...

If you didn't get a card from us this year:

It’s Christmas Time....

Which means it’s time for me to struggle through another one of these Christmas letters that may or may not get sent out again this year.
2007 started of with a bang... literally. We got in a car accident on New Years weekend totaling out our Mazda Protégé that we’d had for a little over 2 years (which was a record for us.) Which forced us to spend the first few weeks of the New Year searching for a new car. We ended up buying a 2006 “superman blue” Ford Focus whom we have named “Kal-El” in honor of it’s coloring. We have really enjoyed having this car, but as our luck would have it we got into another accident on November 20, 2007.
So the month of January was very busy with buying a car and then there was my 28th birthday and our 5th Anniversary and then it was on to February where we celebrated John’s 27th birthday.
During February we started our “Year of Road Trip Fun 2007.” Mid-February we drove the Pears parents to Elko Nevada for my cousin’s wedding. (Road trip #1) Neither of us had ever been to Elko so that was a first for both of us. Elko is a strip of casinos and then a bunch of houses. Made me wonder where everyone worked unless of course everyone worked at the casinos.
The end of February brought the pièce de résistance our trip to Disneyland! (Road trip #2) We went on this trip with our friends Bryce and Jennie and we all had a blast! We had purchased the Southern California Pass which gave us one day at Sea World, one day at Universal Studios, one day at the San Diego Zoo and three days in Disneyland. It was well worth the money, and with the pass it was less expensive then doing them all separately. The other places were great to visit, but Disneyland was AWESOME! John had been a few times before, but I had never been so this was all new and wonderful to me. We had a great time. (By the way, I am taller then Mickey Mouse.)
In March we drove out to Boise and back to help out a friend and chalked that up to another road trip for John and Liz. (Road trip #3)
July was a busy month for us. The first few weeks in July we had Andrea’s family down from Washington State to do some remodeling on our living room. They ripped out the walls, ceiling and carpet to redo everything. The entire remodel took 2 weeks, but it took another month on top of that to get the carpet installed.
Andrea’s family left July 15th while John and I took a trip to St. George for the nephew Nick’s farewell. (Road trip #4) Nick was called to serve his Mission to Anchorage Alaska.
The nieces and nephew from Tennessee came out to visit for the month of July as well arriving July 5th and were later joined by Ray & Kim at the end of the month. It was nice to see them since it had been a while since they had all come to visit. They left the second week of August.
August 6th I started a new job. Leaving CompHealth Credentialing where I had spent the last 4 ½ years to move to greener pastures working with Coventry Health Care in their credentialing department. It was a hard choice to leave, but it’s been a good change. So far in my employment with Coventry I have been recognized by the managers as a hard worker and within my first few weeks I was made Plan Lead over the Coventry Health Plans in Oklahoma which has been a new challenge to me, it’s been educational to say the least.
John is still working for the Church Office Building in the Physical Facilities Department. He has been several opportunities this year to learn new things and given more responsibilities. Near the end of 2006 he was given the opportunity to do an “apprenticeship” as a boiler operator. Apprenticeship is in quotations because they wouldn’t actually give it to him as a job title and he had to do all of his studying on his own, but they would give him one day a week where he could spend all day at the Central Plant so he could learn from the other operators. He zipped through the training manual in about 6 months and on May 16th he took the Utah State Exam for Boiler Operators and passed with flying colors. This of course didn’t change anything at work and he’s still everyone’s monkey boy, but he does still spend one day a week at the Central Plant learning and waiting for an opening to be presented itself.
This letter is getting written early seeing as how it is now Mid-November and I’m hoping to get the Christmas cards out right after thanksgiving. So here is a quick overview of what we are expecting for the rest of the year.
We were planning on our final road trip of the year to Orting, Washington for Thanksgiving to see my sister and her family. (Road Trip #5) But being in our 3rd car accident in 4 years has put a damper on that and we were not able to go. But to look on the bright side this may give us the opportunity to get a new car for Christmas depending on whether or not the insurance company totals out the car we currently have or not.
December is looking jam packed from where I’m looking at my calendar. We have Christmas parties on December 1st, 4th, 22nd and one yet to be planned. I’m finally taking John to see The Forgotten Carols December 7th after threatening him with it for at least 6 years.
Here’s hoping we have a safe and accident free holiday season (ha ha ha), and to all of you – Have a Very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!

Love Always,
Liz and John