OUR 2009 RECAP

Hi Everybody!!

We hope this letter finds you doing well and on your way to a happy and healthy 2010. Since we all know I don't have the patience to mail Christmas cards, here is our New Year letter...

One year ago we were living in a converted 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bathroom house on Keynote St. in Long Beach, Ca. In July our lease expired so we had to move. We began house hunting in January. After a lot of sorting through foreclosures, even more phone calls to the world's most fantastic Realtor (Dave Crandall), and fax after fax to representing Realtors we finally entered escrow the end of June. We moved into a friend's house in Rowland Heights (for the duration of escrow) the last days in June. During this move we didn't even bother unpacking everything. Just the bare necessities. It was a long and time consuming escrow that devoured all of our summer. August 17 we officially moved into what is now our home in Lake Elsinore, Ca. We now have 6 bedrooms (that are packed right now), 3 bathrooms, an open kitchen, a play loft, and a couple living rooms. We also scored one of the biggest lots we could find. Nate and I are in heaven just having our own master bath! We have plenty of room for the dogs and kids to play on our 1/3 acre! We are also loving our location. We are an hour from the beach, Long Beach, LA and San Diego.

The last day of June we went to Lake Powell with the Smith clan. Jeff and Sandee were kind enough to have us all stay on their houseboat for a few days. We enjoyed it SO much. It was a much needed break from the home buying stress! Jeff, Sandee and I all water skied everyday. I was very pleased to find that I haven't completely lost my skills. Jeff even let me drive his new boat for him. Let me just say it was AMAZING!! Let me also say that Sandee is the best driver ever for tubing. We launched all the kids into the air, and flipped the big boys (the dads) multiple times. Good times!

Cyanne got up on skis for her first time as well as mastered knee boarding and the tube. I'm not sure who's child Foster is, but he didn't enjoy the water sports nearly as much as the rest of us. He spent most of his time in Grandpa Steve's fishing boat and going on hikes. Ressa loved the tube and jumping off the house boat, while Ammon just loved jumping off the boat and tubing... maybe we have another extreme sports kid! It was a great time had by all, and was so very much fun seeing all the nieces and nephews that we haven't seen in SO long!

From Lake Powell Cyanne went to Montana for the summer. She stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Smith. She was also lucky enough to spend time with Great Grandma Mettie! She spent a few days with Jim, Denise, and great Grandpa Harry and ventured out on a camping trip with Grandma and Grandpa Harkins too. Uncle Sean took her on a date to see Harry Potter in his new jeep. Something she seemed to enjoy greatly. She spent a couple days floating the Blackfoot River (which made me quite envious), fished a lot with Grandpa Steve, and even went on horseback into the Montana wilderness with Steve and her cousins. All in all it was a summer filled with new experiences for her.

School started the week we moved into our house. This is Ressa's first year in school! She is loving being a big kid now, and is really doing well with it. She loves her teacher and adores the girls in her class. Foster and Cyanne both are making friends quickly and are enjoying their teachers. They are currently in the school running and reading clubs. Cyanne actually made the honor roll for the first term! We are so excited for her. Hopefully she can keep up the good work! Foster is making advancements and we are hoping he will be on honor roll this next term. Ammon is loving being the only kid in the house. He spends most of his time playing with the dogs and making messes. I prefer the first option, but boys will be boys!

The end of August my best friend from growing up, Brandi, moved in with us. It started out being a temporary situation, but has grown to a semi-permanent one. We adore having her around and the kids love her. She is great about taking them on "dates" as well as allowing us to go on dates. Of course, I LOVE having her around, and am so glad that we are finally in a position to help her!

At Thanksgiving my mom decided to come down. She enjoyed her time with us so much she has decided to give SoCal a try and move here. For now she is staying with us. She should be starting her new job in the next week, and seems to be excited. Again we are happy to finally be in the position to help!

I am still "just" a mom. I keep considering making a career change, but it is afterall, nice to stay home and do whatever strikes me. I stay home and hold the fort down while Nate commutes into Cerritos for work. He has been working for nearly 12 years for Saturn in Cerritos. Now that Saturn is dead in the water he is preparing for a change. The owners of his store have secured Kia and Subaru as well as a new location caddy corner from where he has been. He will continue on in the service department under the same ownership/management. We are hoping that this will be a seamless transition!

Love,
Nate, Tara, Cyanne, Foster, Ressa and Ammon Smith