Out with the old, in with the new...I'm beginning 2009 with fresh blogs.

To begin, a listing of some of our blessings in 2008:

1. Art remained employed during trying times in the banking industry.
2. Kid-2-boy-2 was uninjured during his freshman football season.
3. All the kids and I spent one month in Utah visiting family and friends.
4. Only one of the four kids broke their glasses.
5. My uncle was successfully treated for cancer.
6. Kid-1-boy-1 survived his first driving year without any collisions.
7. Art was called to the bishopric of our LDS congregation.
8. Three of the kids participated in baptisms for the dead with their father in the Nauvoo Temple.
9. I began communicating more often with my brother and his family.
10. We purchased a new car.
11. We visited family in California several times through the year.
12. Art and I went to Mexico for a "honeymoon".