I thought I would use this medium to publish our Christmas letter for this year. I was shocked to see that I had not posted anything since 2011.

It has been an interesting year. We are really counting our blessings this year. Larry and I are in good health and using Weight Watcher's to lose weight and get Larry's Blood Sugar under control. We were inspired to use Weight Watcher's after watching our daughter Kirsten lose 35 lbs. on the program. Last year at this time Larry was recovering from a fall that broke his hip and required him to have surgery and then be in a care center until 2 days before Christmas. It took him about 5 months to recover from that and move on but he is doing very well now.

 Half of our children are now living out of State and BJ and Holly are moving to Hawaii on the 27th of December. Jeff and Misty are living in Puyallup, Washington , Jacob and Nikki are living in Red Wing Minnesota, Maren and Landon are living in Richlands, North Carolina, and Nathan and Sara are living in Converse, Texas. So we have decided we need to get a job with Delta so we can have free flights to visit them all.

 I have been retired since 2010. Presently I am serving a part-time from home mission for the LDS Church in FamilySearch support. I have learned all you need to know to use the new product Family Tree on FamilySearch.org. It has really given me a boost of self esteem to be able to help people with these products. I also work at the local FamilySearch Center and teach classes and I am a Ward Family History Consultant. We did a lot of campaigning for Romney and even went to Las Vegas to stump for him this year.

Larry at a campaign rally in Las Vegas

 Larry retired in September from Discover Card. His health was in jeopardy and so he needed to retire. It helped and he is feeling much better. We are serving a part time LDS Employment Mission at the Layton LDS Employment Center. We work there on Thursdays each week and teach the evening Career Workshop once a month. Larry is also the Ward employment specialist so the two combined keep him busy and he feels grateful having the opportunity to help those in our ward who need employment.

June's dad, Lars Jenkins died this July after a long illness at 90. We have enjoyed going to Lehi each week to help Mom with whatever she needs in the way of housework and errands. June also had two brother-in-laws die this year.  Redge Hermansen in January and Paul Christiansen in December.

Max Gentile

 We were also able to increase our grandchildren to 24 this year with the addition of Maximus Landon Gentile to Maren and Landon's family in June and Myles Kelly Lars Christiansen to Jacob and Nikki's family
 in November.

Ashton, Abbie, Lexie, and Baby Myles

Isaac, David and Sammy for Halloween

 Nathan completed his Master's Degree in Social Work this year but due to the Economy is presently playing Mr. Mom while Sara teaches at a local Charter School. He is also an officer in the National Guard in Texas. They were able to by a new house this year and are enjoying the transition from apartment to home. They were able to come to Utah for a while this summer. It was fun to spend time with them and their 4 children David, Issac, Sam, and Maggie.

Maggie dressed for Halloween

 Michelle lives in Layton and is busy teaching school. Daniel still works for the company that sponsors Resume Rabbit online as a computer engineer. He works from home so they are able to live in Utah even though the company is in California. They are busy keeping their children in several activities. They have four

Michelle and Kallise after a dance recital

children Ethan, Hailee, Jaron, and Kallise. Michelle has had some health problems but keeps working hard. Daniel is in the Tabernacle Choir Bells Choir so he is often on Music and the Spoken Word at this time of year. They are taking their children to Nauvoo this year for their Christmas Present so it is going to be a quiet Christmas this year at our house.

Nikki's deck Garden and the wilderness in their backyard

Ashton and Abbie as Minnesota Vikings

At the National Eagle Center with Lexie, Ashton, and Abbie

 Jacob moved his family to Red Wing Minnesota in July of 2011. He is working for a nuclear energy company, Xcel Energy there. He is also still in the National Guard in Minnesota. Nikki is able to stay home and take care of the children. I was able to go visit them in June and see the area there. It is right by the Mississippi River and they took me to the National Eagle Sanctuary.
It was a beautiful area. Raspberries grow wild! It was fun to see their home and my grandchildren, Lexie, Ashton, and Abby. Nikki was able to have their fourth child Myles in November and everything went fine despite some complications.


Jeff and Misty just recently purchase a new home in Puyallup, Washington. We were excited that they were able to purchase a home. Jeff works for Comcast as a Call Center Manager and Misty is completing her studies in Elementary Education. They have three wonderful children Leah, Matthew and Owen. They were able to visit us this spring and we had a great time with them also.

Kirsten lives in Layton and so I am able to see her family often. She and Jon have a combined family of four. Kennedy, Kyle, Brooke and Taylor. Kirsten works for a couple of companies doing medical transcription. Jon works for Utah Transit Authority as a mechanical supervisor. Kirsten has had

Brooke, Kyle, Kennedy
Kirsten, Jonathan, Taylor

problems with a foot that she just had surgery on and earlier in the year Taylor headbutted her like children do and broke her nose so she had to have surgery on that. Taylor has a heart problem so she will be having surgery in the first part of next year but she is basically a healthy 3 year old right now. Kirsten has taken up selling Avon so she will have something to supplement her income when she is taking care of Taylor after the surgery.

Heather , Ryker and Erick relaxing after Trick or Treating

Erick and Heather are also in Layton. They have one son Ryker who is the light of their lives. Erick graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 2010 but has not been able to secure a job in Mechanical Engineering. He is working for the Civil Engineering firm that he has worked at for several years and preparing to try to enter Law School. He would like to be a patent lawyer. Heather is a stay at home mom with an avid interest in Family History right now. They grew a garden this year and Heather canned many bottles of food for their storage. She made some yummy pickles

At Temple Square with BJ and Holly

BJ and Holly are moving to Hawaii on a leap of faith. He is attached to a Naval Reserve Unit there and has had to go their several times for duty. Holly has gone with him and they love it there. So they decided to move there to finish the last year of BJ's schooling in Computer Science. BJ will be going to the University of Hawaii. Holly has been working as a nurse in Logan to support them but is hoping to find a job in Hawaii. They were able to get things to fall into place in renting their home in Providence so they are hoping that it will continue that way.

Ellie, Gauge and Brinlie on July 4th

 Maren's husband Landon joined the Navy in 2011 and is presently stationed at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina. He is working as a medic with the Marines. He pulled some tendons in his ankle early in the year and has spent most of the year trying to recover from that. Finally in August he had surgery to help him heal properly. Maren does hair for people in her garage and is a stay at home mom with 4 kids under 6, Brinlie, Gauge, Ellie, and Max. I was able to go and visit them at the end of June and stay for about 3 weeks. However I was the bearer of ill tidings and got strep while I was there and gave it to all the kids which turned into

Gauge, Ellie, and Brinlie 

pneumonia. They came back to Utah with me after my visit and we were all sick for three more weeks here. I was grateful to be able to stay with them but it was not the trip I had planned. It was fun to see the area they live and see the Atlantic Ocean. They have an amazing neighborhood where they live all military people that take care of each other and we are grateful for that. Brinlie broke her arm in October and had to be sent by ambulance to Chapel Hill about 3 hours away for surgery because of the extent of the break. While they were gone the neighbors took care of things and cleaned their house and had food waiting for them when they returned. I am grateful that Heavenly Father watches over my children when I cannot be there.

At the beach with Ellie and Landon

 Larry and I are grateful for the many blessing we have at this time of year. We are especially grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his church on the earth. We are grateful for this season that reminds us that the purpose for this life is to accept Jesus Christ and his teachings and use those teachings to return to him and overcome our sins and weaknesses. We are grateful for all the friends and family that we have that make our life better and hope that you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.