Dear Family & Friends- Dec. 24, 2018
This year was full of excitement, ups and downs, side to sides and everything in between. We’ve now lived in our home for a few days over a year and it’s amazing to think of all the things that have happened since moving! The biggest change to our family this year was the addition of sweet little Makenzie (8 months) to our growing family. She lights up our world with smiles, tummy giggles & recently learning how to clap her hands and everyone adores her. She is quite a joy for the family. Other news worthy items this year:
• Our family van was destroyed by a deer in February (after the season had ended), which meant almost a month with no family vehicle until we finally secured ourselves an Expedition to meet our needs. What a blessing it was in disguise, because apparently our van had compromised structural integrity beyond the accident we didn’t know about, so we are thankful we can travel more safely now!
• Dad Ralph came out and helped Jonathan pour a sports court in the side yard in mid-April, it was lots of work with its own set of challenges, but we persevered and the family has enjoyed shooting hoops and riding bikes out back ever since!
• We were so thankful for all the helpers who came to help with baby Makenzie <3 including both grandmas and grandpa Ralph too and enjoyed our summertime visit to Provo, UT for two Ralph reunions and Moab, UT for a Wood family reunion. :)
• Katelyn (10 yrs)- started 4th grade homeschooling, enjoyed ballet class & her first performance, created her own musical composition, “The Sun Shines Through,” for her music class, learned how to wake & kneeboard, and completed a few fun sewing projects for her faith in God and as an entrepreneurial adventure with friends making rice packs together. She loves to come up with nick names for her younger siblings, pretend ballroom dance with her cousin Isaac, help clean, hold Makenzie, read books, most especially Harry Potter, and come up with new games, organizational methods and make her own creations in the kitchen too! She is a very self-motivated, determined, hard-working girl and can accomplish anything she sets her mind to achieve!
• Nathan (7 yrs)- started 2nd grade homeschooling, played baseball for the Celina Bobcats for his first time, worked hard to learn new skills and wowed us with his quick learned abilities, becoming one of the strongest hitters on his team! He enjoyed starting his 3rd year of music class, can figure out most any song by ear on the piano, learned some awesome new bowling & knee-boarding skills and is an outstanding reader too! He works hard on his school work and has especially improved his handwriting and presentation abilities this year! He is definitely our go-to man anytime someone needs help and has a big heart towards caring for others. We sure love having his genuine smile, and desire to do what is right and helpfulness around!
• Gracie (5 yrs)- started Kindergarten homeschool this year, is learning how to read and immensely enjoys all things painting, bead crafts, coloring, playing with dolls, dress-ups or helping mom make recipes in the kitchen! She learned how to bike ride without training wheels when she was 4 and then swim without floaties too! She enjoys learning music on her xylophone bells and was the first one to get Makenzie to laugh and giggle for the first time during our Ralph Reunion this past summer! She brings smiles, a caring heart, laughter and warmth to our hearts and home!
• Joshua (3 yrs)- has finally learned to go to the bathroom on the toilet and mom and dad are glad to have only one child in diapers! Although, we are still working on convincing him not to carry his favorite clothes around with him all day, disrupting our family laundry system, and completely emptying his dressers on a regular basis…haha. We sure love this big boy! He is full of energy, and loves anything to do with cars, trains, monster trucks, boats, dump trucks, going fast, doing anything his big brother and sisters do…including playing dress-up or Cars/Planes Memory games and he loves to cruise around on his strider bike. He loves his siblings, holding Makenzie and learning to do things all by himself!
• Jenna & Jonathan- have been enjoying more time together and as a family now that Jon finished his MBA a little over a year ago. Jonathan has been taking on new challenges at his work with Cisco Systems and has enjoyed getting out on the lake and attempted hunting trips throughout the year. He served as Executive Secretary in our ward and was recently called to be a primary teacher! His recent joys have been shooting hoops on the backyard court with the kids! Jenna continues to enjoy all of her adventures as a wife, homeschooling mom to 5 kiddos, and homemaker. Some of her favorite memories of this year were aquarium field trips to touch sting rays, and playing family games together. She recently was just called as Primary President and is looking forward to serving the children of our ward! She is so thankful for the blessings of family and that we got to share so many wonderful family memories this year.
We love having family near by
and for the chance to visit with
so many at the Ralph reunion
this past summer. There’s never
a dull moment as noted by this
being written 1:15AM Christmas
morning �� We love everyone
and look forward to see as
many of you as possible this
next year. As we conclude, we
truly are so thankful for our
Savior and the joys His gospel
brings into our lives. We know
He is the greatest source of
peace, hope, comfort and
strength.
May you all feel of our Savior’s
love and blessings at this
Christmas time and always,
Love,
Jonathan, Jenna Ralph Family
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