January 2008

Friends and Family,

Although it is a little late to wish you Merry Christmas, we love you and want to let you know how we are doing.

2007 was a great year for our family.  It opened with us in a Saratoga Springs, UT rental home.  After living in Utah for a several months, we had our bearings and felt we were ready to be homeowners again.  In March, we purchased a home in Lehi.  Sonia loves it and swears she is never moving again.  It is a beautiful house with slate floors, remodeled kitchen (Sonia’s favorite room), and a big backyard.

We just got settled in our new home when we took a road and camping trip to Southern Utah.  We visited Zion National Park and Ben’s Grandfather’s home town of Antimony, UT.  A cold front came through with strong winds, but even with chattering teeth, Zion is beautiful.

Our camping trip started the busiest year of friends, family and traveling we have had.  Sonia’s old friend Liz visited with her family in early June.  A couple days later Sonia and the children left for a three week trip to visit Ben’s parents in Toledo, OR, old friends in Medford, OR, and Sonia’s family and friends in Sacramento and the Bay Area.  After several nights of pleading from Ben, she agreed to cut her trip a couple days short and come home.  (Ben loves working from home around his family, but it makes for a lonely time when Sonia leaves.)

Sonia had a few days to unpack and get the laundry done before her parents, Maria, Andrei, and Rebecca joined us over the Fourth of July week.  We watched the giant Freedom Festival parade in Provo, took them up Provo Canyon, and visited together.

The next week, Sonia’s girlfriends, Blanca, Jennie, and Kellie from Medford, OR visited for a couple days.  They have much more energy than we do.

Our third house guest for the month was Sonia’s sister Elena who came to visit us and attend a college reunion.

We have a goal to explore the different states.  Ben served his LDS mission in Colorado 12 years ago and had not been back since.  In August, we set off for a week and a half touring through Colorado.  We visited three national parks, Colorado Springs, and Denver.  We were able to spend time with old friends, the Billings who we knew from our single days in San Jose and the Boyers.  Paul Boyer was Ben’s high school cross-country coach.  It was wonderful to see old friends and influences.

Despite all the adventures in prior months, we scheduled one last camping trip for Labor Day weekend.  When it came time to pack up the van, neither of us could stir the energy to do it.  Instead, we went for a little hike, cooked dinner and played around the American Fork River until bedtime.

Ben’s parents visited Utah for Thanksgiving and stayed with us as our final house-guests for the year.  We shared them around with Ben’s sister and Grandmother and celebrated Thanksgiving with a big crowd of Mathews at Libbey’s home.

We celebrated the New Year in California with the Burymski clan.  It was fun to line up three pregnant sisters, play in the snow, and reconnect with Sonia’s family.

We wish you all a happy and prosperous 2008.

Love Ben,  Sonia, Katrina, Samuel, and Sarah