Christmas Letter 2007

Christmas Letter 2007
Co-written by
Angie Bolton
and
Aly Bolton

Dear Family and Friends,

Here is hoping that this fun little letter finds you happy and healthy and starving for some good juicy dirt on the Boltons. We did skip last year (sorry) as we were in the Happiest Place on Earth (Disneyland) and just didn't git 'er done. Sooo...fasten your seatbelts and hold on to your hats, 'cause it's gonna be a bumpy ride!
One of the biggest happenings in the past little bit has been our family moving into our new house! Thanks to our fast-talking realtor, we decided to move one whole city block (shocking, I know), from our little appendage of Clearfield, Utah to Syracuse. We are loving our new house!
Next, we have a new addition to our family in the form of a kitten, dubbed Huckleberry Paisley. This little black and white demon specializes in mischief; hiding in dark corners and jumping out at unsuspecting passerby is her forte.
Carter has grown into a little man in the last couple of years. The toddler is completely gone and has been replaced by a smart, handsome boy- who is full of you-know-what! He is in kindergarten this year, and has not only attained some serious reading skills but 5 "blootiful" girlfriends. He has actually proposed to our next door neighbor Roz, but she deflected his advances by commenting on the weather. The next love of Carter's life is "Stah Vas" (Star Wars). His entire day, every day, is centered around it. Kent reads him Star Wars novels before bed. He makes Star Wars ships by day and has Star Wars dreams by night. So if you have any star wars paraphernalia you want to offload, you know who would love it!
Baylee has become a beautiful, feisty young lady. This year she turned 12 and has hit two great milestones: 1) she is now in Young Womens, and 2) she is looking forward to the traditional trip all of the Bolton kids take at 12 years of age, and will be heading off to San Diego this January. Despite our worry about the tough transition from the fairy world of elementary to the hormone-filled halls of the Junior High school, Baylee is an A+ student and hating it (Junior High, I mean, not the A's). Despite her small stature, she always stands up for what is right in the backwards world of adolescence. Her responsibility and integrity also aids her in getting countless babysitting jobs. Speaking of which... King Midas never counted his riches as carefully as our own personal little Scrooge. Her thriving babysitting business only adds to her hoard, and at the rate she's going Kent will soon be able to quit his job.
Aly: In comparison to a rather hard year last year due to many medical challenges (including countless bouts of strep leading to a tonsillectomy, a surgery to remove a "phlebolith" from her neck, and painful procedures on four ingrown toenails) she has had quite a good year. She is having much better luck academically without the challenges of missing so much school. In a conversation I had with a teacher at parent teacher conference last week it was made known to us that she is one of the top 30 students in the entire school. She's finally gotten that growth spurt she's been hoping for and has grown 2 1/2 inches in the last year and a half. Aly got 1st place in the Jr. High spelling bee last year and got to go the district to compete to go to nationals. She also attempted to play soccer and absolutely HATED it! Of course, she loves reading and writing and is having lots of fun in her Honors English class. Also, this year she has discovered two new and wonderful things: blogs (Woot!) and Twilight, an AWESOME book by Stephanie Meyer!
Kent has been busy with his work and is still taking classes toward his Masters. He has been officially accepted to the electrical engineering graduate program at University of Idaho in Moscow. He has been promoted to take over the next step up in the sub commitees that his company needs staff representitives for and gets to do some occasional traveling. He has been to Tampa Florida (where he had dinner at downtown Disney World. We were jealous!), San Diego, Seattle , Vegas, San Fransisco and he flies out to Houston tomorrow for some training. He has taken up a new hobby, ice fishing, which he loves and can't seem to get enough of. He is a wonderful, fun, unpredictable dad and the kids adore him. Carter wants to grow up to be just like him and the girls want to marry someone just like him. Now that we have built-in babysitters, we get to go and do more things together with just the two of us. We have had many memorable dates this year.
Angie has been busy this year, taxi-ing kids back and forth. If I got to charge fare I would definitely be sittin' pretty. I spend a lot of time in my van, and I nearly went through withdrawals when I wrecked it in September and had to leave it in the shop for 2 months! This stage in the parenting game is so hard and yet so fun. It is always interesting with 2 teens, but I am loving the girls as teenagers. It is awesome to see their little personalities bloom and they have the cleverest senses of humor. They are so sweet with each other and are good with Carter. Carter is in my favorite stage, it is never lost on me; the little miracle it is to learn to read, and the world of discovery it opens for each child. I'm just taking it in, as he is the last of my children to experience it. I am loving every moment of our lives right now, with everyone at home and sleeping through the night (Aly might be the exception to that), feeding themselves and no one in diapers. Finally, this letter wouldn't be complete without the mention of the big Cancer word. It has affected our world quite a bit in these last 2 years. I am thankful to be a recovering survivor of uterine cancer and would like to thank all involved last year in my journey through that. Most recently it has greatly affected my family through the diagnosis of my dad's throat cancer. What a horrible experience it has been for both him and for my mom. And yet even in the face of some of life's most horrible moments I have seen the best that the human experience can offer. I hold on to the theory that everything happens for a reason, EVERYTHING! May your lives be filled with peace, love and family; not just at Christmas, but throughout the rest of the year. We thank you all for the important role you have in making our lives what they are, in the past, in the present and in the future.
Love,
The Boltons