2007 Year in Review

OK, so here is the Christmas letter you've all been anxiously awaiting. Thank you for being so patient! It has been a hectic month, no surprises there...it's the Larges, it's December, the holidays are upon us, need I say more? It's been difficult trying to make time to just sit down and try to 'remember' what's been happening this year. As you have most likely already heard, we bought a new house and moved in during the week of Thanksgiving. We celebrated Thanksgiving in our new home. Our new home is about 20 miles east of our old house. It is a 7 bedroom basement home, almost 4500 square feet on about 1/2 acre with a large pool. We absolutely love it and are adjusting to the added driving time back and forth to school, work, and other activities. The girls and Dean are looking forward to attending their new schools in January. Brandon will finish up his senior year at Westwood. Patrick will also be changing schools in January. We love our new church ward and the few neighbors we've met have been very nice. There is a nice little neighborhood park right down the street that the kids love. It does have an HOA, which we swore we would never have, but they seem to be fairly relaxed and well, so far, so good...

Chris moved to Flagstaff in April to complete his internship at the Orpheum Theater. He was hired on and is also working at the bowling alley and has decided to go back to school at the community college as well. He loves Flagstaff "it's beautiful and the weather is great". He likes to ride the trails on his mountain bike and does some hiking as well. Chris has been dating his girlfriend Tiffany for over a year now but she lives here so he doesn't get to see her as often as he would like. He is considering moving back to the valley in a few months.

Tyler graduated in May and is still working at Bergeron Marine (now full time). He has decided to purchase our old house and moved in there as soon as we moved out. He has been fixing up the house and adding his own 'personal touches', including new carpet, paint and a pool table. His girlfriend Sharon lives with him as well as another family who lived with him at the other house (it's nice to have someone to help make the house payments). He spends his free time fixing up cars and riding his quad and sandrail.

Brandon continues to be the sports nut. He was the starting quarterback for the varsity football team and has been getting letters from many colleges/universities (some of whom have come to the school to talk to him). He doesn't have any official solid offers for scholarships yet but is sending out game film and hopes to get something soon. He definitely wants to play football at the college/university level though so it will be exciting to see where he ends up. Brandon received 1st Team All Region Quarterback and also earned 2nd Team at the state level. He skipped baseball his junior year but has been promising 'Dad' that he will play his senior year. He is currently playing on the varsity basketball team and they have been playing in several tournaments including one in Yuma where they took 3rd place and one in San Diego where they placed 4th. He also has a 4.0 GPA and is looking forward to having a short schedule next semester with only 2 classes starting at noon so he can 'sleep in'. Brandon also recently completed all the requirements to earn his Eagle Scout award.

Patrick played on the varsity football team and is now playing on the JV soccer team. His soccer team is doing really well. He has been attending the East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) participating in their Health Sciences program. He would like to become a dentist. He has been working at Chick-Fil-A but will be looking for a new job closer to our new home. He just got his permit on Christmas Eve and is very excited about that. He will be attending Skyline starting next semester (January 3rd) and is not too happy about that but he will still be able to attend EVIT from there as well.

Kimberly is doing well. She is in the school and church choirs. She is doing well in school and loves to socialize! She loves having her own bedroom in our new house and is excited to meet new friends at her new school.

Tiffany is still dancing (surprise, surprise). She absolutely LOVES to dance. She helps teach the younger kids as well. Tiffany also loves to sing and is in the advanced choir at school. She is very excited to start attending her new school and is looking forward to meeting new friends. Her favorite thing to do is 'hang out' with her friends.

Heather loves our new ward and is making lots of friends there and looking forward to attending her new school. She didn't want to wait for the semester break but wanted to change schools as soon as we moved! She is in advanced orchestra, still playing the violin which she loves. She has also been playing the piano a lot lately and wants to take piano lessons again. She also loves having her own bedroom in our new house. She has been babysitting more and really likes that, especially the money that comes with it!

Dean is in 2nd grade now and is just the coolest kid ever! He loves hanging out with his older brothers (especially Tyler). He loves to work on cars and do all the cool stuff that Tyler does. He played baseball in the spring and is anxious to start playing some other sports (football and soccer). He is looking forward to getting baptized in February and is also excited to start attending his new school.

Molly (the mini Schnauzer) is still as spoiled as ever. I think she is more spoiled than our kids are and that is pretty bad! She and Misty (the Boxer) are adjusting well to the new house. They both love the big back yard.

Derek moved from working at the tow copany to another division within the same corporation, running their auto auctions. He has been enjoying that and has advanced again to Operations Manager, managing the auctions as well as the rest of the tow company. He has been working very hard to get our new home.

Cathy is still working at SRP and with the kids activities and moving hasn't had time to do too much else. Ocassionally she finds time to get a little scrapbooking in (although that's been only at the 2 retreats she organized with a few friends this year). She also started back to school, working toward her degree that she might some day reach! We've been having fun shopping for furniture and getting our house organized and decorated.

We have been truly blessed this year and love this time of year when we can celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ and count our blessings for all he has given us!

We hope you all had a great Christmas and have a very happy, healthy, prosperous New Year!!!