2012 Family Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends,                                                     January 2013

Happy 2013!  We hope that the New Year is finding you happy and well.  I’m sorry that our family letter is a little late this year - as 2012 came to a close (and with it, the end of the Mayan Calendar), I was kind of hoping that the world would end and I wouldn’t have to write this letter.  But, alas, we’re still here, and so are you, so I am now sitting down to update you on the O’Gwin Family Exploits of 2012.  Here are the highlights:

Chris loved his time as Company Commander – he said it was his favorite time in the Army.  But all good things must come to an end and he is now serving as the S3 in 1^st Battalion (planning and coordinated massive amounts of stuff, as far as I can tell).  While in Command he was training (aka gone) about every other month.  He then deployed as the S3 in September of 2012 and is anticipated to return in May of 2013.  We miss him terribly, but are happy to have hit the ½ way point in this deployment!  When Chris was around we enjoyed Nerf Wars at home, a vacation to Utah, Beach days, a Lake Powell trip, and a 12 year Anniversary trip to Orlando for just Chris and I.   This year Chris also finished his first Triathlon – all with a 2” hairline fracture in his leg – that’s one tough dude, let me tell ya. 

Stacy has spent the year keeping the O’Gwin family machine up and running – driving, laundry, cooking, shopping, and making everybody else do what they’re supposed to.  She does not enjoy this nearly as much as the kids think she does.  She does however enjoy going on dates with her hubby, watching the kids in their activities, running with them in Mile Club, eating lunch with them at school, and taking them to the beach/pool.  Also, thanks to Chris, Stacy took a trip to Orlando with friends to attend a Time Out for Women.  It was awesome and really rejuvenated her batteries.

Aly (11) is now an official 5^th grade “tween” and growing bigger every minute at 5’1” tall (only 1” shorter than me!) She’s in the advanced reading class at school and I have a hard time keeping enough good books at her disposal. She got her braces off in October – hooray! – and cut off  her hair for Locks of Love (but is now growing it back out.)   She learned to Wake Board this year at Lake Powell and loves staying busy with Chorus, Soccer, Activity Days, Book Club, and babysitting. 

Analise (8) is loving 3^rd grade as she was accepted into the Gifted Program at school and has blossomed in her confidence and leadership abilities there.  She took off in swimming lessons this year and tried piano for a while, but has now decided to give gymnastics a go in 2013.  She also loves participating in Activity Days and the American Girl Book Club.  A major event for Analise this year was when her dad baptized her a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints – in the ocean!  It was a very special experience.

Kate (5) was very excited to start Kindergarten this year and loves her teacher, although she is a bit too smart for her britches and finds school a little boring.  She is a very advanced reader and good with her addition and subtraction as well.  I think she loves learning Spanish the most.  Kate also participated in swimming lessons and soccer and enjoyed them – in retrospect.  She loves doing puzzles, coloring/crafts, and singing all the songs she learns at school.

Kylie (2) has had her personality *explode* this year.  She is a very sweet, happy girl (with a little bossy and a little sassy mixed in) who likes to talk, talk, talk and go, go, go all the time.  Major events in her life included getting tubes put in her ears and potty training (hooray!)  She loves Dora, singing songs she learned from nursery or the radio, Disney Princesses, playing Hide-n-Seek, reading stories, dancing, dressing up, swimming, being outside, going anywhere (even the grocery store), and doing anything her older sisters are doing.

Well, those were the highlights.  If you’d like all the gory details, feel free to visit our family blog at stacerooandherzoo.blogspot.com   2012 was a year full excitement, tears, fun, work, blessings and growth for our family.  We’re looking forward to more of the same in 2013 and wish all the best for you as well.  So, (unless the world comes to an end), Have a wonderful 2013!  Love, The O’Gwin’s

Christmas in Utah

Since Chris was deployed, I decided we were going to Utah for Christmas with a Bang.  I took the kids out of the last week of school and we went for a solid 3 weeks, which was awesome.  I owe a huge THANK YOU to all the family and friends who made our Christmas for us.  Despite getting sick off and on, we had a great time seeing everyone and hanging out with family. 

The first thing on the kids' agenda was playing in the snow, and they were not disappointed.  A snowstorm showed up the day before we flew in to provide all the snow playing pleasure the kids could want.  (Of course, I've come to realize that playing in the snow is more of a "30 minute bundle up, 10 minute play outside, 20 minute warm up with hot chocolate" kind of fun.  But the kids pack a lot of fun memories into those 10 minutes because they always can't wait to play in the snow again next year.)

Next, would you believe that we came to Utah in the middle of winter to go swimming?  One of my brother's friends had this awesome outdoor pool with a huge bubble over the top.  The kids had a blast swimming (and this lasted for at least an hour!  It still required the 30 minutes of getting ready though and hot chocolate afterwards. ;)>)

While I was in Utah I was also able to get together with some of my childhood friends.  It was great to catch up with them and I was even able to attend a Zumba class that one of my friends is an instructor for!  Lots of fun times.

Next, it was up to Grammy and Papa's house to play in their winter wonderland.  The kids loved sledding down the driveway and Kylie also liked playing in the snow like it was sand at the beach, scooping it up and filling up the sleds with it. 

The kids also loved having their fun cousins up there to play with and ride on the snowmobile/snow tractor.

And don't forget Kate's favorite part - the presents!

Back at my parents' house we had a great time getting ready for  Christmas Eve/Christmas: baking cookies for Santa, clothes shopping with Grandpa, and Extended Family parties.

(For some reason Kate and Kylie missed the memo that you're supposed to be happy Christmas morning.  They perked up once the present opening began, however.)

After Christmas we hit the ice-skating rink (Aly's request) and had a lot of fun.  It was fun just going with the older two girls so we could actually do some skating!

I was able to go to the traditional "Sibling Christmas Dinner" - so glad to be there, as I missed out on it last year.  Yummy salads, yummy pizza - Mmm!

And last but not least was New Year's Eve.  My sister Laura made it really fun for the kids by having an envelope they could open each hour with an activity/surprise.  They got to fill out a sheet of "favorites of 2012" as well as goals for the new year, play the candy bar game, decorate their pans that they would be banging at midnight, and watch a movie with popcorn.  So, so much fun and the adults were all munching on goodies and playing games in the meanwhile.  And yes, even though it was only 9 degrees outside, we did run out at midnight, hooting and hollering and banging our pots and pans - for about 5 minutes, then that was enough of that and it was time to get back into the warmth!

As if all this wasn't enough, there was also a lot of playing family games, movie watching, play dates, pizza with more cousins, and even a temple trip or two that made this a great vacation.  Below is a picture of how Kylie did my hair.  She discovered that she loves brushing hair on this  trip and wanted us to have matching hairstyles.  Again THANK YOU all of our beloved Utah people for making this trip so much fun.

We had a great time in Utah, but eventually the time to fly home arrived.  Of course we couldn't fly home without incident.  The kids were all being so nice and helpful to each other and Kylie had her head in my lap, asleep.  I thought, "Ah, this is so nice, I think I'll close my eyes for a bit."  Suddenly I feel my lap getting very warm and realize Kylie is barfing all over herself and me.   Of course I had only brought a change of pants/undies for Kylie in case of an accident, and no change of clothes for me, so we were stuck.  We cleaned up as best as we could in the bathroom and carried on.  Kylie perked up during our layover, so I thought we were done . . . until she barfed again all over the carpet while we were waiting for our luggage.  (Notice the shirt below - it is not normally pink and orange.)  I think that if you can just accept the fact that if you are traveling with children you will be covered in (a) spilled food/drink, (b) pee, (c) barf by the end of the day, then you're fine.  I mean, what else is there, really?  I was actually just happy that the kids were really happy and helpful so I wasn't dealing with whining  on top of everything else.

And finally, I didn't want to leave you on a sad/grossed out note, so I wanted to share this awesome homemade Christmas decoration Kate came home from school with.  It's Kate riding a reindeer!! It will be displayed with pride in the O'Gwin home and treasured for many years to come. :)

And a final Kate quote - One day Kate was looking through the Hymn book and told me, "Mom, why does it say 'the cat' in the 2nd verse of Away in a Manger in here?  There's no cat in Away in a Manger!"  So I look at the book and it says "The cat-tle are lowing".  I love experiencing Kate learning to read with her.  It's priceless.