Christmas Letter 2008

Our Wonderful Family and Friends,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Can you believe we're at this point again? Writing Christmas letters? It's insane, yet true, and so here we go...

If I had to sum up 2008 in one word, I think I would described it as blessedchange. Oh, that's not a word? Okay, two words. "Blessed" and "Change". Those are my words for 2008. I can't think of our lives and not feel overwhelmed by a gratitude for the blessings that we receive on a constant basis. I can only attribute it all to a loving Heavenly Father, His son Jesus Christ and our faith in His restored Gospel, without which our lives would be incomplete.

We entered 2008 as new parents of a toddler. As we exit 2008, we are a little more tired and have a lot more laughter and love in our lives. We are now the proud parents of a "Miss Sassafras" two year old. And we love it. It's one of the hardest things and one of the most rewarding things to be a parent. This little girl is the center of our universe and we adore her with every fiber of our beings. And now...I get to brag. Our little Montana Belle is SO smart. For those of you who follow our blog regularly, you see my daily bragging. For those of you who are visiting for the first time, I invite you to read our blog and see why our life is so fun. We owe it to our bundle of joy. A few things Montana has learned recently: lots of colors. Her favorites are Green and Orange. Lots of songs! Right now she loves Jingle Bells, but one of her favorites is it sit at the piano and sing the WHOLE "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" song. As well, she hears mommy teach voice lessons, and she loves to do "Warm-ups". She's still napping like a champ, thank heavens, and sleeps through the night. We've had a few climbing out of the crib incidents as of late, yet it has yet to become a daily occurrence, and I am pushing out the toddler bed as long as possible. She is now in nursery and even though it takes her about ten minutes to stop crying, its a heaven sent thing for us! We are so grateful for the nursery leaders! They are true angels. This girl remembers everything you say and loves to repeat things. It's kind of scary but teaching us a lot about watching what we say around her. Montana loves to watch her shows, and her favorites are "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and "Max and Ruby". She is also a major fan of Disney movies. Her new favorites are "Wall-E", "Tinkerbell" and "Polar Express", to add to a LONG list of old favorites. Her full-on sentences never cease to amaze us and her personality and charm makes us so proud! Like I said above, she is the joy of our lives! And who knows, maybe next year she will be adding "big sister" or "future big sister" to her resume. No, I am not pregnant. But the time is coming upon us...so we shall see.

The change I referred to above has a lot to do with our move about six months ago. We decided that we wanted to move to a different place in the Greater Sacramento Area to get some experience about where we want to end up. An area we've always loved is the El Dorado Hills area and so in July, we moved to a beautiful home in a Serrano neighborhood. We absoutely LOVE it up here, and it feels like home. It reminds me a lot of Elk Grove before the great housing boom. It's a very family oriented community, with very little traffic! Not to mention my sister and her family live up here and so its nice that we had some built in friends. We also trade babysitting, which works out perfectly! Part of our decision to move affected my working status. After tax season this year, I had gone to a part time position working for Marc's mom's CPA firm and started teaching a few voice lessons. We decided to move at a good transition time for us and for the CPA firm, as his mom moved her office out of her home and brought on a partner. After attending the Open House to their beautiful new office, I feel reaffirmed that the Lord's hand was in this decision and I am so happy for the way that this transition worked out for everyone. I love my mother-in-law and sister-in-laws so much, and am so grateful for the time that I had to work with them for almost three years. It provided Marc and I with a great opportunity to get our family started out on the right foot, great work experience and lots of time to build our family relationships.

Since moving up to El Dorado Hills, I've continued to teach voice lessons and took on some piano students. I teach my Elk Grove students on Friday at my parents home and am so grateful they are willing to let me do that! It's a good excuse for Montana to come down and see Grandma and play, too! I truly enjoy the opportunity that I have to teach music on an almost daily basis. It's helps me to reaffirm why I love music so much and I love to see their talents grow each week! In addition to my music lessons, I watch my friends little boy Ryder four days a week. Montana loves to have him come over and play and its been some nice added income for our home.

Marc never ceases to amaze me with his career. I am so grateful that I have a hardworking husband that does everything in his power to provide for us. This year he accomplished a major feat and passed his insurance exam. ***PLUG: If you have any life insurance or annuity needs, give him a call!*** It's nice to see him finally be able to have his own license and start doing what he's been teaching agents to do for the last few years. With the business of his job and family there was little time for coaching football this year, and so for the first time in our marriage and for probably 20 years, Marc did not really have a "football season". I think if not for how much he loves his work, it would have been a really depressing time for him. It definitely was hard for him, but he looks forward to coaching his children's sports in the future, and maybe starting up with football again when there is more time.

Marc and I really got into running this summer and fall. It was something we enjoyed as a family, pushing Montana in the jogger, when he got home from work and helped us to get into shape! We have since switched to the indoor elliptical, but love to add regular exercise back into our daily regimen. My running began moreso back in March when I began running with my friend Rachel and this year we ran in the "Race for the Cure". We are hoping to run a half marathon in May. Wish us luck!

We love our new ward, the Silva Valley Ward and have felt very welcomed by the members. We've made lots of wonderful friends, but miss our old ward and friends very much as well. Marc's new calling is Teacher's Quorum Advisor in the Young Mens, and I was called to serve as an Activity Day's leader for the 8-11 year old girls. I miss being in the Young Women's program, but love working with the girls to prepare them for Young Women.

We feel so blessed with amazing family and friends in our lives! We don't know how we got so lucky to have you to love and to love us in return, but you mean the world to us and we thank Heavenly Father every day for your presence in our lives.

We are so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our lives are what they are because of this most precious and sacred gift and we are greatly indebted to the Lord for the blessings He bestows upon our lives. We are so especially grateful for Him at this wonderful time of year and pray that we can all keep a focus on the reason for this season.

May the Lord bless you this Christmas and bring you happiness and joy in the New Year!

We love you all,

Marc, Stacy and Montana Rogers