Christmas Letter 2009

Our Dearest Family and Friends,

It seems every time I sit down to write another holiday letter, I begin with the words, "I can't believe that it's that time of year again". However, this year seems to have flown especially fast. The year 2009 has been a blessed year for us and we hope the same for all of you.

We are still living in El Dorado Hills, CA and love it. We have enjoyed our ward, our callings and the beautiful scenery of living in such a gorgeous community of wonderful friends and neighbors. Probably our most exciting news of the year is that we are expecting our first son and second child around March 19^th, 2010.

Marc continues to work incredibly hard for our family as a Senior Marketing Consultant at the Annuity Store. He loves his job immensely and spends many hours working hard to provide for us and further his career. We are so thankful for his dedication. As always, he enjoys a lot of physical activity. He enjoys winding down from a long day at our local gym, and on the weekend frequents the golf course with his dad. This new tradition of early Saturday morning golf with his dad is something Marc cherishes and loves the extra time they get to spend together. You can also sometimes find him on a late Friday or Saturday night, flowriding at Dream Xtreme in Elk Grove, a business some of our family owns. He has gotten very good and if you are a friend of his on Facebook, you've probably been invited to "check him out" on the Flow Cam on the nights he's riding. He is currently serving in the church as a Sunday School teacher to age 16-17 year olds and loves it. He is incredibly excited to have a son to add to the brood and has already joked about when they will have "chalk talks" and what kind of offense he'll teach him to run. I would not be surprised if he brings a mini football to labor and delivery to pop into the little mans hands as soon as he's delivered. Marc loves being a husband and father and we adore him. The best part of our day is when he comes home from work and we can have family time.

Montana just celebrated her 3^rd birthday. She started preschool this fall and loves it. I know every parent thinks their child is smart, and the case is no different with us. We are amazed with what she comes up with everyday and the talents and skills that she has. She loves music; singing, dancing and playing the piano with Mommy. She enjoys Disney movies and loves princesses. We experienced our first Disney Princesses on Ice show this past October and she was in heaven. Montana loves to draw, paint and do projects. Something she and I have really enjoyed doing together this year is baking and cooking. Anytime she has the chance to help, she jumps at it and I can't resist letting her be a part of the fun. She loves to clean with me, which I definitely encourage! J Anytime I pull out the vacuum, she runs to get her toy one from her closet. We are learning about organization in her toy room, and she knows pretty well which toys go in which drawers. When we ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she says she wants to be a Mommy and a singer. A major accomplishment this past month was potty training, which when I finally put my mind to it, she caught on to very quickly. We have gotten into a very good night time routine and she looks forward to her night time bath, two books (Fancy Nancy is always one of them, which she can practically recite word for word), prayers (which she loves to say all by herself), and finally when Mommy and Daddy sing her a song. She is SO incredibly excited to be a big sister. She often talks about her little brother, talks to my belly and gives him lots of hugs and kisses. Montana is sassy and sweet, sugar and spice, fire and ice and everything in between…she truly is the love of our lives and our pride and joy.

As for me, I am enjoying my life as a mother and a wife. I could not be happier with my little family and the direction in which we are going. I enjoy my every day, spending it with my child, taking care of my home and keeping the Rogers household running. I have truly enjoyed expanding my cooking, baking and organizational skills this year. I enjoy teaching music lessons and being able to help spread my love of music. I am currently serving as the Ward Activities Chairperson. It is a lot of work but a lot of fun. I continue to work on my love of physical activity. I finished my first half marathon this year with a time of 2 hours, 3 minutes and loved it! I began working out with a personal trainer, (who is AWESOME) soon after that and have loved pushing the limits. I continue to work out with her during my pregnancy two days a week and have to say it has made all the difference. I am currently a little over six months pregnant, and feel amazing! As far as names for the baby, I'm pretty sure we have decided his first name will be Carson. It's not written in stone, but it is what we all call him. I could not be happier to be carrying another child. I realize what a blessing this is and I am so thankful for it.

Lastly, we have to acknowledge the reason for our blessed life, and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Without our faith and testimony of our Heavenly Fathers plan for us, our eternal family and the sacrifice of our Savior, we know that we would be lost and would not have what we have today. We are grateful for the opportunity to reflect on those blessings and the reason for this season. We love you all and are thankful for your love, friendships and support. We hope this letter and card find you happy and healthy this holiday season and wish you a wonderful and blessed 2010 year!

Love, Marc, Stacy and Montana Rogers