The Evertsen's: Merry Christmas

I can't believe it's already December. Its crazy how fast this year flew by. Here's just a little update on us:

In January we were able to be sealed together as a family. It was the most amazing experience to be able to have Taegen sealed to us. Thank you to all our friends and family who were able to join us during that wonderful time. Shortly after that we found out we would be adding another member to our family! We were so excited and we both kind of knew it was going to be a girl, and sure enough on September 30th (8 days late) we welcomed little baby Elizabeth (Ellie) Rae, 8 lbs 9 oz 21 inches long.. She really is an incredible baby. She has acid reflux, but other than that she's pretty easy...knock on wood :) She's now almost 3 months old, and getting so big. She's smiling all the time now and Jon has gotten her to laugh but only a couple times. She has her daddy wrapped around her little finger already.

Jon got a job at the beginning of the year working on foreclosed homes. He winterizes, cleans out and does lawn care/maintenance on all the houses. This job is not something he wants to do forever but has been good on a temporary basis. In fact he found out just a few months ago that his unit in the Army was wanting to re-class him into a new MOS and he was accepted to go to the school in March! So we will be moving down to San Antonio Texas in February for a year for him to get his training to become a Medical Equipment Repairer. We are so excited for this new adventure. Other than work and his monthly Army reserve weekends, Jon loves to spend his time up at the Lindhardt family ranch. He spends almost every weekend up there. He would spend all of his free time up there if I would let him.

I am still enjoying being a stay at home mom to my two wonderful kids. Taegen keeps me on my toes and most nights I go to be completely exhausted from trying to keep up with him all day. Other than taking care of the kiddos I've started to spend some of my time doing random different crafts. For those of you that know me well enough, know that this is a big deal. Ha ha. I am not normally a crafty type person. But for some reason I've taken a liking to them now. Maybe it's all the "free time" I have now being a stay at home mom. In the past few months I've completed a quilt made out of my moms clothes, Christmas stockings and their holders, skirts for Ellie, numerous crocheted projects, and I'm now working on blanket. I never would have thought I would enjoy doing these things.

Taegen is 2 1/2 now and is most certainly a handful. My dad likes to say that if Ellie is anything like him then I'll be gray by the time I'm 30! He loves his little sister. He's always wanting to be right next to her. He loves to help out with her, sometimes maybe a little too much. :) He's already got the big brother roll down, inflicting injuries and all. :) Eye poking is his favorite form of torture for her right now. He is such a polite little stinker though. He loves all the Avengers, Lightening McQueen (or anything Disney's Cars related), Buzz Lightyear, dinosaurs, spider-man, guns and monster trucks oh and dirt! He is his fathers son through and through.

That is what we've been up to for the past year. We hope everything has been great for all of you as well.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

With love,

Jon, Kristina, Taegen and Ellie Evertsen